Originally Posted by cylon6:
“Their ratings were still quite good when they went to ITV as were Mike Yarwood's when he moved.”
Yes, but Mike Yarwood's defection was absolutely inexplicable because he'd surely seen what happened to Morecambe and Wise and he was now the Beeb's top dog. But by 1982 he was already in decline - his 1981 Christmas show was on Boxing Day - so God alone knows why Thames bothered signing him.
Originally Posted by RobbieSykes123:
“I think they also got lumbered with weeknight slots because they signed for Thames, and because LWT "owned" Saturday and Sunday nights, they wouldn't let a Thames show air in a prized Saturday night slot. Even when Christmas Day fell on Saturdays, their annual special had to air on a weekday - much to the BBC's amusement I suspect.
Then again, right through the 1980s and into the early 90s, shows could still pull 17m+ at 7pm on a dark autumn/winter Tuesday...”
Yes, Wednesday at eight was Thames' big light entertainment slot, that's where Benny Hill used to run of course, and Wednesday always seemed a big ITV night, even when the Beeb had Dallas you'd get glitzy Thames entertainment. However Morecambe and Wise were never consistently on Saturdays on the Beeb anyway, their last series in 1976 was on Wednesdays (and was shown only on occasional basis with six shows broadcast over three months) and the two series before that in 1974 were on Fridays.
But in 1981, when Christmas Day was on a Friday, Eric and Ern were on Wednesday 23rd, in 1982 they were on Monday 27th and in 1983 on Monday 26th. They still did alright, though, in fact given there was much less competition they probably did better. But had Christmas been on a weekday, you'd be certain that Thames would have shown Eric and Ern on Christmas Day, if you look at TV Times from the early eighties they were all over it, Thames used to hype them up to buggery.
As for LWT not allowing Thames shows at the weekend, obviously the two companies were sworn rivals and LWT wanted to show their own programmes. That's not to say that other regions didn't occasionally show LWT or Thames programmes on their off days - I know Granada showed a series of Child's Play on Thursdays - but obviously they wouldn't be networked. Of course when the Network Centre took charge in 1993 they were then able to commission and schedule programmes on any day regardless of who made them, the first show I remember being on the "wrong" day was The Clive James Show which was on Sunday despite being a Carlton production.
Originally Posted by cylon6:
“Eric's next big heart attack happened after the Thames move and that meant a delay in making new shows. That's why in 1979 there is a clip/interview show with David Frost rather than a proper Christmas Show.”
Yes, the ITV strike didn't help as well, and I assume that had they not just hired them, they probably wouldn't have done a Christmas show in 1979. That was their first show for twelve months, though.
That said they did seem to work quite hard at Thames, at the Beeb they did a series in autumn 1974, then another in January 1976, and then Christmas shows in 1976 and 1977, so their shows were quite sporadic. But at Thames they did six-part series every year from 1980 to 1983, plus Christmas shows.
Originally Posted by Pizzatheaction:
“Does anyone know if A Question of Sport is coming back, or has bitten the dust? Very unusual for there to be no sign of a new series, despite TV schedules being published up until 26th November.”
There's an interview in Broadcast this week with the Beeb's Head of Entertainment who mentions the need to refresh brands, and she specifically refers to A Question of Sport and about how the next series will feature more celebrity sports fans like Frank Skinner to broaden its appeal, which they seem to do every five minutes anyway. But it's coming back, you'd know if it wasn't.
Originally Posted by jake lyle:
“Also the soaps on Christmas day wasn't started by Eastenders as Steve Williams pointed out to George before but we all know about Georges issues with the truth.”
Ooh, did I? Well you can see the OTT stuff but it is a fact that you would only get Corrie on Christmas Day if it was Monday or Wednesday, if that, so there wasn't an episode on Christmas Day at all between 1972 and 1985.
As has been mentioned, the 'stEnders at Christmas was at 1986, then there was also one the following year, but at 3.10pm, none in 1988 (although as it was a Sunday, they did show the omnibus at lunchtime) or 1989, one in 1990 but at 2.30pm and none in 1991, but there's been an episode every Christmas Day since.
When Corrie was on Christmas Day in 1987 it was the first time there'd been three episodes a week, but after that there's always been one on Christmas Day, except on their notorious can't-be-arsed Christmas Day in 1993. In 1991, of course, there was two episodes, one at 2.50 around the Queen's Speech (with Alf Roberts turning on the telly halway through) and one at 7.30. Emmerdale took much longer to get a Christmas outing, in 1991 it wasn't even on Boxing Day even though it was a Thursday. Its first appearance on Christmas Day was in 1997 and it's been on every one since.
It's probably right to say that Emmerdale, at least, gains bugger all from being on Christmas Day, it often gets its lowest audience of the year, but then what else have ITV got? If they got rid of them their schedule would look even weaker than it already is.
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