TV Overnights: The Voice UK and The White Queen see BBC One reign over the weekend
With ITV’s relentless soaps taking a well-earned rest over the weekend, BBC One was free to rule the airwaves with its usual varied and representative selection. On both Saturday and Sunday, the BBC’s flagship channel claimed the top four shows each day.
Saturday brought the grand finale of The Voice UK (BBC One, 7:15pm), as the abundance of singing ability was brutally whittled down to the final four after weeks of dramatic and garish sing-offs, live shows and a series of overly theatrical finals.
Despite being confirmed for a third series next year, the meandering talent show was desperate to justify its existence by producing a winner whose career lasts longer than the time it takes to spin 180 degrees in a big red chair.
7.2 million viewers watched as judges Jessie J (popular with children, apparently) and Danny O’Donoghue (popular with his mother) made muppets of themselves by getting lost up their own proverbial hyperbole.
A 35% audience share tuned in to see the ‘controversial’ outcome as the public voted a partially sighted soft rock balladeer from Northern Ireland as 2013’s winner. Despite having seen it all before, the UK’s viewing audience helped the The Voice UK (not to be confused with the equally shambolic The Voice of Ireland) become the most watched programme of the weekend.
The dependable might of Casualty (BBC One) at 9:30pm helped the channel hang on to the largest audience share as the medical drama brought in 4.6 million viewers and ( 22%).
ITV’s biggest hit of the day came in the form of You’ve Been Framed! at 6:45pm, with 2.2 million viewers hoping to view a clip of a toddler getting knocked over by a dog that they haven’t seen before.
Straight afterwards, the eloquently titled Celebrity Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? Family Special (ITV, 7:16pm) provided the commercial broadcaster with its second most successful show of the day. The continued tinkering of the once-stellar format saw reality show victim, little cherub Joe McElderry, jump in Chris Tarrant’s hot seat with the help of his mum. Awwwww, etc.
2.2 million viewers watched the latest iteration of the international format, securing an 11% share and an extension on Tarrant’s new house.
Appropriately enough, Sunday evening’s viewing was a cornucopia of Valium-based programming, keeping the action and excitement to a minimum – as are the Ofcom requirements.
The list of Sunday’s most popular show’s looked duller than a pre-1989 episode of Emmerdale with the agreeable presenters of Countryfile leading the pack. Yesterday saw Julia Bradbury find an unpleasant surprise floating around Scotney Castle’s ye olde time swimming pool, while Adam Henson decided to play God by injecting his sheep with manipulated genetic benefits to make them grow stronger.
Somehow the agricultural shenanigans once again pulled in Sunday’s biggest audience, with 5.6 million viewers and a 26% share.
BBC News (BBC One) was the next biggest draw, with 4.9 million people catching up with the last headlines of the weekend at 10pm. Earlier, the roller coaster thrill ride that is Antiques Roadshow (BBC One, 8pm) provided teatime viewers with the rush they craved so vehemently.
Last night saw the thirty fifth series (!!!) of the car boot sale come to a sad close as Fiona Bruce and her team of merry blaggers made their way to RAF Marham in Norfolk. 4.6 million viewers watched as people learned the sad truth that grandma’s china wouldn’t be paying the mortgage off anytime soon, resulting in a 19% share.
In the all-important 9pm slot was the continuing adventures of some uppity madam with an excessive sense of entitlement.
The second episode of The White Queen (BBC One) saw dusty commoner Elizabeth pull off the most impressive feat of social climbing ever recorded as she celebrated her ascension to royalty with a lavish coronation.
While viewers fell from the opening episode’s audience of 5.3 million, the second instalment still managed a strong 4.5 million viewers (a 19% share), enough to hold its own against rival channels.
Over on ITV, Jane Marple continued to put friends’ lives in danger by simply being around them. The second harbinger of death (after Jessica Fletcher, naturally) was attempting to help a friend escape her abusive husband and sent her to stay in a creaky old house. Uh oh!
The second episode in the sixth series of Agatha Christie’s Marple (8pm) was watched by slightly more viewers that last week’s launch, with an audience of 4 million viewers sticking around for the two hour events. The sleuth’s latest brush with the cold hand of death secured a 17% share and was ITV’s biggest hit of the weekend.
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.