Vicar’s jazzy night off on Grantchester leads to 4.8m on ITV

Last night saw ITV kick off a fresh week of telly by allowing Grantchester‘s ‘hip’ crime-solving vicar Sidney (Happy Valley’s James Norton) a chance to let his hair down and put aside his killer-hunting instincts for just one night.

Hanging up the collar in exchange for the jazzy temptations of 1950s London, the penultimate episode of the period drama’s first series at 9pm saw Sidney and his craggy Geordie copper friend, Geordie (Robson Green), leave the dangers of their perilous Cambridgeshire hamlet behind to enjoy a peaceful night in a jazz club in Soho.

The mystery-solving show managed to pull in the biggest 9pm audience and it wasn’t long before a slain corpse popped up, just in time to avoid awkward silences between the odd friends.

Kicking off with 5.2 million viewers a few weeks back, the simplistic and nostalgic drama managed to fall all the way to four million before picking itself back up again.

Yesterday’s audience of 4.8 million viewers watched as the crime-solving countrymen soaked up the bright lights of the West End, netting a solid 21% share.

There was more preaching to the choir over on BBC One as the first of an inevitable onslaught of Children in Need prime time specials got under way as Gareth Malone attempted to whip some celebrity throats into shape on Gareth’s All Star Choir (9pm).

‘Fresh’ off last year’s novelty choir show (a genre that surely didn’t exist before Malone) Sing While You Work, last night brought together the tough vocal master and a group of random past and present BBC employees in order to create this year’s charity single.

An audience of 3.8 million viewers watched as 38 year old childman Malone realised he was in a little over his head in the first of a two-part documentary, netting a 17% share.

Over on BBC Two, bizarre American supernatural drama Intruders (9pm) continued as Leeds’ John Simm played an LA cop with some serious marriage issues. An audience of 532,000 tuned in for the third episode, down from the opening’s 951,000 viewers last week.

At the same time, Channel 4 was busy attempting to make Make Leicester British (9pm), finally delivering a follow-up to Make Bradford British that nobody called out for.

One of those shows boasting a reactionary title created by a marketing department instead of an honest and informative one, the documentary followed a number of immigrants of an ethnically-diverse Leicester.

1.1 million viewers tuned in to watch the balanced documentary as the subjects explored what it means to be British, netting a 5% share.

Meanwhile, the fourth episode of Channel 5’s hit show based entirely around the concept of foreshadowing, Gotham (9pm), got under way as Detective Jim Gordon tried to keep his ethical head above waters in the morally corrupt world of organised crime.

So far the show has been leaning heavily on the villain-origin-of-the-week format but last night’s action looked at the eventual creation of Arkham Asylum, as well as the usual peppering of scenes spelling out that the pint-sized Bruce Wayne will one day become Batman.

While the format is in danger of spreading a bit thin, audiences haven’t fallen that much since it debuted with 1.7 million viewers. Last night 1.6 million viewers tuned in to see the man that would one day become the Penguin show up at the home of the future police commissioner, netting a 6% share.

Earlier on in the day, Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) bagged fourth place with the rural crime soap netting 6.6 million viewers and a 32% share, which meant that a long-coming pay-off in EastEnders (BBC One, 8pm) secured third place.

With an eight month build-up, since poor old Dot Cotton’s ‘buried’ her son, Monday night’s surprise reunion with Nasty Nick proved it had gravity to secure an impressive live audience. 7 million viewers and a 31% share watched as Nick told his mother the truth about his convoluted plans, netting a 31% share.

But it was Rob Donavan’s panicked getaway plans that won the day’s two top spots for Coronation Street (ITV). 8.2 million viewers and a 37% share watched at 7:30pm as the killer called his fiancée Tracy for help and, more importantly, cash.

8 million viewers watched at 8:30pm as 82 year old Ken Barlow kicked off his own private manhunt, resulting in a 35% share.

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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