Piers Morgan’s tangle with killer women secures 9pm slot for ITV

In a genius example of meeting viewers’ needs and desires, last night saw commercial broadcaster ITV lock notorious rent-a-gob and indiscriminate shit-stirring Piers Morgan in a prison with dangerous female killers, all in the name of ‘serious’ prime time entertainment.

The hard-hitting doc saw the former rag-filler slap on his serious, solemn journo cap and travel to the US to hang out in a few of those TV-welcoming maximum security prisons to try and get his head around the whole ‘pretty lady wot kills’ thing.

Killer Women with Piers Morgan (9pm) easily secured its timeslot for ITV as Morgan pulled no punches when interviewing his harem of murderers, only to be particularly horrified by one lady that slayed her entire family – made all the more traumatising for our intrepid reporter was the fact she was a well-spoken pretty white girl who could belt out a note-perfect rendition of Amazing Grace.

3.8 million viewers watched as Morgan struggled to come to terms with such contradictory and confusing imagery, with the first part of his mind-opening transformative trip securing a 19% share and generating the second most amount of Tweets of the day.

At the same time BBC One kicked off another top notch wildlife series, with the first of three instalments of Nature’s Epic Journey (9pm) looking at 1,000 elephants going for a 100 mile jaunt across Kenya.

2.9 million viewers and a 15% share joined in on the arduous journey.

Over on BBC Two, Mary Beard’s Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit (9pm) saw the presenter big up the inclusive nature of the old system, with 1.3 million viewers and a 6% share learning about the surprisingly ethnic diversity.

One Born Every Minute (Channel 4, 9pm) continued to provide a never-ending conveyor belt of new characters, with the latest maternity ward-based fun netting 1.1 million viewers and a 6% share while on Channel 5, Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away secured 1.4 million viewers and a 7% share.

A bit later on BBC Two, Philomena Cunk, the mindless roving reporter from Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe, set her sights on the Bard in the amazingly titled Cunk on Shakespeare at 10pm.

726,000 viewers tuned in to see Cunk demonsrtate ignorance as a superpower, sending viewers into a chuckle while horrifying experts.

The hilariously quotable half an hour secured a 5% share for BBC Two, with the blasphemous journey into nonsense become the fourth most tweeted about show of the day.

At 8pm, BBC One brought us another hour from the Invictus Games 2016 which was watched by 2.3 million viewers and a 12% share but was eaten by ITV’s Tonight at the London Palladium which secured 3.6 million viewers and a 19% share.

There was some educational content to be consumed on BBC Two at 8pm, with Horizon: Curing Alzheimer’s delving into the latest medical understandings (top tip – that sleep stuff everyone is always banging on about not getting enough of? Turns out it’s super good for you), bringing in 1.2 million viewers and a 6% share.

On Channel 4 The Supervet (8pm) was back, hacking away at cuddly doggies, netting 1.7 million viewers and a 9% share while Channel 5’s GPs: Behind Closed Doors (8pm) secured 1.1 million viewers and a 6% share.

ITV’s soaps took the top two spots, with Emmerdale at 7pm netting 5.5 million viewers and a 33% share while Wednesday’s trip to the adulterous, murderous cobbles of Coronation Street secured a 34% share and 6.1 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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