TV Overnights: will.i.am’s tears win 10.7m viewers for The Voice UK
On Saturday Britain’s Got Talent (ITV1, 8pm) scored an average audience of 9.6 million viewers while The Voice UK (BBC One, 7pm) fared better with an audience of 10.7 million, making it only the second week the BBC One singing competition actually beat Simon Cowell’s variety show (in terms of overall ratings).
Friday
Once again Friday night’s schedule was dominated by drama of the soap kind, with the first episode of Coronation Street (ITV1, 7:30pm) scoring the highest audience of the night. The episode saw Audrey Roberts airing out Mary’s old camper-van and setting up a pop-up salon, all to spite grandson David, and won an impressive 39% audience share. 8.3 million viewers tuned in to see Audrey hang on to the mute extras that make up most of her client base.
Earlier on the same channel, Emmerdale (7pm) continued to focus on the hormonally challenged pairing of Chas and Cameron after their impromptu roll around in the damp Woolpack cellar. 6.6 million people tuned in to see the discreet couple give in to temptation and go for another round of heavy necking, resulting in a 34% audience share.
It was over to Walford at 8pm on BBC One and it was an unlucky Friday the 13th for Billy Mitchell (although, with EastEnders the vast majority of weekdays are unlucky for somebody) who was the brand-new primary suspect for Heather’s murder. 8.2 million tuned in to see another tense night for the remaining Mitchells, bagging a 35% audience share. Will Phil ever turn his son in? Is a Billy Mitchell worth more than a Ben Mitchell?
2.18 million viewers sought out some cerebral nourishment on BBC Two at 8pm in the form of Mastermind, possibly in a valiant effort to fight off the mind-decaying soaps. The surge of interest helped BBC Two score its biggest audience share of the weekend with 9.5%. Although Gardener’s World, which followed immediately after at 8:30pm, secured the channel’s largest audience of the three days, with 2.19 million viewers.
Over on ITV1 at 8:30pm, the fuzz descended on the cobbles after Audrey attacked David’s salon sign with a nail file. The second episode of Coronation Street saw the Street’s resident glamour puss tango on the wrong side of the law and was viewed by a smaller audience of 7.5 million (a 32% share).
This was followed by a brand spanking new series of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories at 9pm, with the ‘International Man of Hard Journalism’ pinning down Corrie legend William Roache for an hour of intense probing. 4.2 million viewers watched as Piers bravely suited up and delved into the murky waters of the national treasure’s past, bringing back answers the nation needed to know.
Going head to head with the might of Morgan was the first installment in the 43rd series of Have I Got News For You? on BBC One. 5.4 million viewers watched the episode, which was hosted by comedian Stephen Langley.
Saturday
ITV’s announcement that it will shift next week’s Britain’s Got Talent further away from BBC One rival The Voice UK seems even more apt, especially with this weekend’s figures bringing a second week of defeat. While the press have been obsessively focusing on the fact the new BBC show pulls in more viewers in the fifteen minute overlap, Simon Cowell’s merry ship of talent actually scored a higher average audience for the first two weeks.
Saturday marked the second time Britain’s Got Talent (8pm) was actually beaten in terms of an average audience over the entire episode. In the fifteen minute overlap The Voice UK (7pm) witnessed a record amount of viewers in the closing 15 minutes (12 million, a 46% share) while Britain’s Got Talent opened up with 5.7 million viewers (a 21.8% share).
An average audience of 9.6 million viewers watched all one hour and 20 minutes of singing, dancing and the other miscellaneous talents including Simon’s newest favorite singing sensation Hope Murphy (pictured).
In the end The Voice UK fared better with an average audience of 10.7 million tuning in for the duration. Although considering the fickle nature of Saturday night ‘reality’ TV, the success may be down to the fact that two judges cried on The Voice UK, compared to none over on BGT. The nation can’t help themselves when it comes to watching famous celebrities show emotion.
Earlier on BBC One The Grand National (1pm) saw the safety changes, following 2011’s incidents, fall flat as two horses perished in the steeplechase. An average audience of four million viewers (a 34% share) watched the entire coverage – though the audience peaked to 10 million as Neptune Collonges, a 33/1 shot, won the race.
Later, DisneyPixar hit Wall-E (5:30pm) attracted 3.5 million viewers, with the lovechild of E.T. and a Tonka Truck helping the children wash the images of dead horsies out of their minds through the medium of laughter.
Sunday
As we’re all aware Sunday, in itself, was an extremely historic event; it marked the day that saw an end to lazy Titanic-based programming and hopefully it will be another 100 years before the nation is subjected to an onslaught of shows looking at the tragedy from ‘a fresh perspective’. Yesterday we saw Inside the Titanic (Channel 5, 12:30pm), Saving The Titanic (Channel 4, 4pm), Titanic with Len Goodman (BBC One, 6pm) and Words of The Titanic (ITV1, 10pm) but the biggest offender was Julian Fellowes’ mini-series, which has been haunting our set for three weeks now.
The final episode of Titanic (ITV1, 9pm) – much like James Cameron’s blockbuster but with even worse characters, cheaper sets and a longer running time – attracted 3.5 million viewers, proving that the audience would come back if they promised to kill the ship once and for all. The series debuted with 6.9 million viewers but the audience dropped significantly as the momentum gave way to poor characterisation in a story that has been told many times before.
Earlier Antiques Roadshow (8pm) attracted the cardigan brigade to BBC One. Fiona Bruce braved the unusually suspicious-looking crowd in Manchester Town Hall, whose constant presence in the background did not put off an average audience of 7.2 million.
Over on Channel 4 Homeland (10pm) once again secured the channel with its biggest audience of the weekend. 2.2 million viewers tuned in to discover that the eight years Sgt Nicholas Brody spent being physically and psychologically tortured in captivity, weren’t so harmless after all.
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.