HD Ratings: This England Wears the Crown

Sunday’s timely premiere of the Boris Johnson drama, This England, which concludes this weekend, won its slot in the core commercial demographics.

The two-hour instalment averaged 2.4% of 25-54 year-olds and 1.6% of 18-49s to easily beat TVNZ 2’s The Bourne Supremacy (1.9%/1.0%) and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (1.0%/0.8%) and Three’s movie premiere The Rhythm Section (1.1%/0.95).

Hyundai Country Calendar (5.7%/4.3%) and Sunday (5.4%/4.0%) delivered it a solid lead-in while TVNZ 2’s Young Sheldon averaged 0.6%/0.7%, which was down on the previous week when it faced T20 cricket, and Three’s season premiere of Australian Ninja Warrior an impressive 4.1%/3.4%.

Eden’s movie The Butler averaged 0.1%/0.0%, Prime’s netball coverage 0.9%/0.7%, Duke’s South Seas Spearo and Wild Kai Legends 0.2% of each key demo, and Whakaata Māori’s The Fountain 0.1%.

This England’s triumph wasn’t matched by another top UK drama premiere last weekend on TVNZ 1, Sherwood.

The outstanding Saturday night newcomer averaged 0.5% of 25-54s and 0.4% of 18-49s opposite the conclusion to TVNZ 2’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (1.5%/0.9%) and Three’s movie Ladybird (0.4%/0.2%).

The season premiere of Sherwood lead-in Doc Martin fared better, winning its slot with averages of 2.0% and 1.3%.

On the Friday (October 14), TVNZ 2’s The Voice Australia averaged 2.4%/1.4% vs 2.4%/1.7% for TVNZ 1’s The Repair Shop.

It was competitive with the first hour of Three’s movie Hunter Killer, which cruised to a shipshape 1.9%/1.6% over two-and-a-half hours.

The tail end of Voice out-rated the start of The Dog House (2.0%/1.4%), which seesawed with Have You Been Paying Attention? (2.0%/1.5%).

Note: These overnight ratings exclude viewership of the networks’ +1 SD channels.