Netflix’s Adolescence nears 1m overnight

Netflix’s thriller starring Stephen Graham as the father of a young boy accused of murder nearly reached 1m viewers overnight, after launching on Thursday 13 March.  

Written by Jack Thorne and Graham and co-produced by Matriarch Productions, Plan B Entertainment and Warp Films, the opener beat the launch of Black Doves which reached an overnight audience of 585,000 in December. The assassin series starring Keira Knightley went on to entertain a huge 4.2m within its first week. 

It also comfortably beat fellow Jack Thorne drama Toxic Town which opened with 380,000 overnight last month.  

The opener was the sixth most-watched show on the streamer overnight, just behind the second episode of Toxic Town which reached 945,000. Episode two dipped to 676,000.  

Friday 

At 9pm, BBC2’s feature doc Steven McRae: Dancing Back to the Light, reached 469,000 (4.3%). Telling the story of the ballet dancer’s return to stage following a severe injury, the doc was short of the 663,000 (5.7%) benchmark.  

It was no match for the doc Daley: Olympic Superstar which reached 990,000 (9%) at 9pm on a Tuesday in July.  

5 drama The Flatshare, which has been available on Paramount+ since 2022, launched with 285,000 (2.4%). The 42-produced series, based on Beth O’Leary’s novel, fell behind the 530,000 (4.2%) slot average. 

It was some way behind the opener of The Castaways which entertained 941,000 (7.8%) at 9pm on a Sunday in January, having been available on Paramount+ for just over a year. 

The second episode of The Flatshare aired in the following hour for 141,000 (1.7%), behind the 330,000 (3.7%) average for the slot.  

BBC1 won the slot with the seventh and penultimate episode of Death In Paradise series 14 reaching 3.3m (28.1%), ahead of Channel 4’s Gogglebox with 1.8m (15.5%).  

On ITV1, a repeat of Beat the Chasers – Celebrity Special reached 1.5m (12.6%), according to Barb data from overnights.tv. 

Saturday 

At 8pm, the five-part historical travelogue Ancient Greece By Train With Alice Roberts launched on Channel 4 with 696,000 (5.8%).  

The opener of Spark Media Partners’ boxsetted series was just ahead of the previous series Ottoman Empire By Train With Alice Roberts which opened with 675,000 (6.4%) in a later 9pm slot on a Saturday in October, but was shy of the first series Ancient Egypt By Train with Alice Roberts, which opened with 881,000 (7.9%) at 9pm on a Saturday in June 2023.  

It was ahead of the third episode of 5’s Portugal with Michael Portillo which continued with a relatively steady 598,000 (5%). The first three episodes were available on demand.  

BBC1’s Would I Lie To You? continued with 2.2m (17.8%), and was beaten by ITV1’s coverage of the Six Nations Live match between France and Scotland which averaged 2.9m (26.4%) from 7.15pm-10.35pm and peaked with 4.3m (38.6%) at 9.20pm.  

From 7.40pm-8.30pm on BBC2, new series The Emerald Isles, in which Ardal O’Hanlon explores the island off the coast of Ireland, opened with 557,000 (4.6%). The three-parter debuted on BBC1 Northern Ireland in May last year.  

At 9pm, 5’s royal doc The Middletons: How Family Shaped Our Future Queen reached 761,000 (7.4%) to beat the fourth episode of BBC1 drama Dope Girls. The latter held steady with a below-average 636,000 (6%), to broadly match Channel 4’s airing of the film Ticket To Paradise (646,000/ 6.8%) and beat BBC2’s Lady Gaga at the BBC with (419,000/ 3.8%). 

But BBC1 dominated the channels earlier in the evening, with Gladiators reaching 3.5m (28.8%) at 7pm, just after coverage of the Live Six Nations Rugby Union match between England and Wales averaged 4.1m (37.3%) in the three hours from 4pm.