Peter Allen miniseries draws 1.212m as Dr Who beats The Biggest Loser on its return
The second part of the Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door miniseries drew a metro audience of 1.212m viewers for its finale last night, down marginally from last week where it drew 1.33m viewers.
Joel Jackson as Peter Allen in Not The Boy Next Door
The result will be seen as a win for Seven which invested heavily in promoting the tele-movie on the life of the Australian born singer/songwriter.
However, last night also saw The X Factor shed nearly 300,000 viewers from its 2015 debut last week drawing 1.26m at 7pm, but the singing show was still the most watched program of the night.
Nine’s The Block performed strongly in the 7pm slot holding firm at 1.037m and winning in demographics in 16-39, 18-49s and 25-54s while Ten’s The Biggest Loser Families at 7.30pm was down on its debut with 543,000, down from 646,000 metro viewers the week before.
Over on the ABC the return of Dr Who at 7.30pm drew 653,000 viewers beating The Biggest Loser, with the cult show having already been simulcast with the UK early in the morning on Sunday.
The first episode of the Peter Allen show was also the most time-shifted of last weekend getting another 226,000 metro viewers, taking its total numbers to 1.333m according to OzTam metro overnight rankings.
In the news race Seven News won the 6pm news bulletin with an audience of 1.225m compared with 1.185m for Nine.
Current affairs show 60 Minutes drew 859,000 at 8.30pm for an episode that included a profile of Royal Air Force personnel preparing their missions against ISIS in Syria.
In sport over the weekend, finals fever dominated with Seven’s Saturday night AFL finals match between West Coast Eagles vs North Melbourne drew 701,000 viewers in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, while the Friday night match between Fremantle v Hawthorn drew 676,000 in Melbourne and Adelaide.
In the NRL on Nine the Sydney Roosters vs Canterbury Bulldogs on Friday night had 824,000 in Sydney and Brisbane while Saturday’s Queensland Cowboys vs Cronulla Sharks game had 718,000 in Sydney and Brisbane.
The start of the Rugby World Cup on Saturday morning saw 55,000 national viewers tune in for England v Fiji at 5am nationally on Fox Sports, while 215,000 tuned in on 7Two for the doubles match between Great Britain and Australia in the Davis Cup semi-final.
Top 15 shows
1 THE X FACTOR Network Seven 1,260,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Network Seven 1,225,000
3 PETER ALLEN – NOT THE BOY NEXT DOOR PART 2 Network Seven 1,212,000
4 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Network Nine 1,185,000
5 THE BLOCK Network Nine 1,037,000
6 ABC NEWS SUNDAY Network ABC 936,000
7 60 MINUTES Network Nine 859,000
8 DOCTOR WHO Network ABC 653,000
9 VERA Network ABC 606,000
10 TBL FAMILIES SUN Network TEN 543,000
11 JAMIE OLIVER’S SUGAR RUSH Network TEN 437,000
12 FAMILY FEUD SUNDAY Network TEN 421,000
13 ANCIENT EGYPT’S LOST CITY Network SBS 413,000
14 COMPASS Network ABC 393,000
15 THE BOY WHO CUT HIS LEG OFF Network Nine 369,000
Audience share
Network 7 28.1%
Network 9 20.0%
Network ABC 11.9%
Network TEN 10.0%
Network SBS 5.5%
Network GO! 4.5%
Network 7TWO 3.7%
Network 7mate 3.4%
Network ELEVEN 3.0%
Network ONE 2.7%
Network ABC2 2.1%
Network Gem 1.8%
Network ABC News 24 1.7%
Network SBS 2 0.9%
Network ABC3 0.5%
Network NITV 0.2%
Total Audience Share
Network 7 TTL 35.1%
Network 9 TTL 26.3%
Network ABC TTL 16.3%
Network TEN TTL 15.8%
Network SBS TTL 6.5%
Data copyright of OzTAM Pty Limited 2015. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM.
Good job, almost brilliantly well done by the producers. Joel Jackson was very fine in the role, but the character was wearing slightly thin as the second episode approached midway, right at the time where it was carrying most of the screen time. I fear that had the series been in three parts, there would have been fewer than a million tuning in for the last third.
The two part mini series was a fine indication of the kind of brilliance we are capable of producing, and the standards we will set when we get the writing firmly under control, and Producers/Directors, acquaint ourselves with the purpose of sentimentality and theatricality in the correct doses. It is a mistake to hide the storylines behind glitz and razzmatazz, however well presented it may be, and it certainly was well presented in this production by both boys behind the boy.
User ID not verified.
Series was full of historical inaccuracies. Some examples: Peter Allen auditioning for Bandstand in 1962 performing “Up, Up and Away”, a Jimmy Webb song which wasn’t known until 1967. Olivia Newton-John never sang “I Honestly Love You” on Countdown. Olivia Newton-John appeared on Bandstand only once – in 1969 with Pat Carroll, not with Peter Allen in the early 60s. Peter Allen’s celebrating his debut album in 1970 but there are scenes of a disco with “Disco Inferno” playing and mention of Peter Frampton’s “Frampton Comes Alive”, both which came out in 1976. Technological anachronisms like Bandstand in 1962 having Shure SM58 microphones – these were not available until 1966, etc. Not sure who the series researcher was but that was a pretty poor effort.
User ID not verified.
@ Viewer.
Yes, you are right in what you say, these are the points that producers often think make the retelling a better story, a kind of “never let the truth interfere with a good story” example, which Peter Allen certainly never did.
The women around him as a child, were clean and well presented, as they would have been in the day, but all were far too “made up” and much too posh for the era and for the town. The entire production was sanitised, which is an attempt to give it wider appeal, in a world where non thinking people often make value judgments based upon the most trivial of matters.
It is also a widely spread error of art departments, to get the cars wrong in period pieces. The cars are seen parked in a country town set in , say 1965, and each car is from the year of the production, each one has clean and polished paint, and there are no old cars anywhere to be seen, nothing with a dent or a rusty body, all are pristine and either new or in some cases a year or more ahead of their time.
User ID not verified.
@Richard Moss
From “brilliantly well done” to “the entire production was sanitised” in two posts. How could these two co-exist?
I didn’t watch it because the trailers were so sacrine.
User ID not verified.