TV Overnights: Scott & Bailey beats Silent Witness and secures 9pm slot for ITV1
The first episode of Coronation Street (ITV1, 7:30pm) won the biggest audience of Monday night with a 34% share. The great salon war escalated as Audrey handed her grandson an injunction, sending him off on a torrent of rage. Unfortunately for Audrey, it turns out words can hurt people. Or at least cause suspected heart attacks. 8.7 million watched to see if Audrey was off to meet Betty, Jack and Vera in the cobbles of the sky.
The surplus of detective dramas in the TV schedules seems to have been influencing Shirley on EastEnders at 8pm on BBC One. The ex-café owner stepped up her effort to find her bezzie mate’s murderer, even though it would be obvious to even Heather herself that Shirley was living under the same roof as the guilty party. 7.9 million viewers (a 34% share) watched as the investigation hit a little snag which resulted in Shirley lying drunk on the road outside the Vic.
It was back to Weatherfield at 8:30pm as Terry Duckworth’s one man plan to bring the house prices crashing on the Street (you’d think they’d be rock-bottom at this stage) got into full swing. The opening of his lap dance club met with some serious opposition. Understandably David felt a little bad about putting his poor old Nan in hospital. Even if you are caught up in a Dynasty-style power plot, killing your Grandmother is crossing the line. The second episode of the night pulled in 8.3 million viewers.
Over on BBC One at 9pm was the concluding part of Sunday night’s Silent Witness – down 1.4 million viewers overnight. Since the premiere of the 15th series earlier this month, the first instalment of the weekly two-parter on Sundays always pulls in more viewers and a much higher audience share than the following night’s conclusion. Last Sunday’s episode was watched by six million viewers with only 4.7 million returning last night as Nikki used the sharpest tools in her forensic box to dig into a colleague’s past, securing an 18.9% share.
ITV1 made another dent in the audience of Silent Witness last night with Scott & Bailey beating their BBC counterparts for the second week in a row. 4.9 million viewers turned up to see DC Bailey’s relationship with PC Sean Maguire escalate out of control as he announced he wanted her to meet his mother. An audience share of 19% sought out to see if Bailey would violate the rules of hardened TV female detective and allow herself happiness. Or at least a little smile.
Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks and key multi-channel stations.