TV Overnights: Sunita’s Dirty Secret pulls in 7.5m for ITV1
ITV1 once again ruled the roost last night as trouble in the Alahan household pulled in the largest amount of viewers for Wednesday night. Slower than a Sloth addicted to Nytol, the penny finally dropped for Dev as he realised his wife was having an extramarital affair. Although he did have to discover a whole bag full of evidence before those neural cogs began to turn. Finding a bag stuffed with cash along with your wife’s overnight clothes can lead you to only one conclusion in real life, let alone topsy turvy soap land.
7.5 million viewers watched as Dev confronted Sunita, who must be praying for an end to her misery. Elsewhere, Simon Barlow started off down his inevitable dodgy path in life, stealing a friend’s 3DS in a desperate effort to become the next Ben Mitchell. The solo episode of Coronation Street (ITV1, 7:30pm) scored a 36% audience share.
Instead of taking the ITV route and splitting a double episode in two, BBC One offered up a whole uninterrupted hour of Walford drama. And it’s not even Christmas! Wednesday’s episode saw Michael take his assault on Jean’s character to another level, convincing Janine that she’s obsessed with him and their baby. As Jean slowly starts to meltdown, she’s confronted and shot down by Janine in the public arena of The Vic. As is tradition in the East. EastEnders (BBC One, 8pm) pulled in an audience of 6.3 million viewers and secured a 28% share.
Last night the local Grim Reaper in Oxford began to get his summer holiday plans in order as the latest series of Lewis (ITV, 8pm) came to a close. The closing episode of series 6 saw a controversial American academic get all deaded with a rope in his room. Thankfully for viewers, suicide is quickly ruled out as Lewis and the Boy Wonder make their way through a large list of suspects. The latest run of crime-fighting for DI Robert Lewis averaged 4.9 million viewers over the past four weeks, with last night’s finale matching that figure exactly.
The second night of action from the Big Brother compound saw viewers sliced in half overnight. The hour-long show featured highlights from the first 24 hours in the house and went out at 10pm on Channel 5. Gone are the more random characters from previous years, with the house momentarily looking like The Only Way Is Essex audition room. Maybe the fun will kick off once the spray tan, hair extensions and fake eyelashes run out and the audience can tell the contestants apart. A limp 1.4 million viewers watched as the initial excitement fade with 98,000 tuning in an hour later on Channel 5+1.
Day 11 of the French Open Tennis 2012 on ITV4 saw Nadal, Sharapova and Kvitova all victorious in their singles quarter finals matches. The coverage, which broadcast from 1:30pm to 9pm, was watched by an average audience of 573,000 viewers, up 50,000 since Tuesday. Viewer interest peaked around 7pm as Andy Murray came crashing out of the tournament, defeated by David Ferrer and watched by over 1 million viewers.
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.