Does EastEnders actually ever finish early?

Apparently, (as noted on linked page), the programmes are tape checked by Attentional so the ratings are more accurate...

Of course, I agree it doesn't help when one website says EastEnders has the highest rating last night whereas another site says Corrie 'won'...

Yeah, been lots of 7.28:00 - 7.57:00 finishes since the news summaries were introduced.

My thoughts exactly. I've seen EE finish loads of times at 19:57 due to the BBC news update, but the final 5 mins are never removed.

Also Attentional don't seem to "tape check" every show, as on Christmas Day 2008 the ratings weren't doctored even though BBC1's schedule was running 7 mins late. Even last week, I think Take Me Out started 3-4 mins late but its rating wasn't changed to take the late start into account. Attentional needs to be more consistent with how they change the ratings. It's no good doing it for just a few shows.

I am glad you guys are discussing this - I mentioned this some time ago when these 2 min news updates first started and I asked why there was never a difference to EE ratings when it happened. Sorry but I think it is just another BARB discrepancy among a lot of such - including the ridiculous non inclusion of BBCHD simulcast figures.

BARB's official figures would be accurate to the minute. The 2 minute news update wouldn't be included - BARB I don't think include programmes under 10 minutes long.

Neither are "Barb errors". BARB produce figures for tv channels separately hence BBC HD channels being reported "separately" not ignored.

The overnights are not specifically reported by Barb - its other companies who are using BARB bata to report on overnights.

Amazed nobody (well, major channel at least) has picked up the rights to that as it should do well on something like E4 and Fiver, and the Aussie soaps show the UK audience are more than happy to watch Aussie drama. I could see it doing well partnered with another Aussie drama (or perhaps something from New Zealand, such as Outrageous Fortune or Go Girls) or Aussie films as part of a weekly theme night.

Absoluter no to remakes though as they simply never work, as ITV proved with Honest (a remake of Outrageous Fortune) a couple of years ago.


Ratings and yet again the stupidity of the split C4 show is highlighted. Frankly as is often the case with these specials the live element could have been done within the last 10 minutes of the hour-long show, but even a 90-minute slot from 9pm would surely see the last half-hour maintain the same average as the first hour, and then if the audience had dropped to 2.6m for 8 out of 10 Cats at 10.30pm that wouldn't have been seen as a disaster.

Yeah, I wondered about that one and whether the specials scattered across the year constituted a series. All of the other shows had episodes following on from eachother on a daily/weekly basis. The three episodes aired in 2009 averaged 10.35m on BBC One and 10.70m if you include HD (which I didn't do with the other averages - I've not got that much time on my hands ).


I actually think you're right to an extent. Two cop shows against eachother was always going to dent both. Though I think The Bill still came out of the scrap a whole lot worse. New Tricks had also moved from Monday to Thursday - and I think has simply seen the peak of its popularity now, anyway.

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As for last night, very strong once more for the soaps which must have enjoyed their best rated week since - well, for as long as I've been regularly frequenting this thread. EastEnders has done exceedingly well to hold onto its lead over Corrie in the run after Christmas. I'm usually a little skeptical about the impact of individual storylines on ratings over a period of several weeks - but it seems to be working in this case.

Silent Witness was hit a little bit last night, but it had very strong competition from DOI - still a great number though, and it did very well to win the slot. Big Brother seems to be holding up much better than the last summer series - though thats obviously not saying too much. Must still occupy lots of slots at the top of C4's weekly list. There's a lot of 2.5-3m replacement programmes needed...

I wonder when/if the BBC will put out "ratings" for E20

How funny would It be if 0 people watched it

I doubt they'd put ratings out yet.

well given the evidence ive seen, at least some people on the Digital Spy soap forum, and some people on the Talk Walford forum have watched it. Plus I watched it.

D.M.N. yes I know they wont put it out yet, but it will still be interesting to see what those "ratings" are.

If they are good they will.

it will suffer from not being on the iPlayer site, im sure plenty of people will think it will be on there, there isnt even a link to it from the page for Friday nights EE.

Inspired by sn_22’s great post about drama averages, here are the BARB averages for most reality shows last year. Those where one episode fell outside the Top 30 but the approximate averages were calculated regardless are denoted with a *.

BBC1
Strictly Come Dancing.......9.16m… change: -0.48m (-5%)
The Apprentice…………....... 8.37m… change: +1.09m (+15%)
Let’s Dance……………...........7.67m… (new)
Your Country Needs You.. 5.06m*.. (new)

ITV1
Britain’s Got Talent…….... 13.36m… change: +3.15m (+31%)
The X Factor…………......... 13.00m… change: +2.49m (+24%)
I’m a Celebrity……........... 9.37m….. change: +0.59m (+7%)
Dancing on Ice…….......... 8.86m….. change: -0.06m (-1%)
Hell’s Kitchen…………........ 4.41m*… change: +0.49m (+13%)

Channel 4 [inc. +1]
Celebrity Big Brother…... 3.3m…… change: -1.3m (-28%)
Big Brother……………........ 2.5m…… change: -1.1m (-31%)

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So, Strictly ended up about half a million down from last year, however it was still their second most watched series ever. With better scheduling and bigger stars in the next series, I’m confident that it can rise back up to 2008 levels. The Apprentice’s ratings surged this year, with the third biggest year-on-year rise out of all the ‘reality’ shows. It’s a rise of 49% since the first BBC1 series of the show aired in 2007, which is brilliant. Let’s Dance was easily the breakout new hit of 2009. YCNY’s ratings were okay, but lower than other ALW shows.

We all know about BGT and TXF! Huge rises for both shows, and by the end quite similar averages. I’m a Celebrity overtook Dancing on Ice to be ITV’s 3rd most popular reality show, with a solid rise from the previous series. It’s in a much better position now than in 2007 when its average for the series back then stood at 7.34m. Dancing on Ice is the only one of ITV’s reality shows to lose viewers, but it was such a small loss. Hell’s Kitchen trailed behind by a long way, though it was an improvement from the previous series which aired in 2007. Although it’s being “rested” by ITV this year according to reports, I think a summer airing that could get ~4m for two weeks would be quite a good idea.

Biggest ratings collapses were by both versions of Big Brother. To lose 30% in a year (or two for CBB) is poor by any standard. The current series seems to be holding up quite well though. The summer BB’s tend to have a similar trend to CBB, so I don’t think we’ll see any 20% losses this summer.

What reality/talent shows do people think will go up or down this year?

I would be expect DOI to be up by somewhere between 5-10% in 2010. The Apprentice will be scheduled later this year (from June onwards) so I wouldnt expect much growth on it. I'd hope Popstar to Opera Star can average 5m

Purely becaue of the rise in BARB figures since New Years Day (even before the snow came) I suspect BGT will rise again this year, X Factor has probably peaked but perhaps with a bit of controversy could rise. DoI i expect to rise also probably more than the other 2, mainly because Sundays were so strong for ITV1 before xmas and i can see this trend continuing. Im a Celeb will probably fall unless Jordan goes back in for a 3rd time or Peter goes in.

I think lets dance will rise, though strictly will fall again i think it has now passed its peak and like BB is on a slippery slope to nothing (though not for another 5 years). And the apprentice is harder to predict but with a summer airing it will probably decrease unless BBC1 change tact and place it on a Sunday or Monday when I can see it rising.

Re the weather/football, I see BBC1 kept to Final Score as normal 4.30-5.20. MOTD now runs 10.30-11.30 (so they must have got permission to show extended highlights of the two surviving fixtures, or else there's a hell of a lot of talk!) with the FLS 11.30-12.20 - then a ridiculously early handover to News 24 (although that will probably rate better than a film given the insatiable appetite for news).

I imagine MOTD will get good numbers, the shorter editions always do because you have less impact of drifting off to bed - would hope for 4m tonight with Man U and Arsenal both playing.

I wonder whether the snow and ice will stop people going out tonight? Or are people getting fed up of being housebound? Could pay dividends for So You Think.. and maybe ITV's line up could see an uplift after last week's dire performance?

Re the Ross slot, an interesting poll reported here on the nation's preferred candidate to take over - a presenter whose present format has gone rather stale in content and ratings terms; might be an interesting new challenge....?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...ight-slot.html

Yes there's lots happening in EastEnders and much more to come with the LIve episode and Murder reveal,the return of the Jacksons who were popular back in the day and we've got Rickey and Biancas wedding plus much more happening before the end of Feb so i can't see EastEnders slipping at all in the near future.

Sorry Double Post

Apart from the Boxing Day blip (1 rating in over a dozen), what exactly are you referring to when you say "stale in ratings terms"?

Latest TV Burp series was the most popular ever, often getting over 7m in the final figures, over 10m reach per weekend (sometimes as high as 12m), 'Best of...' repeats attracting over 5m, and most of this up against the BBC's biggest LE programme.

The same
The weather is saying the snow and Cold is set to continue till at least the end of next week

Sundays were strong before Christmas because TXF pt2 aired on Sundays. The less than inspiring return of SCDOI last night hardly points to big numbers - but (like everything on telly these days, on ITV anyway) its ratings will depend on how much the tabloids get behind it. One "celeb" in particular should keep the tabloids happy, even if it does rather compromise the integrity of an ice-dancing contest () by having a one-legged contestant...

Really don't see how you can say SCD will "fall again" unless you know how the BSI are going to schedule it, who will be presenting it, who will be on the judging panel and (crucially) who is going to be on it.

As for The Apprentice, let's not forget part of it did "air in summer" last year, not finishing until June, and overlapped with BGT. With an election on May 6th, the Beeb could launch this by mid-May, although perhaps they'll want to get BGT out of the way to have a clear run. If it starts in early June, then it's going to be September presumably before the final - so it could get much better numbers at the end than ever before.

I, too, would like to see this air on Sunday or Monday. But I think it will do well, probably better than 2009, whatever day it gets.

Would you explain to us how Heather Mills compromises the integrity of the competition?

By being a golddigging, attention seeking c**t perhaps?