HD Ratings: The Triumph of Maggie Cole

The return of Dawn French in TVNZ 1’s new Sunday night drawcard, The Trouble With Maggie Cole, has proved as irresistible to viewers here as in the UK.

Last weekend’s premiere of the comedy/drama, following several weeks of true-crime programming, won it slots in all the core commercial demographics.

It averaged 4.3% of the network’s 25-54 audience, 3.7% of its next most important measure, 18-49 year-olds, and even 1.8% of 18-39s.

The village gossip yarn was most popular with viewers 5+ (6.9%) and household shoppers with kids (5.4%).

While Maggie Cole won every quarter-hour segment, viewership declined markedly over the hour, with its 25-54 following slipping from 5.8% to 3.2%.

However, it cemented a top-rating night for TVNZ 1, with Country Calendar and 1 News at 6pm each averaging 11.7% (the latter had the bigger demo share: 48.1% vs 43.9%).

Cole’s lead-in, Sunday, also rated highly, with 8.3% of 25-54s and 6.2% of 18-49s.

The blockbuster line-up helped TVNZ 1 to comprehensively win the night with the biggest demo shares while Three’s network movie premiere of Bumbelee saw it nab bigger shares than TVNZ 2 for the night.

The Transformers prequel averaged 3.5% of 25-54s and 2.9% of 18-49s. It beat TVNZ 2’s The Simpsons in both demos and was competitive with MasterChef Australia.

Here are Sunday’s 20 most-watched primetime programmes on the free-to-air HD channels (excluding +1 and in order of their 5+ rating and audience share):