TV Overnights: England’s victory results in Coronation Street’s late night defeat
Wednesday evening saw an international friendly come along and disrupted the ebb and flow of familiar scheduling, forcing Corrie fans to stay up way past their bedtime.
First up though was one of the most awkward interviews topical entertainment fans have seen. Much earlier on in the day an audience share of 20% tuned in to see Hollywood mainstay Bruce Willis forced at gunpoint (presumably) to appear on The One Show (BBC One, 7pm), slurring his way through ephemeral anecdotes.
The ageing action star looked and sounded as if he just had a huge toke on a rolled up portion of jet lag – but who wouldn’t after being set upon by vapid smiling goons Matt Baker and Alex Jones? 4.2 million viewers watched as the misty-eyed charisma vacuum tried in vain to plug the latest instalment in the creaky Die Hard franchise.
Later, BBC One saw the return of a small screen legend in Holiday Hit Squad (8pm). No, unfortunately Angela Rippon hasn’t taken to assassinations to pull back some kudos and earn a few extra pennies in her autumn years. Instead the broadcaster spent her time sniffing dodgy bed sheets in foreign climes.
3.9 million viewers tuned in to hear a variety of cautionary tales that detailed the dangers of leaving your living room, let alone going somewhere foreign. The veteran presenter was joined by two youngling reporters in an effort to avoid scaring off any young children – across television and radio the BBC have been protecting the nation from aging for many years now.
While The Mary Berry Story is perfectly acceptable over on the nether regions of BBC Two but prime time audiences on the flagship channel are much more sensitive to these things. The public service announcement, apparently all about the dangers of not holidaying in Britain, attracted a 16% share.
That wasn’t enough to fend off a nice and friendly game of International Football over on ITV. Adrian Chiles’ welcoming and plentiful face popped up on screens at 7pm, talking us through the excitement of people putting footballs in nets, with England v Brazil kicking off at 7:30pm.
Wayne Rooney secured the only goal for the first half, with Frederico Chaves Guedes retaliating for Brazil in the opening minutes of the second half. An average audience of 6.7 million viewers (a 29% share) tuned in for the entire coverage, with Lampard securing a 2-1 victory with his 60th minute goal. The national pride-starved viewers brought in the biggest audience of the day.
Audience interest reached fever pitch in the closing minutes, with 8.4 million fans watching the game as the final whistle blew. Once the game actually got started, it captured the highest audience share for the entire game.
The 9pm slot was a slightly odd affair with the wildlife of David Attenborough’s Africa (BBC One, 9pm) going up against the wildlife of Weatherfield. The final visit to the visually stunning continent saw Sir David ponder upon the future of the indigenous life dealing with the challenge of an ever-changing environmental landscape.
The absorbing show was up with the usual standards of BBC’s nature output and performed consistently over the past five weeks. Last night’s final trip brought in 5.2 million viewers to BBC One and a 21% share. This wasn’t enough to fight off ITV’s surprise scheduling with Africa only securing the highest share for a 15 minute period.
Those of a nervous and squeamish disposition had plenty to choose from elsewhere at 9pm. Fans of hysterical screaming were treated to labour rollercoaster that is One Born Every Minute (Channel 4, 9pm). 1.8 million viewers showed up for the latest slice of the harrowing and heart-warming show, securing a 7% share.
At the same time over on BBC Two was Brain Doctors (9pm), the first of a three part documentary dealing with…brain doctors. Sure, we all get a bit jumpy when we think of injuries to the eyeball or groinal area, yet there is something that completely disturbs at the thoughts of brain tinkering.
Probably something to do with the props lying around labelled ‘skull drill’. 1.3 million viewers signed up for a one hour tour of duty at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, securing a 5% share.
The biggest surprise of the night came in the form of late-night special Coronation Street After Dark (ITV, 9:30pm). Last night’s sensuous adventures in Weatherfield saw Tyron and Fiz take a relaxing bath together after their turbulent start to the year, Lewis returned to surprise Gail with an intense body massage and Norris tired out a new chemical stimulant at the launch of his new members-only club.
Well no, not really but maybe ITV did miss a trick. As a result of the football the standard midweek broadcast was pushed back in to the grand stage of prime time and somehow managed to shed viewers.
Only 5.7 million soap fans struggled to stay up to the wee hours of Wednesday, capturing an audience share of 24%. The high octane action only managed to pull in the biggest share across all channels for its final 15 minutes.
Later on Channel 4 was the second episode of the controversial observational comedy of Derek (10pm) – the second most tweeted about show last night. The show sees Ricky Gervais express the difficulties of mental disabilities through excessive gurning and captured an audience of 1.5 million viewers and a 8% 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.
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