I'm just playing devil's advocate. Quite clearly DOI and WAH are performing as well as they have the last 2 years. Any fluctuation in the ratings is normal wear and tear.


As I said last week, when Panorama is on the BBC send BBC2 into battle for them. Something they were doing even in the days when there was only 3 channels. Currently good ol' reliable Delia is keeping the BBC share up in this slot.

Actually I must also point out that, when ITV briefly held Britains Strongest Man in the early eighties one of the events was a "girl lift", which as this was ridiculously sexist, the BBC did away with.

Arguably one of their poorer decisions.

Undoubtedly true.

What really bugs me is ITV are making the same mistakes as BBC1 did with Strictly Come Dancing - yet are they learning from their mistakes? No.

One bonus is that there are a number of half decent performers so I think interest will increase as time goes on - it's a very competitive series.


I predicted mid 5ms for it on the RPG but it should get more than that really considering the lead in and back story.


Fair point. Though Countryfile isn't the first show I'd think of when you say 'name 10 BBC1 hit programmes'.


I guess it's important for commerical channels to get viewers watching the adverts - ITV'll love last night because of it.

I do always try to give credit where it is due despite my preferences so here goes.

I watched ITV News at Ten for the first time in a long time tonight and I have to say it was excellent.

Mark Austin did a very good job anchoring on location from Port-au-Prince and the various reports were first class.

If I remember rightly ITN won an award for their coverage of the China earthquake last year and from what I saw tonight of their Haiti coverage I think they might secure another fairly soon.

2 hours is really the maximum for these shows on ITV, 2 hours 20 is just too much particularly with a result show on the same night. Obviously there are some breaks in DOI (it's only going to be about 1h40m of the actual show) but it's still a very long time. With regard to Emma Bunton, I don't think it has backfired. It has just done nothing at all. Nobody cares. So it certainly hasn't worked either.

Remember though it's not just about ratings, it's also about revenue. Dancing on Ice might get better ratings with the results at 8.30pm (and Wild at Heart at 7.30pm), but then ITV have to fork out to fill the 9pm slot, probably with a drama series. With Dancing on Ice later they probably maintain, if not increase, their ratings over the 6.00-10pm period - but without the cost of that extra drama - so basically it makes sense.

Hm, i've now seen a trailer. It looks bloody awful.

So, not so sure about the ratings now. That said, they do heavily lay on the Trotter backstory, so it may attract rather more interest than any other new offering.

But I'm afraid the trailer has confirmed all my worst fears about this.



Hm, 9.2m to 8.4m. I think that's what's called "down", but like ITV rewriting the definitions of peak-time to suit its own interests, perhaps George is rewriting the laws of maths...


Think Being Human needs a bit more to cross over into the mainstream a la Little Britain/Gavin & Stacey. Didn't a BBC1 repeat of s1 in September get less than 1m for one episode at 10.35?


There was a hint of sarcasm in my initial post bearing in mind what we were subjected to on here from September-December...

Never.

I also thought it was great tonight , I think you might be right with them getting an award.

People may moan about ITV News , but when it comes to big stories like this , they are pretty good.

Also whilst on air the following was happening

Apparently because of Clintons plane was taking off.

Also just before the 6:30 bullietin came on, ITN HQ had to be evacuated ( apart from vital studio staff ) because of a fire alarm - that's why those in London , got the end of Merdian Tonight!

They really need to do something about that building!

How many power cuts and fire alarms do they have in a year?

Jay Leno has explained everything on his show tonight.

Says NBC told him in 2004 he was being replaced in 2009, he agreed to retire to avoid any issues.

NBC actually took him off the show 6-8 months before the end of his contract and he asked to get out of the contract. They said no, they wanted him in primetime and that he wouldn't be able to work elsewhere for 12-18 months.

They convinced him to do the show at 10pm, guaranteed he would get 2 years, then axed it after 4 months. Leno asked to get out of his contract, leave NBC, he was was told no, because he is an asset to the company. He delivered a great line "How much of an asset can I be? You've fired me twice."

He said they told him he was going at 11.35pm for 30 mins and that Conan was fine about it. Turns out he wasn't and Leno pretty much confirms he is returning to The Tonight Show.

He says neither of them got the ratings, he feels bad for Conan who is a great guy, but that no matter how good or bad your show is, its all about the numbers.

NBC are in such a mess that it's a surprise Leno didn't walk along with Conan. I think it will be interesting how he does because I have a feeling CBS are planning a spoiler by getting Conan as a guest on Letterman which would hurt Leno's return to The Tonight Show.

Leno being 60 only has a few years left on Tonight anyway. So rumours about sucession will start nearly imediately.

Johnny Carson was 67 when he retired from the show in 1992 after 30 years

I too saw the Rock n Chips trailer, and was less than impressed, but my hubby says he will still watch the first episode to give it a go as he loved the originials. I think alot will tune into it out of nostalgia and curiosity, but it could see huge fluctuations throughout the programme. That said I actually think it's a good idea to put it on as an alternative to RTV on ITV and Channel 4 on Sunday evening. It will be nice for people to have an alternative.

ETA I know some people have complained about the NBC chat, but I'd like to thank the guys for the updates, I find it fascinating, watching a huge station in the States can totally unravel.

He hung on too long though. By the end he was still getting huge numbers but the audience aged with him. By reinstalling Leno, NBC are making the same mistake again

Monday 18th January 2010
BBC One
18:00 - BBC News at Six: 5.1m (24.7%)
18:30 - Regional News and Weather: 6.8m (30.7%)
19:00 - The One Show: 5.2m (22.5%)
19:30 - Inside Out: 4.0m (16.7%)
20:00 - EastEnders: 10.3m (38.9%)
20:30 - Panorama: 2.6m (9.8%)
21:00 - Hustle: 5.0m (19.1%)
22:00 - BBC News at Ten: 4.7m (21.3%)
22:25 - Regional News and Weather: 4.6m (22.6%)

BBC Two
18:00 - Eggheads: 2.4m (11.4%)
18:30 - Great British Railway Journeys: 2.2m (9.9%)
19:00 - A Culture Show Special: 1.5m (6.3%)
20:00 - University Challenge: 3.0m (11.2%)
20:30 - Delia Through the Decades: 3.1m (11.7%)
21:00 - The British Family: Our History: 1.9m (7.5%)
22:00 - Nurse Jackie: 1.2m (5.4%)

ITV1
18:30 - ITV News & Weather: 4.3m (19.2%)
19:00 - Emmerdale: 8.2m (35.8%)
19:30 - Coronation Street: 10.4m (43.2%)
20:00 - The Lakes: 4.1m (15.4%)
20:30 - Coronation Street: 9.8m (37.3%)
21:00 - Law & Order: UK: 5.6m (21.5%)
22:00 - ITV News at Ten & Weather: 3.2m (14.8%)

Channel 4 - excluding +1
18:00 - The Simpsons: 2.0m (9.8%)
18:30 - Hollyoaks: 1.3m (5.9%)
19:00 - Channel 4 News: 700,000 (2.8%)
20:00 - Celebrity Big Brother: 2.1m (8.1%)
21:00 - Gordon's Great Escape: 2.3m (9.2%)
22:20 - Celebrity Big Brother: 2.7m (14.4%)

Five
17:30 - Neighbours: 1.5m (8.5%)
18:00 - Home and Away: 1.2m (5.7%)
18:25 - Live From Studio Five: 300,000 (1.3%)
19:30 - Celebrity Quitters: 300,000 (1.1%)
20:00 - Police Interceptors: 700,000 (2.7%)
21:00 - Paul Merton in Europe: 1.4m (5.3%)
22:00 - FILM: Bram Stoker's Dracula: 600,000 (4.7%)

Hustle drops quite a bit, with Law and Order re-establishing itself as #1. Same with Coronation Street, back in from of EastEnders... it's 43.2% share is very good also.

Super ratings still for Emmerdale a near 36% share is brilliant. Poor I guess for CBB, but I imagine a lot watched the 8pm showing on +1... but on the face of it, I think C4 will be quite pleased with having over 2m from 20:00 to 22:50.

And really, with Five's figures maybe the 'main 5' should become the 'main 4'?

Corrie overtaking Eastenders was bound to happen, just hoped Eastender could hold on a bit longer. I think it will be back on top in February though for thw anniversary week.

Is that one of BB's lowest ratings (2.1m)? I'm sure its been lower in the summer.

EastEnders and Corrie neck and neck once again. I think EE will keep having the upperhand for the forseable future with CS just nudging EE on some occassions.Emmerdale is still getting respectable enough figures, but I was expecting 8.5m+

Law and Order is doing quite well also which should make ITV pleased.

Five's ratings are still abysmal. Only three shows just getting above 1m. Oh dear.

EastEnders down a bit from last week but it was up against Big Brother and they share the same sort of younger audience.

Still great ratings though and only 0.1m down from Coronation Street and up half a million frm Corrie's 2nd episode. Eastenders shows no signs of dropping in quality in the next month or so so I hope the ratings stay good.

Emmerdale still doing well.

The Lakes is doing well up against Eastenders!

Out of interest, why do Digital Spy never report Channel 4+1 ratings? It's... well it's a bit annoying really, especially if you follow the Celebrity Big Brother ratings. The other day it got nearly 500,000 on +1, but DS still didn't even report that.

It's really quite vexing how they pick and choose sometimes i.e. reporting soap ratings for Friday on Sunday but not Saturday's ratings, or randomly publishing all the ratings but the soaps, in fact I find Digital Spy's ratings reports to be really quite terrible.

I will probably be jumped on and told to be grateful but... yeah, for one of the biggest sites on the internet I don't think I need to be grateful at all, really, the site employs a fair amount of staff, updates 7 days a week and has access to a ratings database. It's just a bit lazy.

But then I suppose this, this or maybe this is more important than TV ratings.

That's not to say MG isn't lazy too, by the way. They also update 24/7 yet never do ratings on weekends. I don't see why DS doesn't employ someone on this thread for crying out loud - decent full reports would be up pretty quickly and everyone would be happy. I'm sure some people here wouldn't mind doing it for free to get access to the database! If I had the time and mornings off every day I would certainly offer!

Good for the soaps once more though they seem to finally be returning to more normal (albeit strong) numbers after all the chaos of the first two weeks of the year. I'm surprised just how long its taken Corrie to overtake EE and it seems like the close competition could continue for another month up until the anniversary.

Most surprising figure last night is Hustle which had a big drop week-on-week. OK, partly thats snow, but I'm sure the share is down somewhat too. Law and Order just held constant, and the lead ins were similar last week, so I can't see what changed?

Glad to see The Lakes is holding a decent audience.
The only problem I have with the program is it seems to be becoming a docu-soap and it keeps coming back to the same people every episode.
Infact, we hardly see the lakes themselves, just the towns and surrounding areas.

Now I live right on the doorstep of the Lake District, and have a boat on Ullswater so I know what a beautiful area it is. Yes the towns and villages are also lovely, but there is only so many times you can see Windermere and that little tea room being opened.

Why not show some of the slightly lesser known lakes and areas like Grasmere?

But I am still pleased ITV are even covering the Lake District so I can't moan too much can I