Monday 23rd July 2007

ITV1’s six-part drama serial, The Time of Your Life, came to an end at 21:00 last night. The drama about the effect of events 18 years previously, seen through the eyes of Kate, a woman waking from a coma that has lasted as many years, finally reached its climax with the revelation of who was responsible for the death of Brian. The usual secrets and lies explain why her friends were perhaps reluctant to fill her in on the details of what happened that fateful night and why all their lives are such a mess – but at least it made a change from the common diet of police dramas. The first episode attracted 6.9m (29.4%), however, this had dropped off to a somnolent 3.9m (17.7%) for this final episode, bringing the series average to 4.56m (20.55%).

Wednesday 25th July 2007

BBC2 took the limelight last night with the UK terrestrial premiere of US superhero drama Heroes contributing to a peaktime share of 15.6%, outperforming its big brother BBC1 (14.6%). BBC2 has suffered in the early evening slots since losing The Simpsons, but it temporarily overcame this with a Culture Show special on Springfield’s famous family. The half-hour programme (7:30 – 8pm) featured contributions from the likes of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Hawking, alongside plenty of clips from the show itself. It got BBC2’s evening off to a strong start with an audience of 1.5m (7.6%) in a slot dominated by Coronation Street.

Saturday 28th July 2007

The BBC kicked off a celebration of British films on Saturday with British Film Forever on BBC2 (9:05 – 10:45pm). This seven-part series explores a different genre of British cinema each week, starting with the Thriller. Cinematic classics such as Get Carter and The Long Good Friday were pulled from the vaults, with contributions from the likes of Bob Hoskins and Michael Caine. Music doc Seven Ages of Rock proved popular in this Saturday primetime slot for BBC2, and British Film Forever got off to a strong start with 2.1m (11.4%). It was of course followed by a British film, Stephen Frear’s 2002 release Dirty Pretty Things, which averaged 600,000 (5.8%) between 10:45 – 12:15pm.

For more detailed highlights from the week’s television, please go to http://www.attentional.com/bristolmediablog.php