The football really took a bite out of ITV's soaps and Law and Order, last night. The figures for the latter must be prompting a bit of head-scratching. They put a lot into building the show up and transferring the franchise from the US. At 13 episodes a year, it's one of the biggest commitments they make, and those figures aren't enough to reward it.

The Young One's has done OK for BBC One, but still seems to me like something you'd expect to see on BBC Two. A bit like the "Rich, Famous and..." series we've seen of late.

Yeah, someone at Ten basically admitted a few weeks after the news regarding Neighbours' channel swap came out, that it was only saved because of the UK deal, and that they came very close to pulling the plug.

Thanks, D.M.N.

Could have been a lot worse.

I noticed in the overnights that the news bulletins seemed to post lower numbers than usual, even C4 News.

Perhaps the Papal coverage has been a bit excessive in places, although the only bulletin I watched yesterday - BBC News at Ten - didn't seem too bad. On location for the top of the programme, ran a few reports, spoke to their religious affairs correspondent, then handed back to the studio for other news at about 12 minutes past, which seemed adequate and not OTT.

Amazingly it did indeed win the slot against This Morning - quite surprising. Thou it did have a 29% lead in from Helicopter Heroes...

Re: Road to Coronation Street

Great drama. Wasn't Jessie marvellous? And isn't it strange how all of the best stuff made by ITV productions ends up on the BBC?

I do feel BBC4 was the right place for it and I wouldn't say 800k+ viewers is a bad rating either considering it aired on BBC4. And it's been repeated a few times since so will probably have topped 1 million all showings combined.

They had this stupid idea at the beginning of the year to move away from the more sensationalist and dramatic storylines (where Home and Away really did punch above it's weight) and concentrate on things like relationships and family - so it's no surprise really. Time to bring out the bi-annual serial killer me thinks!



I'm sure though the deals allow for the show to be axed. I'd imagine Five's Neighbours deal would just cease should the show be axed, rather than actually stipulating the show must go on. No doubt though it is what's keeping it alive, but with's Fives ratings as they are I really don't think they'd object should Ten want to pull the plug completely.


Only got 1m, which is a shame as it's by far the best drama around at the moment. Of course it does get an FX airing first, but even so I'd have hoped for around 1.5-2m on C4 - but last year it stuck around 1-1.2m.

Happy for now it keeps a 10pm slot though, but I suspect like most HBO shows on C4 over the years it'll move later and later and later, and like many before it shows watched religiously over the first couple of series by a small but loyal fanbase will see their audience drift away.

Except that those spineless useless morons at Ofcom allow Channel Five to count Neighbours towards its British drama output (and how many British jobs does that create?). It's an easy option for Five. I think they'd object strongly to Ten pulling the plug.

I think Ofcom allow Five to count Home & Away, not sure about Neighbours.

However what you say isnt wrong.

What?!

Hope they will pick up soon

I don't think their is a quota for British drama unlike in Australia but there is for UK produced shows. For Five I believe it's 60-75% which is not that high.

Cracking game of rugby union on ESPN tonight with Saints firing on all cylinders. Hopefully it pulled in the viewers.

Opening weekend games took 62k and 43k respectively. If those kind of numbers continue then it will be ESPN's third most popular sport behind EPL and SPL.

ESPN have more games than Sky and exclusive coverage of the final.

CBS won the night with a Big Bang Theory marathon ahead of its move to a regular Thursday 8pm slot next week.

A18-49 Ratings:
8.00pm - 2.0
8.30pm - 2.4
9.00pm - 2.6
9.30pm - 2.6

But the headline of the night was that The Apprentice absolutely tanked. Down 53% from the premiere of Celebrity Apprentice earlier this year, it pulled a lowly 1.5 rating from 9-11pm and less than 5m viewers. It finished 3rd at 9pm and last at 10pm behind repeats on CBS and ABC.

So, with the new season not officially underway yet, NBC will already need to look at their schedule. Do they promote Outlaw from Fridays? Or are any of their mid-season series ready to go? Outlaw could only muster a 2.4 rating despite a huge lead-in from America's Got Talent on Wednesday night.

I'm aware of that, but what quota exactly does it count towards too as there doesn't really seem to be one in play - and if there is it's so small it's not worth having.

I do think quota or no quota though, financially - and creatively - losing Neighbours wouldn't do Five any harm at all. Rejigging the daytime line up to what they had before may lose a couple of hundred thousand at 5.30pm (assuming the news returned to the slot), but the costs saved would more than make up for it - and free up cash to attempt at least a couple of home grown drama series in the evening.

Really, in 13 years what drama series have Five even attempted? The only one I can remember is that Aussie/UK backpacking thing.

Oh dear - bring back Jay Leno!

Murder Prevention, Urban Gothic, a short form about a chef starring Eddie Izzard. They stuck with Family Affairs for 8 years as well.

The total viewers number sounds even worse - 4.7m. That is pretty much a crap number for broadcast TV (except The CW), all time of year.

The backpacking drama was called Tripping Over, there was a one-off drama called Perfect Day which spawned two sequels and of course Minder.

I think they should try and attempt British drama again perhaps using one of their US dramas as a lead in. Funding is the main reason why they'd not attempted it but I'm sure they could get additional funding either from BBC Worldwide or ITV Global Entertainment or from GroupM who funded Don't Stop Believing.

I believe Five also put alot of money into The Tribe, and might be counted as a Five show, not an import.

Ah - vaguely remember Urban Gothic. Was that a continuous series though or a series of one-off dramas under the same theme?

if I recall correctly it was 2 series of 6x30 minute scare storys. Was quite good.

Murder Prevention was excellent.

Yeah, Murder Prevention was fantastic. Shame it didn't get a recommission.

when im in charge at ITV

Murder Prevention was a great idea but scheduled poorly on Saturdays after CSI or CSI: Miami. I think had it been given a 9pm slot it would have done better.

I think Five should look to crime procedurals if they were get back to commisioning homegrown drama as it's an area they're successful with their US shows. Look at homegrown drama and comedy has boosted E4 and BBC Three wih stuff like Dead Set, Being Human, Misfits etc