TV Overnights: Silk’s return helps BBC One rule the night
Fully recovered from last week’s three-day losing battle against Britain’s Got Talent, EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) won Tuesday’s biggest audience, as Heather’s ghost continued to haunt certain inhabitants of the Square. 7.6 million viewers watched as Ian struggled to comprehend yesterday’s revelation; how could a fellow resident of London’s most peaceful Borough could behave in such an evil and calculating way?
Meanwhile, not letting a little thing like unbearable guilt get him down, Phil Mitchell put the moves on Shirley after realising she hasn’t cracked the murder mystery plot just yet. She just always looks that angry. A 37% audience share tuned in to see if two months’ worth of Heather’s image floating around his head was enough to finally stir Ben’s conscience.
After ITV1 grabbed all the attention over the past week, last night saw BBC One turn things around with with its double whammy of drama, securing the largest audience from 7:30 onwards. Series 14 of Holby City lumbered on at 8 pm, with 5.3 million viewers tuning in for Frieda’s big exit. The 31st episode in the current series netted a 24% audience share.
At 9pm the medical scrubs were swapped for wigs and silk gowns but high drama was still very much the order of the day. Former dinnerladies and Shameless actress Maxine Peak returned for the second series of Silk, with her character Martha Costello finally donning the gown of a QC. The first episode, which brought back all the your favourite dodgy law-practising characters, secured 5.6 million viewers; resulting in a 24% audience share. Although popular, series one of the legal drama struggled to maintain it’s status; the show debuted in February 2011 with 5.3 million viewers but ended with only 4.7 million. Martha may have moved up in the world but her cases were as low grade as ever – the Queen’s Council was responsible for defending a blinded car wash defendant. But all was not what it seemed…
On a more sombre and realistic note was the second episode of Great Ormond Street (9pm) over on BBC Two. 2 million people tuned in to see the documentary which follows the work of surgeons in the UK’s most well-known children’s hospital, as they struggle to make decisions that will affect their patient’s entire lives.
Over on Sky Atlantic Don Draper was also feeling the pressure with recent addition to Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, Michael Ginsberg, outshining Don’s once razor sharp focus. Viewers have continued to dwindle since series five of Mad Men (9pm) premiered eight weeks ago, with last night’s episode only managing an audience of 36,000. Comparatively the series four premiere on BBC Four in September 2010 captured an audience of 355,000 viewers. Maybe it’s one for the box set?
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.