Unforgotten continues to secure prime time audience for ITV
Thursday night saw ITV air the penultimate episode of well-received cold case drama Unforgotten (9pm) which, despite the declining ratings, continued to outperform its timeslot rivals.
The emotional drama stars Nicola Walker (who’s simultaneously playing a dead cop each Monday on BBC One’s noticeably darker thriller River) and Sanjeev Bhaskar as detectives tasked with solving a murder after a 39 year old corpse pops up under a London property, featuring a host of suspect characters who knew the victim back in the day.
The subtly executed mystery has been playing a satisfyingly slow game up until last night’s fifth instalment, which saw the dynamic duo make some serious headway with their investigation.
Opening up with 4.5 million viewers at the start of October, the second week saw the ratings drop to 3.9 million and has been eroding slightly ever since, despite being praised.
Aiming to capture some of that addictive and elusive Broadchurch magic that even the second series of Broadchurch failed to nail, ITV’s restrained crime procedural managed to pull in an 18% share, matching last week’s audience exactly with 3.6 million viewers.
On BBC One, the second and final episode of Class of ’92: Out of Their League (9pm) continued to document the struggle of Salford FC and the club’s owners, a group of former football stars.
An audience of 3 million viewers tuned in to see if the small time team could turn things around and earn a promotion out of the netherland of Northern Premier League Division One North division, resulting in a 15% share.
At the same time on BBC Two was the third episode of The Last Kingdon (9pm) which saw our hero, rejected Viking Uhtred, form an alliance with the Saxons of Wessex and their leader Alfred the Great.
The Game of Thrones-lite shenanigans secured 1.6 million viewers for BBC Two, translating to an 8% share.
On Channel 4, the second episode of Kitchen Impossible with Michel Roux Jr (9pm) saw the celebrity continue to train up eight people with disabilities, and pulled in 1.1 million viewers and a 5% share.
On Channel 5, a former Tiswas presenter visited Canada for some exciting times on Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways (9pm), with the latest high adrenaline adventure securing 1.3 million viewers and a 7% share.
[advert position=”left”]A little earlier on BBC One, youthful and perky new presenters Sophie Raworth and Michelle Ackerley continued to chase the ghost of Anne Robinson out of the building as the latest series of Watchdog (9pm) continued with an audience of 3.4 million viewers and a 16% share.
On BBC Two, the hanging-around-a-darkened-wood voyeuristic fun of Autumnwatch 2015 (8pm) brought in 2.2 million viewers and an 11% share while ITV’s Paul O’ Grady: For the Love of Dogs secured 4.3 million viewers and a 20% share.
Earlier at 7pm, an hour-long Emmerdale (ITV) was on a direct collision course with BBC One’s EastEnders (7:30pm), resulting in the usual outcome.
The 60 minute trip to the Yorkshire Dales secured 5.8 million viewers and a 29% share, while the latest trouble and strife from Albert Square was watched by just 4.4 million viewers and a 21% share.
Which all meant nothing anyway, as Coronation Street swept in at 8pm to steal away Thursday’s biggest audience. ITV’s hit soap pulled in 6.2 million viewers and a 30% share with its tale of everyday working class folk and the people they murder.
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. Overnight data supplied by TRP are based on 15 minute slot averages. This may differ from tape checked figures, which are based on a programme’s actual start and end time.
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