Last Christmas Day (which was a Friday)

BBC1 8.00-9.00 EastEnders
ITV 6.00-7.00 Emmerdale
7.00-8.00 Corrie

The following day there was an EE 7.00-7.30 but no Emmerdale or Corrie

It didn't get a Friday episode until 1989 as LWT did not want soaps on a Friday night and scuppered The Practice and Albion Market on Friday nights.

2.97m is barely less than 3m but you can't compare the ratings for two shows that air in two completely different slots. You know fine well more viewers are watching telly when POG is on. And as for taking the format from one timeslot and imposing it to another isn't POG just his teatime show later in the day?

GN is easily the better show.

Anything for home and away and Neighbours on Fiver from 6:30pm?

It's not like Corrie didn't air a xmas day episode prior to EE doing it in 1986. I'm sure even after that monster 30m EE was not always on xmas day - 1988 was one xmas EE definitely missed as I have an old TV mag from that year.

Xmas day 1986 fell on a Thursday a day EE normally airs and the following year both Corrie and EE aired xmas day episodes on a day they were not normally on.

Edit: Just seen Steve's post on the previous page.

Since then it hasn't looked back increasing to four and then finally five episodes in quick succession. 3 of which now air in the space of only 2 nights.

In answer to Brekkie's question: the schedules deadline is Tuesday November 30th at 2.30pm.

Although, thanks to ITV playing silly beggars until around 5pm on deadline day last year, the schedules were three hours late, which presumably didn't please the people working on the various TV listings magazines.

It would be nice to have a break from the soaps, but I don't think there's any chance of it happening.

I wouldn't want a normal Saturday line-up, though. I'd prefer a few big sitcom specials, with perhaps a drama in the mix, too, and maybe a good film.

Why have the BBC decided to run one of their few live Championship fixtures on the same day as the FA Cup 1st Round?

How is that benefiting terrestrial football fans? No football on a Sunday for weeks and then two matches opposite each other.

Does anyone have the ratings for the I'm A Celeb launch shows since it started?

I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here launch overnight ratings are:

Series 1 (2002): 6.4m (33%)
Series 2 (2003): 10.0m (46%)
Series 3 (2004): 10.1m (n/a%)
Series 4 (2004): 9.0m (35%)
Series 5 (2005): 9.5m (38%)
Series 6 (2006): 8.9m (38%)
Series 7 (2007): 8.7m (38%)
Series 8 (2008): 8.9m (35%)
Series 9 (2009): 9.8m (36%)

Last year's launch was the most watched since 2004, helped by having a lead-in from TXF. This year's launch should be looking to get mid 9's (similar to last year), I'd have thought.

Thanks rzt. The shows seems to launch very well every year. And with an XF lead in again this year we should be seeing 9m+ again.

Nice post, Iain.

From memory, 1987 was also the year some bright spark at the BBC decided EastEnders would go out at 3.10pm.

Coronation St went out in the evening, and got higher ratings as a result.

Yeah it should launch with 9m+, although I'm not sure if it'll quite match last year's rating because I expect the lead-in from TXF to be lower than last year's 14.3m which could have a slight knock-on effect.

As for the series overall, I don't think it'll match last year's official series average of 9.4m because that was boosted by Katie Price's inclusion. But it should be capable of high 8's like how the 2008 series did (8.8m).

Thanks. I wonder if the refresh will bring about a much shorter run? I think they were up to something like 38 or 42 episodes per series in recent years. Although, even in the late 1980s, it was getting 26 shows per series.

I'd forgotten EastEnders being on at 2.30pm in 1990! I recall it didn't rate terribly well for much of the year, so maybe that played a small part in the decision?

I thought last years im a celeb being so big was mainly due to Katie Price,

Although to counter your expected lower lead-in - last year's IAC launch was on against Top Gear on BBC2 which had an overnight of 5.5m. This year that slot is occupied by James May's Man Lab which last week had 2m viewers.

The BBC wanted to show the south wales clash, and it was scheduled for this weekend. The early k/o is to cut down on drinking time before this notorious fixture.

Or on some occasions in the mid noughties three episodes on one night, and a pointless Family Album in between, mercifully this type of overkill has been cut back post Charles Allen. Though I do think moving the soap around has confused viewers and I know a few people who still think CS is still shown on Sundays. However, 8-9 million viewers in such a competitive market is still good.

9.4m was the series average?! I didn't know that. That's an excellent series average. Is that in the overnights or officials? Yeah the lead in might not be as strong, but I think we'll know tonight more as the results shows have increased every week since the show went live, so if the trend continues it won't be too far off that rating at all.

It's also interesting that this show is now in it's 10th series and isn't really showing any signs of flat-lining. Series 3 was the most successful IAC, and the best IMO, and when I started watching this show. I wonder how long ITV intend to run with this show as it clearly pulls in excellent ratings year after year!

9.4m was the official series average. The official series averages for IAC have been:

Series 1 (2002): 7.58m
Series 2 (2003): 8.55m
Series 3 (2004): 11.02m
Series 4 (2004): 8.66m
Series 5 (2005): 9.42m
Series 6 (2006): 8.01m
Series 7 (2007): 7.34m
Series 8 (2008): 8.78m
Series 9 (2009): 9.37m

After a fairly weak 2006-2007 for the show, its brought back some of its old audience in the last couple of years. Last year's series was the best rated since 2005 and 3rd most watched overall. It's a bit surprising because the same thing happens year after year with very similar tasks and you'd think the public would get bored of it (like other shows such as BB) but it hasn't happened yet.

There was a thread on here a couple of days ago which said ITV are doing 'I'm a Civilian... Get Me Out of Here!' next summer, which although it hasn't been announced yet, is likely to happen after what was recently revealed by ITV about there being a big summer Ant & Dec show next year. In a way, this could lead to overkill of the format and accelerate the decline of the main show's ratings. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

The festive period of 1987 was a strange one for EastEnders. One of the new years eve episodes aired much later than normal across midnight and the show actually incorporated a scene where the show switched to Big Ben with BBC1 wishing viewers a happy new year.

It was a pretty big episode of Corrie anyway, Hilda Ogden's final appearance. I'm willing to be corrected but I'm sure its the most watched episode of CS ever.

The series 3 average of 11.02m is outstanding. The Jordan/Peter year was excellent viewing IMO. Don't like the idea of I'm A Civilian at all. Will defo lead to overkill and this is just typical of ITV. They should think of new ideas, not recycle current ones. It's strange to see the series averages so back up also. I wonder why viewers returned? Possibly better scheduling, advertising or celebrities could be a factor i guess.

Yeah, I was watching!


I can't remember how it rated. I recall one episode in early 1989 reaching 26.9m or thereabouts.