The press centre is already building it up as the 100th show, so no doubt they'll go all out on the trailers and publicity etc.

Maybe it's time for a tabloid judges bust-up.

It'd be very difficult to air Strictly in midweek for two reasons. Firstly, it leaves the Saturday schedule extremely exposed. They could move Doctor Who back to the pre-Christmas run, Merlin to the spring and Robin Hood to late summer/early autumn but that wouldn't be enough. ITV would be laughing all the way to the bank.

Secondly, Len and Bruno judge Dancing with the Stars - the series starts next week, and airs Monday and Tuesday. The earliest Strictly could be broadcast, therefore, is Thursday where ITV have two Emmerdale's, Coronation Street and The Bill. I know Strictly is pitching against Coronation Street for the first couple of weeks, but I don't think they'd want to prolong it beyond then. If it's a poor series, people'd simply watch Coronation Street before switching over (they may do that anyway this time around).

It's just not feasible for BBC1 to move Strictly to a weekday slot - even though it'd be an extremely interesting move if it went to Wednesday's...

keep to facts please.They said having the result show going past ten o clock was drawing complaints as it was in 2006. Most result shows started then at 9.40 and didnt finish till 10.10/15.
They have apologised on the twitter page already for the 2late friday show and anyway all of strictlys sunday shows last year finished at nine.

So he can reappear on the Paul O'Grady show and boast about them trouncing The X Factor in the ratings of course!

The Xtra Factor have mucked that up slightly by boasting how well the judge's are getting on. I have the feeling that, with Strictly having a new panel and an unsettled feel to the show, The X Factor want to present itself as being calmed, settled and (for them ) mature this series.

iaindb - I'll answer you in a sec.

Apologised as if it's beyond their control? They scheduled it there!

I don't mind the BBC usually - well I try and be fairer on BBC1 than George anyway.


I can't believe it won't happen now. But if BBC1 really wanted Strictly to stay aty 6pm they would've stuck to it, and told Brucie to like it or lump it. The show has now grown to a size where it's bigger than the presenter.


Two major reality television shows which ask for viewer input, both based on dance, both having celebrities going on a 'journey', both resulting in nothing but a trophy at the end of it?

I think with the number of weeks left in the year, airing them together would be idiotic. Sorry.


Hmmm, who would you have replacing Simon though? He's more important to X Factor than Bruce is to Strictly. Nigel Lythgoe may just be ok as he can be Mr. Nasty but please - no Pete Waterman!


Dancing on Ice, with The X Factor switching to January.



Exactly! And in 2007 they were so desperate to keep Strictly at a family friendly time, they aired it between 7.15-8.00 IIRC, which directly affected Emmerdale and Coronation Street.

X Factor - swapping its time of year with Dancing On Ice so it has no Saturday clash with Strictly.


Because Strictly is one of BBC1's biggest programmes and it was being made to play second fiddle to Robin Hood and Merlin.

Also everyone said X Factor's ratings were up because of the Cheryl Cole effect. I think Brucie reckoned it was because it had a better slot and easy competition

Wrong once again 6.45-7.30

They apologised to parents whose kids couldn't watch it not for scheduling it there.

Ah ok, so it was against Emmerdale, but not Coronation Street. Sorry and thanks.

Last year - did they do an hour long 8-9, or 8.15-9.00. I watched the show and can't remember between which times they put the results!

I don't get this.

Didn't they think about children not being able to watch it before they scheduled it there?

Anyway, moving this on slightly. How do people reckon the battle between X Factor and Antiques Roadshow will go ?

Did X Factor go up against Antiques Roadshow in it's previous sunday outings ?

And Family Fortunes against Countryfile ?

It will be interesting to see how they'll schedule an 15 minute dance off, the musical guest and the 2 professional dances into twenty minutes.

Presenters talking about their show's ratings just makes me cringe. Phillip Schofield is the worst and Bruce seems to have a bee in his bonnet about it this year too. Dermot did it last year on NMTB but he was provoked by poor old Arlene.

I think they appeal to generally different audiences, so Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow'll hold up around the 5m mark. I think Family Fortunes may hit 5m too, The X Factor around 10m, and Doc Martin around 8m due to the clash with Waking the Dead. I've never quite comprehended how big a bit Doc Martin was until I looked at past ratings!

Actually, maybe the night will not be a total ITV walkover now I think about it. Just the schedules complement each other better than Saturday's!

That doesn't make any sense. If they're that sorry they wouldn't have scheduled it there in the first place.

Two professional dances pre-recorded before the show starts - 6 minutes plus a link of a minute. One of these can have a musical guest to save time. Then the Dance Off has 8 minutes. Each dance is only 1 minute 30, plus a link of a minute and the start, middle and end. Judge's vote takes 1 minute 30, that's another 6 minutes, that leaves 2 minutes for anything running over.

Oh yes, I forgot about that. They put Strictly on between 6.45 and 7.35 in direct competition to Emmerdale and they hammered it. That, I reckon, is why Emmerdale was moved from Sundays. And in reference to my earlier query - would ITV put BGT on against Dr Who next Spring in revenge - they put Emmerdale on against Eastenders to get revenge!!

I concede - BBC1 do use Strictly to win the ratings war - taking on Emmerdale, Friday Corrie, X Factor - but who can blame them? They have precious few programmes capable of putting up such a fight - Strictly, Dr Who, New Tricks, Eastenders (and even that was pretty hopeless when it came to fighting Emmerdale).

I know I say it's not the BBC's job to compete in the ratings, but it's still fun if they do so now and again cos otherwise ITV just get cocky.

Well they said to blame eastenders, that it couldnt be moved and the one show is launching its new one hour show tommorow and probably couldnt abondon its new slot after just an week.
They were probably avoiding putting the results show on sunday as it would confuse some people into thinking that strictly would run on sundays again this year

Do you think it was Dermot who got Arlene sacked from Strictly?

And I bet Schofield didn't do much talking about the ratings for It's Now Or Never. Well, he couldn't - it didn't have any.

I didn't realise they were continuing with as much filler, I was thinking it would be more along the lines of the BGT semi finals where it's all in one show, albeit I was including time for a dance off. At 2 hours, airing after Merlin, ITV are either going to have to put up with a significant overlap some weeks or else try and get the early start.

Any time after 7.30pm - don't think there is a later restriction (well, not before around 11pm anyway)


Has it been picked up in the UK yet?


And to think ITV turned down Wipeout and backed their own programming instead - The Colour of Money.


Fridays might have been interesting - 8-10pm, with EastEnders moved (to Wednesday perhaps).

More realistically I think best all round for the viewer would be for The X Factor to air on Saturdays and Strictly on Sundays.

I can see the Strictly results show being reinstated during the series - probably on Saturday rather than Sunday, but I think viewers will probably feel short changed by the all in one Strictly, so ultimately they'll return to the status quo - and it can be used to bring viewers back to BBC1 after The X Factor.

Blimey, threads exploded again. Can only imagine what its going to be like when the ratings come out.

With a 100-plus minute SCD, a reasonable 6.30pm start-time, is frankly no longer looking suitable given that it means Merlin is going to be finishing at gone 9pm (that would be bound to attract complaints from parents). The BBC had a choice then:

(a) Start SCD at 6pm, enabling Merlin to still enjoy and early enough slot. Or;

(b) Send SCD as late in the schedule as possible (remembering they still need to get Casualty in before MOTD)

Neither was ideal, so they went for Option B, perhaps reasoning that taking on TXF head-on might force ITV to shift it, and let SCD enjoy better numbers than last year in more preferable slots in the long run.

Of course, whats likely to happen now is the BBC succumbs to the baying mob and starts the schedule pre-6pm (ridiculous) or just airs Merlin to finish at 9pm anyway, figuring at least the complaints recieved will be fewer than when they dared to impinge on the territory in which we are all supposed to bow down to the superior might of the X Factor masses.

Revenge for what? As soon as a viable slot was open, they moved Emmerdale. Where else was the 6th episode going to go?


I can blame them. It's completely inappropriate for them to go out to attack ITV.