TV Overnights: Weddings & violence – 8.8m tune in to Emmerdale Live on ITV1
Last night ITV1 finally delivered the moment rural soap fans have been waiting for with baited breath. Emmerdale (7pm) celebrated its 40th birthday in an appropriately dramatic fashion; there was not one but two weddings, the arrival of a few new sprogs and the demise of a long standing fan favourite.
But the question on everyone’s lips was whether this was going to soar like a tram crash on the cobbles or fall flat like forced-fingers-down-the-throat-retching from Walford.
Thankfully the sleepy village didn’t witness a rail disaster, a ‘dramatic’ rooftop chase, or god forbid, another plane crash, instead choosing to keep the drama grounded. After two eventful weddings, the action turned a surprisingly dark, pre-water shed, corner as Chas and Cameron took separate turns to bludgeon evil Carl King to death with a brick. Seriously.
Despite a few stray smiles the live event went off without a hitch, balancing the many story lines with relative ease. The sense of occasion captured Thursday’s biggest audience – 8.8 million viewers tuned in to catch any slip ups, resulting in an impressive 40% share. This has been the first time since August that the soap captured the number one spot.
There was another (slightly less dramatic) milestone over on Channel 4 as Grand Designs celebrated its 100th episode in a suitably audacious fashion. Leigh and Graham had been snapping up properties in London for the past decade but felt they needed to leave a bigger mark on the earth via the conversion of a listed 19th century 100ft water tower in London’s zone one.
The project was a suitable grand (not in the Irish sense) project, jettisoning necessity or any sense of modesty in favour of a bold, blunt statement. The end result was a stark modern renovation that was more suited to a Southbank installation than a home.
Maybe it’s a sign of the times but the latest series of creative builds has had a serious lack of sustainable living in the country side, instead featuring self-assured and gaudy central London builds, built with a confidence that only serious money can bring. The 100th episode captured the 12th series’ biggest audience to date, with 3 million viewers (a 13% share) tuning in to see the bold couple drown themselves in debt.
Up against Kevin McCloud in the 9pm slot on ITV1 was a slightly more sobering affair. The second episode in the second series of DCI Banks saw the betrodden detective’s life get even greyer. Last night Alan Banks was tasked with visiting his parent’s home with the joyful news of his little brother’s death. The Leeds-based drama attracted the same audience as last week’s opening episode, with 4.4 million viewers (a 20% share) watching DCI Banks crack his most personal case yet.
Suffering as a result was John Barnes and his journey of discovery on Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC One, 9pm). The Jamaican-born former footballer was in for a few surprises as he found out the extent to which his mother’s family were involved in campaigning against British rule back in the day.
The penultimate episode of the current series was down 20% week on week, attracting 3.4 million people (a 15% audience share) to BBC One.
Earlier, ITV1 showed the rescheduled group H World Cup Qualifier (3:30pm) after Wednesday’s washout. Poland v England kicked off at 4pm, with an average audience of 4.1 million viewers staying tuned for the entire coverage. Rooney swooped in to score the first goal in the 31st minute, with Ashley Cole picking up a shiny yellow card only moments later.
Disaster struck 70 minutes in as Kamil Glik equalised for Poland, with the audience peaking to 6 million viewers in the final moments. Strangely enough, the intense coverage of the rain the previous day brought in a slightly bigger average audience – 4.2 million viewers tuned in to watch Adrian Chiles struggle to fill dead air.
Comedy Central finally brought us the second half of Michel Scott’s final series on the The Office at 10pm. Catherine Tate, James Spader, Will Ferrell and (even David Brent himself) Ricky Gervais are all on distraction duties this series as Steve Carell slips out the back door. 113,000 viewers, a 0.6% share, welcomed the return of America’s least productive office space.
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.