Other I can think of that they missed out, from memory, include:
- One Foot in the Algarve 26/12/93 - 20.01m
- Birds of a Feather 25/12/93 - 19.4m
- Bread got 20m+ at least once on Christmas Day in the 80s
- I think Just Good Friends got c20m in 1986 too (beating the ep of John Sullivan's other sitcom, OFAH, which aired earlier!)
- I'm sure at least two of the Indiana Jones movies premiered on Christmas Day to 18m+ audiences in the 80s.
EDIT: updated after checking with BARB....
- Porridge (a repeat!) 27/12/84 - 19.35m [admittedly not a Christmas special]
- The Two Ronnies Christmas Special 25/12/85 - 18.50m
- One Foot in the Algarve 26/12/93 - 20.01m
- Birds of a Feather 25/12/93 - 19.39m
- Film: Ghost 25/12/93 - 18.53m (BBC1)
- Bread [its top rated 1988 episode got 20.95m on 11/12/88 but I think it also cleared 19m for its Christmas special that year]
- Just Good Friends 25/12/86 - 20.75m (beating the ep of John Sullivan's other sitcom, OFAH, which aired earlier!)
- Film: Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark 25/12/84 - 19.35m (ITV)
- Film: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 25/12/87 - 18.95m (BBC1)
- Film: Airplane! 26/12/84 - 18.10m (ITV)
- Aunties Bloomers 27/12/92 - 18.45m
I seem to recall Eamonn Holmes fronting a start-of-the-year diet show on BBC1 a few years back that flopped in the ratings. These sort of programmes have little appeal outside of people on a diet and not that much appeal even there.
There's no reason to suppose The Biggest Loser will fare any better than any of the other stuff ITV1 stick on Tuesdays and I don't believe ITV expect it to.
It was called the Feelgood Factor and aired on ITV in the first half of last year. It flopped with just 2.8m (14%) for its first episode in a Saturday 6pm slot and then one of the following episodes on a Monday night at 8pm had 3m (12%) which was below the usual 3.5-4.0m that ITV gets in that slot. And another episode on Saturday at 9.20pm only had 2.17m (11%)!
- Film: Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark 25/12/84 - 19.35m (ITV)
- Film: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 25/12/87 - 18.95m (BBC1)
The third one, The Last Crusade aired on Christmas Day 1992 (?) on BBC1 and got something like 16m IIRC - think it aired at 3.10 that time rather than early evening.
Given that the first three premiered on Christmas Day, to massive audiences, it does seem odd that the fourth one will premiere on New Year's Day at 5.30 and will be lucky to get 6m.
Sure, films aren't what they once were and the 4th Indy movie was hardly well received, but still. The fact BBC1 is repeating (again) the first three in a prime 8pm slot on successive Wednesdays in January shows what a decently hot property the series of films still is.
It was called the Feelgood Factor and aired on ITV in the first half of last year. It flopped with just 2.8m (14%) for its first episode in a Saturday 6pm slot and then one of the following episodes on a Monday night at 8pm had 3m (12%) which was below the usual 3.5-4.0m that ITV gets in that slot. And another episode on Saturday at 9.20pm only had 2.17m (11%)!
No, this is the programme I was thinking of - Diet Trials from 2003
The third one, The Last Crusade aired on Christmas Day 1992 (?) on BBC1 and got something like 16m IIRC - think it aired at 3.10 that time rather than early evening.
Given that the first three premiered on Christmas Day, to massive audiences, it does seem odd that the fourth one will premiere on New Year's Day at 5.30 and will be lucky to get 6m.
Sure, films aren't what they once were and the 4th Indy movie was hardly well received, but still. The fact BBC1 is repeating (again) the first three in a prime 8pm slot on successive Wednesdays in January shows what a decently hot property the series of films still is.
I feel most of BBC1's film premieres this Christmas have been further outside peak than they ought to be - Shrek The Third at 3.10 on Christmas Day, Wall-E at 3pm on New Year's Day.
I think the general consensus amongst the BBC, its commercial rivals and the government is that, to justify the continual licence fee, the BBC must rely less on films and imports (and sport) and give priority to its own homegrown programmes. Otherwise it ends up competing too hard with commercial channels in those areas (films, imports, sport) that commercial TV can supply.
The third one, The Last Crusade aired on Christmas Day 1992 (?) on BBC1 and got something like 16m IIRC - think it aired at 3.10 that time rather than early evening.
Well, Temple of Doom was only shown at 3.40, so not that different. The Indy sequence is the only occasion of three films in the same series premiering on Christmas Day (the first Shrek premiered on Christmas Eve).
The Chiles show is the same concept that's been knocking around Avalon for years, it's exactly the same as The Ten Show which he piloted for the Beeb and which he was going to give up Friday's One Show to do.
I think the general consensus amongst the BBC, its commercial rivals and the government is that, to justify the continual licence fee, the BBC must rely less on films and imports (and sport) and give priority to its own homegrown programmes. Otherwise it ends up competing too hard with commercial channels in those areas (films, imports, sport) that commercial TV can supply.
In the past decade the only films they've shown on primetime Christmas Day were Titanic in 2000 and Harry Potter in 2004, and neither of them did very well. They're both far too long as well, which seems a bit of a waste on Christmas Day when they have plenty of home-grown stuff they can put on there. I guess the number of films that play well in primetime these days is getting really low.
That said, on Christmas Day 1985, they only showed one film all day, Absence of Malice at 10.40pm.
- Porridge (a repeat!) 27/12/84 - 19.35m [admittedly not a Christmas special]
- The Two Ronnies Christmas Special 25/12/85 - 18.50m
- One Foot in the Algarve 26/12/93 - 20.01m
- Birds of a Feather 25/12/93 - 19.39m
- Film: Ghost 25/12/93 - 18.53m (BBC1)
- Bread [its top rated 1988 episode got 20.95m on 11/12/88 but I think it also cleared 19m for its Christmas special that year]
- Just Good Friends 25/12/86 - 20.75m (beating the ep of John Sullivan's other sitcom, OFAH, which aired earlier!)
- Film: Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark 25/12/84 - 19.35m (ITV)
- Film: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 25/12/87 - 18.95m (BBC1)
- Film: Airplane! 26/12/84 - 18.10m (ITV)
- Aunties Bloomers 27/12/92 - 18.45m
An interesting fact is that rating for Porridge was higher than what it got when shown originally. The Just Good Friends episode was the last one ever and John Sullivan said that he focused so much on that one that he took his eye off the ball with Only Fools And Horses Christmas special that year. A Royal Flush had Del being incredibly unlikeable and nowadays you only see the edited hour long episode with audience laughter. Originally there was no audience.
Just a note about the NYE figures from past years (approx figures for people watching in primetime), normally under 20m are watching in primetime, so the raw figures are usually low.
talking of the soaps, rzt will you be posting the averages, for the year? in the new year?
Yep, once all the officials for the year are in (so in mid-January probably). I posted the up-to-date official 2010 averages on the Soap Ratings Thread a couple of weeks ago:
Official 2010 Averages (up to w/e 12th Dec)
Coronation Street: 9.59m
EastEnders: 9.27m
Emmerdale: 7.42m
All the above averages include HD
Coronation Street extends its lead over EastEnders following its 50th Anniversary and is set to once again be the No. 1 Soap this year based on first-run official averages. In terms of year-on-year growth, it is: EastEnders: +11%, Emmerdale: +10%, Coronation Street: +4%.
All three soaps up by a decent amount, particularly EE and E'D. This is currently Coronation Street's best rated year since 2007, EastEnders' best rated year since 2005 and Emmerdale's best rated year since 2006. So all three soaps have turned around the declining trend which they've experienced for most of the past decade or so.
In terms of the gap between Coronation Street and EastEnders, it's the smallest gap between them since 2002. Only 3 years ago, the gap between the two soaps was 1.2m so 'Enders has done well to close that down to just 0.3m this year. I predict next year's official averages will be very close between the two of them. EastEnders has the long-term trend of closing the gap in its favour but if Corrie can continue its momentum from the 50th Anniversary into next year and hold onto some of its casual viewers, it could keep its No. 1 slot. It'll be close.
Just spotted this in the Daily Mail's Christmas TV guide - a list of (supposedly) the top 10 Christmas Specials of all time.
I have to say, it's dodgy as hell - there are loads more 19/20m+ audiences that should be in it - but interesting nevertheless.
I did not know that Mike Yarwood actually outrated the legendary M&W Christmas Show that followed him in 1977 - a quick Google suggests this is correct
1. EastEnders 30.15m (25/12/86)
2. Mike Yarwood Christmas Show 28.10m (25/12/77)
3. Morecambe & Wise Show 28.0m (25/12/77)
4. Coronation St 26.93m (8/12/89) [Alan Bradley tram - hardly at Christmas though!]
5. Coronation St 26m (25/12/87) [Hilda leaves - this was at Christmas though]
6. Only Fools and Horses 24.35m (29/12/96) ["last ever" episode]
7. EastEnders 24.30m (25/12/92)
8. Film: Crocodile Dundee (BBC1) 21.75m (25/12/89)
9. Only Fools and Horses 21.34m (25/12/01)
10. Emmerdale 18.08m (30/12/93) [plane crash wipes out village]
The soap ratings will all include omnibus/repeat showings, so not entirely accurate.
Other I can think of that they missed out, from memory, include:
- One Foot in the Algarve 26/12/93 - 20.01m
- Birds of a Feather 25/12/93 - 19.4m
- Bread got 20m+ at least once on Christmas Day in the 80s
- I think Just Good Friends got c20m in 1986 too (beating the ep of John Sullivan's other sitcom, OFAH, which aired earlier!)
- I'm sure at least two of the Indiana Jones movies premiered on Christmas Day to 18m+ audiences in the 80s.
That Daily Mail list is flawed. According to BBC figures Mike Yarwood's Christmas Show of 1977 got a record 27 million viewers, that record was broken when Morecambe & Wise finished after it with 28 million. When Mike Yarwood went to Thames they claimed that one of his Christmas Shows for them rated higher than Morecambe & Wise's 1977 show but Guinness wouldn't change the record books. However the BBC's method of measuring audiences was different to ITV's and the BFI say that the JICTAR method used before was the most consistent and accurate and they used this for their list of most watched shows. According to JICTAR Mike Yarwood's 1977Christmas Show did beat Eric & Ernie but the rating was only 21.4 million.
Also 1993 was the year of Victor Meldrew. Even though there was a new edition of Only Fools on Christmas Day, One Foot In The Algarve was the highest rated show over the Christmas period.
An interesting fact is that rating for Porridge was higher than what it got when shown originally.
Yes, and it was the highest rated programme over the whole of Christmas. I always wonder what ITV were screening opposite it, because I know the Kenny Everett Show before it got 15.9 million, which was his highest ever rating.
Just a note about the NYE figures from past years (approx figures for people watching in primetime), normally under 20m are watching in primetime, so the raw figures are usually low.
BBC1 does tend to get an impressive rating around midnight though, as does Jools on BBC2. It's not uncommon for the joint BBC1/2 audience at midnight to peak at 12m. Quite impressive really. On Millennium Night, BBC1 alone peaked at 13m at midnight IIRC.
I see the BBC1 New Year Live (except Scotland) programme is quite short this year - 11.50pm-12.15am. Could get a decently high average overnight figure - one to watch for in the morning.
thanks, I would guess Corrie will win the year, but it will be close
It would certainly be interesting to see the figures with all the "clash episodes" of the three soaps over the year stripped out, so we can measure their performances when ITV hasn't deliberately engineered a clash to drive down EE's average. :rolleyes:
I wonder if EE would actually be in the lead on that basis?
However the BBC's method of measuring audiences was different to ITV's and the BFI say that the JICTAR method used before was the most consistent and accurate and they used this for their list of most watched shows. According to JICTAR Mike Yarwood's 1977Christmas Show did beat Eric & Ernie but the rating was only 21.4 million.
Interesting. I knew there was no officially recognised neutral measure of ratings pre-BARB in 1981 but I didn't know there was such a difference in methods - 21.3m and 28m.
I have to say the 21m figure feels more likely, even in the age of just 3 channels.
It certainly was. The series which aired in Jan-March 1993 started off with 17.7m viewers and hit 18.39m for the penultimate episode. Every single episode officially rated at 16.5m+ IIRC. Then the Christmas special got 20.01m - over 100 minutes from 9pm-10.40pm on Boxing Day!
I reckon that series was the most popular sitcom series in history in terms of its average across the 6 weeks, and more so including the special associated with that run.
- Porridge (a repeat!) 27/12/84 - 19.35m [admittedly not a Christmas special]
- The Two Ronnies Christmas Special 25/12/85 - 18.50m
- One Foot in the Algarve 26/12/93 - 20.01m
- Birds of a Feather 25/12/93 - 19.39m
- Film: Ghost 25/12/93 - 18.53m (BBC1)
- Bread [its top rated 1988 episode got 20.95m on 11/12/88 but I think it also cleared 19m for its Christmas special that year]
- Just Good Friends 25/12/86 - 20.75m (beating the ep of John Sullivan's other sitcom, OFAH, which aired earlier!)
- Film: Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark 25/12/84 - 19.35m (ITV)
- Film: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 25/12/87 - 18.95m (BBC1)
- Film: Airplane! 26/12/84 - 18.10m (ITV)
- Aunties Bloomers 27/12/92 - 18.45m
So, a fair few shows were missed off the newspaper's list!
I didn't realise the Bradley thing in Coronation St came in December. I thought it was in the spring of 1989.
It would certainly be interesting to see the figures with all the "clash episodes" of the three soaps over the year stripped out, so we can measure their performances when ITV hasn't deliberately engineered a clash to drive down EE's average. :rolleyes:
I wonder if EE would actually be in the lead on that basis?
Excluding "Emmerdale clash episodes" and even the episodes which clashed against Britain's Got Talent, EastEnders' average would be 9.48m. So still behind Corrie's 9.59m average.
Of course, these averages don't include repeats or omnibus figures, which would probably put EastEnders ahead.
Yes, and it was the highest rated programme over the whole of Christmas. I always wonder what ITV were screening opposite it, because I know the Kenny Everett Show before it got 15.9 million, which was his highest ever rating.
I wonder if we had heavy snow on 27 December 1984?
Excluding "Emmerdale clash episodes" and even the episodes which clashed against Britain's Got Talent, EastEnders' average would be 9.48m. So still behind Corrie's 9.59m average.
Of course, these averages don't include repeats or omnibus figures, which would probably put EastEnders ahead.
OK, fair enough.
I think on any reasonable analysis, EE is the number 1 rated soap given the loyal followings of the BBC3 repeat and omnibus. If the BBC ditched those, I'm sure the first viewing averages would go up considerably. It also got the year's biggest soap audience, comfortably, despite all the masses of publicity and build up given to the Coro 50th, and always comes out on top on Christmas Day.
Yes, and it was the highest rated programme over the whole of Christmas. I always wonder what ITV were screening opposite it, because I know the Kenny Everett Show before it got 15.9 million, which was his highest ever rating.
It was an American TV movie starring (IIRC) Lindsay "The Bionic Woman" Wagner.
Is this good bad or average, it was mentioned on the toast thread and I asked if it very good or just average but didn't get a reply.
I don't follow ratings really so have no idea what is good or bad.
I would suggest that, in this multichannel age, when people have umpteen different TV channels to choose, as well as computers, the internet, games consoles, DVDs, that for BBC1 and ITV1:
7m+ in the officials is a big ratings hit.
6m is strong
5m is respectable.
Less than that it all depends on what type of programme it is and what the competition is. 4m for a factual show (especially on ITV1 on a Tuesday) or something on against Corrie or Eastenders is a decent figure.
6.2m for Toast in the overnights means it should get close to 7m in the officials. The BBC will be very happy with that figure.
Is this good bad or average, it was mentioned on the toast thread and I asked if it very good or just average but didn't get a reply.
I don't follow ratings really so have no idea what is good or bad.
As other posters have said, it's a good rating. You should also look at the audience share - the percentage of all viewers at the time who were watching the programme. Toast's share was approx 25%, so 1 in 4 of all viewers watching TV at the time were watching it, which again is an excellent figure.
I think on any reasonable analysis, EE is the number 1 rated soap given the loyal followings of the BBC3 repeat and omnibus. If the BBC ditched those, I'm sure the first viewing averages would go up considerably. It also got the year's biggest soap audience, comfortably, despite all the masses of publicity and build up given to the Coro 50th, and always comes out on top on Christmas Day.
I think people underestimate how well Corrie actually repeats across the week on ITV1, ITV2 and ITV2+1. Take last week's Monday episodes for EE and Corrie for example:
- the BBC3 + BBC1 repeat total for EE was: 2.1m.
- the ITV1, ITV2, ITV2+1 repeat total for Corrie was: 2.1m.
Comments
EDIT: updated after checking with BARB....
- Porridge (a repeat!) 27/12/84 - 19.35m [admittedly not a Christmas special]
- The Two Ronnies Christmas Special 25/12/85 - 18.50m
- One Foot in the Algarve 26/12/93 - 20.01m
- Birds of a Feather 25/12/93 - 19.39m
- Film: Ghost 25/12/93 - 18.53m (BBC1)
- Bread [its top rated 1988 episode got 20.95m on 11/12/88 but I think it also cleared 19m for its Christmas special that year]
- Just Good Friends 25/12/86 - 20.75m (beating the ep of John Sullivan's other sitcom, OFAH, which aired earlier!)
- Film: Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark 25/12/84 - 19.35m (ITV)
- Film: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 25/12/87 - 18.95m (BBC1)
- Film: Airplane! 26/12/84 - 18.10m (ITV)
- Aunties Bloomers 27/12/92 - 18.45m
The third one, The Last Crusade aired on Christmas Day 1992 (?) on BBC1 and got something like 16m IIRC - think it aired at 3.10 that time rather than early evening.
Given that the first three premiered on Christmas Day, to massive audiences, it does seem odd that the fourth one will premiere on New Year's Day at 5.30 and will be lucky to get 6m.
Sure, films aren't what they once were and the 4th Indy movie was hardly well received, but still. The fact BBC1 is repeating (again) the first three in a prime 8pm slot on successive Wednesdays in January shows what a decently hot property the series of films still is.
Toast was wonderful and got a great rating.
I've put a review on my blog
http://danieltvproject.blogspot.com/
No, this is the programme I was thinking of - Diet Trials from 2003
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/04_april/02/diet_trials.shtml
I feel most of BBC1's film premieres this Christmas have been further outside peak than they ought to be - Shrek The Third at 3.10 on Christmas Day, Wall-E at 3pm on New Year's Day.
I think the general consensus amongst the BBC, its commercial rivals and the government is that, to justify the continual licence fee, the BBC must rely less on films and imports (and sport) and give priority to its own homegrown programmes. Otherwise it ends up competing too hard with commercial channels in those areas (films, imports, sport) that commercial TV can supply.
Well, Temple of Doom was only shown at 3.40, so not that different. The Indy sequence is the only occasion of three films in the same series premiering on Christmas Day (the first Shrek premiered on Christmas Eve).
The Chiles show is the same concept that's been knocking around Avalon for years, it's exactly the same as The Ten Show which he piloted for the Beeb and which he was going to give up Friday's One Show to do.
In the past decade the only films they've shown on primetime Christmas Day were Titanic in 2000 and Harry Potter in 2004, and neither of them did very well. They're both far too long as well, which seems a bit of a waste on Christmas Day when they have plenty of home-grown stuff they can put on there. I guess the number of films that play well in primetime these days is getting really low.
That said, on Christmas Day 1985, they only showed one film all day, Absence of Malice at 10.40pm.
Over all the most impressive thing IMO is that all 3 soaps have show growth, two of them by as much as 10%
Britain's Most Watched TV - the 1970s
Also 1993 was the year of Victor Meldrew. Even though there was a new edition of Only Fools on Christmas Day, One Foot In The Algarve was the highest rated show over the Christmas period.
Yes, and it was the highest rated programme over the whole of Christmas. I always wonder what ITV were screening opposite it, because I know the Kenny Everett Show before it got 15.9 million, which was his highest ever rating.
BBC1 does tend to get an impressive rating around midnight though, as does Jools on BBC2. It's not uncommon for the joint BBC1/2 audience at midnight to peak at 12m. Quite impressive really. On Millennium Night, BBC1 alone peaked at 13m at midnight IIRC.
I see the BBC1 New Year Live (except Scotland) programme is quite short this year - 11.50pm-12.15am. Could get a decently high average overnight figure - one to watch for in the morning.
It would certainly be interesting to see the figures with all the "clash episodes" of the three soaps over the year stripped out, so we can measure their performances when ITV hasn't deliberately engineered a clash to drive down EE's average. :rolleyes:
I wonder if EE would actually be in the lead on that basis?
Interesting. I knew there was no officially recognised neutral measure of ratings pre-BARB in 1981 but I didn't know there was such a difference in methods - 21.3m and 28m.
I have to say the 21m figure feels more likely, even in the age of just 3 channels.
It certainly was. The series which aired in Jan-March 1993 started off with 17.7m viewers and hit 18.39m for the penultimate episode. Every single episode officially rated at 16.5m+ IIRC. Then the Christmas special got 20.01m - over 100 minutes from 9pm-10.40pm on Boxing Day!
I reckon that series was the most popular sitcom series in history in terms of its average across the 6 weeks, and more so including the special associated with that run.
So, a fair few shows were missed off the newspaper's list!
I didn't realise the Bradley thing in Coronation St came in December. I thought it was in the spring of 1989.
Of course, these averages don't include repeats or omnibus figures, which would probably put EastEnders ahead.
I wonder if we had heavy snow on 27 December 1984?
It's in the Daily Mail. It probably was!
OK, fair enough.
I think on any reasonable analysis, EE is the number 1 rated soap given the loyal followings of the BBC3 repeat and omnibus. If the BBC ditched those, I'm sure the first viewing averages would go up considerably. It also got the year's biggest soap audience, comfortably, despite all the masses of publicity and build up given to the Coro 50th, and always comes out on top on Christmas Day.
It was an American TV movie starring (IIRC) Lindsay "The Bionic Woman" Wagner.
Is this good bad or average, it was mentioned on the toast thread and I asked if it very good or just average but didn't get a reply.
I don't follow ratings really so have no idea what is good or bad.
I would suggest that, in this multichannel age, when people have umpteen different TV channels to choose, as well as computers, the internet, games consoles, DVDs, that for BBC1 and ITV1:
7m+ in the officials is a big ratings hit.
6m is strong
5m is respectable.
Less than that it all depends on what type of programme it is and what the competition is. 4m for a factual show (especially on ITV1 on a Tuesday) or something on against Corrie or Eastenders is a decent figure.
6.2m for Toast in the overnights means it should get close to 7m in the officials. The BBC will be very happy with that figure.
As other posters have said, it's a good rating. You should also look at the audience share - the percentage of all viewers at the time who were watching the programme. Toast's share was approx 25%, so 1 in 4 of all viewers watching TV at the time were watching it, which again is an excellent figure.
- the BBC3 + BBC1 repeat total for EE was: 2.1m.
- the ITV1, ITV2, ITV2+1 repeat total for Corrie was: 2.1m.