Any particular reason for those weeks? Just curious. It's hard to actually compare, unless you're wondering about a specific day of course?

I have seen the breakdowns for some weekends, but don't think they are within the period you're looking for.

Onto tonight, how do people think Life can do? I'd be surprised if a nature programme got over 5m to be honest - I'd say between 4/5m for it.

I draw your attention to one of my previous posts....


Life has been very heavily promoted with lots of spectacular images in the trailer. I predicted 6.3m in the RPG (on a par with what Waking The Dead was getting.)

Woops, never noticed that.

I'll be surprised if it got 6/7m!

I predicted 6.1m on the RPG, and like iaindb was surprised by the lowish predictions that had been made by many.

These nature documentaries narrated by Sir David Attenborough have a good track record of 6m+. Life in Cold Blood started with 6.7m last year and a couple of years before that 'Planet Earth' had 8.7m.

Should definitely be a 5m+ banker I think.

I don't think that's going to be as major a show as people expect [ITV to think it is]. Indeed even if ITV give it a big push, from pre-series reaction I'm sure it'll end up going out at 5.30pm as it gets to it's final.

Broadcast say 6 x 60 min show, so it could end up being self contained. I wouldn't be too surprised if it never makes it to air to be honest.

It's actually 3 x 90 and 3 x 60 mins, from ITV Media website.

I wonder if ITV would risk Popstar To Opera Star on either a Tuesday or Friday night, where they're generally weak (Benidorm is the exeption) anyway, rather than letting it cock up Saturdays, and instead allow DOI to split across Saturday/Sunday.

I think Tuesday could be possible, not sure about Fridays because there's that reported DOI spin-off airing for half an hour which I presume will air in the 9pm slot.

I reckon it is possible to have both Dancing on Ice and Popstar to Opera Star on Saturdays. It would be reality TV overload, but scheduling wise they could fit it in something like this:

http://i36.tinypic.com/i4eovn.gif

ITV could have pretty good Saturday nights with a schedule like that in my opinion. Don't think they should have commisioned Popstar to Opera Star, but we'll have to see how it turns out. Could be a surprise hit !

If they launch it straight after Christmas I think it may be successful. I think Dancing on Ice works because people are left with a Strictly hangover. Popstar to Opera Star may gain an X Factor audience suffering the same effect. As they say, any port in a storm...

As for last night, superb for ITV1 all night - TV Burp has amazed me over the two nights with it's ratings. BBC1 held up well until 9pm, and Five's films did a good job for them.

Question is, will So You Think You Can Dance run over both Sat & Sun nights ?

Seen quite a bit of pre-publicity for the Sky 1 dance show, Just Dance. With SYTYCD then launching, Davina McCall must be wondering why she is bothering.

I'd go for 5-5.5 million. Some stuff has a good track record, but Natures Great Events didn't do so well in a Wednesday 9pm slot at the beginning of the year. Hovered at around 4 million as I recall.

This does look like a more epic production though, in line with Planet Earth and Attenborough's "Life..." series - so it will hopefully make more of a breakthough.

I am willing to bet all my life savings (or 50p whichever is smaller) that ITV will not mess with the DOI-sandwiched-around-Wild-At-Heart Sunday night schedule that has seved them so well for the last two winters.

Last winter Saturday nights were FA Cup or Family Film then You've Been Framed, TV Burp and Demons. PSTOS is the replacement for Demons (both 6 parters). Demons was replaced by Saturday Night Takeway and although that's apparantly been dropped for cost reasons, Ant & Dec will be working on a new project that will replace PSTOS.

IIRC PSTOS was announced as a Saturday programme when they announced the commission.



Doubt it. With CountryFile, Antiques Roadshow and Lark Rise, BBC1's winter pre-watershed Sunday is sorted and full-up and SYTYCD is so not a BBC1 Sunday at 9 type programme.

Anyone heard any more about Liza Minelli judging the Andrew Lloyd Webber's Wizard of Oz show?

Also, is Doctor Who S5 coming January/February are opposed to Easter - based on what Richard Curtis has said about his episode airing February? Fans did ask for the BBC to move it earlier in the year as its ratings go down as it gets lighter outside, and it would avoid Britain's Got Talent that way (just about).

Basically just read an article that late night TV during Ramadan has exploded and is now collecting 40% of the entire year's ad revenue in some countries. They seem to be making one off specials of all the biggest shows and putting them on 11pm-2am.

I know that Muslims in this country stay up late, eat their favourite foods and watch TV, so I was wondering if there was any change in the ratings.

Normally I would say its too small a number of people to make an impact, but at that time in the morning it could have a noticable effect.

Not a big deal, just interested.

Thats interesting. I'm not sure they wouldn't want some sort of gap between the tenth and eleventh doctor. Mind you, they might see it as an opportunity to hit the ground running and capitalise on all the hype that theres inevitably going to be around the Christmas/New Year regeneration.

Theres some Six Nations rugby disturbing the early evenings in February and March (up till 7pm), then one match in primetime - England v France kicking off at 7.45 on March 20th. But given that they drop an episode for Eurovision each year, I'm sure they'd work around that.

Actually, thinking about it more - it makes increasing sense. Wizard of Oz must run in March-early May (must be over by the time Norton does Eurovision in late May), which means it'll need to schedule around Britains Got Talent. If Doctor Who airs March-June too - then the BBC will have a right problem on their hands trying to schedule both around lumbering, likely 75-90 minute BGT auditions. Better to get DW out earlier in the spring...

I'd go...

So You Think You Can Dance/Doctor Who (Jan-March)

Then...

Wizard of Oz/Total Wipeout (March-May)

...roughly

Sacrifice Total Wipeout against BGT as much as possible, mainly because its audience was going down anyway and they have ordered loads more of it, but also because if any of the shows have a chance of getting non-BGT viewers its that.

Six Nations is an issue, but as you say they have dropped an episode for Eurovision before, so it might not be out of the question to drop it for one week.

The first series of Dr Who played in Spring/Early Summer because the BBC weren't sure how well it would go down. Subsequent series played at the same time of year to fit in with the filming and post-production schedules. Oh yes, and, as sn_22 points out, the six-nations rugby.

A year's break from filming plus a mostly new production team give the BBC an opportunity to move it to the winter although the rugby might still be a problem.

Maybe they'll split the series into 2 seperate runs, one of 6, one of 7, if they haven't quite finished production.


Elsewhere FYI - the next week column (covering 24-30 Oct) in the new TV Times mentions Spooks. We suspected it would start that week to finish for Christmas, but I wasn't sure if it had its commission cut to 6 in the BBC budget cutbacks.

I thought that SYTYCD would run January to March and Doctor Who running Mid February to mid May finishing the week before Eurovision and thereby missing the BGT final. If DW went out at a similar time to Merlin does now i.e. 18:45 I can't see it clashing with BGT which would probably run no earlier than 19:30 probably even 20:00. That would leave the Llyod Webber show to go June to August which with BGT out of the way will probably be the only reality show on Summer saturday nights and may get big figures opposite a presumably weak ITV1 schedule as seen earlier this year e.g. King Kong taking up 3 hours of primetime and securing less than 3m. Also I'm sure I saw an article that said Oz had to be moved back as it would be seen as ALW promoting a new west end play he had other than one from a BBC talent show, and remember Maria ran July to September originally and Joseph only moved to the Spring to stop ITV's rip off Grease.

Monday 12th October 2009
BBC One
20:30 - Panorama: 3.84m (15.7%)
21:00 - Life: 6.49m (26.4%)

BBC Two
20:00 - University Challenge: 3.53m (14.8%)
20:30 - MasterChef: The Professionals: 2.96m (12%)

ITV1
20:00 - Tonight: 2.69m (11.3%)
21:00 - Blue Murder: 4.85m (19.7%)

Channel 4
20:00 - The Enemy Within: 430,000 (1.8%)
21:00 - Daredevils: 930,000 (3.8%)
22:00 - Ugly Betty: 860,000 (5.1%)

Five
20:00 - The Gadget Show: 1.51m (6.2%)
21:00 - FlashForward: 3.19m (12.9%)

Source: DS

Great ratings for Life on BBC1 & Flashfoward is holding up great especially this week with stiffer competition from BBC1 although i think people are realsing theres enoguh chances to catch repeats too

Glad to see Life do well with 6.49m it was a great programme, the hour flew by!

I hope Blue Murder gets a another series, I really enjoyed this and think Caroline Quentin is an underestimated actress!

Monday 12th October 2009 - Full Roundup
BBC One
19:00 - The One Show: 4.6m (22%)
19:30 - Inside Out: 4m (17.4%)
20:00 - EastEnders: 9.2m (38.4%)
20:30 - Panorama: 3.84m (15.7%)
21:00 - Life: 6.49m (26.4%)
22:00 - BBC News at Ten: 5.4m (27.7%)
22:25 - Regional News and Weather: 4.5m (26.1%)
22:35 - The Graham Norton Show: 2.2m (17.7%)

BBC Two
18:30 - Strictly Come Dancing - It Takes Two: 2.3m (12%)
19:00 - Coal House at War: 1.4m (6.6%)
19:30 - Saving Britain's Past: 1.5m (6.5%)
20:00 - University Challenge: 3.53m (14.8%)
20:30 - MasterChef: The Professionals: 2.96m (12%)
21:15 - Design for Life: 800,000 (3.6%)

ITV1
19:00 - Emmerdale: 7.2m (34.7%)
19:30 - Coronation Street: 9.2m (40.7%)
20:00 - Tonight: 2.69m (11.3%)
20:30 - Coronation Street: 8.7m (35.4%)
21:00 - Blue Murder: 4.85m (19.7%)
22:00 - News at Ten and Weather: 3m (15.7%)

Channel 4
18:30 - Hollyoaks: 1.6m (8.6%)
19:00 - Channel 4 News: 700,000 (3.4%)
19:55 - 3 Minute Wonder: 500,000 (2.2%)
20:00 - The Enemy Within: 430,000 (1.8%)
21:00 - Daredevils: 930,000 (3.8%)
22:00 - Ugly Betty: 860,000 (5.1%)

Five
17:30 - Neighbours: 1.3m (9.6%)
18:00 - Home and Away: 1.1m (6.2%)
18:30 - Live From Studio Five: 300,000 (1.4%)
19:30 - How Do They Do It?: 600,000 (2.4%)
20:00 - The Gadget Show: 1.51m (6.2%)
21:00 - FlashForward: 3.19m (12.9%)
22:00 - Ross Noble's Australian Trip: 600,000 (3.4%)

Very good rating for Life last night. Good ratings for the soaps, in particular Emmerdale.

No show above 1m after 7pm

OMG Phenomonal Ratings for The X Factor.

13m is a huge figure for them seeing last year's final made 13.4m for the finale result in the overnights.

It was a dramatic result with Rachel having to go up against Kandy Rain.

I am so glad that she was saved. She didn't deserve to be there.

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Regarding last night ;

Good ratings for the soaps especially Emmerdale getting their 2nd highest rating since April.

EastEnders and Coronation Street literally neck and neck now which is great to see.