TV Overnights: Titanic loses 2.5m viewers
Friday
As usual, Friday night was all about the soaps with Coronation Street offering viewers a double bill and EastEnders getting into the weekend party mood. The first episode of Coronation Street (ITV1, 7:30pm) managed 7.7 million as the salon situation escalated and David Platt stepped up his legal game, securing a 38% audience share.
The majority of the viewing public then turned over to BBC One at 8pm for a cheerful Friday edition of EastEnders. Jean decided to throw an 80s themed party in honour of Heather, slaughtered not two weeks ago. In a surprising move Shirley voiced her disapproval, believing the party was in bad taste. Bad taste? EastEnders? 7.3 million viewers (a 37% audience share) caught the cringey party – held in the venue of choice, The Queen Vic.
It was back to the cobbles at 8:30pm, although less viewers returned for a second helping. Audrey, tired and frustrated with the family being at war yet again, gave into her womanly feelings and planned another romantic getaway with her male suitor. 7.6 million viewers fought off the mental images, helping the episode secure a 33% share.
Davina McCall and The Million Pound Drop lured 1.6 million viewers to Channel 4 at 9pm. An 8% audience share tuned in to watch the laws of logic be damned with Alan Carr and Melanie Sykes walking away with £175,000.
Meanwhile on ITV1, Benidorm brought in a consistent 5.6 million viewers. 26% of the audience tuned in to see Madge prepare for her wedding to Mohammed, with 418,000 of those watching on ITV1 HD.
Saturday
Before the avalanche of prime-time Saturday night entertainment began, there was Match of the Day Live on BBC Two. Blackpool squared off against Southampton with coverage starting at 5:10pm. The game kicked-off from Bloomfield Road at 5.25pm with an average audience of 1.9 million people watching the entire programme. The audience peaked in the second half with 2.4 million viewers tuning in to see Blackpool win 3-0.
All that was simply a warm-up for the biggest match of the night, as the titans of digestible programming squared up for their second bout in the ring. The Voice UK came out fighting at 7pm on BBC One with a 39% audience share. The talent show with a twist(y chair) had an average audience of 8.9 million viewers for the entire episode. Viewers actually peaked at 9.9 million in the fifteen minutes before Britain’s Got Talent started and fell to 9.8 million once it had.
Once again Simon Cowell’s variety show succeeded in capturing the biggest audience of the weekend with Britain’s Got Talent (ITV1, 8pm) locking in an average of 9.9 million viewers for the whole episode. The second installment in the new series saw the four standards of talent visit Birmingham and Blackpool to vigorously scrape the diamonds from the rough, securing an audience share of 40% along the way.
Take Me Out followed at 9pm, once again performing well in the later Saturday night slot. A healthy 4.6 million viewers (21% audience share) watched as 30 spray tan enthusiasts judged the men from the love lift in a unmercifully materialistically fashion, teaching us all a heart-warming lesson. Over on BBC One at 9:10pm Casualty catered to slightly more refined audience and beat ITV1 in the process with an average audience of 4.9 million.
Sunday
Filling in the Louis Spence-shaped hole in ITV1’s Sunday schedule was family favourite Harry Potter. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince went out at 6:10pm on ITV1, clashing with BBC One Sunday staples Countryfile (7pm) and Antiques Roadshow (8pm). The sixth instalment in the extremely successful franchise (the one where Dumbledore dies at the ends) pulled in 3.7 million viewers, with 361,000 of those opting to watch the unending foreboding in high definition.
This was followed at 9pm by the second episode of touching commemorative mini-series Titanic. Last night we skipped back to the start, followed slightly different people around, lapped up the numerous allusions to the fact something very bad might happen and got to watch the ship sink. Again. The cold seas pulled in 4.4 million souls, with 393,000 of them going down in shiny HD. This is a massive drop from last Sunday’s debut, down 2.5 million viewers.
After two hours of twee BBC One Sunday scheduling (Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow were watched by 6.4 and 6.8 million viewers, respectively) the new series of Silent Witness kicked off at 9pm to dust off a few cobwebs. 6.7 million viewers watched the return of Drs. Harry and Nikki, with their serious and moody posturing securing 27% of the available audience.
Later on BBC Two Colin Murray dissected the day’s football results on Match of the Day 2 (10pm), attracting the highest amount of viewers for the channel over the weekend. 2.6 million viewers tuned in to see chat and analysis, resulting in a 15% audience 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.