Medical show avoids embarrassment

Tuesday April 29 2008

This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Tuesday April 29 2008. It was last updated at 15:28 on April 29 2008.

Embarrassing Bodies: drew 2.6m viewers. Photograph: Channel 4
The first episode of Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies, which focuses on intimate medical complaints, attracted 2.6 million viewers last night, Monday April 28.
The new series, in which three doctors trawled the country in a travelling surgery, averaged an 11% share in the 9pm hour, according to the unofficial overnight ratings.
It easily beat BBC2's Tanya Byron series Am I Normal?, which examined attitudes to religion and the supernatural. Am I Normal? drew 1.2 million viewers and a 5% share at the same time.
Embarrassing Bodies also attracted 319,000 extra viewers to the Channel 4 +1 catch-up service an hour later.
The 9pm slot was won comfortably by BBC1 police drama Waking the Dead, which picked up 6.8 million viewers and a 29% share with the first of a two-part story about the discovery of a headless corpse.
This was 500,000 viewers and three share points up on last Monday's instalment of the drama.
ITV1's Real Crime documentary, Murder at Harvey Nicks, which traced the 2005 killing of Clare Bernal in the beauty section of the London department store by her former boyfriend, pulled in 3.5 million viewers and a 15% share in the 9pm hour.
In the same slot last week, a one-off episode of Scottish police drama Taggart pulled in 4.7 million viewers a 20% share.
A Channel Five repeat of Paul Merton in China drew 700,000 viewers and a 3% share on Channel 5 at the same time.
Earlier in the evening, a Panorama documentary about alleged corruption at the United Nations scored 2.4 million viewers and a 10% share on BBC1 between 8.30pm and 9pm.
Panorama was inevitably blown out of the water by ITV1 soap Coronation Street which attracted 9.5 million viewers and a 40% share at the same time.
Likewise, EastEnders - which pulled in 9.4 million viewers and a 41% share between 8pm and 8.30pm - smashed ITV1's Tonight special, Bad Manners Britain, which averaged 3.4 million and 15% in the half hour from 8pm.
In the 8pm hour, BBC2's coverage of the world snooker championship drew 1.8 million viewers and an 8% share on BBC2 between 8pm and 9pm.
The full two hours of snooker coverage between 7pm and 9pm cued up 1.5 million viewers and a 7% share for the channel.
Channel 4's offering in the 8pm hour, a Dispatches documentary about the mobile phone industry, picked up 1.3 million viewers and a 5% a share, with another 130,000 tuning in on Channel 4 +1 an hour later.
Five's The Gadget Show attracted 1.2 million viewers and a 5% share in the 9pm hour.

This article is about the television viewings of the week. it shows how much time people spend watching TV! and how the "embarassing bodies" got A LOT of viewers, showing how obsessed we are with our bodies.