TV Overnights: Strictly slays X Factor throughout the weekend
For the first time this series, savage destroyer of rivals Strictly Come Dancing, fought off its arch nemesis. The mighty X Factor, destroyer of hope, was defeated not once but two nights in a row, signalling Ewok-type celebrations throughout the far reaches of the Kingdom.
Friday
As usual, Friday night saw audiences were tired after a long week and were willingly sucked into the whirlpool of the superfluous spectacle that is the soaps. It all kicked off with Emmerdale at 7pm as nice-guy Cameron decided to pop into prison to wave Chas goodbye as he runs off in to the sunset.
Could a last minute chat with his former bit-on-the-side see a character in a soap do an unexpected emotional turn around? Surely not! Friday’s episode attracted a strong 7 million viewers and pulled in a 35% share.
It was over to Walford on BBC One at 8pm and romance was well and truly in the air. Phil’s latest attempt to snare Sharon back and create a brand new and (hopefully better) ready-made family needed some work.
His chance came in the form of some legal documents he had to fill out for his granddaughter’s custody case. Why bother wooing a woman and putting in the effort to build a solid relationship when you can just put her down as your fiancée?
That’ll work, surely. EastEnders secured BBC One’s biggest audience of the night with 7.2 million viewers and a 32% share.
Coronation Street showed off once again by bringing two helpings of drama to Friday night’s party, although it seems one would have sufficed The first episode at 7:30pm secured Friday’s biggest hit with 8.1 million viewers watching Sophie Webster receive some very bad news in A&E, providing a 38% share.
As usual the second episode was not as popular, with a total of 7.3 million (a 32% share) tuning in to see Maria and Marcus spend an extremely awkward evening together.
The unexplainable popularity of all the night’s drama directly foreshadowed the oncoming apocalypse in the 9pm slot, which was divided across two channels.
ITV1 brought us Piers Morgan’s latest hard hitting and worthwhile interview hour of congratulatory PR. Friday saw the once really-famous Burt Reynolds sitting in the luxurious and soft interrogation chair of Serious Journalism. Watching Piers admiring and pampering his latest BFF made one really wish that the Four Horsemen could make an appearance, destroying everything in their wake.
Sadly this didn’t happen. During the final episode of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories we listened as Burt detailed his career instead – the dizzying heights (posing nude for Cosmopolitan) and the terrifying lows (a moreish and liberal attitude towards pain killers). The last episode (just for the moment – sad face) attracted 3.4 million viewers, and a 16% share.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 offered us an apocalypse of the less-figurative kind. Derren Brown: Apocalypse saw the defiant trickster convince someone that a meteor had struck, Zombies had risen and End of Days had come.
Unfortunately for Derren, it has been revealed in the past few days that the unsuspecting person has a ‘dramatic’ past, making it easier for the ‘professional’ to convey his emotion to the audience. Real or not, the smarmy Svengali’s latest stunt had 2.3 million (an 11% share) viewers watching, making it Channel 4’s biggest hit of the day.
Saturday
The original Star Wars, digitally fiddled and respangled to within an inch of its life, kicked off Saturday’s entertainment. The confusingly titled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (ITV1, 3:15pm), looked pretty impressive for a 35 year old film but it’s continuing upgrades continue to upset purists.
I say confusingly titled because the planned prequels never happened. They just didn’t. 1.6 million viewers watched as the first instalment in the influential saga secured a 13% share.
It was close to All Hallows’ Eve and Strictly Come Dancing decided to go with a horror theme, which is to say the horror isn’t intentional in every other episode. BBC One ignited the two hour happy fest at 6:30pm. After all that genuine horror, the judges decided that James Bond bit player, Colin Salmon should be punished for his salsa to Superstition.
Joining him on the chopping board was ‘Ricky’ Rickaaaaaaaaaaaaaay after he performed a cha-cha to the Ghostbusters theme, for which alone he should have been dragged out the back and shot. A mind-numbing 9.6 million people tuned in for the entire running time, securing a 44% share. This was ever so slightly down on last week, but remained a horrifyingly popular show and netted the weekend’s biggest audience.
The manically popular ballroom show had to face off against the might of Paddy McGuinness’ winning personality on ITV1. Take Me Out (7pm) featured the usual array of day glow cheeky girls and their double entendres (primetime audiences don’t like full-on honest slags, it seems). The sizzle of chemistry between the sexes, set on a stage so colourful Cbeebies would be ashamed of it, attracted 3.6 million viewers and a 16% share.
The positive thing about Strictly Come Dancing’s insane popularity is the fact it made The X Factor look like the Emmerdale to Strictly‘s Coronation Street. Every battle the scripted talent show loses is a victory for the future of humanity.
The latest round of repeating exactly what happened so many weeks before still had a strong grip on the weak of mind, as two acts were put forward for public execution the return to a sad, depressing life in reality. The addition to the self-perpetuating formula was down 200,000 viewers since last week making this the final series ever. 8 million viewers (a 35% share) tuned in to see…eh, the sparks fly between the interesting, multi layered judges. Cuddly chav Tulisa and National Treasure in-waiting Gary Barlow had a bit of a tiff about her smoking habit. Exciting!
Meanwhile on BBC One scripted favourites Merlin and Casualty held their own against the juggernaut of averageness. Merlin‘s latest family-pleasing adventure saw him face off against a dragon and cast some spells (I’m assuming) securing 5.4 million viewers and a 23% share. Casualty, in which the staff took care of some very ill people, helped pull in 4 million people for the hour, translating to an 18% share.
Sunday
Yesterday officially saw the television landscape get a little greyer, options becoming more predictable and the day a little shorter. In the absence of a Star War, children all across the country were forced to sit in front of monotonous comedown Countryfile.
In fairness, among the ‘interesting’ crop talk there was some kind of race across the Menai Strait with pumpkins. Even though there wasn’t a podracer in sight, the agricultural magazine show managed to attract BBC One’s second biggest audience with 7.2 million viewers.
This was followed by 40 minutes of time filling before the results on Strictly Come Dancing at 8:20pm. 9.2 million viewers watched as Sid Owen was sent back to his secure solitary space until Ricky’s next big comeback. The results pulled in a 36% share.
All this meant this weekend’s smack down was well and truly won by the middle-aged mothball-smelling dancing on BBC One, instead of the rapping kids with ‘tude on ITV1. The X Factor Results managed a full hour of nothing really happening and still netted 8.9 million viewers and a 34% share. Sunday saw another decent female jettisoned in favour of yet another barely legal emasculated boy band.
There was a complete change of taste over on ITV1 at 9pm as we returned to the tasteful calm of Downton Abbey. It’s been two weeks since poor Sybil’s death and after the downstairs staff dragged off her corpse in a black bag, it was business as usual.
Last night there was a cause for celebration as Sybil’s baby (let’s hope she’s more fun) was christened and Thomas tried it on with another servant who lived under the stairs. Sunday’s action brought us back to a standard of class before the weekend ended and was watched by 9.2 million people, and an impressive 36% share.
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.