TV Viewing Summary W/E 08/11/98

Hell comes in many guises according to ITV. Following on the heels of In Laws From Hell, Weddings From Hell and Neighbours From Hell, ITV’s latest look into the old adage ‘if it can go wrong, it will go wrong’, Holidays From Hell pulled in an impressive 12.18 million viewers.

Featuring stories of mass food poisoning, children falling from dodgy balconies and blazing cruise liners, the show captured a 51% share of the consolidated viewing and proved to be Yorkshire’s second most popular programme of the week behind Heartbeat.

The programme may have changed its name from Ruth Rendell Mysteries to Inspector Wexford, but the show is still very sucessful with the public. An audience of 10.51 million tuned into the first part of the new two part murder mystery, which was nearly four million more than BBC1’s lavish new costume drama Vanity Fair. The Vanity Fair drama has come in for a slating in the press recently and the BBC has reacted by moving it to a slightly later slot.

ITV’s coverage of Champion’s League football seems to be gaining popularity. Latest viewing figures show that the combined coverage of the Manchester United and Arsenal matches pulled in a total audience on 9.07 million. As the League stages draw to a close, the viewing figures for ITV’s matches have been steadily increasing, although there is a downside with the delayed start of Wednesday’s Coronation Street averaging about two million less than the other three episodes.

With the ever increasing number of soap opera episodes, there are less oportunities for new programmes to appear on the top thirty list. Only LWT’s An Audience With The Bee Gees makes a first appearance this week, achieving an audience (pun intended) of 10.12 million.

Reviewer: Simon Wright

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