Yeah I think they're referring to the show's budget but I still think £8m is exaggerated somewhat, unless he's doing more than one programme, or he's signed up to do more than one series of the Friday show, as I'm sure I read this series will only be 8 weeks. I think it'll air at 9pm, but as you've said, it'll hardly be particularly edgy and will probably feature a lot of what the teatime show had, but with more adult stuff thrown in as well. I think it should work OK, and if they can get 4m with it then they're on to something.

Yeah, Thursdays do need to be focused upon, as whatever goes there will get a Corrie lead in too, so high quality factual and new drama needs to be a priority for this slot. Friday nights are showing signs of slowly coming together, with O'Grady, and Marco's Kitchen Burnout sounds pretty good. I'd give Comedy Rocks another go too in the Summer, and I like the sound of They Drink It In The Congo. 71 Degrees North should air midweek really, on Mondays or Tuesdays. Thursdays would be ideal but The Bill will still be there until September, I think.

What might be an idea with The Bill actually is to give it a break over July and August and bring it back in September advertising it as the end of an era or something. That would also give 71 Degrees North the opportunity to take the Thursday slot that is best for it. The Bill going will certainly give ITV a lot more flexibility and freedom at 9pm and ultimately I think it's for the best. This Summer is looking a lot better than last Summer, with Identity, 71 Degrees North, Odd One In, Magic Numbers, The X Factor, Millionaire, Midsomer Murders, Marple and Poirot all airing in July and August. I had hoped 71 Degrees north would get the Saturday slot after BGT but as it doesn't feature in any of the 'Spring' trailers ITV have started runing it must be airing in the Summer. Shame really, as no doubt it'll be movie repeats airing after BGT again, what a waste!

Regarding the £8m, Sunday papers are known for inflating stars salaries. That's probably the cost of the entire production x a few years + an extra few million on top knowing The People.

I had thought that O'Grady's new show would be quite an extended run which might explain the £8m.

The likes of Graham Norton, Piers Morgan and Schofield earn £2m a year which all seem fairly reasonable. And I suspect Jonathan Ross will find himself settling at that level shortly. Vernon Kay used to be around that but he supposedly got cut to under £1m.

I've never quite worked out how Ant & Dec can be getting £10m a year. If they do 18 hours of BGT, about 20 hours of I'm A Celebrity and another series for about 8 hours, that works out at £217,000 an hour which seems huge. But their company does produce Push The Button so production costs from that could be included.

True, but ITV would be mad not to recommission it. It's far from perfect, but with a few major tweaks (especially the end game) I think it's a far better option giving it a second chance rather than trying yet another new series or reviving the very tired Takeaway.


Would have been a much better schedule for ITV to split Dancing on Ice and put Ultimate Movie Toons in the middle - instantly doubling it's audience and giving ITV much better overall ratings for the night.

The Dancing on Ice final kind of fell apart in the last hour - it was going along at a nice pace up until 9pm, but then after announcing third place even though the winner is supposed to be based on the Bolero they instantly reopened the lines and then shows loads of filler for about half an hour before the Bolero routines, closing the lines just one ad break after both performances.

I just hope ITV give it a good kick up the backside next year as this years ratings are far from disastrous, but show thing do need refining next year - and a new set is a must IMO (better keep the ice though!). The worst thing they could do is what C4 did with BB and just say it's good enough (though I hope they do that with The X Factor rather than give into Simon's demands for an extra £300k per show!)


The local news has to be in primetime I believe (between 6pm-10.30pm), though they get some exceptions for things like the World Cup. In the Home and Away days in most regions it aired at either 6pm or 6.25pm, dependent on when your region showed Home and Away.

I'm guessing the BBC Regional bulletins were at a different time then, or did they clash?

I don't think ITV will want to give much promotion to a series they've just axed. Scrap a series then pull out all the stops to double its ratings? That would just make them look idiots.

It's like when they sacked Graham Cole who played PC Tony Stamp, one of the longest-serving characters. They could have pulled out all the stops to give him a ratings-boosting final story. Instead he wasn't even the centre of the main story of his last episode. (I believe. I don't watch The Bill - like the rest of the population.)

Dancing With The Stars had a bit of a revamp this year.

They brought back a former champion but unlike the clowns at BBC1, they had her as a host rather than a judge.

They also only have 11 contestants but the cast is far stronger. The set has been changed as well, rather than a separate red room, it's now like the American Idol semi-final set where the contestants can stand out on a balcony and watch the others perform.

ABC also hyped it up more than ever, with various snippets of information revealed gradually across their shows in the weeks leading up to the new series. DWTS had a great start this week. A few changes and a good line-up can make a difference.

I think SCD is likely to implement some of these changes. Last year was a big hit to the ego so even if a few weeks less hurts BBC1 overall, at least they might get their premier entertainment show back on track. SCD has more chance of getting decent names than DOI, IMO. DOI doesn't seem to get the same press.

I haven't seen much of DOI this year. But I've always thought 5 judges is too much. Emma Bunton seems to have made no impact and I've never liked Jason Gardiner as the "nasty one".

Oh dear. That means they'll have to move it to 7pm cos that's when ITV1 say primetime begins.

Although ITV would then redefine primetime to start at 7.30

So the regional news will have to move to 7.30.

And ITV would then redefine primetime to start at 8pm.

So the regional news....

And eventually ITV would disappear up their own a***hole.

Rats! I was hoping you meant literally. The ice melted and everyone fell into a big lake. Although Holly obviously has her own waterwings.

Seven
18:00 Seven News 1.23m
18:30 Air Crash Investigations 0.66m
19:30 Border Security (R) 1.17m
20:00 Air Ways (R) 1.10m
20:30 Bones 1.14m
21:30 Castle (R) 0.80m
22:30 Scrubs 0.44m

Nine
18:00 Nine News Sunday 1.32m
18:30 Domestic Blitz 1.09m
19:30 60 Minutes 1.28m
20:30 V 0.89m
21:30 Survivors 0.51m
22:25 Survivors 0.41m

Ten
12:00 Formula One: Race Day 0.36m
17:00 Formula One: Australian Grand Prix 0.82m
*including those that watched via One/One HD: 1.18m
19:00 The Biggest Loser: Couples 0.85m
20:00 Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation 1.19m
21:00 The Good Wife 0.97m

ABC1
19:00 ABC News 0.94m
19:30 The Mountains of the Monsoon 0.54m
20:25 ABC News Update 0.44m
20:30 An Englishman in New York 0.43m

One
12:00 Formula One: Race Day 0.15m
17:00 Formula One: Australian Grand Prix 0.37m
19:00 Formula One: Post-Race 0.13m

Of course, Dancing with the Stars is made by BBC America so it's possible the mass changes made to this series (due to poor ratings in the last run) may have an impact on Strictly Come Dancing - especially the loss of the Tesspit.

I think getting rid of the tesspit would be a great idea. The balcony studio for Tess would also mean they could cut some of Bruces Links/jokes.

I think they should cut the celebs back to 13 from 16 and have no elimination in week 1 like DWTS [chopping 2 weeks off the shows run]

I'd prefer it to be an even number if possible, as I like the bond between the professional partners as well as the celebrity couples. I agree it needs to be cut though, maybe to 14 with an 12 week series, and no one voted off in week 1.

Look, this is how I see it...

The Bill was always a drama which centred around characters, rather than criminals. Its ratings dropped because it started to become like any cop show.

It was the Tony Stamp's, Reg Hollis's and Jim Carver's that made it what it was.

There's no need for sensational plots or really gritty drama. The programme used to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, with most of the police force coming across as extremely stressed - but there were still lots of nice stories.

It once bridged the gap between soap and drama.

Now, the characters are emotionless - I mean - maybe it says something about British policing today. Think about it, it's less about the heroics. Hence Life on Mars was so successful.

But seriously, if you look back at The Bill, you surely remember the characters more than the plots.

Its finest hour came in around 1999/2000 when it focussed on one police officer in every episode - which worked brilliantly.

So, it isn't ITV's fault. It's the writer's fault, Thames's fault...

Well, I'm going to agree with an earlier post of Fudd's - i.e. moving the news back to the 5pm hour.

These are the possible good effects it could have:-

Fantasy weekday schedule:-

5:00pm Regional News & Weather
*A headstart on the BBC. Oldies mostly watch regional news, and if more money is committed (as Archie Norman apparently wants), it could work!
5:40pm Early Evening News
*Used to rate extremely well.
6:00pm The Paul O'Grady Show
*This is real teatime, and I wonder whether it could beat the BBC News - which has to be fair lost viewers for some reason in this time period, the Six O'Clock News anyway
7:00pm Emmerdale
*Emmerdale gets a lead-in from an entertainment show, perhaps 5 million viewers. This could boost the soap, which is creatively flying at the moment
7:30pm Coronation Street
*Hopefully inheriting increased Emmerdale audiences. It would achieve more if it was creatively better and was kept at 7.30 all the time - and one episode was cut.
8:00pm - 10:00pm - ALWAYS CHANGING, THUS FLEXIBILITY, NO PERMANENT FIXTURES
10:00pm News at Ten
10:20pm Regional News & Weather
10:30pm NEW SLOT FOR COMEDY/SPORT [Scouting for younger viewers]

Maybe this could be an option when ITV's finances improve, as the 10:30pm slot is quite ambitious, but could be prosporous.

what about EE vs Corrie? Tuesday & Thursday Corrie would have to be on at 8pm

I exclude those. Tuesday & Thursday would continue to be cheap fillers, or perhaps an attempt at attracting an ITV3 audience that would decide not to watch EastEnders, or a more Northern audience.

Thing is, if ITV were to look at the audience regionally (which they have the powers to do so), they might be able to be a bit more canny.

i.e. Different regions could show different repeats at different times - because I think even (the usually disastrous) STV has outperformed ITV with cheap documentaries against expensive drama.

The Football Years vs The Bill
Made In Scotland vs The Bill
Underbelly vs Law & Order: UK

I dont think ITV is looking to go back to the days when different regions aired different programs in different regions, certainly not the ITV PLC regions

Not new shows - as that would be far too expensive and stupid.

I'm thinking regional factual series/classic regional dramas.

Different programmes perform well in different regions - and ITV should use their regional structure in this way to an advantage.

e.g. a 'Taggart' repeat would rate extremely well in Scotland, as would a repeat of 'Rebus'.

Cheap and cheerful stuff like 'Benidorm', 'An Audience with...', 'It'll Be Alright...' performs well up north with the traditional working class ITV audience of the 1980s

Though, 'Lewis', 'Marple', 'Poirot' and other more expensive dramas and productions generally appeals to more upmarket, Southern viewers.

Sorry for stereotyping, but I still think it's true to a certain extent. I would allign myself more with Northern viewers, but I am not the majority.

ITV has to work off stereotypes.

I am pretty sure ITV is not looking to change the game, from being a national station to show differnt repeats in different regions.

Well at least you acknowledged it I suppose.

ITV have always had more creative input into the show than you're suggesting here. Who do you think orders the changes in an attempt to adapt to new time slots or to pull in more viewers? Thames only make the show ITV want them to make.

I reckon ITV will regret axing it though as I can't see its replacements getting 3.9m EVERY week in that slot and it will need to to prevent ITV from being a laughing stock yet again. 3.9m is low by the The Bill's previous standards and losing a million or more viewers in a matter of months through a format change is disastrous make no mistake about it. One of the most embarrassing errors in the history of television in fact. ITV could do a lot worse than 3.9m every week in that slot though this is one thing GeorgeS in his constant defence of the show's falling ratings has always been right about in spite of people taking the mickey out of its ratings.

No, the BBC regional news has been at 6.30 since 1984. It was up to the individual regions as to whether they wanted it to clash or not, I remember when Granada Reports moved from six to 6.30 in 1990, my local paper (yeah, yeah) announced it as being moved "to better compete with North West Tonight".

When Carlton took over they ran London Tonight from six to seven, with Home and Away at 5.10, but didn't do the proper news until 6.30 because apparently no commuters were home by then. But they abandoned that idea early on and started London Tonight at 6.30 with Home and Away at six and all the feature rubbish in a separate show at 5.10.

I remember that Yorkshire always billed Calendar as starting at 5.55 just so it started earlier than The Six O'Clock News. It was entirely up to the regions as to when they put their news on, depending if they thought they could beat the Beeb or not - generally the Northern regions always beat the Beeb whenever it was on, in the South it was usually the Beeb who won.

Around the mid-nineties, I think Carlton, Granada, Central and Scottish showed Home and Away at six and the regional news at 6.30, while most other regions showed Home and Away at 5.10 and the regional news at six. Border showed Home and Away at 6.30. However by the time the national news was moved to 6.30 in 1999, I think only Central were still showing Home and Away at six and the regional news at 6.30.

That's interesting, isn't it?


That's right, for six months in 1993, but it didn't work as they had to keep on rescheduling it to get out of the way of Corrie, so you had the Tuesday and Thursday episodes at 8pm and the Saturday one at any time between 8pm and 9.30, and everyone got confused. A bit like Corrie now. And you don't want something as boring and workaday as The Bill on a Saturday night.

seems to work for Australia.

I do think that the Bills figures were still reasonable particularly its 16-34 demo but offsetting that was the cost (£25m per year and the limited opportunites to recoup that in re-runs either in peak, off-peak or ITV3, and the fact that it wasn't an ITVP).

After 27 years its difficult to keep doing the same stuff over & over. Casualty can always invent new diseases but there are only so many crimes that can conceivably happen in Sun Hill. If you re-launch you alienate some existing viewers, but new viewers dont seem to want to be associated with The Bill brand.