I don't like Big Brother, but I have seen a lot of it over the years, thanks to a BB addict I know. I think things went wrong when it moved away from the simple premise of contestants being left to their own devices, instead of endless silly tasks and challenges, split-houses, random conestants being parachuted in mid-series, returning contestants etc.

If the show can be taken back to basics, it might have a future on another channel, assuming any channels are willing to pay for it!

One could say that the basic concept or the first couple of series would not be enough for today's viewers. The main reason the show has declined is because viewers have become bored of the contestants and the lack of anything happening. The tasks and challenges have kept the show going. For example, this years "Tree of Temptation" was a great idea and made it a lot more entertaining in my opinion. More of this needs to be done to make it more like Im a Celeb but in a house which is still massively popular after 9 series.

Another possible reason for its decline is viewers just drifting away. I watched up until the 7th series but after that I havent really watched as much as I did before. I watch now and again and get into it for a week or so then it just loses my attention again. The lack of media coverage could be a factor as it used to get loads of coverage but now it is not talked about so much so I dont get the inclination to tune in.

That's a good point about people becoming bored with the contestants. It's okay to have one or two big eccentrics, but stating a series with 12 or 14 eccentrics is way OTT.

Any figures for the 5-6pm slot across the terrestials this week? I've been away for a few days and dont want to search the last 30 pages

I dont think there were any reported.

Neighbours on Five getting its usual 1.3-1.7million
BBC news at 6 around 4.2-4.8 mill

I think George means 5pm to 6pm, not after 6pm, i.e. how The Weakest Link, Alan Tichmarsh and Escape to the Country are fairing.

Haven't seen any figures myself.

Escape to the Country is on repeats now so I suspect it has fallen behind the rest a bit since the last time we looked.

The last of the new episodes aired on January 22.

I'm not so sure about that. I reckon this will be one of those programmes where every episode looks the same and the audience never know if thery're watching a new episode or a repeat.

I'm surprised GeorgeS hasn't been grousing about the BBC shunting its flagship Sunday morning political chatter show on to BBC2 to make way for a Scottish tennis player having a knockabout....

I wonder what the ratings for this might peak at tomorrow. You'd have to think decent numbers could be on offer given the promotion/press coverage today - 5/6m?

Probably a touch too high, I'd say 4/5m myself, although it'd probably be nearer 4m than 5m. Average probably 2/3m depending on how long the match goes on for.

The BBCs commitment to regional news gets flushed down the toilet again given BBC not having regional opt outs for The Politics Show. Still the BBCs public service broadcasting extends just as far as showing viewers photos of snowmen I suppose

Why cant the tennis be on BBC Scotland ?

I agree. Shocking move by the BBC to ensure it delivers to the widest possible audience live coverage of possibly one of 2010's sporting highlights, the first British men's grand slam finalist in 70 odd years...

It's actually 33 years since John Lloyd played in the Australian Open but your point still stands.

a) No BBC2 button on your remote or
b) BBC viewers too stupid to know how to use remotes?

Given the mushed up vegatable diet of TOS they serve could it be option b)?

As my namesake could have said earlier "2 is between 1 and 3"

Fair weather tennis fan is Robbie obviously

Its 70 years since a british man won, not since one was a finalist, as Andy Murray was in the US Open final in 2008, but it still is a big deal, as people are saying its his best chance of winning.

Is this the first time ever that the BBC have had live coverage of a tennis grand slam final featuring a British man?

Previous finals were Murray and Greg Rusedski in the US Open (2008 and 1997) and John Lloyd in the Australian Open (1977).

Doctor Who was also filming in the snow, so will have snow scenes broadcast in late May/early June.

No, I'm quite sure anyone wanting a bit of sofa chat with Andy Marr in the morning will be capable of finding the BBC2 channel.

I do think it's right that events of national significance, sporting or otherwise, should be on the nation's flagship channel of choice.


Could well be. Another reason not to stick it on a minority channel or interactive service.

Of course, GeorgeS is only worried about the ratings impact of this being carried by BBC1, like he is with Wimbledon coverage in the summer...

OMG - admin have let us get to 200 pages!

..and the World Cup coverage. And the F1 coverage...

Quite.

Perhaps ITV would have scheduled an extra Emmerdale and Corrie tomorrow morning with a bit more notice....

The idea of the BBC(so they say) is to draw people together at moments of significance, and one of the justifications of bidding for live sport.
I can remember, and I dont reckon anyone else will, back in the early/mid eighties the BBC pulled out all the stops to show one session of cricket from Australia between 12.00 to 2am at a particularly relevant point of an Ashes series. Just one session mind as, when it didnt look like the result would go Englands way they gave up on the feed. Seems a world away now when SKY show entire matches from around the globe like it was from the local recreation ground. Having said that I dont reckon SKY would get anywhere near the number of the viewers BBC1 will get tomorrow.

(I pretty sure that the BBC have had the rights to the Australian Open for many years but for alot of that time, chose not to show them. I suppose that doesnt say much for British Tennis)