I'd be very surprised if it didn't get in the top 10 frankly, as it should definately get an overnight of 8m+, which should see it in the top 10 comfortably, even if both Frost and Creek rate well.

If were doing predictions I'd go with something around 7 million for Doctor Who...

It'll be lucky to get into the top 10 thou, with competition from Antiques Roadshow, Jonathan Creek and Frost on Sunday

Ashes to Ashes should get 7 million, Doctor Who I think given all the publicity should get at least 8 million,

According to an insider on another forum, BBC will be 'ecstatic' with a 6.5 million overnight rating... so, we'll see.

I think about 7.5 million myself.

That sounds like a RobbieSykes prediction.

They're obviously covering their arses just in case the weather hits hard (which is looking extremely doubtful), as the lowest series opener they've had since the revival is 8.0m, and considering all the hype surrounding it, anything lower than that would be disappointing really. Obviously 6.5-7.5m is still excellent, but by Doctor Who series opener standards it wouldn't be great. It's hardly got tough competition: a TV Burp repeat and what is seemingly ITV's favourite potter film as they seem to show it a hell of a lot, so everyone's already seen it. ITV must be a little concerned about Potter though, as they've been advertising it all week, which they haven't done for any of the others so far. My predictions:

Doctor Who: 8.4m
Over The Rainbow: 5.7m

Potter: 3.4m
TV Burp: 4.2m
Push The Button: 4.9m

And tonight:

Ashes To Ashes: 6.8m
The Door: 3.7m

Ashes To Ashes has had a fair bit of hype so looks all set to do well. I can't see The Door doing particularly well, but it has had a bit of media publicity itself today (about how revolting it is) so I don't think it'll crash and burn completely.

Speaking of new ITV dramas, Vera has already been commissioned for a second series of 3x120'. The pilot episode (1x120') will air later this year.

I guess ITV needs these new detective dramas to come through as shows like Touch of Frost and Poirot are ending or close to ending.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, the BBC has a new 3x90' detective series based on the Aurelio Zen novels: http://www.leftbankpictures.co.uk/tv/Zen

1 x 120? Later this year? Candidate to be dumped somewhere at Christmas and get 4m? Probably.

ITV must be very impressed with it if they've given it a full series already. I hope it works out for them as like you say, with Frost ending and Poirot not having long left they need some more of these two hour detective dramas, and with this and Inspector Banks they seem to be getting somewhere.


I doubt it, as it's a pilot (which they clearly are happy with) not a one off. It'll get a very good slot I'd have thought, as they'll want it to become a long running strand for them. They do have a few 2 hour dramas to air later this year though, such as U Be Dead and Joe Maddison's War. The latter sounds excellent and really does deserve a good slot.

As ITV have already commissioned a second series, I think they'll probably give the pilot a good slot to maximise their audience. It's not just a one-off like last year's 'Sleep with Me' or 'Gunrush' where they dumped it anywhere.

6.5m? With all the hype it's been getting?

It'll be over 8m for sure.

Sorry if these have been posted before.


Election- 2005 Ratings

BBC ONE 9.55p.m-1.00a.m 4.7million
[down 700k from 2001]peak at 6 million at 10.45pm

ITV1 10pm-1am [just below] 2 million


Five 11pm -??? 200,000 viewers 3%
[simulcast with sky news]


News channels [9PM-2.AM]

SKY news 111,000

BBC news 24 74,000
[simulcast with BBC one]

ITV news channel 22,000
[simulcast with ITV1]



Approx total election night viewers for BBC one + ITV1

2005 7 million

2001 8 million

1997 11 million


http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005...alelection2005

If the results are tight I expect the ratings will go up this year.

Ah, those were the days...

Not sure if it will have had much effect on the figures but The Bill was not shown on ITV HD last night for the first time since it went HD.

Instead ITV showed a caption saying ITV 1 HD was launching full time from 6 am today.

Maybe the caption beat The Bill?

The irony here is that the channel has so far been on air nearly 12 hours and is yet to show a single thing actually in HD. The Bill was the only new ITV drama for a week on there and they replaced it with a static caption.

The ultimate insult.

The low key launch of ITV 1 HD is sad as the first HD is King Kong (the movie) late tonight. Apart from a couple more movies there is no original programming over Easter in HD at all (compare with the BBC - Ashes to Ashes, Doctor Who, Jonathon Creek etc all HD).

The first original ITV drama on the new HD channel is Law and Order UK next Tuesday (day five of the channel) and that is, as you know, a repeat.

Foyle's War (starts Sunday 11 April at 8 pm) is the first new HD drama on the (not yet very) full time channel.

GeorgeS, our ITV expert, is there actually any benefit to ITV in making HD programmes?

It's obviously useful to Sky, cos then the crooked b*****rds can charge extra for the HD boxes, and the BBC just like spending money and showing off, but for ITV it just looks like an extra cost to me.

Just seen yesterdays US ratings - ouch doesn't even cover it. Greys hit another low (and was beaten by Modern Family from Wednesday), FlashForward nearly got beaten in A18-49 by The Vampire Diaries . Survivor was the only one that was in any sort of form.

ABC:
8pm - FlashForward - 5.07m (1.4)
* Series low
* Down 22% from last week
* Vampire Diaries on The CW had a 1.3
9pm - Grey's Anatomy - 9.75m (3.5)
* Lowest ever
10pm - Private Practice - 7.83m (2.7)
* Lowest since it moved to Thursdays

CBS:
8pm - Survivor - 11.08m (3.5)
* Joint top for the night with adults 18-49
9pm - The Mentalist - 13.93m (2.8)
* Special timeslot
* Down 15% from last new episode
10pm - CSI - 13.21m (2.8)
* Special timeslot
* Down 18% from last new episode
* Lowest ever

FOX:
8pm - Bones - 8.44m (2.4)
* First episode since first week of February
* Down 27% from that episode
9pm - Fringe - 5.97m (2.2)
* First episode since first week of February
* Down 15% from that episode

NBC:
10pm - The Marriage Ref - 5.26m (2.2)
* Down from 2.5 last week
* Had very weak lead-in from The Office repeats

Overall, a total bloodbath for the networks. FlashForward is now into embarrassing failure territory for ABC and from 9pm they hit new lows. CBS' experiment went tits up and FOX's drama's suffered from the break. The Marriage Ref actually held up OK, IMO. I think it will get a second season.

Definitely room for new shows on Thursdays.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/04/02...-falters/47121

Full of massive bombs.... yet Greys and Survivor still top.

Interestingly, TV By The Numbers have started posting their own UK ratings: http://tvbythenumbers.com/category/r.../uk-tv-ratings

I've got a feeling though that the numbers are taken/lifted from this website or Media Guardian.

Flashforward is dead.

Interestingly the CSI/The mentalist flip doesnt seemed to have worked. The once Mighty C.S.I only beat Private Practice by a tenth in the demo.

Survivor doesn't seem to be slumping so fast this season as Grey's, which is why it can now equal it.

But the whole night is just so weak considering that Thursdays were historically the biggest night of the week. Grey's is now slipping back among ABC's scripted programming. In final ratings, Castle came out at a 3.5 on Monday (the original 3.7 included some DWTS overrun). Modern Family had a 3.9 on Wednesday, Lost came out at 4.1 on Tuesday and the last episode of Desperate Housewives had a 3.5.

It's so depressing to see how far US TV has fallen in such a short space of time. I remember the days when DS would eagerly await what new shows would begin on all the networks and the fierce battle of scheduling that was undertaken each year. Then the writer's strike came along and everything just went horribly wrong from thereon in. Maybe it's a case of online viewing and TiVo having a hugely detrimental effect on the ratings or an inexplicable lack of really major new programmes (though I guess ABC had a go with Flashforward and V this year). Only CBS has really managed to stay largely unaffected by it all though they've still taken a few hits in the last year or so.

It's hard to believe they've gone from 8 million being a relative flop to 8 million being considered as stable (or exceptional in NBC's case) in just a few years.

Soaps are still popular then...

HD is the way forward so they need to adapt and I suppose they may have lost their Freeview HD slot (like Five have) if they didn't produce the goods. Their programming might be a bit more attractive to foreign channels looking for HD content as well.

I remember when all the US networks turned down Doctor Who because it wasn't HD, though I think that was a gentle way of saying it was shit.

Dreadful for FlashForward but not unexpected. Final nail in its coffin no doubt.

Grey's and Desperate Housewives both seem to have slipped considerably this season - and they're both ABC's top scripted dramas which isn't good. They really need to find some new big drama hits what with Lost finishing soon. Having read about some of the pilots they've lined up for next season though it doesn't look particularly inspiring.