Most of that last year was about Susan Boyle. It's never usually like that.

And you can't deny that the BBC have been hyping up Doctor Who for weeks.

It's obvious you don't like BGT and that's fine - just don't watch. I don't accept that it 'takes over every form of media' that you simply can't get away from it. Maybe you just like moaning about it?

Good for DW, albeit a little lower than I thought. Abysmal for ITV. Bye bye Push The Button - not sure Ant and Dec have what it takes to develop their own shows if this and their Christmas special are anything to go by.

someone knows their religion. BBC News reported this morning that Christians were celebrating the Ascension today, so I dont feel so bad now

I thought yesterday was "Doctor Who Day" like December 25th "Doctor Who Christmas Special Day" ?

Most younger viewers don't automatically go for BBC One or ITV1 now and seem far keener on digital channels like BBC Three. Hardcore BBC One and ITV1 viewers would most likely be older people who still refer to " the other side". With all the competition the two traditional networks sometimes see their audience share fall as low as 33%.
ITV1's demographic does mainly seem to be C2DE, female and over 35, while BBC One seems to be a bit wider based but still most popular with over 35s.

Firstly, I've never understood the idea that seeing a headline related to a TV show they don't like in a newspaper or magazine can annoy someone. It's quite peculiar.

But anyway, I've definitely been conscious of lots of hype around last nights opener. Naturally BGT gets more because it has far more viewers but last year that hype only really got going after the first episode, not before it.

Even as someone who isn't even slightly interested in Doctor Who, I have seen lots of promotion of Matt Smith, particularly on Radio 1. However, I'm not mad about this so there's no need for any smilies and my watching/reading/listening hasn't been ruined simply by the mention of someone on a show I don't watch.

If CD:UK and SMTV Live did return to Saturday's on ITV1, I'd imagine they'd do:

06:00 - GMTV
09:25 - SMTV Live
11:30 - CD:UK
12:30 - This Morning: Saturday
13:30 - ITV News
13:45 - FILM

Changing to:

06:00 - GMTV
09:25 - SMTV Live
11:15 - CD:UK
12:15 - ITV News
12:30 - The FA Cup Live

For FA Cup games.

It'd do better than The Crocodile Hunter Diaries and various other repeats, but probably wouldn't beat the 2.5 million that Saturday Kitchen has on BBC One.

It depends really. Doctor Who isn't exactly heavy-going. If you tune in halfway through and The Doctor is fighting monsters, you can pretty much get the gist! It's a fast and funny show, so it's just as likely to hook you mid-flow as it is from the start.

They'd get decent money for the ads though wouldn't they? It's a good opportunity for advertisers to target "the youth". I'm amazed they got rid of the kids TV in the first place.

It's no longer the geek zone it became in the mid eighties when the stories were often heavy going, slow and difficult with titles like Arc of Infinity. The new Doctor Who seems far more contemporary and entertaining.

He definitely likes them, but they have both done very well out of the experience and have new opportunities to move on to (although Amanda is rapidly using up her opportunities in the UK!). And Piers always seems pretty aware that there's a good chance of him being fired at some point. I think Piers could stay on AGT (it's Howie Mandel that I'd have never hired... good old NBC!)

There's one very high profile, funny, former talent show judge currently looking for work... Jonathan Ross? He would be divisive, but so is Piers.

And I liked her on Jonathan Ross the other week... how is Charlotte Church doing on Over The Rainbow? Those 2 with Simon and Ant & Dec could make for a great line-up, IMO. If the ratings come down quite a bit this year (as they almost certainly will) then that would be a really high profile revamp.


I think if Paul O'Grady does around 3.7m+ then ITV will stick with it. With The Bill gone, ITV aren't going to start programming scripted series on Thursdays and Fridays. And I think they'd be better trying to find something cheaper to fill Fridays and then focus on Mondays & Thursdays for their top programming.

Another very subdued night last night. ITV just collapsed from Push The Button. I think that's it done now. And 12 episodes a year of Life Stories is too much. Although I did think Geri Halliwell would be a better rating. The ratings for the show vary so much, it had 5.6m just the other week!

Because Matt Smith is local it's been even worse for me - local radio and TV have been talking about it pretty much non stop. Apart from Jo Whiley, Northampton hasn't exactly spawned many famous people so it has caused a fair bit of excitement.

Although a recent local visit back to his old school did cause some controversy:

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/ne...-to.6200556.jp

BBC1win another Saturday think that's every one this year bar Rugby week? PTB low as to be expected, it's complete rubbish, and fair play to Ant & Dec for getting as many people as they did to watch it, speaks volumes for the guys, as the programme is really poor. If it were on BBC we would have had weeks of bragging that BBC simply can't do these types of shows but seeing as it's on ITV...ah well,

Interesting to see who wins tonight, Frost or Creek?? I suspect Frost as alot of young people will be out and Frost is aimed at a much older demographic.

Doctor Who's 5-minute peak was 8.39 million at 19:20 to 19:25.

"Headless Chickens Thread"? I find it very amusing you have to slag off the thread because ITV took a pasting.

It seems by the figures that it was only ITV viewers that were away yesterday as the BBC ratings look pretty decent, better than last week possibly.

Harry Potter will do well next week but I suspect it will be lower than previous films due to it being shown when it is meant to be warmer.

I think Frost will win tonight but I don't think it will be as high rated compared to Easter Monday which is the final episode. If it hits over 10m, that would be a nice surprise.

The usual stupid scheduling from BBC2 - would have made much more sense to keep Match of the Day on BBC1 and have the full F1 race on BBC2.

I think the 9pm start tomorrow has killed off any chance of mega figures. Should have booted Corrie out and given it the 8.30pm slot.

And talking of booting Corrie out, would have been better IMO to show the Harry Potter film on Good Friday rather than this Friday - it then at least makes it look like ITV are doing something different on the bank holiday. The Door could have been shown anytime (say 3.30am on a weekday morning!)

Not. A. Chance. Jonathan Creek got 10 million last time it was on and is has a wider reach, drama wise. Frost is tired old plod stuff. I even think Masterchef will beat in on Monday.

Frost will undoubtedly win tomorrow night. Tonights could be close but I'd perhaps offer Frost the edge, particularly with the Corrie lead-in. I'm backing both for between 6 and 8 million. Frost to top that figure on Monday night.

Hmm, I'm not sure about Jonathan Ross. He'd be fine on it but I doubt he'd bring many new viewers in and wouldn't be much if at all better than Piers, who is surprisingly funny on it. Charlotte Church would be good, but if these Lloyd Webber shows run on an annual basis again it may be problematic for her to quit one show to join their biggest rival. Her, Piers and Simon would be a good line up. If they could replace piers with a big star name then they should go for it but I don't think there's a great deal of point in replacing him with Jonathan Ross. Effectively, it would be replacing one chat show host with another chat show host whose chat show gets lower ratings (and Piers frequently points out!).


Paul O'Grady will probably do reasonably well but they aren't going to be able to get him to do it all year round and so far none of their other Friday entertainment ideas have worked, and they're showing no signs of coming up with any others that will work (I don't think 71 Degrees North or Magic Numbers are set for Fridays), so unless they get something going quickly they could find themselves in a situation like Sundays in 2008 when the soaps were moved for Dancing on Ice and no thought had gone in to what was going to be shown there once DOI had finished, and it took them 18 months to get it sorted.


Push The Button hasn't worked and it's back to the drawing board for Ant and Dec. I don't know whether coming up with their own formats is the best idea for the near future for them, it may be better to go with something ITV give them for now. I think the problem with Life Stories is that the quality of guests is so variable. I thought Geri Halliwell would do better as well, but who wants to sit and watch an hour long interview with Joan Collins or Boris Becker or Kym Marsh? Michael Winner's will probably bomb next week too. They need to get better guests on, and they've shown they can as episodes with the likes of Simon Cowell, Richard Branson, Vinnie Jones and Bruce Forsyth have done very well. If they can get some decent household names on it every week it could do very well and be much more consistent. Obviously big, big names won't do it but examples of people who probably would, and who's episodes would do well include Davina McCall, Alan Sugar, Paul O'Grady, Gordon Ramsay, Noel Edmonds and probably plenty more. ITV just need to actually think when they're casting for the next series, and get people who are actually popular.

MasterChef has no chance of beating Frost whatsoever. The last series of Frost got about 8.5m despite being in the middle of a crap ITV schedule with a lead in from Britannia High and airing against popular (ie. 6m+) stuff on BBC1. Tonight will be very close though, I predict:

Creek: 6.8m
Frost: 7.2m

In recent years, Frost has had some difficult competition and still got good numbers. In 2008, it had 7-8m up against some stuff which got around 6m on BBC1. A couple of years before that, it was getting 10m up against shows like Waking The Dead. It's a ratings powerhouse and I wouldn't be surprised if it beat Jonathan Creek tonight, even though JC had 9m last time round. The 9pm slot on Monday won't harm it at all imo as it's started at 9pm plenty of times before and does no worse there than when starting at 8pm.

Edit: Just checked- it wasn't up against Strictly but some shows which had ~6m.

Frost normally starts at 9pm doesn't it? As I said above, I think it'll be just above 7m tonight, but 9m tomorrow night certainly isn't out of the question.

LOL It's comments like that which make this thread fun to read

Jonathan Creek is going to get no where near the 10m he got before. For starters he was in one of the best BBC1 slots of the year and the episode was much anticipated. After the episode aired the feedback wasn't great and tonight it goes up against one of ITV's top 5 dramas, and the finale aswell.


I think the 9pm start is better actually. It gets the Corrie lead in and then basically has free reign over the 10pm hour. FIVE has Bad Times which could fall sub 0.5m I reckon, BBC2 is airing repeats and BBC1 has a shortened news bulletin.

Do you really think 2m people will tune in to watch the second part of a show having missed the first part?