Monday 18th June 2007

ITV1’s new six-part series The Time of Your Life took its place at 21:00 with an audience of 6.7m (29.4%), enough to comfortably win the slot. The emotional thriller, another drama following the currently popular theme in which dramatic events in the past have devastating repercussions on the present, stars Genevieve O’Reilly as Kate, a 35 year-old women who wakes up after an 18-year coma, following an accident which killed a fellow pupil. ITV1’s previous 21:00 Monday drama, Diamond Geezer starring David Jason, was enjoyed by an average audience of 5.1m (21.3%), airing in April earlier this year.

Tuesday 19th June 2007

Business is big at the moment, as we saw last week when the final of The Apprentice pulled in 6.8m. Two new business-themed shows launched last night: Tycoon on ITV1 at 9pm, and Syed Ahmed – Hot Air? on Sky One at 10pm. Tycoon is produced by Peter Jones TV, and features Peter Jones (of Dragon’s Den fame) challenging six would-be entrepreneurs to set up a viable business in just 10 weeks. Extra interest stems from the fact that the contestants live together in ‘Tycoon Towers’ for the duration of the challenge. Tycoon attracted 2m (9.1%) between 9-10pm, but the story of Britain’s Got Talent last week shows that it’s difficult to judge a new format on its first episode. Optomen Television’s The F Word won the 9-10pm slot for Channel 4 with 4.2m (19.3%), a huge increase on last week’s 2.9m.

Wednesday 20th June 2007

It’s been 18 months since UK citizens feasted on the first series of the BBC/HBO historical drama Rome, so doubtless some viewers were eagerly anticipating the debut of the second (and last) series on BBC2 at 9pm last night. The 10-part second series picks up on events following the death of Julius Caesar, but the real story is behind the scenes – the first series was rumoured to have cost around $100m to make, and the lavish drama boasts the world’s largest standing film set. The first episode of series 1 attracted 6.6m viewers back in November 2005 amid much hype, but the ratings for that series then trailed off to a low of 2.3m. This time viewers know what to expect from the off, which was perhaps reflected in an audience of 2.2m (10.4%).

Thursday 21st June 2007

ITV1 launched an updated version of the Holiday Showdown strand, Holiday Showdown Extreme, at 9pm, followed by Hollywood Lives at 10pm. Holiday Showdown has had five series on ITV1, but this was the first Extreme. The basic premise remains the same: two families (who have never met before) spend a fortnight together, with a week at each of their favourite holiday destinations. Conflict often ensues, as the two families often have radically different ideas of what constitutes a good time. Holiday Showdown Extreme averaged 2.2m (9.6%) between 9pm and 10pm. The last series of Holiday Showdown in January 2006 averaged 3.7m.

Friday 22nd June 2007

True music fans spent the weekend knee deep in mud on a Somerset farm, but for those who like to keep clean and dry the BBC brought Glastonbury into the living room. The first of the highlight shows on BBC2 (8 – 8:30pm) attracted 1.1m (5.7%), and BBC2 returned to the festival at 11pm to party into the small hours, reaching a peak of 786,100 (8%) at 11:30pm. With so much going on at Glastonbury, the BBC is able to make full use of its range of television channels and radio stations. BBC3 had extensive coverage focused on ‘mainstream’ acts, hitting a peak quarter-hour audience of 733,900 at 10pm. That was also the peak period for BBC4’s more eclectic coverage of the evening, attracting 174,000.

Saturday 23rd June 2007

Tony Blair hasn’t quite closed the door on 10 Downing Street yet, but Channel 4 has got in ahead of the inevitable rush of programmes reviewing his decade in power with The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair (7-9pm). Political commentator Andrew Rawnsley explored the first two terms of Blair’s office in this Brook Lapping documentary, looking at the highs and lows of his early years as Prime Minister. Politics is rarely a topic for mainstream success (especially a two-hour documentary), but The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair averaged a credible 1.1m (6.2%). The concluding part is on Monday evening at 8pm.

Sunday 24th June 2007

The environment is a hot topic at the moment as global warming continues unabated. BBC1 is highlighting the damage we humans are wreaking on our planet in a new series entitled Saving Our Planet, stripped nightly over the next 10 days. Each episode sees a different celebrity highlighting the plight of an endangered species, with names such as pop-singer Will Young (gorillas), presenter Fiona Bruce (tigers), and cricketer Phil Tufnell (rhinos), taking part. Venerable natural history presenter Sir David Attenborough set the scene in this opening episode (7-8pm), with footage from his journeys highlighting the conflict between man and nature. The programme attracted an average audience of 4.7m (22.3%). This was above average for a Factual programme in this slot.

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