The X Factor and Downton blow away ITV’s competition
As if there was any doubt, the past two days have seen the UK’s premium ‘talent’ show lord it up all over Saturday and Sunday’s TV schedule, as The X Factor‘s success overshadowed all of the competition.
Yes, even as ITV unleashed its other uncontrollable monster on Sunday night, it simply couldn’t compete with the sight of desperate fame-hungry youngsters queuing in their droves for some approval from a Pussycat Doll.
Simon Cowell’s cocky prime time onslaught offered booming voiceovers of the ears, an entire spectrum of kinetic flashing lights for the eyes, and attention deficit-friendly editing for the nearly drunk – luring in the biggest audience for both days.
While that outcome was pretty much a given this time on Friday, the interest lay in whether Saturday’s old-school closed-room auditions or Sunday’s arena-sized performances would tickle viewers’ fancy more.
Half of The X Factor‘s success lies in the skill of creating an illusion of significance by way of all the pomp and pageantry, tricking audiences into believing that being able to hold a tune is akin to having the ability to cure cancer. The illusion is working – a whopping 8.5 million viewers watched Saturday’s audition process, resulting in a 38% share and the day’s biggest audience.
A bit later, Casualty (8:50pm) was BBC One’s biggest player of the day. The usual array of tragedy and drama in the country’s silliest emergency department was watched by 4.4 million viewers and a 21% share.
At 9pm back over on ITV, Keith Lemon was on hand to add a little sprinkle of perv to the revamped Through the Keyhole. 4.3 million (a 21% share) watched as the Leeds fashion icon snooped around celebrities’ closets, desperate for a bit of exposure.
Speaking of which – Saturday’s fifth most popular show involved celebrities who used to have a regular gig (not to be confused with a real job) but now make do smiling, holding their real life partner’s hand and dancing the night away on Stepping Out (ITV, 6:45pm).
As the professional partners (including a Westlife and his woman, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and his woman and a boxer and his woman) reached the semi-final, judge Mel B (yes, really) turned the heat up. 3.6 million viewers tuned in for nail-biting nonsense.
While Sunday’s offerings seemed a little less desperate for attention, there were certainly more people tuning in on the traditional day of rest. Countryfile jumped its target demographics’ heart at 7pm on BBC One as Ellie Harrison and her army of beavers desperately attempted to save a few soggy fields in Devon from drying out.
The cross-species campaign sucked in 6.2 million viewers, the channel’s biggest audience of the entire weekend. The nauseating craziness wasn’t over just yet – straight up afterwards was another heady journey through history with Fiona Bruce and her cult of tat-collectors on Antiques Roadshow (BBC One, 8pm). The latest episode in the exciting 36th series saw Fiona (who turns a penny for every find) bring in 5.3 million viewers.
At the same time on ITV, The X Factor returned to Wembley Arena to put all the recently procured amateurs on stage for our entertainment pleasure. The second bout of judgmental dramatics was the weekend’s biggest hit, with an audience of 9.4 million viewers and a 37% share.
Which was slightly surprising as ITV’s ‘main event’ kicked off at 9pm. It was finally time for ladies of the country to get their fainting couches at the ready – after what has seemed like an agonisingly long time (especially for those who don’t watch) the fourth series of Downton Abbey (9pm) finally arrived.
The opening episode saw the family of staff getting to grips with the events of a genius buzz-killing Christmas special in which an M&S male model died.
9.2 million viewers watched as poor old Lady Mary haunted the corridors like a bad smell, looking vacantly into the distance at any given chance. An audience share of 38% tuned in to see when exactly her new bit of rough would show up to liven up proceedings.
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.