I think this is likely to be the final series of Blue Murder, it is doing good but I imagine that it would be easier to have a new crime series than keep an existing and likely expensive series.

I'm not sure I would call CSI: Miami a weaker drama, it still a solid hit but it has been dented by strong competition from Channel 4 and BBC Two.

I agree, with House for example it was too expensive for Five to keep as they were paying £500,000 an episode and the ratings for Series 4 were good but not high enough for Five to justify paying the same amount and the same applies for Prison Break and Lost although in the case of Prison Break, it turned out to be a wise decision.

Not quite right. They say "sorry, we can't afford that."

And Sky stick their hands in the air and go "BUT we can thanks to the 9m mugs/customers who are paying over the odds for such content! Pick us, pick us. We'll show it in HD and everything, and your DVD sales will shoot up because suddenly most of the population will no longer be able to watch it on broadcast TV!"

House and Prison Break were exceptions. Five let go of them because they weren't rating well enough. And after the latter went to Sky it absolutely bombed, so they made the right call. FlashForward is delivering about double the audience these shows once did at present, so it's not going anywhere unless the situation was to change dramatically.

That's what I meant. They say no because the studio inevitably wants more for something that has proved itself valuable. Then they negotiate and its only when the original broadcaster finally says "no" that its opened to someone else.

I guess the point I was trying to make is that Five aren't just going to have this pulled from under them, they would have to voluntarily give it up. They will have every opportunity to retain it should they wish to.

Another 786,000 and 5.2% share for Benidorm on ITV2 at 10pm last night, beating the Eastenders BBC Three repeat.

Wow, that is brilliant.

I'd love to see what percentage of them were Scottish.

Great first episode by the way. Ten times better than the special.

WOW! Also beating FIVE and CH4. I wonder how it'd do in the Monday 9pm slot catching the audience who go out on Friday nights...7m??

BBC Two in the 10pm hour had:

22:00 - Home Time: 600,000 (3.3%)
22:30 - Newsnight: 800,000 (6.5%)

So, ITV2 was third in the 10pm slot.

I was thinking that Criminal Justice could have dented Benidorm - I don't think that will happen now. Sad how compelling drama like Criminal Justice brings in 4.4m - five years ago things like that would have been watched by many more viewers.

Rating of the day for me is FlashForward's 3.3m. Very rare to see a drama increase its ratings for a second episode, especially a US import. Five must be absolutely chuffed. Like others have said, I think having numerous repeats throughout last week helped as viewers who missed it last Monday could have caught up and got into it. With all the repeats, it must be getting 5m+ per week for Five. A great investment.

I'm very surprised by Criminal Justice's rating. I did think the subject matter would put some people off (although it was still brilliant), but expected over 5m due to all the publicity. A fair expectation really, considering the first series did launch with 5.5m in the summer and it never dropped down to 4.4m.

But it looks like it hasn't worked out, and the only slot I think it's guaranteed of winning is tonight. Even on Thursday, it might not beat The Bill which I would have been shocked at saying just last week!

Blue Murder's still in the "ok" category, but I don't think it will be back for another series. Caroline Quentin said on the radio yesterday that ITV were still deciding what to do with the show, but I got the impression that this would be the final series. Incidentally, she did say that she's in talks with ITV over a comedy drama to be filmed in late 2010, and the Life of Riley will be back early next year on BBC1.

Great rating for yesterday's Benidorm on ITV2. A lot of Scots tuning in, I suspect.

Top 5 In Adults 18-49 (Total Viewers)
1. House - FOX - 5.1 (13.1m)
2. The Big Bang Theory - CBS - 4.5 (12.3m)
3. Two and a Half Men - CBS - 4.3 (13.1m)
4. Dancing With The Stars - ABC - 4.0 (17.8m)
5. CSI: Miami - CBS - 3.9 (13.0m)

Top 5 In Total Viewers (Adults 18-49)
1. Dancing With The Stars - ABC - 17.8m (4.0)
2. Two and a Half Men - CBS - 13.1m (4.3)
3. House - FOX - 13.1m (5.1)
4. CSI: Miami - CBS - 13.0m (3.9)
5. The Big Bang Theory - CBS - 12.3m (4.5)

Quite rare to see the same 5 shows making up both lists. DWTS skews very old, House is quite young while The Big Bang Theory has a younger audience than its lead-in.

One other note from last night is that Jay Leno slumped to a 1.4 rating and just 4.3m. Heroes was NBC's top show of the night even though it did dreadfully with a 2.3 and 5.4m. Trauma followed with a few more viewers at 5.5m but way lower in the demo at 1.8.

Everything was down apart from on ABC. However, their numbers were skewed because some local stations simulcast coverage of a football match which was on ESPN.

Fat lady's warming up as far as Heroes is concerned. Thing is, what can NBC replace it with? Hard to believe that's the network that had Cheers, Frasier, Friends, Seinfeld, ER, The West Wing et al.

Well you got one right, the sun did rise.

The football must have been as everything was down. While I'm not surprised that sitcoms like TBBT and HIMYM skew young, I'm surprised that House does as it's a medical procedural. CSI: Miami continues to dominate and it skews younger than CSI.

NBC are in the doldrums and has been for the last years, it needs a change of leadership and vision. CBS in comparison languished in third place for most of the 90s but with CSI and Survivor, they built a schedule with solid hits and they've been on top ever since.

Interesting observation.


Well it's only week 2.


I know they're partnering up for a Sunday morning teen strand, which I think they're reviving the Shake! branding for IIRC.

I think this is the problem when we try to equate critical acclaim with viewing figures - they very rarely correlate.

It's already started. Nick Wilson, Head of Kids at Five*, says that they're going to give it to the end of the year and if the ratings are comparable to what it was getting last time it'll be a permanent fixture.

As mentioned here, Graham Norton did OK given it got under a million on BBC2 at points during the last series - and the fact this is on BBC1 surely means Harry and Paul weren't just moved for ratings' sakes. I think Norton's show's appeal very much depends on the guests, though, much more than any other chat show, and on Thursday night BBC2 it had some terrible lead-ins, loads of weighy documentaries. I know he's after the news now but he's got less competition. It's quite remarkable to think he's been doing the same sort of show for eleven years.

* I think Nick Wilson might be the longest-serving head of department at any broadcaster, he's been there since day one at Five, I still have the Broadcast from January 1996 which announces his appointment, and he's done a really good job, I think. While ITV are killing off all their kids output, Five have been sticking with it and it's almost all been of very high quality and it's done very well for them. So well done to him.

This probably won't surprise you... but I don't agree with this!

I don't see why, after years and years of growth, all of a sudden this year the objective would change to accepting decline but trying to minimise it.

With "Cheryl Cole II" joining the panel and more hype being generated than ever before plus a move into what we were assured is the best slot for it, it looks very much like they are actively trying to keep improving the ratings (and replicate the "Cheryl Cole Effect"). Generally, I don't blame them for this (though specifically, we've had the scheduling discussion!).

I don't know about anyone else, but the impression I got was that this was a show doing its best to regain the upper hand. With DOI equalling its 2008 ratings, the success of Lets Dance For Comic Relief and improvements for BGT and XF, I don't see why Strictly would expect to be the exception.

Strictly was (and really still is) in great health. It's not like the tired soaps or the latter years of an ailing Big Brother where declines were inevitable. It's one of the biggest shows in a thriving genre.

Didn't even realise his new show has started. I say new, because IIRC his first BBC chat show was in pretty much the same slot before he moved to BBC2.

Just looking at the weekends listings and rather strangely the Sunday X Factor repeats on ITV1 and ITV2 have been dropped, which I find surprising as I thought one reason for moving the results show would be to get extra voting revenue from the repeat screenings.

The ITV1 repeat is gone completely though, with ITV2 just screening a late-night repeat on the Saturday (and then Sunday's show overnight on Sunday), and then both shows on Monday morning and Friday evening.

I guess ITV1 might then repeat both X Factor shows on the Saturday, but seems odd to me not repeating Saturdays show on the Sunday at all.

Just looking at the following Sunday's schedule though - 18th October (http://uk-tv-guide.com/list/ITV1+Cen...+October+2009/) - there's a 2 hour gap from 12:55 to 14:55 - which suggests that the X Factor repeat would slot in there.

Why is it being given a week off then this Sunday? Weird.

Criminal - no justice!

I suppose, on reflection, series 1 was boosted by following on from a c10m audience for the late-running Andy Murray match, and then held on to the c5m who watched ep 1.

Whereas last night it inherited 2.5m from Panorama.

And it was a more difficult watch than last year's series - rape & domestic violence. People I spoke to today said they found it "slow"...

I blame the likes of TXF-BGT - it's turning people's minds to mush.


A strong showing there - but it was a good line-up and a good show.

For Columbo of all things. Columbo?!

I'll be interested to see whether next Sunday's two hour slot is used for The X Factor or not - ITV1 could be putting pressure on people to see it first time round. Maybe they fear that now both X Factor and Strictly are on live shows it'll lose a few viewers? Only thing I can think of, it's so bizarre to drop it for one week.

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Criminal Justice was much lower than I expected. People are going to have fun with the Ratings Prediction Game this week. Blue Murder didn't really excel with weaker competition, and I think with the number of criminal dramas ITV have, they could axe it.

The soaps were back to more as expected ratings, and Emmerdale is doing really well at the moment. It has come through it's dip as it were.

FlashForward is doing excellently and could cause ratings issues for both Murderland and Life in the near future.

I agree, whereas Strictly Come Dancing is the paragon of intellectual stimulation.