Sunday 11th November 2007

BBC1 started Remembrance Sunday with its traditional live coverage of the service from the Cenotaph in Whitehall, where the Queen led the commemorations. Broadcasting elder statesman David Dimbleby provided commentary on the proceedings, and 4.3m (42.8%) joined in between 10:30 – 12:10. ITV1 also marked the occasion, but instead of a religious ceremony it offered viewers a two-hour drama from Ecosse and Octagon Films. My Boy Jack told the tragic story of how the writer Rudyard Kipling used his influence to get his 17-year-old son Jack a commission in the Irish Guards, despite his poor eyesight. Jack subsequently went missing on his first day in action during World War One, leaving his father racked with guilt and anguish. Daniel Radcliffe took a break from Harry Potter to take a starring role as Jack Kipling, while David Haig (writer of the stage play on which the film was based) played the part of his father. My Boy Jack attracted 5.7m (24.8%) between 9-11pm, giving a TI™ score of 80.





Wednesday 07th November 2007

RDF’s new format The Secret Millionaire was one of Channel 4’s success stories from 2006, with the first five-part series averaging 2.7m (12.2%) and generating a lot of positive interest. The series average would probably have been even higher if Channel 4 hadn’t changed the day and slot of the final episode, as the third episode picked up 3.5m in a Wednesday 9pm slot. The Secret Millionaire returned for a second series (this time extended to six parts) at 9pm last night, with a new set of wealthy individuals going undercover to undertake a philanthropic mission. This opening episode attracted 2.6m (11.3%) between 9–10pm.





Monday 05th November 2007

The BBC’s hardy annual Autumnwatch returned to BBC2 at 8pm last night – a month later than last year’s live coverage, perhaps a sign of the continuing march of global warming. Together with stablemate Springwatch, these live programmes featuring our native wildlife (in which category it is tempting to include Bill Oddie), have proved extremely popular. Part of the appeal may lie in the slightly rough and ready nature of the coverage: Oddie’s attempts at getting a “duck cam” to launch successfully seemed doomed to failure, but the ducks it was designed to capture on camera were notable mainly for their total absence anyway, and any programme featuring Oddie being bitten by an irritated baby hedgehog has to be worth a look. As well as the live mishaps suffered by the presenters, there was the usual fine footage of red deer stags on the island of Rhum, and of shrews, which live at such a fast pace they look like they are permanently on fast forward. Last night’s audience of 3.8m (15.8%) was almost identical to last year’s average audience, and attracted an excellent TI™ score of 137.5.





For a more detailed summary of the week’s television, please visit http://www.attentional.com/blog.php