TV viewing round-up: September 2014

Seemingly answering the question nobody asked, ‘Who wants to see a drama about the early career of the host of Blind Date?’, Cilla landed on ITV’s schedules in September.

Written by Jeff Pope, whose previous credits include ITV’s See No Evil: The Moors Murders, the three part drama starred Sheridan Smith as 1980s TV icon Cilla Black.

The (semi) warts-and-all biographical drama went down a storm with viewers, as 7.9 million people tuned in to see ‘Our Cilla’ get her big break by becoming The Beatles’ manager Brian Esptein’s other famous act.

Afghanistan-set drama Our Girl saw Lacey Turner taking a break from playing cheerful Stacey Slater to tackle the role of raw army recruit Molly Dawes in a new five part series. Following on from last year’s one-off drama, the first episode was seen by 5.2 million people.

The grand and not-so-grand residents of Downton Abbey returned to our screens in September with the start of the fifth series of upstairs and downstairs melodrama. Picking up from the events of last year’s Christmas special, the opening episode ended up achieving September’s biggest audience with 10.3 million viewers.

Following his stint on hit US zombie drama The Walking Dead, David Morrissey returned to UK television screens in BBC One’s The Driver. Playing a taxi driver who accepts a job offer from a criminal gang, the opening instalment of the three part drama launched with an average audience of 5.4 million.

Elsewhere Scott & Bailey, ITV’s cut price version of Cagney & Lacey, returned for a fourth series. Starring Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp as the duo in question, the new series kicked off with both officers competing for promotion and was watched by 5.6 million viewers.

Despite appearing to be a fixture that appeared low on the excitement scale, Euro 2016 qualifier Switzerland vs England somehow managed to attract a decent television audience. Arsenal new boy Danny Welbeck’s two goals were enough to ensure a win for Roy Hodgson’s team, with 5.8 million tuning in to the fairly drab affair.

The ongoing ratings battle between Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor was narrowly edged this month by ITV’s all-singing and no dancing show. The first round of Wembley Arena auditions attracted 9.7 million reality show fans – just over 300,000 viewers more than the second live show from the celebrity ballroom dancers on BBC One.

Other programmes that proved popular in September include: Who Do You Think You Are, which pulled in 5.4 million viewers; the second episode about the founding of Chester Zoo,Our Zoo, seen by 5.3 million people; long-running cop drama New Tricks, with an audience of 6.3 million; a Robin Hood-featured episode of Doctor Who, with 7.3 million viewers; and animal show Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs, which was watched by 4.7 million viewers.

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