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Television Highlights w/c 17th September 2007
Posted by: Attentional | 24.09.07
Sunday 23rd September 2007
ITV1 lined up a new Agatha Christie drama against Michael Palin’s New Europe _at 9pm, but the intrepid explorer prevailed. The second episode of _Michael Palin’s New Europe attracted 6.4m (26.4%) — a decrease on the 7.5m who tuned in last week, but still enough to give a very impressive TI™ score of 173. It also comfortably won the 9-10pm slot against Agatha Christie’s Marple, which ran from 9-11pm. The ITV1 murder mystery was an adaptation of Christie’s novel At Bertram’s Hotel, with a few ‘alterations’ to the original text. These included the introduction of a ‘sidekick’ for Marple, played by Martine McCutcheon. Such liberties may not sit well with Agatha Christie purists, but they were probably intended to appeal to the mass ITV1 Sunday evening drama brigade, 6.4m of which tuned in for The Royal at 8pm. Unfortunately Agatha Christie’s Marple could not hold on to this audience, and it finished with an average of 5.2m (24.2%) and a below-par TI™ score of 81.
Thursday 20th September 2007
ITV1 got down and dirty with the start of a major new factual series in peaktime. In Commando: on the Front Line filmmaker Chris Terrill spends a year with the Royal Marines, starting with the new recruits at ‘boot-camp’ in Devon, living and training with them until their eventual deployment in Afghanistan (those that didn’t get stuck in the Devon mud). It’s this last element that could set Commando: on the Front Line apart from programmes of a similar ilk, as this kind of series usually ends in the pomp and ceremony of a passing-out parade rather than the terror of a battlefield. The Upper Cut Films/ITV co-production is like the ultimate reality show – over the course of eight weeks the viewers will get to know the ‘contestants’ and see a few ‘evictions’, but in this case the ultimate prize is a Green Beret and a ticket to Afghanistan. The first episode faced tough opposition in the form of BBC1’s factual hit Who Do You Think You Are?, but Commando: on the Front Line achieved a respectable 3.4m (15.5%) to give a TI™ score of 103 (a smidgen over the benchmark).
Monday 17th September 2007
Hell’s Kitchen served its final course last night as the competition came to an end after 15 days. The original 10 contestants had been reduced down to two for the grand cook-off, namely former boxer Barry McGuigan and Emmerdale actress Adele Silva. The series has not been without incident – most notably comedian Jim Davidson’s rows with Big Brother winner Brian Dowling, which no doubt contributed to the comic being asked to leave on day 10. McGuigan emerged victorious from the final round in front of a proud Marco Pierre White, who actually proved to be quite a softy, despite the pre-show hype about his temper. The final attracted 5.6m (24.7%) to give an above-average TI™ score of 128 – by far the best performance of the series. This lifted the series average to 3.8m – a far cry from the average of 6m for the original Gordon Ramsay-fronted series back in 2004, and less than the 4.3m average the second series achieved in 2005. Perhaps ITV1 knew that the format was cooling, as series three had been delayed from last year.
For a more detailed summary of the week’s television, please visit http://www.attentional.com/bristolmediablog.php*
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If it wasn’t for the world cup rugby, I am not sure what I would watch on TV?
:-)
M@
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