Been away for a while so missed a lot of the ratings, but quite a few things to note:

BBC1
Excellent start for Life the first week, but it seemed to plummet last night and I thought it would hold its own against the 2 dramas. Decent start for Around The World, but I expected around 5m tbh with the weak competition. Also on Wednesday it seems to be becoming more apparent that Waterloo Road has been delayed with all the fillers in the 8pm slot.

SCD performing very well, but being completely outshone by the XF despite the head start. I would never have guessed that the XF would completely dominate this year, especially with the clash.

ITV1
After looking at the ratings for the weekend before last I was shocked to see how high the XF was and thought it could never increase from that. But for it to increase again is amazing...surely it has peaked now before the final? There's over 20 million people watching TV in the 8pm slot...around 22m if my very rough calcuations are correct. This is amazing and people really are staying in for the XF. I don't know what it is, maybe the live Sunday show? but this series feels refreshed and new, even more so than last year. The changes Simon brings about every year take a while to bed in, but when they do they improve the ratings a lot. Though I think the dramatic part has gone to a completely new level this year. The introduction of Cheryl Cole on Sunday was extremely OTT and the whole layout is, though people obviously like this...around 15m infact!

Also not forgetting Doc Martin which has seen its audience increase by 2m viewers in 2 weeks which I didn't think would happen! Pleasing though, considering it is one of ITV's best dramas and one of the only ones to maintain its audience and not drop!

Another surprise is Harry Hill which I didn't think would manage 6-7m against SCD, but is benefiting from the XF following. Great for the show, considering it's bringing another 3m ish for the repeat on Sunday and has numerous repeats on ITV2. Brings its total audience to 10-11m.

After the surprising hit Murderland I think it's completely put Blue Murder dead in the water now as Blue Murder, an established drama was up againt the same competition but managed 1.5m less and must be very expensive drama to make. I don't think it can get the 7m it was getting ever again.

ITV1 seem to have Friday-Monday and Wednesday sorted. Just Tuesdays and Thursdays (mainly 9pm) to sort out now. But with a strong weekend schedule I can see IAC returning to huge figures, and beating last years ratings which were boosted by the XF, which has increased a lot this year.

Just one question, when is Top Gear back and which slot is it taking??

November 15th @ 9pm. Same date and time as the I'm a Celebrity return. (providing it is exactly the same weekend as last year)

I think I'm a Celebrity will do very well this year, with lead-ins from X Factor or Coronation Street on every night except Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Not that long ago they only had those lead-ins twice a week (Saturdays and Mondays)

....will I'm a Celebrity be on every Wednesday due to Champions League? If it isn't, does that mean it'll have to be on longer on Thursday? If that is the case (sorry, a lot of if's ) that'll mean Emmerdale will have to go for an hour on Tuesdays, I can see ITV doing:

Tuesday
19:00 - Emmerdale
20:00 - I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
* including live trial

Thursday
19:00 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Countrywise
20:00 - Coronation Street
20:30 - I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

I've also realised, once the evictions come, I'm a Celeb will have to be on for an hour and a half.... Corrie will have to be moved around the schedules a bit - the only other suggestion I have is to wrap it around NaT - but I don't think that'll work.

A lot of questions - indeed!

I'd forgotten about that.

What did they do last year on Monday's for evictions?

Over on one of the Spooks forums, someone got a reply from Radio Times saying that Spooks would begin in November. So it's odd that the BBC press site doesn't mention it! A lot of confusion surrounding Spooks at the moment.


I think Life might well be split because the DVD release date is 30th November. If all ten were to be shown on TV in one go, it would finish on 14th December. So something's definitely going on there. IIRC Planet Earth was split into 2 parts a few years ago, so the BBC might be taking the same approach.


I think they dropped some of the 20:30 Corrie episodes, and had I'm a Celebrity for 90 mins. I reckon this year they'll have 2 hour episodes on Tuesdays as well.

20:30 to 22:00 - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/...-draws-8m.html

That right - they moved the second Coronation Street to Wednesday and had an hour long special.

I wonder what they will do this year?

Maybe...

MONDAY

7.00 Emmerdale (1/6)
7.30 Coronation St (1/5)
8.00 Tonight
8.30 I'm a Celebrity

TUESDAY

7.00 Emmerdale (2/6)
7.30 Whatever
8.30 I'm a Celebrity

WEDNESDAY

7.00 Emmerdale (3/6)
7.30 Coronation Street (2/5) (3/5)
8.30 I'm a Celebrity

THURSDAY

7.00 Emmerdale (4/6) (5/6)
8.00 Coronation St (4/5)
8.30 I'm a Celebrity

FRIDAY

7.00 Emmerdale (6/6)
7.30 Coronation St (5/5)
8.00 Tonight
8.30 I'm a Celebrity


Not perfect, but would largely avoid EastEnders and give I'm a Celebrity a consistant slot.

It's not ideal bringing Coronation St back to a Wednesday night though.

Just checked Wiki and the Champions League date which interferes with I'm a Celebrity is 25th November, which is in Week #2 for the show.

ITV have put a sponsorship package up for Christmas on the ITV Media website which includes the following shows :


Who Dares Sings 1 x 60min
(the episode left over from last year !)

All Star Impressions 1 x 60min

Ant & Dec Christmas Special 1 x 60min

The Nolans 1 x 60min

Entertainment Special TBC 1 x 60min

Piers Morgan Review of the Year 1 x 90min

FIVE gets more then four these days

Oh God, I thought Who Dares Sings had reared its ugly head for the last time when it got dropped last year, although I doubt this special will get a particularly good slot (5pm or so).

Also, The Nolans?! If this gets a primetime slot then ITV have truly sunk to an all time low. Don't know anything about All Star Impressions so can't comment. Ant and Dec should do well, and Piers Morgan will do decently (New Year's Eve?).

Live from Studio Five has been extended by 5 minutes, not that anyone has noticed.

Saw an advert yesterday saying its now at the new time of 6.25pm.

I guess that is to make Home and Away viewers suffer at least 5 minutes of it before switching to Hollyoaks.

I'm watching it for the first time since the first episode - it's as bad as ever. On the plus side Katie Price is on again on Thursday.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...postcount=4148

Sorry

The ratings did go up yesterday, but only very slightly and probably a coincidence. This show is on the way out, for sure.

I noticed that How Do They Do It? pulls in an okay audience at 7.30pm between LFSF and The Gadget Show. I think only Highland Emergency has pulled in a slightly higher audience but it's still good against Corrie and Inside Out. I wonder if Five should consider moving it to 8pm to see if it can break the 1m mark.

According to Chris Evans on his Drivetime show today that himself and Terry Wogan will be appearing on a Who Wants to be a Millionaire Christmas Special. Those who will remember, Evans beat Chris Tarrant by becoming the first person to give away £1 Million on televsion. While Wogan has already appeared on the show before some years ago.

I have the first two episodes of Life taped, but I assume its as sumptuous as the other Attenborough epics. The drop from one to two is alarming for something that has taken 3 or 4 years to piece together, and although I dont doubt the quality of Murderland on the other side, a bit sad. Maybe, despite the brilliance of the production, the public are a bit "natured out", as alot of the set pieces of animal behaviour will have been visited many times before.The sense of wonder may have waned.

The BBC are under a bit of a blitz at present. X Factor has sent SCD packing from Sunday and devalues it on Saturday, is going to displace Top Gear from its prime slot and will contine to do wonders for ITV's share.(Top gear and Doc Marten may also have prevented Life from running in a more favoured Sunday night slot). At the same time three weeks of IAC together with the usual soapfest with added football is going to put BBC1 under severe pressure. More and more ammo for the ITV cheering squad on here.

Talking of SCD, depending on what happens next year, i reckon Fridays could be a home for the main show, with a live result show on Saturday. The BBC could then consider options for a new talent based show for Saturdays.

A very good night for ITV1 last night. The return of Carla boosted Corrie to its best ratings since March. I'm surprised how well Murderland did and how low Life dropped. Abit of a worry for the BBC with another 8 episodes still to go and it will be hit hard by IAC next month. However i can see Murderland dropping off quite abit, possibly by at least 1.0m viewers.

You see, I'm not so sure about that. I see Life having far more of an audience overlap with Murderland than with IAC. I myself came within a hair's breadth of watching Murderland at 9 with the aim of catching Life either on BBC Northern Ireland at 10.35 or on iPlayer. In the end I opted for life and will catch Murderland on ITV player (if it works properly!) later in the week. On the other hand I'm not remotely interested in IAC.

Putting some spin on Life's ratings. Maybe it'll be one of those programmes that add a considerable number on timeshift. Also the repeat screening moves to BBC1 on Sunday at 6pm from next weekend. The repeats of Land Girls took 2.5m in that slot. I would expect Life to do better. 5m (officials) on Monday + 3m on Sunday = 8m (+ BBC HD + BBC4 Tuesday repeat) = 8.5m. That's an okay figure to justify the expense of the programme.

Also, if your prediction about Murderland losing viewers proves correct, maybe some of those viewers will come back to Life.

The soaps had their usual excellent Monday night. The 9pm slot did well for BBC1, ITV1 and Five, even if FlashForward lost some of the audience. 8pm held up well on BBC2 as ever.

The ratings look astounding compared to tomorrow's JAF Tuesday.

What is this ITV cheering squad you so frequently speak of? As if acknowledging The X Factor's brilliant ratings is a bad thing. I suppose the reaction to the BBC's inevitable bumper ratings this Christmas will be traditionally subdued. As if.

I hadn't realised Life was a 10 part series. Seems really long and doesn't look too promising given the declines this week. Looks like ITV are back on form for Monday nights with Murderland and I think it highlights that Blue Murder just wasn't performing.

Star talent like Robbie Coltrane can be a good draw, I think. The same will probably apply to The Prisoner. Even Michelle Ryan drew big numbers to Bionic Woman on ITV2!

'Not Cracker' not getting cracking ratings then - just moderately good ones. This is late October, it's dark and miserable, it had a near 10m inheritance from Corrie, another Attenborough nature doc on BBC1 as competition, and Robbie Coltrane and murder - i'd have expected that combination to generate 7m minimum, possibly more given what the crime dramas were getting earlier in the year.

How did its ratings decline over the hour?


You missed off the opening "s"...


Is this absolutely definitely confirmed, or based on the speculation from Clarkson's column weeks ago?

More BSI madness if so - TG has a loyal 6m audience, bang it out opposite TXF and fight back, Beeb!!

All they're doing if they run it at 9pm is destroying BBC1 in the 9pm slot. Unless TG moves to BBC1...

Is someone at the BBC determined to see BBC1 relinquish its position as the nation's most watched channel so as to bury finally the "ratings chasing" nonsense usually thrown at the Beeb?


I missed last weeks but watched some of it last night as I drifted away from Not Cracker. Yes, it's sumptuous but as you say, you've seen one of these docs, you've seen them all. It's not Monday night 9pm TV for me, it's mid-evening Sunday or Wednesday.

No doubt Life will go back above 5m though as Not Cracker inevitably drops back, as all new ITV dramas do.