In The Club returns with postnatal woes and secures 4.2m

Tuesday night saw the return of Kay Mellor’s pregnancy drama In the Club (9pm) secure the prime time slot for BBC One, despite nearly an overdue wait of almost two years.

Back in August 2014, the Band of Gold and Fat Friends writer débuted her drama about a group of heavily pregnant women to an audience of 4 million viewers, with each of the six episodes focusing on one particular character’s colourful life, before wrapping up with an unexpectedly improved 4.7 million viewers a few weeks later.

Starring Spooks‘ Hermione Norris and The IT Crowd‘s Katherine Parkinson, among a sea of other familiar faces, last night’s second series opener saw the original stars return instead of bringing in a fresh horde of prenatal trouble.

Yesterday saw the returning drama score an audience of 4.2 million viewers, with Parkinson’s Kim struggling to adapt to her new life helping secure the 9pm slot with a 22% share.

Over on BBC Two there was some slightly more disturbing viewing, with seriously worrying The Conspiracy Files: Who Shot Down MH17? (9pm) netting the second biggest audience in its timeslot.

The documentary walked viewers through the multitude of officially released – but highly faked – ‘evidence’ released by the Russian government and deluge of hazy verification popping up all over social media, giving an audience of 1.7 million viewers (a 9% share) something to worry about on a Tuesday night.

There was some tragedy over on ITV which, after five long weeks, finally dragged its terminally ill creation Drive (9pm) out the back and humanely put it to sleep.

The light entertainment show careered onto screens back in early April, with scenes of Louis Walsh’s filth-splattered face bagging 1.9 million viewers, before slipping over the following weeks.

The grand finale of the Vernon Kay-fronted Not Top Gear saw the remaining vaguely familiar celebrities drive some more cars, resulting in 1.3 million viewers and a 7% share.

Meanwhile, there was one last drop of entertainment to be squeezed from Channel 4’s starvation adventure with Surviving the Island with Bear Grylls (9pm) detailing the inhabitants’ journey in a more consumable way than the main TV show.

The third series wrapped up on Monday with 1.5 million viewers, with last night’s ‘behind the scenes’ look at how the camp failed to thrive netting just 804,000 and a 4% share.

[advert position=”left”]At the same time, Channel 5 offered up Ian Brady: 50 Years Behind Bars (9pm), an odd celebration of the historic landmark. Featuring interviews with prison officers, relatives of victims and those odd pen pal types, 1.2 million viewers checked in on the half century milestone, resulting in a 6% share.

At 8pm, Bake Off: Crème de la Crème, the decidedly spikier sister show to BBC One’s mega hit, brought in 3 million viewers and a 15% share for BBC Two, while Holby City secured 4.3 million viewers and a 22% share for the flagship channel.

In Channel 4’s curious corner of wrong at 8pm was the third and penultimate episode of The Tiny Tots Talent Agency which saw more younglings (and their mothers) desperately try to break into the glamorous world of child modelling, resulting in 652,000 viewers and a 3% share.

Over on ITV, Steve Backshall continued to prod, probe and wrestle really dangerous animals in the latest Fierce (8pm), securing 2 million viewers and a 10% share in the process.

On Channel 5 at 8pm was The Yorkshire Vet, and while he may not be as flashy as The Supervet, at least fans of sedated animals being cut into can still get their fix. 1.3 million viewers watched the latest batch of cuddly critters have their 15 minutes of fame, netting a 7% share.

Earlier at 7pm, Emmerdale (ITV) had the difficult task of paying tribute to the late actress Shirley Stelfox’s character Edna Birch, with 5.1 million viewers and a 30% share watching the emotional scenes.

BBC One’s EastEnders took Tuesday’s top prize at 7:30pm, with 6.2 million viewers and a 34% share tuning in to see Denise Welsh join the cast as one of those troubled Slater women.

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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