1.71m for Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey took back its mantle as the #1 show of Sunday night, more than twice the nearest competition.
- Published by David Knox
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Downton Abbey took back its mantle as the #1 show of Sunday night last night with an impressive 1.71m viewers, rising from last weekend’s 1.52m (thankyou public holiday).
The Mentalist (821,000), Hawaii Five-0 (717,000), Inspector George Gently (677,000) and Dateline (125,000) all trailed. Given the figures Midsomer Murders once did on a Sunday night ABC’s George Gently might have expected better figures, but Downton has hijacked that audience.
Masterchef Australia (1,61m) pipped Dancing with the Stars (1.55m across its 2 hours), 60 Minutes (1.05m), Mountain Gorilla (543,000) and Who Do You Think You Are? (297,000). Merlin (978,000) also bettered In Their Footsteps (892,000).
Castle (613,000) was way ahead of soft figures for NCIS (368,000) and CSI: Miami (354,000).
Seven won Sunday night.
21 Responses
Can’t see what all the fuss is about !!! This stuck up version of Dynasty in the early 1900’s failed to impress me. Looked forward to watching the first episode, and when I did I found it utterly boring and the pommie accents really threw me off it…I .was fast asleep on the lounge within 40 minutes…..
What a refreshing change to be able to sit down & watch something that isn’t full of blood & guts,guns & profanity.
…and that’s just Robot Chicken!
I notice bits were cut in the Day time weekend Encore screening,the area around “French style” were omitted and actually changed the whole mode of the scene.
Years ago I watched stone on TV and the ending totally changed the whole meaning of the Movie.
well, i was one of those who thought that Downton would struggle on 7, but I am so pleased to be proved wrong. they say that cream rises to the top and it this case it definitely has, can’t wait for season 2!
My Blu Ray copy arrived 2 weeks ago from the U.S but for those who don’t do overseas shopping you can pre order it from JB HI Fi already. It’s out first week of August here
@Catherine – like others have said, that’s just how they do it in the UK. Although the trend is also not to keep going on year after year. Shows usually get only 2 or 3 seasons.
I’m glad about Downton Abbey. I also like that there’s not too much waiting time for it to be on.
@jack!
I agree it is a great show, especially in HD and the Blu Ray only cost $16 from Amazon UK to get it shipped over here as well.
You have no idea how stunning it looks until you see it on Blu-ray … what we see on 7 is very ‘washed out” … what is their HD channel, is it 7Two or Gem?? It is so confusing!
Home and Away was also stunning in HD and now it looks second rate …
7 needs to be HD!!!!!
@cathrine, in the UK you are lucky to get a show that has more than 8 eps, its just how they do it over there, i don’t think it is necessarily a bad thing, there are some shows that make less than 30 eps per decade.
and matthew to mary is something like 3rd cousin, twice removed, but they seem to just refer to each other as cousin. he gets the inheritance and the estate no matter who he marrys. but if he marrys Mary the fortune would stay in the Robert/Cora’s line.
Catherine, there were only six episodes of “Fawlty Towers” made for the first series and six for the second. It’s quality that counts.
Can somone clear something up for me. Is Matthew Marys cousin, and he is offering to marry her because he would get inheritance?
How come there are only 7 epsides in series 1. I know its expensive to make but who makes a series with only 7 episodes.
@Adam: Apparently 1.71 million people had something better to do than watch paint dry.
One would hope those that missed last weeks Downton (the third ep), saw a rerun or something as it was a pivitol episode in the story telling.
David – you should post this BBC Comic Relief spoof: Uptown Downstairs Abbey. Its brilliant youtube.com/watch?v=r5dMlXentLw featuring Kim Cattral, Victoria Wood, Joanna Lumley, Jennifer Saunders.
Seven’s big win in demos was partly helped 7mate. Its screening of Sylvester Stallone movie First Blood helped 7mate winning in total people among digital channels and major demos.
I’d rather watch paint dry
Digtial channels widened the gap between 7 & 9. Go was king on Sundays and now its stuggling. Go & Gem need improvements, not just Nine. Nine on Sundays is best 6-9:30pm. The Mentalist rpt should be replaced by something else like CSI Miami which still has a few eps to go plus NRL states are behind AFL states. I hear Imparja is airing Underbelly 1 there, 9 Melbourne should have done the same rather than let it struggle on Tuesdays. Harry’s Law should have played out and CSI NY could have aired here to “catch up”.
In the end 60 minutes and Mentalist went up for 9 and Hawaii 5 O increased for 10. Merlin doing better but I think it should be fast trackked and played at the end of the year. 9 & 10s crime shows should be fast trackked in Oct and run as many as possible up to the end of November.
Castle eps are repeats of repeats from Series 1. Last night was episode 6, which has aired twice before on 7. Remarkable.
Its rubbish. SBS french movie was far more entertaining.
Big demo win for Seven too – even with an older-skewing audience (over 1m of both ‘Dancing’ and ‘Downton’ audience were aged outside of A18-49), they managed a massive win for the night. ‘MasterChef’ still king of younger viewers though, easily topping the night across the demo’s.
Nine really trailing across all lead’s – whilst it’s still a struggling second in Total People (which essentially means nothing), it’s a long way back in third across the demographics. Not sure how much of a saving grace ‘The Block’ will really be.