TV Overnights: Smug chefs, miserable pensioners and dodgy wives secures Thursday for BBC One
The second series of gangsters’ moll drama, Prisoners’ Wives (BBC One, 9pm) came to an early end last as comeuppances were dealt out with adequate brutality.
While the current run may have been cut down from six episodes to four, it did little to dampen the show’s popularity.
The past three weeks has seen the tale of innocent and not-so-innocent better halves secure a rigid audience of around 4 million viewers, with last night being no exception.
While set in the slightly heightened world of dodgy dealings and family honour, the series featured a fantastical cast, with Game of Thrones‘ Iain Glen, Caprica‘s Polly Walker and Spooks’ Nicola Walker all chewing up the confined scenery with a high-end soap assurance.
Last night’s final slice of scheming action saw Polly Walker’s Francesca put her family in danger, netting a 17% share.
At the same time on Channel 4, former Dragon’s Den-dweller Hilary Devey rose from the dead to deliver us a substandard version of Young Apprentice. The Intern (9pm) saw Hilary send three obnoxious bright young things off to nab the career of their dreams, in an unpleasant Kensington hotel.
Still dressed as if Dystasty never lost its appeal, the opening episode saw Hilary’s look edge closer to Elvira – Mistress of the Dark than that of Joan Collins. The lame set ups and awkward cross promotions (the interns had to deal with A Made in Chelsea ‘star’ who was handcuffed to a bed) attracted 1.1 million viewers and a 5% share.
Over on BBC Two, Horizon detailed the data trail each of us leave behind and how it is worth a lot of money to a lot of people. The Age of Big Data (9pm) detailed a world in which law enforcement and marketers use the huge amounts of data to predict crimes, or depressingly, our next purchase.
1 million viewers (a 5% share) tuned in to see that Orwell’s Big Brother was alive and well – turns out all he wants to do is flog us more superfluous products.
Earlier on in the evening, ITV brought us Live UEFA Europa League Football (7:45pm) from White Hart lane as Tottenham Hotspur clashed with the Swiss team FC Basel. Both teams held a tight defence until the 30th minute when Stocker netted Basel’s first successful shot, initiating a succession of goals for both sides.
An average audience of 3.6 million viewers tuned in for the entire coverage, resulting in a 2-2 draw and a 16% share.
Up against the football was the ever-resilient MasterChef (BBC One, 8pm) which had no problem holding its own. The 72nd out of 205 episodes this series repeated the same format as every other episode but still managed to secure and audience of 5 million and a 22% share.
Earlier on in the day and hour long visit to Emmerdale (ITV, 6:45pm) garnered the day’s third biggest audience. 5.9 million viewers watched as teenage tearaways Thomas King and Belle Dingle made plans to escape the UK’s most accursed village once and for all, pulling in a 28% share.
If the weather, the post-Easter return to reality and the record breaking drops in temperature didn’t ruin your week enough, EastEnders (BBC One, 7:30pm) was on hand to drag you all the way down to the pits of despair.
Last night’s happy trip to Walford focused heavily of Dot Branning, who was busy turning her misery dial all the way up to 11 as she faced losing her home in a typically cruel and unforgiving world.
Despite being slightly affected by the football on the other side EastEnders came on top, proving to be Thursday’s biggest hit regardless of the smaller than usual audience.
6.5 million viewers tuned in for Dot’s court hearing, netting a 30% share. Considering the heartache and trauma the soap legend has garnered over the years, perhaps a move to a new postcode would be a fairly sensible option.
Later at 10pm, Channel 4 felt it necessary to investigate the world of outdoor sexual activity in Dogging Tales. The eye-opening documentary pulled 1.5 million viewers off the beaten track and became the most tweeted about TV show of the day.
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.