Well why does any broadcaster want anything to do well? Because it's in their interests... to justify the License fee in the BBC's case.

They moved an episode of Question Time to primetime earlier in the year which was a bad mistake and angered viewers who tuned in at the normal time. They could get away with doing that though because all the major parties were complicit in the expenses scandal at the time... moving last night's to a better slot would have looked like they were giving the BNP more or special coverage as it was always going to be all about them.

Hmm, its going to be funny timing for Doctor Who - no matter what happens. I can't see how they can add it to the Saturday schedule and still keep SCD and Merlin ticking over. I hope they don't screw around with Merlin again - it does a very good job and gets no help from the schedulers.

I'd say Sunday at 7pm would be their best shot for Doctor Who. Family Fortunes is wallpaper TV to pass the time before XF. It does the trick against other wallpaper TV (Countryfile) on BBC One, but I'm sure Who would knock it down by a couple of million and pull a healthy 8m+ overnight itself.

ITV1's opposition was a repeat of Lewis so they hardly put up much of a fight.

Up against Corrie the football had only 4.8m but
a) that was only the build-up and
b) Corrie was down by 1.45m on the previous Friday.

Last October when ITV1 screened the world cup qualifier between England and Kazakhstan, BBC1 swapped Strictly and Merlin round to put Strictly on against the football. It started at 5.50 and took 7.41m in the overnights. Would a one-off Dr Who do better than a regular Strictly? Isn't a friendly less appealing that a world cup qualifier?

The England vs Brazil game is a 5pm kick-off? Do ITV1 go to the normal schedule at 7pm - You've Been Framed then TV Burp? If so, Dr Who could go head-to-head with these two shows thought that would put Strictly on at 8pm head-to-head with X Factor.

Sunday at 7pm looks like the best slot but we all thought the April DW special would be screened on Sunday, because of the lack of room on Saturday, but it went out on Saturday. Maybe the BBC see Dr Who as a Saturday programme.

Once again, speculating on the scheduling of Dr Who proves more fun than a BGT audition show.

Brilliant figure for Question Time. After seeing all the publicity I thought it would get around 5m, but ~8m was way above my expectations. It even puts Question Time in the current Top 30 programmes of the year!

Coronation Street isn't doing well on Thursdays at the moment, but it's had pretty tough competition from Watchdog and MasterChef. It should be ahead of EastEnders next week as MasterChef's over and its replacement won't be getting 3-4m.

4.2m for Countrywise is a really good figure against EastEnders. If reports of it only costing £30,000 per episode are true, ITV must be very pleased. Is a promotion on the cards? Maybe extended hour long episodes on Tuesdays at 8pm or 9pm next year? Could do well, certainly better than all those trashy programmes ITV puts on Tuesdays a lot of the time which fail to clear 3m.

Vernon was joking on POG today that it was the secret behind The X Factor's success on Sunday nights.

I found it interesting how Paul mentioned a few times about the ratings being "really good" for FF. I had no idea he was so interested in them, but he obviously knows his stuff. If you're out there Paul, come in and say hi.

I think it would. Being the higher rated of the two, Corrie has more chance of bringing viewers back from EastEnders, and of course already does it on Mondays and Fridays.

Also, with talk of Tonight airing at 7.30pm on Fridays, I'm wondering if another schedule rejig might see Corrie and Emmerdale on Tuesdays at 8pm too. OK, Holby would be an obstacle, but ITV have absolutely nothing to lose in that slot.

I'd keep Tonight out of Friday night though and with half an hour less of both Emmerdale and Corrie, the weekend could start on Fridays with Paul O'Grady's new show, Dancing on Ice and other entertainment formats on Friday nights. That could be rather costly though.



Wouldn't surprise me if in the autumn Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two was moved to BBC1.

This needed to happen though, but what I think is needed more is the restoration of the Saturday morning kids show on BBC1. So many of today's top presenters came through that route - at the moment it's difficult to see where the presenters of tomorrow are going to come from.

Like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire you mean?

Very good figures for CountryWise but see that University Challenge is currently attracting 3.5m. There is a clearly a substantial audience determined to avoid Eastenders. Probably the BBC1 posh Sunday night audience that don't want to go anywhere near those loud, argumentative working-class oiks.


Interviewers need to find ways to arse-lick their guests. You should hear some of the pretentious questions that Steve Wright and Ken Bruce ask their guests on therir Radio 2 shows. "Your music always sounds so fresh and original? Is it difficult to keep coming up with such quality sounds?". Sorry, chaps, we can't hear you. If you'd like to take your tongues out of their bottoms.... Going on and on about the good ratings is as good a way as any to crawl.

I'm glad ASFF is doing well. I've always had a soft spot for it. It's a fun game to play and a brilliantly simple format. (Oh, now I sound like a big crawler.)

Paul always says stuff like that. I'm sure if he had 'The one and only Ian Wright, let's here you' on the show, he'd talk positively about Live From Studio Five

Waterloo Road will get trounced by MM next week.
I see Corrie is on next Wednesday too. WTF is ITV doing with it?

Its the other missing episode when ITV didn't screen the Corrie double on Friday 28th August due to the footie. The other missing episode was made up for on Wed 23rd Sept. So now everything is up to date.

Yes, I know Morgan's show was a repeat. But still, the record will show that Piers got tonked 11 to 1 by Question Time.

That's so funny...

So in the space of 5 days, he's lost out twice to heavyweight ratings big hitters such as the BBC Late News, a Michael Macintyre's Comedy Roadshow hasty repeat, Match of the Day and Question Time.




And I think Hilda Ogden, Elsie Tanner and Ena Sharples would be spinning in their graves too...


I'm still not convinced they'll shift TG to 9pm just on the basis of something Clarkson wrote in his column in the summer. When has the BBC allowed its talent to dicate a show's slot? Surely the BSI have sole dominion over ludicrous scheduling decisions?

As convincing as your reasons DMN for the 14/15 Nov scheduling of Dr Who, the Beeb would clean up if they showed the three specials over the festive period - Super Saturday 19th December (amidst the SCD Final and with something like Let's Sing Christmas competing on ITV1), on Xmas Day and on New Years Day/Sat Jan 2nd.

So on that basis, it'll probably get 6.00pm on Saturday 14th November...

My only concern would be isn't Countrywise currently just made up of content from the previous regional versions of that type of show, so going forward it's going to have to rely on new content more often, which obviously makes it less cost effective - though as you say, still far cheaper than most shows put in that slot.

Pairing off Countrywise and Tonight in the 8pm hour on Tuesdays could work though. They could probably even get away with repeating it just two days later in the usual 7.30pm slot too.

19:00 - The One Show: 5m (25%)
19:00 - Emmerdale: 6.3m (31.7%)

1.3m and 6 points last night.

When's the first snow of winter expected?

I hope he doesn't. I was slamming him a few pages back for being a waste of ITV's money.


Well, it'd be something, I guess - but I do think more radical thinking is needed with kids and teens TV. The post-school slot isn't what it used to be.

I've said for ages they'd be better off risking some of their better output on an early Saturday evening where Hole in the Wall currently resides. I'm sure the Sarah Jane Adventures could pull a couple of million there, linking into Merlin - and would do wonders for their reach.


25% is an unusually high share. Did they have someone particularly good on last night?

I seem to remember The One Show had a similar upward trajectory towards the end of last year - before it went on its Christmas hiatus and lost some steam in the New Year. It'll be interesting to see if thats replicated again.

Alesha Dixon

Hasn't Clarkson insisted before that the show stays on BBC2 or he'd leave?


Naturally. Why would BBC1 (or indeed ITV1) air something in a good slot when a pathetic one would harm the programme so much better?

They could air Doctor Who over the Christmas weekend (rather than stringing it out to New Year). For example....Christmas Eve:

7.00 The One Show
7.30 EastEnders
8.00 Doctor Who
9.00 Have I Got News For You Review of the Year
9.30 Gavin and Stacey

Christmas Day:

6.00 Gruffalo
6.30 Strictly Come Dancing
7.30 EastEnders
8.00 Doctor Who
9.00 EastEnders

Boxing Day:

4.45 Final Score
5.30 BBC News and Weather
5.50 Top of the Pops at Christmas (R)
6.50 My Family
7.50 National Lottery Draws
8.00 Doctor Who
9.00 Casualty
9.50 BBC News and Weather
10.10 Match of the Day

That way Doctor Who could keep at a consistent time slot across three nights, build momentum over the holiday's yet no other programme is severely dented in regards to it's ratings.

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Astounding for Question Time. I expected it to be ever so slightly higher, but not by THAT much. As I said last night, I think the protests created even more interest, with it being splashed over the news channels.

ITV1 did ok. I think Coronation Street is suffering against Watchdog. I suppose the BBC should be congratulated for not being lazy with the 8pm slot and changing it soon...unlike the 9pm slot which seems to be stuck on New Tricks. The Bill improved which'll be a very tiny plus but it's still in trouble.

Looks like ITV have sorted Simon Cowell's contract as well, this from The Mirror :

Simon Cowell is to sign a new ITV deal tying him to the channel for another two years - after agreeing a £3.5million pay CUT.

Instead of earning around £6.7million a year for producing and starring in X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, he will get an annual salary closer to £5million.

But Simon, 50, who is poised to sign the contract in days, is delighted, saying: "I wouldn't work anywhere else."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/...5875-21769669/

When you are talking that kind of money I wouldnt have thought it would make that much difference-especially as he has his hand in other pies too.

As for ITV, the guy is very partisan and has made statements like this before-I wouldnt rule out some much deeper role in ITV at some point. It would take a seismic change in circumstances for his ITV love-in to end.

Two ratings from yesterday:

Sarah Jane Adventures: 0.8m (7%)
Benidorm: 6.0m (25.6%)

SJA's highest rating of the series. Benidorm's joint highest rating of the series, and fourth week in a row that it's won its slot.

Based on the fact that it is 240,000 (0.7%) up on last week, I suspect Armstrong and Miller may have fallen below 4m.

I bet SJA will hit 1m with the appearance of

Benidorm is doing great, I think ITV1 should give it a fourth series or at least a Christmas Special.

"Good" for SJA in the repect CBBC usually gets only 200,000 but bad when you consider an instution like Childrens TV after school only gets 200,000 on average. Changing times.

And/or that Corrie got a higher than usual audience last night thus boosting Beniyawn - we know ITV1 viewers are a bit slow with the remote.

and I wonder how many of those 0.8m were actually Children? (around 200K?)

Based on recent years, probably early Spring!


Well, really he couldn't work anywhere else. Cowell and the BBC just wouldn't work for each other, while C4, Five or Sky wouldn't give Cowell the platform he requires.

And though of course excessive by normal folk standards, by TV standard Cowell is worth every single penny, and his contract renewal has come at exactly the right time off the back of his two big shows attracting viewing figures we all thought were a thing of the past.