Channel 4’s Sex Box once again fails to hit the sweet spot

Channel 4 was back to pushing the boundaries of its educational remit last night with the launch of a second series of icky and universally slated public shag show, Sex Box (10pm).

Like a late night version of ITV’s The Cube, couples were invited to have a good old natter about their sexual habits before popping into the weird IKEA shed for a quick bout of naughtiness on national TV.

Originally launched in October 2013 to 981,000 viewers and public derisiveness, the show aired for seven consecutive nights before wrapping things up (and wiping things down).

The launch of the second series, now presented by Steve Jones and Goedele Liekens, didn’t do much better than the first and brought in a lower audience of 830,000 viewers and a 5% share for Channel 4. The ultimate example in gimmick TV didn’t even manage to top the TV Twitter chart, but more on that later.

Meanwhile, it was explosion time on Ramsay Street, prompting Channel 5 to air an hour-long edition of Neighbours at the late and unholy hour of 10pm. More of a desperate episode of Emmerdale than a friendly shrimp barbeque of yesteryear, Friday’s build up secured 541,000 viewers in the early evening slot with last night’s extended edition improving on that.

981,000 viewers tuned in for some hot late night Erinsborough, with the search through the charred remains of Lassiters bringing in a 6% share.

Earlier at 9pm, ITV launched a brand new dark and gloomy murder show to the masses, with Anna Friel’s Marcella (9pm) treading that particularly modern brand of damaged detective.

While the schedules have been awash with Scani-inspired Nordic noir for years now, last night’s new addition got a little help from Hans Rosenfeldt, the creator of instigating show The Bridge.

The extremely violent show saw Friel’s psycho-hunter detective return to London’s police force after a number of years away, all the while battling the troublesome demons. The opening episode pulled in a strong audience of 5.8 million viewers, some strong reviews and a 26% share.

Over on FOX, brutal punishment show The Walking Dead (9pm) wrapped up its exhausting sixth series with a feature-length episode with some shocking and divisive scenes.

Never a stranger to controversy and a commitment to ruthlessly upsetting fans, last night finally saw the introduction of much-mentioned villain Negan and his barbed wire baseball bat Lucille.

792,000 viewers tuned in for the extended helping of trauma, resulting in a 4% share and topping the TV Twitter Chart as viewers turned to social media in outrage at that vicious ending, resulting in the most amount of tweets generated for the show so far.

BBC One saw Dan Snow digging up archaeology sites for an hour and a half at 8:30pm, with The Vikings Uncovered pulling in 3.1 million viewers and a 14% share.

Over on BBC Two, the jury in the ‘trial of the century’ began coming apart at the seams after eight months of being locked away, with the eighth instalment of American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson (9pm) bagging 1.1 million viewers and a 5% share.

The third series of The Island with Bear Grylls continued on Channel 4 at 9pm, as the male and female tribes stumbled upon each other leading to a new world order/fresh dystopian nightmare.

2.2 million viewers watched as the dehydrated and starving survivalists went a bit Lord of the Flies, resulting in a 10% share.

At 7:30pm, BBC One’s Tax Havens of the Rich and Powerful Exposed – Panorama was watched by 3.4 million viewers and a 17% share while Monday’s other depressing investigative show, Britain’s Pensioner Care Scandal: Channel 4 Dispatches, brought in 896,000 and a 4% share at 8pm.

A double helping of Coronation Street (ITV) took the day’s top two spots with the 7:30pm visit 6.7 million viewers while the 8:30pm showing netting 6.4 million viewers.

Even earlier, Emmerdale pulled in 5.9 million viewers while the latest trouble and strife over on EastEnders netted 6.3 million viewers.

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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