Not falling on deaf ears!

The annual celebration of Europop that is Eurovision returned to BBC1 at 8pm on Saturday, with coverage of the live event in Malmo, Sweden.  The EBU production has one of the largest audiences in the world of any non-sport event, with annual viewing figures estimated to be in excess of 100 million.  This year’s event, which featured veteran Bonnie Tyler representing the UK, was watched in the UK by an average of 7.7m (35.3%), with a peak audience of 9.3m (48.4%) at 10.55pm.  The estimated international audience was in the region of 120m.

This was similar to the performance in 2012, however the previous two years saw a drop to just 5.6m in 2010, followed by a huge jump to 9.7m in 2011. Maybe this had something to do with the perception of our representative’s chances in the competition.  In 2010, the unknown Josh represented the nation, but in 2011 the former hit boyband, Blue, took to the stage on behalf of the UK.  However, over a 10-year period there has been a slight decline, from 8.4m in 2004, but the popularity of the event remains solid, and no doubt it will attract a similar audience in Denmark in 2014.

New Titles

The Fall is a new crime drama serial from Artist’s Studio for that began on BBC2 on Monday at 9pm.  Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan star, and the first episode attracted a very strong 3.5m (15.4%), and gained a Performance Index well above the average for the genre and timeslot, at 169.1.

Frankie is another new drama for the BBC, this time on BBC1 on Tuesday at 9pm.  The story of a woman who makes a life-changing decision during a medical emergency stars Eve Myles (Torchwood), and began with a slot-winning 4.6m (20.3%), although this was only sufficient to take a slightly below average Performance Index of 86.7.

Skint is a new three-part observational series from Keo that began on C4 at 9pm on Monday.  The series looks at what life is like for those who are either long-term unemployed or have never worked.  The first edition was watched by 2.5m (10.9%) at 9pm, with a further 637,200 (3.9%) joining an hour later on C4+1, attracting a huge Performance Index of 239.5.

Case Histories returned for a second season at 9pm on BBC1.  The audience of 4.9m (20.8%) for the BBC crime drama, which stars Jason Isaac, was an increase on the Season 1 average of 4.3m/17.1%.

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Boardroom Battles

This week saw the return of BBC reality show The Apprentice, in which 16 hopeful candidates compete to become Lord Alan Sugar’s business partner and secure a £250,000 investment towards their business plan.  Each year the show airs over 12 episodes, usually in a 9 – 10pm slot on Wednesdays.  The competition comprises a series of business challenges designed to test the abilities of the candidates, who must form teams and work together to succeed, whilst also making sure they outshine their rivals.

The factual entertainment show is produced by Mark Burnett Productions and Fremantle Media-owned production company Boundless, and first launched back in February 2005 on BBC2.  The first series opened to an audience of 1.9m (8.3%), but the show’s popularity seemed to soon pick up speed as its audience grew to a peak of 3.7m (16.4%) for the final episode.

Viewing figures continued to improve when the show returned for its second series the following year.  An audience of 3.6m (15.8%) tuned in to the first episode, but again viewing steadily increased throughout the series.  The series averaged 4.3m (18.8%) over its 12-part run, with the finale pulling in a series high of 5.8m (26.6%) and becoming BBC2′s top performing show of the year.

Series 3 (2007) of the competition was moved over to BBC1, and the channel change saw the series average boosted by over a million viewers to 5.4m (22.5%).  Over the next couple of years the business battle drew in more and more viewers, with Series 5 (2009) obtaining the show’s best ever series average of 7.9m (32.2%).  Series 6 (2010) saw the average dip a little to 7.1m (27.2%), but viewing was back up for Series 7 (2011), which pulled in an average audience of 7.8m (31.2%) and the most watched episode to date when the finale drew in 9.1m (36.5%).  The final episode more than doubled the slot average of 4.3m (19%) and was BBC1′s 9th most watched show of the year.

However, Series 8, which ran from March – June last year, saw viewing figures decrease considerably.  The average was down by over a million viewers to 6.3m (25.6%), and the series drew in the lowest final episode audience since Series 2, with 5.9m (25.1%) – also the lowest audience of the series – tuning in to see who would become Lord Sugar’s business partner.

This year’s competition kicked off at 9pm on Tuesday, and saw the contestants thrown in at the deep end as they had to get stuck into the first challenge straight after being introduced to Lord Sugar at midnight.  The first episode was watched by 6m (26.2%) – the lowest opening audience since 2007 – but still beat the slot average for the previous 12 months of 5.2m (21.8%).  The second instalment aired the following night, and saw viewing figures drop to 5.2m (21.8%), but again was still above the 12 month slot benchmark of 4.8m (20.3%).

New Titles

Hannibal, Sky Living’s take on the Hannibal Lecter horror franchise, began its 13-part run at 10pm on Tuesday night.  The series is produced by Dino de Laurentiis Company, Living Dead Guy Productions, and Gaumont International Television, and focuses on the relationship between psychiatrist Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and his patient and FBI criminal profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy).  The first episode of the crime thriller pulled in an audience of 277,600 (1.7%), more than tripling the slot average of 89,000 (0.5%) (including + 1).

Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs returned to ITV for its second series at 8.30pm on Thursday evening.  The factual entertainment show from Shiver follows the star as he lends a hand at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and introduces us to some of its canine residents.  The first episode attracted the show’s highest ever audience of 5m (22.8%), performing at around the slot average of 5m (21.6%), but achieving a Performance Index of 121.8, suggesting that it pulled in a higher audience than other shows sharing the same time slot, channel and genre over the past 12 months (including + 1).

Murder on the Home Front, ITV’s new 2-part crime drama, went out at 9pm on Thursday night.  Set during the Blitz, the Carnival Films-produced show follows a pathologist and his secretary as they use ground-breaking forensic techniques to identify a killer after several women are murdered.  The first instalment of the drama was watched by 4.8m (21.4%), performing above the slot average of 4m (17.4%) and achieving a Performance Index of 114.3 (including + 1).

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