Wolf Hall falls by -33% after record-breaking début
Wednesday night brought the third instalment of BBC Two’s highly anticipated adaptation of the Man Booker Prize-winning historical novel Wolf Hall (9pm), with last night’s shrinking audience seeing the drama edging towards the dreaded ‘cult’ status.
Three weeks ago the story of skulduggery, lust and lots of divorce landed, giving BBC Two it’s biggest drama in over a decade, with 3.9 million viewers tuning in for the opening slice of Tudor power play.
Spliced with the TV DNA of Game of Thrones and House of Cards, the brooding and diseased-riddled drama follows the rise to power of shadow-creeper lawyer Thomas Cromwell and his influence over randy king of yore Henry VIII.
Slipping down to 2.9 million viewers last week, yesterday’s overnight figure saw the audience erosion continue. Last night’s Anne Boleyn-focused episode represented a -33% fall in viewers from the successful début.
In total, 2.6 million viewers tuned in to see master manipulator Anne skulk around the darkened corridors of power, flashing an influential smile when needed, resulting in Wolf Hall taking an 11% share and BBC Two’s biggest audience of the day.
Perhaps if the iPlayer wasn’t so omnipresent and easy to use, the live viewership would have been maintained, but it’s possible that the demanding drama is a victim of catch-up’s success.
The power play over in the Elstree Studios compound continued in Celebrity Big Brother (9pm) as screeching psychopath Perez Hilton was released upon the world.
The Emma Willis-fronted ‘spectacular’ took in 2.3 million viewers and a 10% share, while Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the Side was watched by 606,000 viewers at 11pm, with both shows topping the Twitter TV rankings.
On Channel 4 there was more real life horror, although this time slightly less self-absorbed. The eighth series of the fly-on-the-sterilised-wall documentary 24 Hours in A&E (9pm) focused on victims of car accidents, sprinkling in a healthy dose of humour for everyone’s benefit.
1.9 million viewers got caught up in the real life tragedies, resulting in an 8% share.
Both ITV and BBC One had their evening schedules clogged up with some ‘event’ television. Kicking off at 8pm on ITV was a brand new episode of feature-length drama Midomer Murders.
The latest slice of complete and utter nonsense from the UK’s dodgiest county saw a pub landlady being crushed by a giant box during a church magic show, with DCI Barnaby and DS Nelson being forced to delve into local paganism to find the bad guy.
An audience of 4.3 million viewers joined in on the silly fun, securing an average audience share of 19% for the two-hour running time.
Over on BBC One, Match of the Day Live dominated from 7:30pm as everyone’s favourite football team Bolton Wanderers faced off against Liverpool in the world famous Macron Stadium. An average audience of 4.5 million viewers tuned in for the entire 2.5 hour running time, with a last minute resurgence from Liverpool seeing popularity peak around 9:15pm with 5.7 million viewers.
Earlier at 8pm, The Jump provided Channel 4 with 1.8 million viewers, while the latest share of balanced sensationalism from Channel 5, GPs: Behind Closed Doors (8pm), netted 1.2 million viewers and a 6% share.
It was ITV’s soaps that won the day’s top two spots, with the rural bed-swapping, back-stabbing excitement of Emmerdale (7pm) attracting 6.4 million viewers and a 32% share.
Straight up afterwards, dominant soap Coronation Street (7:30pm) swooped in and secured Wednesday’s number one spot as resident old dear Norris Cole’s day was ruined when a bulk delivery of chicken-related magazines landed on his doorstep.
7.6 million viewers tuned in to watch the calamity unfold, resulting in a massive 36% share for ITV.
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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