TV Overnights: Walford’s festive brand of joy & happiness nets 7.7m for BBC One
Last night saw the BBC aim squarely for the finicky older-in-life market and once again secured a shot straight to the head.
The forth episode of the twilight romance series (no, really not that one) Last Tango in Halifax (9pm) continued to perform impressively well for BBC One, gaining what seems to be a very dedicated fan base.
Alan and Celia’s latest adventure saw them trapped in a dusty, creaky (and possibly haunted) country hall, a perfect analogy for their relationship if there ever was one. The series has been praised for putting elderly characters at the forefront and so far has pulled in an average of 6 million viewers per episode, with last night being no exception.
An audience share of 25% watched as the frisky couple’s respective daughters set up a frantic search and bonded over the fact their parents might have died horribly. Not to worry thought, this week it was announced that the series will in fact be returning for a second series. Let’s just hope the target audience is still around to appreciate it.
An alternative to the warm and comforting elderly antics was fright-doc On the Run on ITV1 at 9pm. Designed to make sure your Nan double locks each night, the programme investigated how murderers, rapists, violent thugs and serial burglars continuously evade police capture.
Thankfully, authoritative protector of the public, Nicky Campbell, was on hand to dispense some swift justice, collectively calming the nation down before bedtime. Joining Nicky was Mark Williams-Thomas (of Jimmy Savile investigation and doubled-barrelled name fame), who saw his opportunity to jump into the prime time.
2 million viewers (an 8% share) tuned in to learn that the police are simply too overwhelmed to deal with these ‘issues’, leaving the country’s security in the safe hands of the dynamic duo.
Which was perhaps why an earlier programme about the weather on Channel 4 successfully defeated ITV1’s prime time offering. Is Our Weather Getting Worse? (8pm) asked a typically British question, one we all knew the answer too. A resounding ‘yes’ – isn’t everything always getting worse?
In a year when the UK was hit by severe drought followed by destructive flooding, questions did need to be asked. Thankfully the investigation wasn’t fronted by a self-promoting journalist (trying their best to come across as sincere), instead the facts were allowed to speak for themself. 2.2 million people tuned in to see the macro effects of global warming, securing a 10% share.
At the same time, MasterChef: The Professionals (8pm) brought in BBC Two’s largest audience of the day as 3.3 million people (a 14% share) tuned in to see the final three hopefuls put through their paces. Meanwhile BBC One brought us the latest helping of Holby City (8pm) which saw surgeon Ric Griffin feel the fallout from last week’s spell of necking with tempting Australian newcomer Lilah.
Presumably some patients were attended to also. BBC One’s well-oiled machine performed to its usual high standards, pulling in 5 million viewers and a 21% audience share.
It was all futile however – the soaps once again provided the drama to pull in the largest audiences. Emmerdale at 7pm bagged the day’s second biggest audience with 7.1 million viewers, resulting in a 33% share.
But the biggest success of the day came along at 7:30pm as the residents of Walford all gathered together in merriment and good will to turn on the square’s Christmas lights. Who would show up and get the honour of flicking the switch? Girls Aloud? JLS? Mariah Carey?
In the end Alfie Moon had to make do, even if he was distracted by his wife having the most unsubtle affair in the history of human kind. 7.7 million viewers watched as Alfie struggled with justifiable paranoia over Kat’s actions, securing the day’s biggest audience.
At least he now knows which give viewers some indication that this awful never ending storyline might actually have an expiry date. Ah well, at least there are no dead babies this Christmas. Maybe Walford is brightening up.
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.