It's not much of a clash but you don't really watch a film and not see the beginning or the end. I've seen Transformers already so I'll watch the beginning and record it for later and watch Pursuit of Happyness live.

I'm trying to think what film premieres the terrestrial broadcasters have from 2006/7/8 left to show.

Transformers will wipe the floor with Pursuit of Happyness IF it stays like it is at the moment.

the Transformers movie is AWFUL, I can not for the life of me understand why people like it.

I wouldn't like to predict the ratings for Friday 10th September, I really wouldn't, because there's a massive amount of conflicting factors to take into account.

We've already seen once this year the power of EastEnders spin offs can have on other channels.

An early prediction, unless the schedules change, is that the 2nd Coronation Street will be very badly hit and that Paul O'Grady straight afterwards will flop. I don't have high hopes for either on that night.

Big Brother is the unknown here, and to a degree, it depends on how well it does over the next two weeks - if it manages to hold over 3 million for the majority of the highlight shows, then you've got the chance of a very good finale rating, which will dent Coronation Street further and EastEnders.

So... yeah, I wouldn't want to predict who is going to come out 'on top' or 'win' on that night. I don't think everyone will come out unscathed, though.

Coronation Street's record low, I think, is 5.5m, and I seriously think we'll be in that region on September 10th. To compare with the 2009 finale for Big Brother:


I know its only one night, but I think it'll be fascinating to see what is hit and what escapes unscathed... its not often you get EastEnders and Coronation Street overlap in any way, against Big Brother, with another big hitter in New Tricks straight afterwards...

I have to ask this by the way, has anyone checked whether New Tricks is actually new, or a repeat?

Looking back at the 2008 & 2009 series premieres of New Tricks, the overnights both outrated Eastenders and Corrie. It will be interesting to see whether the fact it is running in the autumn instead of the height of summer cancels out the negative Friday night effect.

July 2008 - Monday
Corrie 1 - 8.5m (43.0%)
Eastenders - 8.3m (38.6%)
Corrie 2 - 8.4m (37.3%)
New Tricks - 8.7m (37.0%)

July 2009 - Thursday
Eastenders - 7.6m (38%)
New Tricks - 8.1m (34.2%)

I'll stick my neck out and make a few predictions:

Eastenders- 12.8m
Eastenders Extra bit- 5.6m
New Tricks- 6.5m

Corrie 7.30pm- 7.8m
Corrie 8.30pm- 6.1m
Paul O'Grady- 2.9m

Big Brother Final 7.30pm- 3.5m (3.1m for 7.30-8.30pm, 3.9m for 8.30pm-9.30pm)
Dermot show- 2.5m
Davina show- 2.8m
Big Brother Final 10.30pm- 4.6m

Channel 4 should schedule Big Brother's Little Brother for 7pm on Channel 4 (replace The Simpsons with Channel 4 News) and make a full night of it.

I'll probably be horribly wrong through

Why do the Beeb keep putting big stuff on Friday nights like Ashes to Ashes and New Tricks? It's just not Friday night fare.

I'm not saying don't put anything decent on Fridays, but I don't think big budget popular dramas are a particularly good fit.

We've now got this ridiculous situation where there is loads of quality TV on offer on a quiet night and probably not enough viewers to go around, so something will suffer horribly and everything will perform worse than it potentially could.

Oh Channel 4 have the rights to Transformers then; I was expecting that to turn up on Boxing Day evening on BBC1.
6:20pm is too early a start for it, I know its school for the kids the next day but it would be better to start an hour later to capture a larger overall audience and run until 10pm. I'm sure the number of future screenings on Film4 will drain every last viewer out of it though.

Silent Witness did stunningly well on Fridays, Ashes to Ashes did fairly well, and in the Autumn I'd say New Tricks will do well too. It proves there is an audience for drama on Fridays. TBH I don't see all this quality TV on offer on a Friday, what channel?

To be fair, its only that Friday in particular - because of the EastEnders episode and the Big Brother final... someone at BBC must have surely though "don't conclude the Queen Vic storyline then, it'll clash with the Big Brother final".

Obviously the final date for Big Brother was set months in stone, so the date is unmoveable. If it's any other Friday, then you'd have the normal pre-9pm ratings and New Tricks easily winning the 9pm slot with Paul O'Grady getting 3m. To start New Tricks and Paul O'Grady on the Big Brother final night is madness.

It's just that Friday in particular where it stands out as plain stupid - as you can see above, the opposition on that particular day in 2009 was repeats.

Will Smith films tend to do well so I can't it doing badly but I can't see it hitting 2m if it stays in its current slot.

Transformers isn't that bad a fillm, it's giant robots fighting other giant robots, I thinking 3m+ but it could go higher.

Well they are having a go at least with one of their big new signings Paul O'Grady with a show that sounds more akin to what I believe Friday night TV should be about.

On that night with that competition it doesn't stand a chance! Not often I feel sorry for ITV but I won't get any satisfaction out of seeing it absolutely hammered that night...

Then again, New Tricks was always going to pose problems for ITV. They'll be glad Law & Order: UK at least seems to have it easy.

I just don't think Fridays and big budget drama works. Ashes to Ashes didn't do as well as I think it could have done there.

So what day is all this happening? And why are Corrie and EE overlaping?

The audience who watches New Tricks are more likely to be at home but I cannot see it getting it 7-8m like it has in the past but I think over 6m will be seen as a success and it has a two series recommision so the next series is guranteed.

Nothing wrong with a competitive 9pm on a Friday night.

New Tricks skews older so a Friday night where the people going out are mainly young seems a good idea. Big Brother skews young so its audience should have too much of a crossover with NT.

ITV were always taking a risk by putting Paul O'Grady's show at 9pm, especially in the most competitive time of the year.


I dont see why 7-8m cant be reched. New Tricks regularly broke 8m in the overnights during the summer, so a cold and wet Friday night in September or October should have just as a good a chance.

Paul O Grady and Big Brother. Quality??

I think crime dramas are perfect for Fridays and did well for ITV in the past. I didn't agree with the Ashes to Ashes being scheduled there but New Tricks and Silent witness is perfect for that slot imo.

September 10th. Below are the schedules for BBC1, ITV1 and C4 unless anything changes:

Friday 10th September 2010
BBC One
19:30 - Animal 24:7
20:00 - EastEnders
20:40 - Peggy Mitchell: Queen of the Vic
21:00 - New Tricks (N)
22:00 - BBC News

ITV1
19:00 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Coronation Street
20:00 - Dickinson's Real Deal
20:30 - Coronation Street
21:00 - Paul O'Grady Live (N)

Channel 4
19:30 - Ultimate Big Brother: The Final
21:30 - Big Brother: Dermot's Last Supper
22:00 - Davina's Big Send Off
22:30 - Ultimate Big Brother: The Final Hour

Phil Collins One Night Only airs w/b 17th Sept, i presume it will be on Sat 17th? Also that week on ITV, Alberts Memorial.

I agree. Ashes To Ashes didnt do so well as it had quite a decent number of 16-34s (0.9m) and being on a Friday night possibly meant a lot of that age group were out.

Where as, New Tricks has just 0.4m in the 16-34 demo and Silent Witness has 0.5m.

Arh, right thanks. ITV should merge Corrie into an hour or possibly move it to a Sunday or a Wednesday. But, ITV, been ITV, will do nothing and leave the schedule as it is. Could be set for Corrie's lowest overnight rating ever!

And that 19.30 start time for the BB Final is way too early.

BB will be satisfied with 3 million, which isn't much less than most ITV1 shows have been getting this summer( and that's a main channel). After some dire predictions that it would tank this summer and The Sun's television critic rubbishing it at every opportunity, BB has pulled its ratings up and has averaged about 400,000 more this series. OK well down on the glory days but still better than last year and shows there is still an audience to watch it.
BB isn't really my bag, but you must understand it has seen off hopeless rivals like Celebrity Love Island and Survivor, which are little remembered now and CLI is mostly seen with contempt, and could revive in the future.

Soap storylines are planned months in advance as well, plus they'd have to tie in with the end of Barbara Windsor's contract, plus the Queen Vic is being destroyed so they can build a new set ready for when the show goes HD, another date that must have been decided months in advance.

I'm sure it'll be easy for fans of both BB and Eastenders to opt out of UBB for 40 minutes. (Or watch BBC3 at 10pm when Davina's rubbish bit is on.)


It makes perfect sense for BBC1 to schedule drama on Friday at 9pm now that ITV1 are handing to slot to entertainment shows - especially when most of those shows are only getting about 4m. It's complimentary scheduling and a lot better than putting NT on Thursdays up against L&O UK. Well done, the BSI.

I agree - ITV should move Coronation Street to 7.30-8.30 and maybe have Paul O'Grady at 8.30pm with Tonight as filler at 9.30pm - not that that's going to happen. I think Paul O'Grady is going to be thrashed and will be lucky to hit 3m. New Tricks will do as well as ever. Not sure why the first part of the Big Brother final is being aired against two Coronation Street's and the major EastEnders episode; that's ratings suicide.

Back to last night, and at least Who Wants to be a Millionnaire? is holding up the schedule even if it's not lighting up the thread. It's suppyling a better lead in to The Bill than previous 8pm shows, and that seems to be benefiting the police drama slightly. Although there's a lot of criticism of ITV's decision to try and move The Bill it made sense to me. The only question is whether they needed to change the image at the same time - was there anything wrong with airing the 'old' format at 9pm?

Big Brother did ok but nothing specatcular really. I think the producer's decision to vote to evict last week harmed the show. As others have said, if Ultimate Big Brother can hold above 3m over the next 18 days then it'll do well.

I'd have been expecting an hour-long One Show that night.





Keep up, Fudd.


I think that name is going to stick!

3m is what I'd expect his series to get, anyway. If ITV are expecting much more, they're being completely unrealistic. Primetime chat shows don't work anymore.

Teatime, fine.
Post-10pm news slot, fine.
Primetime, low ratings ahoy.