• Nine still wins without Ninja Warrior, but only just ahead of Seven
• MasterChef close to best this season, #1 after 7pm, #1 25-54
• Utopia returns a timeslot winner with biggest season launch
See full ratings figures on the Mediaweek Morning Report here.
Seven
The network had its most competitive night of the week so far. Seven was just 0.5 behind Nine while in combined channel share it trailed Nine by 1.0.
Home and Away was close to 750,000 and in the top 10.
Border Security and then The Force missed the top 10 and were both under 700,000.
A new episode of Criminal Minds was on 455,000 followed by a repeat on 360,000.
Nine
Both A Current Affair and The Project covered what ACA branded a redhead revival. ACA also featured stories on a fender bender fiasco and a killer who received a compo payment. The Nine 7pm show did 869,000, winning the timeslot as it usually does.
Most of the rest of the night belonged to Britain’s Got Talent with another live show making it to air with 609,000.
A Best and Worst BGT package followed with 371,000.
TEN
The prime minister Malcolm Turnbull was a guest on The Project and he stayed for other parts of the program including a segment about redheaded sperm donors. (He didn’t contribute much to that segment.) The all-star hour ended with Jessica Mauboy in the studio and an average 7pm audience of 557,000.
On MasterChef it was the last elimination before the semifinal with Ben Ungermann securing a spot in that semi with great work recreating a Heston Blumenthal lamington at Blumenthal’s Melbourne restaurant. The remaining three girls in the competition – Diana, Karlie and Tamara – take part in an elimination cook tonight with the two survivors also taking part in Sunday’s semifinal. George again seemed the toughest judge but he and his colleagues were impressed by the cooking from all contestants. The final Wednesday outing for the format this year did 955,000, which was amongst the biggest episodes this season. A number of episodes have done over 950,000 and two made it over 1m earlier this season.
Offspring followed with a guest spot from Osher Günsberg after a Wednesday morning FM radio blitz from Asher Keddie. The audience of 646,000 was up on last week’s 459,000 when that episode went up against Origin 3.
ABC
Utopia was the channel’s big midweek hit on a night where share was on 12.9%, which was the channel’s third-best Wednesday share this year.
Utopia’s metro audience of 842,000 was the biggest launch audience in three seasons and the third-biggest audience ever for the comedy from Working Dog. The show easily won its timeslot all people and was a strong performer 25-54 were it only trailed MasterChef, Nine News and Offspring.
Elsewhere on the channel a repeat of QI did 465,000.
Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell had a huge night with 724,000 after 604,000 the last time it screened on a football-free night.
The launch of Growing Up Gracefully at 9.30pm did 435,000.
SBS
The channel had its best share since Stage 1 of Le Tour de France. It was another good night for Aussie Michael Matthews and coverage of the race did 247,000.
At 7.30pm, a repeat of Flying Scotsman with Robson Green kept the rail enthusiasts happy and did 256,000.