The shares would be lower as Graham's show is 15 minutes shorter.

From Digital Spy: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s1...xe-claims.html


Of course they said the same about Big Brother in the Summer of 2009 and a month or so later, they cancelled it and the rest is well... history.

Let's see how long Channel 4 keep to their promise this time.

I am sure ITV said they were no plans to axe The Bill quite a few times after it flopped at 9pm, and yet we enter 2011, the first full year without it.

This line sort of made the rest of the article redundant, did it not? No plans to axe Hollyoaks but we'll see what the new boss says on Monday.

One thing I've learned with Jay Hunt - expect the unexpected. She'll probably promote it to primetime.

Bizarre that C4 have been moved enough by a bit of tabloid speculation to release a statement on a Saturday though.

This Morning has jumped the shark. I saw 15 minutes of it, though not by choice, and the whole programme is made up of premium rate phone competitions, soap gossip and some junk about Katie Price. It really is just like GMTV The Next Generation and I think it's run its course now. Also ITV seem to have a very patronising view that anyone who watches daytime television must be thick, female and a chav.

ITV should've just been honest - The Bill was put in a sink or swim position and it sunk badly.

It was aired on the wrong night IMO, and the revamp was poor...it was always going to get itself into trouble.


You'd have thought they would've waited for Hunt to take control and have her say. I think either she's had a quiet word and they want to nip rumours in the bud, or they want to pressure Hunt not to axe it so have released a statement before she can have a say.

I think Channel 4 will see how Hollyoaks does this year and then review its performance. Compared with the dying days of Brookie, when only half a million tuned in to watch, Hollyoaks seems healthier and its ratings decline has been far less dramatic than that of Brookside, which lost over 90 pc of its audience in seven years. I think what might happen is Hoillyoaks could end up on E4.

but that is the exact oppposite of what they have done, that is what they should have done with PM as exec producer, not have to wait anothe 3 months for the new producer to bed in, and start to see his work on screen.

E4 is an option, and it would be intersting to see how it would preform.

Slightly lower ratings than on Channel 4, but a reliable banker for E4, which will be rather adrift now BB and the Friends repeats have gone. However, please no more CDWM if this happens.

Need to get some facts straight first I think with Brookside. It was on at 8pm and getting 2m. Channel 4 then moved it to Saturday afternoons as 90 minutes long, then dumped it late night on Tuesdays.

I think it did dip once or twice at 8pm to 500,000, but that's because it clashed with EastEnders and Coronation Street a few times.

I reckon Hollyoaks will almost certainly become E4 exclusive because Ch4 have constantly used the argument that the main reason the show survives is because of the demos. If it didn't attract a really young audience, it would have been axed ages ago. E4 have just lost all the BB spin offs and will have lost Friends by the end of the year. That is a hell of a lot of hours to fill. Friends fills 2 hours every day. I think Ch4 are waiting for Friends to end then will announce Hollyoaks will move to E4 in a big revamp of the channel and the schedule will be something like this:

6.30pm-Hollyoaks (NEW)
7pm-Glee/One Tree Hill etc (one hour drama repeat)
8pm-HIMYM/MNIE etc (half hour comedy repeat)
8.30pm-Hollyoaks (R)
9pm-New drama/new comedy/film repeat

To be honest though, I'm not quite sure why E4 have got rid of the Friends contract. Not much else can pull in audiences of 1m+ daily for showings which get aired at least 3 times a year.

But it would have to come out of E4's budget. Would it really be worth keeping Hollyoaks as a multichannel only asset if it meant roughly one in every three pounds spent by E4 on programming each year would be going on a 5-a-week soap that is arguably past its best? Apart from the show escaping cancellation there would no benefit to viewers of E4 as it's always been there anyway. But viewers might notice when there's less Skins, Misfits, The Inbetweeners and other shows of that ilk in the schedules that have helped make E4 stand out from the crowd.

I like the idea in principle, just not sure it would be worth it. And I fear making it E4 only would give many wandering viewers an excuse to switch off for good, with the 800k it has recorded for some episodes on C4 recently becoming the norm. (which wouldn't be that spectacular even for E4, when you consider how well repeats of EastEnders rate on BBC Three)

That's a good one, Fudd.

You know full well an ITV soap would be in the Tuesday 8pm slot faster than you can say "creative bankruptcy".

Ratings seem to have dipped a bit recently. From C4 Sales, some figures from over the festive period including +1:

Christmas Eve
21:30 The One with the Inappropriate Sister 156,000
22:00 The One with the Routine 179,000

New Year's Eve
20:00 The One with Phoebe's Cookies 191,000

I know these were both 'special' days and that might have had something to do with it, but these struck me as pretty low. (normally around 400-500k including +1)

There are new homegrown dramas in the 2.15pm slot, too, but they're intermittent, due to cost reasons.


They had at least one full series on Channel 4 in the early 1990s. Someone at ITV must have remembered them.

But obviously Channel 4 will want something that attracts 2 million in the Hollyoaks slot like Hollyoaks used to. I think it will move to E4 and give the channel a regular attraction now Friends and BB have gone. 800,000 on a youthful digital channel is very respectable, similar to what many ITV 2 shows get. However, if it continues to slump, then it will go but not after all options have been tried.

It's all very well, but we don't want this thread ending up like the Soap Ratings Thread, do we?

I can't be bothered to look at that thread anymore, and I hope this one won't go the same way.

The problem now is though BBC2 often runs the same type of content as BBC1 in the afternoon if it hasn't got live sport (which it hasn't most of the year!). Personally I would let BBC1 have all the daytime content in the afternoon and then BBC2 could have a film followed by CBBC. Otherwise if BBC2 is to offer programming from against "daytime" programming on BBC1 it needs to be alternative, not just other daytime stuff.


Big Brother and Hollyoaks are very different programmes though, and Hollyoaks is not the political hot potato Big Brother was, and isn't under the same media scrutiny.


E4 didn't get rid - Comedy Central poached the rights off them then E4 had to save face.

And Hollyoaks would almost certainly not be viable on E4 - if it switched I really doubt all of the 1.5m viewers who watch on C4 at 6.30pm would move with it, and C4 would have to budget for all the extra episodes of Come Dine with Me in the slot - and lose 130 hours of original drama a year.


Exactly. It's more cost effective for C4 to air it on C4 and E4 rather than make it E4 exclusive. Airing it on C4 and E4 isn't the issue with the ratings.

800,000 on E4 doesn't bring in the same cash as 1.5-2m across both though. And C4's best chance of getting 2m in the 6.30pm slot again is surely sticking with Hollyoaks. When you look at new shows launched by C4 last year, those attracting over 2m can be counted on one hand!


P.S. See The Magicians have the same magicians every week then. Even more of a reason not to watch.

"Upwardly-mobile youthful EE audience" out? At 8pm? Surely that's a bit early to be going out for such a young audience?



If Penn and Teller come back for a full series, which I think it should, wouldn't it be better on a Saturday or Sunday evening? Would make a good longer run.

I doubt it could hold up if it kept the 90 minute running time. The format and the idea is great but maybe if they tried 45 minutes to an hour with 3 contestants and a trick from Penn and Teller trick per episode.

I have to say i thoroughly enjoyed the programme and would love it to come back. It did feel very "Saturday night". If it followed the X Factor or BGT (if they could get a quick turn around and have it ready for the new series) I imagine it would go down very well.

I believe that's ITV's target audience.


I think Land Girls is back for a second series in a few weeks time. Possibly ten episodes so it'll occupy the slots for two weeks.

Exactly, this would make a perfect one hour show. Two tricks from Penn and Teller felt too much and as long as one contestant fools them per episode I'm sure the audience will remain happy. Maybe Sundays after DOI has finished? Or a Saturday slot once Primeval has finished it's current run. Autumn season doesn't really need anything else thanks to X Factor.

The info posted a few days ago that the new series of Torchwood would launch on Friday July 1st was by a fake Facebook account. BBC Marketing has informed a popular Doctor Who fansite that Torchwood won't be launching on that date: http://gallifreynewsbase.blogspot.co...nsmission.html

To be honest I'm surprised ITV haven't just gone for it and put the soaps there already. Maybe there's an agreement in place with Holby like with EastEnders, I don't know.

But BBC1 are as creatively bankrupt as ITV1 anyway. If they had half decent new programming then they would perform well - Wednesday's are a free night for BBC to push all they can forward and what do they manage? A bunch of cookery shows and Big Top.