Friday Ratings: New Tricks beats Paul O’Grady Live
BBC One’s ever popular police drama New Tricks, which stars Amanda Redman and Dennis Waterman, once again had the better of ITV’s new chat-show Paul O’Grady Live at 9pm last night.
The final Daybreak of the week on ITV1 once again pulled in 800,000 viewers. It’s not been a brilliant week for the new programme with ratings dropping to 760,000 viewers and the press picking up on the fact its lost 20% of its viewers since it launched. Indeed Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley probably feel everyone is out to get them now with continual coverage of the low ratings mixed with angry GMTV fans still unimpressed with the new look show. Don’t forget our poll for the weekend is whether or not ITV should ditch Daybreak and bring back GMTV. BBC One’s Breakfast continued to hold steady and ahead with 1.4 million viewers while Lorraine Kelly’s show, which follows Daybreak, still rates higher with 900,000 viewers.
The final edition of The One Show for the week saw ratings fall below 4 million viewer. The show, which on Friday’s see’s Chris Evans join the sofa alongside Alex Jones, had 3.5 million viewers. Emmerdale on ITV1 at 7pm had 6.3 million viewers while Channel Four News had 700,000 viewers. Coverage of the Pope’s UK visit on BBC Two between 6pm and 7.30pm had an average audience of 900,000 viewers – the coverage included Evening Prayer from Westminster Abbey. At 7.30 on BBC Two was documentary Churches: How To Read Them which had 800,000 viewers. Coronation Street on ITV1 had 8 million viewers for its first episode of the evening.
At 8pm on BBC One EastEnders also had 8 million viewers – a rare tie in the ratings between the two soaps. At 8.30 on BBC One quizshow QI, presented by Stephen Fry, had 4.4 million viewers. BBC Two’s Mastermind had 1.9 million viewers followed by Gardener’s World with 1.7 million viewers. On ITV1 at 8pm wildlife programme Cheetah Kingdom attracted 2.9 million viewers while the final trip to Coronation Street of the week saw ratings fall to 7.2 million viewers. On Channel Four at 8pm Come Dine With Me entertained 1.7 million viewers.
At 9pm popular BBC One drama series New Tricks won the slot with 7 million viewers. The second episode of the new series – which stars Amanda Redman and Alun Armstrong – once again outperformed ITV’s new chat-show. Paul O’Grady Live had 3.5 million viewers which is up by 200,000 viewers on last week’s figure but still disappointing for ITV1. The broadcaster has had trouble finding a successful format for the 9pm slot all year with notable flops from Michael Winner. Paul O’Grady returned to ITV1 after defecting to Channel Four several years ago. On BBC Two at 9pm Dragon’s Den: What Happened Next had 2.1 million viewers while Channel Four’s Embarrassing Bodies: Back to the Clinic pulled in 1.7 million viewers.
At 10pm BBC News had 4 million viewers followed by Would I Lie To You with 3.3 million viewers. The Rob Brydon Show on BBC Two was seen by 2.4 million viewers while ITV’s News At Ten had just 1.9 million viewers. 8 Out of 10 Cats on Channel Four at 10pm attracted 1.5 million viewers. Channel Five had a relatively poor night with Neighbours being its best rated programme for the evening, airing at 5.30pm. At 8pm Police Interceptors gave the broadcaster its second best audience of the evening with 900,000 viewers.
You can read our interview with Neighbours actor Stefan Dennis, aka Paul Robinson, by clicking here >>