I think the final debate will rate the higher the the first debate as it will be make or break for all three leaders and just a week to polling day. But does depend on how much the BBC hype it up too, Sky has being going on and on about it's debate for weeks. The BBC has the News at One, Six and Ten, the News Channel, Breakfast News, This Week, Daily Politics Election Special, Newsnight, The Andrew Marr Show, The Politics Show, plus all its radio news show, regional news and its news website! Therefore lots of room for the beeb to plug it but I have not seen any plugs (yet) apart from on Question Time.

I agree, I think it'll be the highest rated debate by far.

Even through these low ratings, The Mentalist still manages somewhere around 15 million. Hardly a surprise that flip-flopping didn't work for ABC, as it didn't work for CBS. Come to think of it, I hardly remember Thursday 8pm being ABC's strong point since Ugly Betty's first season in 2006-07. Having said that, at least The Deep End wasn't Private Practice's lead-in. Also, Private Practice seems to perform a bit better this season, I think. I remember the show reaching as low as 6 million during the first half of last season. I wondered why it was not after Grey's to begin with. At least it is now.

Are there any individual figures for Sky News HD?

The BBC will spew out so much hype, planes will be grounded for a month.

Ouch - ITV's efforts really are not rewarded - perhaps a bit short sighted of ITV then not to simulcast the debate, though in reality even if it had boosted News at Ten as it did last week, I don't think they could airs 90 minutes ad free over two consecutive weeks.

Also interested to know. (and for the DSRPG)

Excellent ratings for the SD broadcast.

I've got a feeling Sky have batched it in with the SD overnights myself even if they are technically 2 different channels...

Saw an advert earlier today, promoting Celebrity Juice's Radio 1 v This Morning episode but they said it will air on ITV2 next week. So it looks unlikely that ITV1 episode is still going ahead.

It's probably getting repeated on ITV1 for a one off at some time in the future, like Adrenaline Junkie was.

Moyles wont be too pleased. I think he was told before agreeing to doing the show that it was a special being shown on ITV1.

Its a perfect fit for ITV2 regardless, it would be out of place on ITV1 and would never be mainstream enough. Imagine if it was on after after family friendly BGT then 10 mins later Keith was waving his dongle about.

From DomeOfStars (Ashes to Ashes fansite) forum:

BBC One
21:00 - Ashes to Ashes: 4.6m
* 4.7m (21%) including HD

Really disappointed really, because last night's episode was brilliant I thought.

Brilliant moment when Gene Hunt was revealed as the elusive Blue Peter vandal

Possibly unwisely, I just popped over to the Soap Forum and into the 'Coronation Street - Suspension of Reality' thread, one reason that was thrown around that the current scheduling makes it impossible for it to seem realistic.

For those that have been watching this week, Thursday's episode was meant to directly follow on from Monday's with Friday's the day after in essense, i.e.

Monday real life = Monday (x2) and Thursday
Tuesday real life = Friday (x2)

For instance. It'd be much better if the schedule was something like (I know, fantasy schedule, but in this case I don't think Coronation Street's schedule at the moment is at all good) - this past week given as an example:

Monday
19:00 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Coronation Street
20:00 - Countryfile
20:30 - Coronation Street
21:00 - Joanna Lumley's Nile

Tuesday
19:00 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Children's Hospital
20:00 - Coronation Street
20:30 - Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
21:00 - The Bill

Wednesday
19:00 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Champions League/Midsomer Murders

Thursday
19:00 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Tonight
20:00 - Coronation Street
20:30 - Emmerdale
21:00 - Greatest Cities of the World

Friday
19:00 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Coronation Street
20:00 - Countryfile
20:30 - Coronation Street
21:00 - Marco's Kitchen Burnout

I'm not sure what others think, but based on Coronation Street's ratings on Thursday's for the past few months, I think Coronation Street then Emmerdale would work better than what we have now.

Plus, the schedule above actually looks consistent.

You've increased Corrie to 6 episodes!

Ah yes I have. That's the problem with having an odd number of episodes per week with no real possibility of an episode on Wednesdays because of football. You can't really have it Sunday, Monday (x2), Friday (x2) because of the gap between Monday and Friday.

The scheduling madness started back off when ITV stupidly agreed to moving their Champions League deal from Tuesday to Wednesday games...

I think a fixed slot 4 times a week makes the most sense for viewers to keep track. Having Emmerdale then Corrie on at the same time Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday means people don't have to keep looking at the TV guide for when shows are scheduled.

The small matter of EastEnders means this isn't possible.

Basically I'd go with the schedule above but without the Friday 8.30 episode.

I'm also not sure about having Emmerdale in between two Corrie's. I know this happens in reality with EastEnders, but it's never happened on the same channel has it?

Having soap viewers watching ED then EE then CS and then back to ED may be a bit messy.

But surely the "non-ratings chasing" BBC would also prefer a streamlined schedule where viewer convienence is put first :P I know it will never happen but we can wish...

[quote=D.M.N.;39830435]*FANTASY SCHEDULE*.[/QUOTE


- Monday: 7.30, 8.30
- Tue/Thu: 7:30
- Friday: 7:30
- Sunday: 7:30

I think ITV should try to negotiate with BBC1 a deal for the soaps:-

- EastEnders to move from Tuesday/Thursday 7.30 to Wednesday 7.30 permanently
- ITV to remove Thursday's Emmerdale/Corrie 8pm hour, moving it to Sunday 7, 7.30.
- Coronation Street to air either Tuesday 7:30 or Thursday 7:30.

If this was possible, it would solve all problems. Plus, it would mean Wednesday evenings benefitted, with a male-skewed line-up versus a female/family skewed line-up - both with potential to bring in good audiences at the same time.


I don't think it was madness, as it made sense at the time as a whole host of primetime footballing events aired there. Champions League, FA Cup, England, which took up most of the year - plus award ceremonies and movies - it (in theory) breaks up the week nicely.

I think the only problem for ITV is the EastEnders block on Tuesday and Thursday...if one edition was moved to Wednesday, Corrie could slot in permanently - and there would never be any scheduling problems again.


Yeah, I agree with you, the Emmerdale/Corrie block is extremely beneficial for both...it used to perform very well on Wednesday's and Sunday's where no other soaps used to venture - thus giving 8pm dramas afterwards (The Bill, Heartbeat particularly) indispensible lead-ins.

But with Wednesday's unavailable, I think Sunday's, Monday's, Thursday's and Friday's should be the Emmerdale/Coronation Street soap blocks [as explained earlier].

Standalone episodes of Emmerdale/Corrie to air on Monday 8.30 and Wednesday at 7.

I wouldn't have any extra "standalone" episodes though. I think the soaps need to be trimmed back before quality becomes an issue, four episodes a week seems to me an acceptable level - and a big enough commitment for a viewer. I know ITV would be hesitant but for preserving the shows for the future I think it's for the best.

The BBC won't move EE around as the current EE schedule is strong ratings-wise. ITV tried to effectively force the BBC to move 'Enders to another night when they had the weekly Emmerdale hour long episodes but the BBC stuck by their guns. The consequences of EE moving from Tuesday to Wednesday nights would be:

- Holby City losing about half a million
- EastEnders losing about a million
- Waterloo Road gaining about half a million

It really would not be worth it. Such a move would help ITV out more than the BBC!

Friday 23rd April Overnights
BBC One
18:00- BBC News At Six: 3.77m (25.0%)
18:25- BBC Regional News: 4.93m (30.5%)
18:55- Party Election Broadcast: 4.35m (25.9%)
19:00- The One Show: 4.17m (23.2%)
19:30- A Question Of Sport: 3.97m (20.0%)
20:00- EastEnders: 8.14m (38.5%)
20:30- Jeremy Paxman Interviews: David Cameron: 2.34m (10.7%)
21:00- Ashes to Ashes: 4.56m (20.6%)
22:00- BBC News at Ten: 4.34m (22.6%)
22:35- BBC Regional News: 4.21m (24.4%)
22:45- Party Election Broadcast: 2.97m (18.7%)
22:50- Friday Night With Jonathan Ross: 2.88m (25.0%)

BBC Two
20:00- Mastermind: 2.19m (10.3%)

ITV1
18:00- ITV Regional News: 2.33m (15.5%)
18:30- ITV News: 2.85m (17.6%)
19:00- Emmerdale: 6.13m (34.2%)
19:30- Coronation Street: 7.85m (39.5%)
20:00- Dickinson's Real Deal: 2.96m (14.0%)
20:30- Coronation Street: 7.54m (34.6%)
21:00- Marco's Kitchen Burnout: 2.50m (11.3%)

Thanks to MattJ for the ratings
------------------------------------------
Most shows down compared to last week. Marco's heading towards Michael Winner territory! The difference being that Dining Stars was clearly meant to be a cheap daytime sort of show whereas I reckon ITV had higher expectations for Kitchen Burnout - another 5 weeks to go!

The summery weather hit the ratings last night by the look of things, with nothing bar the soaps above 5m and the soaps low as well.

EE & Corrie were still pushing 40% though, so the number of viewers watching must have been down.

It's not so much the scheduling, it's the writing that is to fault. There is no rule in place that soaps need to follow a certain time frame, though most the British ones seem to (Hollyoaks for example rarely covers the weekend!).

It's not a problem for the Aussie soaps - fair enough they're scheduled as soaps should be, stripped across the week, but they rarely reference one day to the next and indeed with Home and Away especially aren't afraid to drop continuing storylines completely for a couple of episodes to concentrate on something else.