UK TV Charts - w/e 4th January 2009

A rundown of the Top 20 most popular UK TV programmes or series for the week ending Sunday 4th January 2009 collated from information compiled and presented by BARB. Note that figures for multi-episode TV broadcasts (ie soaps or other shows with more than one episode per week) are rounded up into an average figure for the series and are denoted in the chart by *

1 Jonathan Creek (BBC1).....................9.91
2 EastEnders (BBC1)........................9.46 *
3 Coronation Street (ITV)...................9.35 *
4 Antiques Roadshow (BBC1)..................7.94
5 Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (BBC1)...7.48
6 Above Suspicion - Episode 1 (ITV1)........7.31
7 Emmerdale (ITV1)..........................7.14 *
8 Total Wipeout (BBC1)......................6.56
9 Lark Rise to Candleford (BBC1)............6.53
10 Casualty (BBC1)...........................6.41
11 Doctor Who Confidential: The Eleventh Doctor (BBC1)...6.30
12 Demons: They Bite (ITV1)..................6.37
13 Film: Shrek 2 (BBC1)......................6.03
14 Harry Hill's TV Burp Compilation (ITV1)...5.98
15 National Lottery: In It To Win It (BBC1)..5.86
16 New Year Live (BBC1)......................5.83
17 The Royal (ITV1)..........................5.77
18 Celebrity Mastermind (BBC1)...............5.71 *
19 New You've Been Framed (ITV1).............5.58
20 Holby City (BBC1).........................5.54

Chart comment: After the highs of the Christmas week chart it's back down to earth this week with more typical figures across the board on a chart which is still quite healthy and diverse. Thrilling to see the long-awaited new 'Jonathan Creek' episode top the chart with over 9 million viewers; even though the episode was a good 30 minutes too long and wasn't really vintage Creek it was nice to see the old boy and his duffel coat back and of course it's always nice to see a non-soap drama top the chart. In fact, 'Coronation Street' would have taken the top slot as two of its episodes rated over 10 million but others dropped well below 9 million therefore dragging its average and chart position down. Elsewhere in the Top Ten it's amazing to see Wallace and Gromit, which topped the chart at Christmas with over 16 million, scoring over seven million a week later with a repeat of the same episode. I can't think of an occasion when that could ever have happened in the chart before. I've been known to outwardly smirk at ITV's dismal track record in the field of popular drama over the last few years but it's genuinely heartening to see the first episode of Police thriller 'Above Suspicion' scoring well - episode two, screened on the Monday with its final rating being available next week, did even better. This week's new thriller, 'Unforgiven' scored similar numbers so maybe ITV drama has turned a corner. Lousy ratings for this week's Trinny and Susannah/Extreme Slimmers Tuesday night double bill might help ITV realise that the audience actually does have an appetite for good drama and won't tolerate cheapjack lifestyle shows in prime time much longer. We live in hope...

ITV's new Saturday night drama 'Demons', despite being pretty dismal, managed a respectable 6.27m but you've got to take your hat off to the BBC for eclipsing the show's premiere with their announcement of the casting of the new Dr Who in a special 'Confidential' episode which just pipped 'Demons' with 6.30 m. The second 'Demons' episode dropped just under a million on overnights so it'll slip down the chart next week but may well stabilise at around 4-5 million, enough to be classified as a minor
hit. But it's surely a fairly costly show to make so will it have done enough to earn a second series? Frankly, it's a question which is more exciting than the series itself...