Think you've answered your own question there.

Anyway, laughing already at the mass histeria in the press about England qualifying and how a team who didn't even qualify for the last European Championships, made up of players who've done absolutely noting in international football, playing for a country that hasn't made a championship final in 43 years, are obviously going to win the World Cup. As long as they don't get up to any hanky panky with the WAGs!

I haven't noticed it that low before.

Must be why he worked there for 10 years then?

Anyway the editor picks the stories & the correspondent asks the questions.

And why shouldnt the BBC Trust chairman be asked his opinion? Is he now suddenly the Dali Lama or the Pope. Scub that people actually ask them tough questions.

Very odd if Austin gets no input into story selection, running order etc on News at Ten. The BBC newsreaders get input into the One, Six and Ten, as do the presenters on Channel 4 News with their 7pm programme.

I just think the whole thing is a bit of a non-story, whipped up by various outlets, not least ITN, to try (and fail) to sling a bit of mud at the BBC. The News at Ten piece was utter drivel from start to finish: it was slanted, factually incorrect in claiming the shows were on at the same time (even the world's worst time-teller would have trouble concluding 7.25pm and 8pm were the same), and it conveniently ignored the long history of overlaps between the two shows, and the actual head-to-head battles instigated by ITV in autumn 2006.

The overlap is interesting to us, on this thread, but we are not representative of the UK population as a whole. We're the television equivalents of trainspotters.

Most people don't give a flying fudge.

If you watch both shows, I think you would give a flying fudge.

I'd say about 8/10 million people are affected by the scheduling clashes and don't like it at all. The scheduling clash isn't good for anyone.

Yep. It's not a record low but it's one of the lowest. The lead-in and lead-out didn't help and it did manage to improve on those somewhat, but still a really disappointing figure. Home and Away was a double episode in most markets so perhaps that contributed with viewers unwilling to commit to 90 minutes of soap.

I don't think very many fans of both shows will be too troubled by the prospect of recording one show (or part of one show) and watching the other live.

It's something they'll be used to from previous overlaps between the two shows, not least last year's overlaps, and direct head-to-head clashes in 2006.

Here's an interesting example from last year, taken from the Top 30s page on the BARB website for w/e 19th October 2008.

BBC One:
6.39pm Strictly Come Dancing
8.12pm National Lottery: Who Dares Wins

ITV1:
7.26pm The X Factor

It wasn't a problem then. The current fuss is just opportunism from ITV, and it certainly doesn't merit a big feature near the top of News at Ten.

Ah! Hopefully it'll perk up a little bit tonight.

Vampires seem to be taking over the US. First it was Twilight, then it was True Blood and now The CW's new series, Vampire Diaries, has started very strong. It's some much needed good news after the disappointing start for Melrose Place.

The CW said:


The NFL returned on NBC with 18 million viewers and easily won the night.

Surprising increase across the hour for Watchdog considering the progressively strong competition from ITV across the slot. I guess it wouldn't be the first time something slated on this forum wa popular with the public at large.

The sneaky New Tricks repeat did well for BBC One at 9pm. No doubt it'll be down again next week as more and more people realise they're being had.


What a very strange idea that is. I can't see that many people paying to watch a ropey quality stream on their computers of what is essentially a friendly. The cynic in me thinks its just a rouse from the rights holders to stop the TV fee they can demand collapsing now England afre qualified. I'd be utterly stunned if the match didn't end up on TV in the end.


Its sad, but its true!

Very good for The Vampire Diaries, it goes to show that people don't want to watch the likes of Gossip Girl, 90210 and Melrose Place. It will be interesting how The Beautiful Life does.

The CW also a new show at midseason called Life UneXpected which looks more like a family show in the vein of Gilmore Girls and considering how well Secret Life of an American Teenagers has done on ABC Family have done, I think it has a shot of doing good.

The ratings for Derren Brown will be high, but I wonder what the AI rating will be?

What's the highest Channel 4 rating this year? It is certainly creating an internet buzz, at the moment it's trending second and fourth in Twitter's trending topics, and is getting a load of comments in different parts of this forum.

I won't be surprised if it has about 4m with 5m peak? Or is that way too high?

No, I think thats a pretty good prediction. It was a very clever marketing idea. Though, I suspect most people were pretty dissatisfied with the 'explanation' so I'd be surprised if next weeks trick rates so highly.

I think Derren Brown will get about 4m - but judging by the reaction in the various threads he may have alienated a few viewers tonight.

Could be a huge peak for Derren. Been all over the papers for the past few days and the word will have spread a lot since Wednesday.

Very little competition either with a repeat on ITV1 and a repeat in all but name on BBC One.

Bit low for Coronation Street last night? Under 8m at 8.30pm when it's dark outside. Emmerdale did well, as did Countrywise. Despite the criticism, Watchdog's ratings will please BBC1.

The Bill improved, but still beaten by a New Tricks repeat - as others have said, I think the gap'll close as more people realise the repeats are here to stay. Channel 4 and Five both struggled. BBC2 did alright, but it'd be nice to have Mock the Week's ratings.

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In other news: Alan Davies has just stated on Jonathan Ross that the next episode (start of a new series?) of Jonathan Creek will be aired at Easter.

I reckon it'll be 4 weeks of New Tricks repeats, then Criminal Justice for the week 5th-9th October then Gavin & Stacey will be up against The Bill from the 15th October. If it's 6 episodes then the series would finish on 19th November and apparantly the DVD is released on Monday 23rd so that fits neatly.

Running comedy against The Bill stops people accusing the BBC of aggressive scheduling as happened when they put New Tricks up against it and would happen if they put Spooks on against it. (Spooks'll get Mondays, I reckon). G&S would then have a great chance of taking 5 or 6 million in the ratings and comfotably beating The Bill which remains a feeble fighter in the ratings battle.

G&S won't be going out on Fridays cos that will be HIGNFY and Armstrong & Miller.


It's been widely known for several weeks now that the new Creek episode is scheduled for next Easter.

That shows how alert I am sometimes. I thought that Creek at Easter was just a rumour and hadn't been confirmed.

I think you might be over-estimating Gavin and Stacey against The Bill. I think it'll get around 4m, very close to The Bill. The Bill's had a horrid start being up against New Tricks, but it should stabilise now.

Derren will do well - I think most of the people who are disappointed are just annoyed that they thought they'd worked out how he'd done it and his explanation was nothing like they were expecting.

Just back from the US.

Lots of promotion for Glee and Flash Forward going about, but NBC are REALLY pushing Jay Leno.

Never seen so many posters, billboards, etc in my life. He's on the front page of every magazine and newspaper too. The DOG on NBC was reading "Jay Leno - 2 weeks on Monday" or "Jay Leno - 2 weeks tonight" continuously throughout all their primetime programming. Astonishing really.

I think the final series of gavin and stacey should get around 5 million, the christmas special got 7.2 million last year. The Bill should stabilise now without mock the week,the mentalist and new episodes of new tricks.

thats just nonsense. lets talk facts rather than spin. The over lap between shows is 3-4m; on;y 1-2m max watch time delayed PVR, s at least 50% of the overlap dont PVR

Just found an interesting article on the independent website by its media editor, its says the BBC is close to signing an deal to make an Uk edition of fox hit 'so you think you can dance.'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...r-1785699.html

Another dance show. An unsuprising move, but will it over-saturate the dance reality TV market?