TV viewing round-up: February 2014

To say the storyline for the opening episode of the fifth series of Jonathan Creek was underwhelming would be an understatement.

The previous formula of baffling crime committing followed by ‘this is how it was done’ was replaced by a ‘locked room’ mystery where the viewers knew exactly what happened to the victim before Jonathan did.

The entertainment, such as it was, came from the thinly disguised mocking of Stephen Moffat’s Sherlock Holmes. Watching new character Ridley come up with outlandish explanations for the ‘impossible crimes’ was, at least, mildly amusing.

Despite the lacklustre opening to the fifth proper series, 8.1 million people welcomed back Alan Davies as the title character.

Rugby’s annual premier competition kicked off this month, with Six Nations: France vs England proving to be the biggest hit.

The match saw the lead change hands three times over the course of 80 pulsating minutes, with the French eventually securing a 26-24 victory thanks to a late try from Gaël Fickou.

The Parisian sporting drama attracted an audience of just under 6 million viewers for the final match of the first week.

BBC Two’s Top Gear returned this month for its 21st series, featuring the same mix of news, reviews, challenges and famous people driving reasonably-priced cars.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the appearance of Tom Hiddleston proved to be a hit with television viewers (and Mr H’s acolytes on Tumblr), as just under 7 million people tuned in on 9 February.

Pretty much the only reason for watching prime time ITV on Saturday nights at this time of year is Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway – so thank the heavens that the Geordie boys are back.

The eleventh series of light entertainment sketches, passable disguises and regular folk attempting to win prizes based on 50/50 guesswork kicked off with a few thousand viewers shy of 7 million.

There was cause for celebration – or trepidation – this month, with the 100th episode of Midsomer Murders hitting the airwaves. How one small village can have any residents left to kill is a mystery even Jonathan Creek would struggle to solve.

The centenary case saw DCI Barnaby and sidekick Nelson join forces with two Danish detectives to draw in a respectable audience of 6.8 million viewers – no doubt proving that the general public can’t get enough of a good countryside slaying.

Elsewhere this month saw the return of two police dramas: BBC One’s Inspector George Gently, which had 6.6 million viewers, and ITV’s DCI Banks, with 7.1 million viewers.

Also doing well in February was Costa del comedy Benidorm, with 6.4 million viewers; legal drama Silk, with an audience of 6.1 million; and UEFA Champions League: Man City vs Barcelona, watched by 6 million people.

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