- A controller commissions programmes.
- A scheduler schedules programmes.

Jay Hunt does not schedule programmes, she commissions them.

The scheduler could have put any programme in the land against The Bill. He - George Dixon - chose, unfortunately for ITV, New Tricks.

It doesn't matter how many times you claim BBC One is trying to "hurt" ITV1, you'll never make it true.

Every time your claims get trashed on this thread, you attempt to resurrect them a few weeks later.

The Bill is (one of) your favourite TV shows, and you appear unable to come to terms with it being on its last legs. It flops whatever it's up against in the schedules.

So guess what!! The scheduler's boss is ................

















the controller!!

I don't bloody watch it so I don't know where you got that idea from

I tuned in out of intrigue to see what it was like after the 9pm revamp and thought it was slick and well paced, but I don't follow it.

But let's all accuse me of being a ITV/Bill fanboy because I disagree with scheduling ENDLESS peaktime repeats of the BBC's most-watched drama against early episodes :yawn: of a show of the same genre trying to find its feet in a new timeslot with a new format - directly after the aforementioned most-watched BBC drama series' most recent run of original episodes (remember them?) ended.

Note I have not complained since the comedy double aired there.

Sorry, James - I didn't realise you'd stopped watching The Bill.

The New Tricks repeats should have been a luxury for The Bill. Not many 9pm dramas get the luxury of only having a drama repeat as their main opposition.

Sadly for The Bill it just can't attract the ratings it should anymore. Just as BBC One's Hotel Babylon found its most recent new series dying on its backside against ITV1's Doc Martin repeats. There's no blame on ITV for that. It's the BBC's problem if a new BBC One drama flops against repeats.

I didn't realise I'd started watching it, but okay.

New Tricks is a beast though, repeat or otherwise.

Well that's evident, but the compromise should be found in tweaking the new format to be more accessible to lost viewers, and perhaps thinking about the timeslot.

Which ITV should not have done either. Equally as aggressive, though the BBC were silly to schedule it on Friday too.

DMN’s Christmas schedule is much better than what the poor scheduler has been forced to come up with. Have you e-mailed him your version DMN?

I wasn't on the thread when you were talking about BBC One drama the other day, but I have to say there is far too much at the start of the year. People can only keep up with so much drama, so they're bound to dent each other, with the main victims probably being Wallander (due to it’s heavy nature and it being 90 mins long) and Survivors (because…well…its not as good as it should/could be). I think my solution would also solve the problem of the extra Live At The Apollo episodes which are currently dotted throughout the schedule.

From the start of the New Year, BBC One’s schedule should have been:

Sunday/Monday - Silent Witness
SW is being wasted in a Thursday/Friday slot when it's one of BBC One's flagship dramas. At this time of year, it could be getting 7m-8m going out over Sunday & Monday nights.

Tuesday - Material Girl
They obviously have no confidence in this, but it would be best to put it out a) after a female-skewing show (Holby City) and b) against ITV's Tuesday night flop zone.

Wednesday - Carling Cup & Crimewatch, followed by Drop Zone
Slot in the first Crimewatch of the year in between the Carling Cup fixtures. Then once they’re out of the way, I think Drop Zone will skew quite young, so it would be best to have it following on from Waterloo Road, another young skewing show.

Thursday - Hustle
BBC One couldn't be accsued of trying to stifle The Bill here, as Hustle clearly provides an alternative to it.

Friday - Live At The Apollo + QI/Outnumbered + QI
Come the New Year, there will be ten episodes of QI left, three Live At The Apollo and seven (?) of Outnumbered. Start the New Year with a combination of Live At The Apollo and QI , followed by Outnumbered and QI. And conveniently, this would take them up to Sport Relief on 19 March.

I think this would be much better, but the glut of drama might have a lot to do with having it 'paid off' by the end of the financial year.

Also, I was thinking about the World Cup the other day and it got me wondering - who pays for sports rights like that. Does it come straight out of BBC One's annual budget, or would it be paid for by BBC Sport?

What do you think SCD the final will get tonight?

Do you think it could be the lowest series finale ever.?

I'm going for 10m for the performance show and 11m for the result.

Last year's had 13.3m for the official

I was going to, but I've sent him an e-mail instead of the time changes, I was going to add it onto the end but didn't want to sound like a full out rant.

Take That on ITV has finished at 19:52, which will dent the overnight considerably, especially if it averaged ~5m.

It may not be a perfect schedule but I think you were a bit dismissive with your "I fail to see how the Xmas schedule took a lot of planning" remark...

I don't think it will be the lowest series finale ever- but I do think it will be down on last years. Though the fact that it's baltic outside may help it a little.

I've found this years show tedious, just not had the same 'buzz' for me as past years. Lots of reasons but the main ones for me are- Alesha and her innane judging remarks, the one long show each week which seemed to last for hours and hours and the so called Z list 'celebs'. Now while some of the best dancers of other series have turned out to be some of the lesser stars- there's just not been any stand out dancers this year for me!

The closing act of the first show tonight was Bruce and Alesha singing a duet - Last week X Factor had Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, George Michael etc. So far Striclty has had Bruce and Alesha. Say's it all :sleep:

I'll predict

11 for first show

11.8m for finale

Good ratings for BBC1 over the past couple of days. Countryfile held up well against ITV's soaps, and I bet Sunday's repeat will get another 4m or so giving it a fantastic reach for the week. Glad that Gavin & Stacey is rating so well and I think it'll hit 8m on Christmas Day following The Royle Family. QI's a good alternative to Corrie next year, but it'll be knocked down by a million. I'd have kept it in the post-9pm slot, paired up with Outnumbered, My Family or Live at the Apollo.

The One Show did really well yesterday. The one hour Friday experiment's worked in a ratings sense, but I notice they're going back to half an hour from early next year. EastEnders rated okay and is up from the equivalent figures last year. But I dunno why EE is the bookie's favourite to be the most watched TV show on Xmas Day, as Doctor Who beat it last year and has had loads of promo from the idents, etc. I'm not even too sure EE will break 11m, I think 10-11m is more likely. Solid audience for BBC1 between 9-10pm yesterday, though I thought HIGNFY would have been closer to 6m considering the awful competition from ITV.


I predict 10.5m and 11.3m, about a million down from last year's overnights.

Its not anymore Doctor Who is 10/11 and Eastenders 11/10. Must have had loads of people thrwoing money at Doctor Who such as me.

Stupid of SkyBet to start Doctor Who's odds at 7/4. I can see them having to pay out a lot of money after Christmas.

I'm not surprised DW is now the favourite! Yeah SkyBet messed that up, especially as they're using the official BARB figures which helps Doctor Who a lot as it timeshifts much more than EastEnders.

Should be noted, though, that Doctor Who's BBC1 rating might be dented by about 0.5m due to the HD audience.

Susan Boyle special got 4.8m in the US http://www.seattlepi.com/tvguide/413301_tvgif15.html. I must admit I'd never heard of the TV Guide Network until now!

Strictly is trending 9th on Twitter; Love Actually has just started to trend in 10th.

Despite all the problems this year, the Strictly final was still fabulous tv.
Well done to all concerned and a quick plug for "It takes Two" doing sterling work for BBC2. Its the first time I have watched it with any regularity and it could not be a better companion. Claudia W is the perfect host.

And Strictly finished 4 minutes late at 21:44.

Just shows how twitter trending is no prediction of tv ratings!

The BBC saved a fair bit of money there!

Seriously, its a dance show and although guest singers add something, its just a brief diversion. Not many more are going to tune into Strictly just to see Paul, George and Robbie( they certainly didnt tune in during the last years of top of the pops). And I bet the above three could'nt do much of a Charleston!

But they've had singers on every episode of this series- Dame Shirley, Rod Stewart, Bette Middler, Lily Allan (lol), Andy williams *shudder lol* Amy winehouse, well Amy backing her niece, and lots of other singers.

Now I know Bruce always sings on the final, which is fair enough but I'd have liked to have some singer perform on the final- the show could have done with it especially tonight as there was only two couples competing (usually three couple, like last year) , and too much filler of vt.

I hope next year they go back to having a seperate results show and I hope this is the last we see of Alesha as a judge!

I did find the dances fun overall and enjoyed the final more than any of the shows I've seen this series!

Couldn't help but find it funny how they had some filler before the result, yet still overrun...

The BBC conforming to tradition then. Actually, it isn't as bad as last year, when despite the show being extended by 15 minutes just a few hours earlier it still overran by nearly 10 minutes.

I wonder how late BBC1 will be running on Christmas Day. It'll take some doing to beat last year's effort of The Royle Family and Blackadder coming on 8 minutes late.

Im sure there aiming for something in double figures at least. They have a reputation to uphold.

I've allways said shows Like this are about the Talent.
The xfactor is looking for the next singer/band so why the need to pull in Big celebs?
Thats not what the show is for and the same goes for SCD