TUESDAY: Heyday’s slavery drama is BBC1’s second best drama launch in the slot this year
The Long Song (BBC1) 9pm - 10pm
3.6m (19.4%)
BBC1’s adaptation of Andrea Levy’s novel of the same name is the second biggest Tuesday night drama launch this year.
It was beaten to the top slot by Mrs Wilson, which debuted in the same slot last month with 4.7m (20.4%), but was ahead of Informer’s 3.1m launch in October and Wanderlust’s 2.9m in September.
Heyday Films’ three-parter, which recounts the last days of slavery in Jamaica, was watched predominantly by women. They made up two-thirds (65%) of the audience, versus a 58% average.
The drama won the slot against the opening ep of BBC2 two-parter Grizzly Bear Cubs and Me, which entertained 2.2m (12.2%). Hello Halo’s doc tripled the channel’s average 16-24 share to 12%.
It was ahead of ITV doc Weather From Hell: Caught On Camera which educated 1.7m (9.1%), half the channel’s 3.5m (18.1%) slot average.
Channel 4’s festive special of Betty’s long-running documentary series The Undateables, in which autistic singer/songwriter Daniel Wakeford proposed to girlfriend Lily Taylor, pulled in 1.3m (7.3%).
It was 200,000 lower than last year’s The Undateables at Christmas, which achieved 1.5m (7.5%) in a Thursday 9pm slot in December.
It was preceded by a Christmas special of Gogglesprogs at 8pm. Studio Lambert’s spin-off format entertained 1.1m (5.4%), ahead of the 935,000 (6.3%) who tuned in to the show in a Saturday 5pm slot in December 2017.
Channel 5’s festive show Things We Love About Christmas charmed 610,000 (3.3%) at 9pm.
It was beaten by ITV2’s screening of film Love, Actually which attracted 753,000 (4.1%) over the hour, according to barb data provided by overnights.tv
No comments yet