The idea that someone has decided to axe a show before they've even started the job is a bit far fetched isn't it? Even if she privately thought it, its highly unlikely it was articulated to anyone.

I doubt Hollyoaks is very high on Jay Hunt's to do list anyway. I think Channel 4's got a few other problems to sort first.

The first of which is they've hired Jay Hunt and George Dixon!

3-7pm pretty much looks after itself, whatever the ratings, but at the moment 8-11pm is pretty much a complete blank canvas and until that is sorted they shouldn't be touching anything else.

Agreed, primetime is a total mess. Hopefully they'll realise they have higher priorities than Hollyoaks!

Thanks for those. Bit low for Frost but that was the last repeat they're showing, May The Best House Win is back on Monday. Dickinson and Doc Martin are both doing well though.

Primeval was deathly dull tonight. Last Sunday's episode was poor but this was worse. This series has been awful so far and not a patch on the last one. It's just so lifeless and I fear the worst for its ratings.

I dont see why its not possible, a new boss coming into an organisation and wanting to stamp her mark on the place.

And 100% accurate on both fronts.


ITV will quite happily put EmFm into battle against EE because EmFm has the advantage of a 30 min head start and EE viewers can either tape it or watch the 'live timeshift' option on BBC1+1(+1) at 10pm.

They will be less keen to put EmFm or CoroSt up against a reliable 5-6m banker like Holby every week which has the benefit of the EE lead-in. But as soon as Holby moves away from Tuesday 8pm, ITV will be in there like a shot to conclude "Operation Poison Ivy".

As for BBC1 and Wednesdays, the cookery hour was a mistake as the ratings showed. Both shows would have done better run separately in the 7.30pm slot, as the 5-5.5m Slater was consistently getting for series 1 confirmed. They have, to their credit, tried comedy in the 7.30 slot - it did OK. But the slot has become so synonymous with CoroSt over the decades that many people (who may not even be Corrie fans) will not even think of looking there because it's been a filler slot for BBC1 for donkey's years.

Not much seems to do really well pre-9pm on Wednesdays on BBC1, apart from Waterloo Rd. Which I guess is why that show is now established in that slot when it is airing.


But you are doing though....?

Really pleased to see that Hustle has launched with a strong rating. I thought it might suffer for being on Friday's, as it skews young, but it seems to have done well. My hope is that it stays above 5 million throughout the series.


Watched this online and thought it was quite good. 4.1m is good for the slot but I think it has potential to become a 5m + show if put in the right place. I'd like to see a full series of 1 hr episodes.



Strong soap ratings once again. The Emmerdale and Coronation ST shares are particularly impressive. Eastenders looks on the low side compared to Coronation ST but that is still Eastenders' highest Friday overnight rating since the live episode in February last year, so rather good really.

But they'd do a damnsight better than what's currently in a slot and boost the 9pm hour. ITV can't just concentrate on the soaps. They need to use them properly.


True, Wednesday doesn't quite have the pull. I think the BBC need to air established shows to the night (say Silent Witness two parter) starting there to try and boost it. The Apprentice couldn't help anything as they stuck the cookery shows there.

Hustle's got a loyal audience and it has held up better than Spooks I think due to that the cast is mostly the same with the exception of two, I think it will continue until they decide to call it a day, would like to see Marc Warren and Jaime Murray return for a final series, Jaime's in America but Marc Warren doesn't seem to be on TV much these days which is shame as he's a good actor.

The Mentalist did very well considering it was a repeat, should return strongly when he return from its break.

Can anyone tell me how well The Wright Stuff rates on C5 please?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqAZsoF-ghw

any idiot could have seen that, there was no way a TV channel who cant confirm something 2 weeks ahead of time, was going to confirm that.

any ratings for Blue Peter / Newsround on BBC One

Some ratings for last night (without HD)

Wipeout 5.18m 24.1%
Magicians 5.4m 23.1%
IITWI 6.09m 25.1%
Casualty 6.09m 25.2%
CFWM 3.31m 14.6%

Harry Hill 3.84m 17.3%
Primeval 3.54m 15.2%
Take MO 3.64m 15%
P Morgan 1.81m 7.8%

Super night for BBC1; quite bad night for ITV, absolutely dismal for the Life Stories repeat. Primeval has no chance of survival if it can't get above 4m.

sonny2001, do you know how the FA Cup did from 12:20 to 14:50 and 22:30 to 00:00 on ITV1?

Oh My!! WTF is happening to ITV?
TMO... it's so good as well.

Oh My!! WTF is happening to ITV?
TMO... it's so good as well.

My friend scored his first goal for Watford yesterday (Mingoia) wondering how it rated.

The lunchtime kick off got 3.08m 26.8% (peak 4.06m 32.8%)
Evening highlights 2.54m 15.4%

Thanks sonny.

They actually look like quite solid figures. Last year:

Saturday 2nd January 2010
17:00 - The FA Cup: 5.09m (23.1%)
* peak: 6.79m (28%) @ 19:00

Sunday 3rd January 2010
12:45 - FA Cup Live: Manchester United v Leeds: 4.7m (33.3%)
16:00 - FA Cup Live: West Ham United v Arsenal: 5.5m (26.4%)

Hmmm, on second thoughts, not sure. I know Arsenal are not Man United, but 3.1m compared to the 4.7m for Man United/Leeds game last year looks low.

Man United/Liverpool today is certain for 5m considering the added hype round the game because of Liverpool's troubles. If the game today can't get above 4m, then its just another nail into the expensive contract's coffin.

EDIT: Of course, I forgot, 3.1m excludes HD, it could well be near 4m including HD. At which point most of the above is utterly irrelevant.

Thanks Sonny.

New Wipeout did really well and The Magicians held onto its audience which I wasn't suspecting. Quite low for ITV and I think they miss Dancing On Ice on Saturdays at this time of year. Primeval might rate better with its Autumn episodes.

Great for Casualty considering some have been marking it out for the axe on here.

Dissapointing for Primeval, I was hoping it would bounce back better than that at least 4 million.

I hope this doesnt mean the Watch episodes, wont get shown on ITV, we certainly wont see a 6th series.

I wonder how its going on BBC Am.

ITV will be counting the days until new TV Burp returns, it also shows ITVs lack of depth.

Good night for BBC1. Wipeout returned to solid numbers whilst The Magicians held up really well from last week, surprisingly. In It To Win It and Casualty both did very well. Not so great for the CFWM repeat.

Dreadful night for ITV. TV Burp was just a best of but they're still wasting it against Wipeout. Primeval is tanking at 7pm and needs to be moved an hour earlier. Dreadful rating, and it dragged TMO down a bit too. I think TMO has been damaged by the Christmas break and some viewers aren't aware it's back. It's more of a 7pm hour show too, and I think Primeval is harming it. Terrible for the Life Stories repeat but that's no surprise.

ITV need to change te schedule to something like: 6pm: Primeval, 7pm: YBF, 7:30pm: Best of TV Burp, 8pm: TMO, 9:15pm: Benidorm (R). I still think TMO is too late but with a bit of advertising and a better lead-in with a greater overlap audience should help it. They really could do with DOI being split across the weekend.

Oh dear...no lasting boost for TMO then-infact I'm pretty sure that's the same rating the first ever episode started with last year. Huge headache for Primeval with another series being produced. The only upside for ITV is that a new series of TV Burp is arriving in a couple of weeks and the Piers repeat was a one off-why it needed repeating on ITV1 primetime in January is bizarre anyway.

BBC1 really benefited from the weak ITV competition, especially Casualty and a sigh of relief after a long string of below par ratings up against XF. The only weak link seemed to be the CFWM repeat, again stupid scheduling.

With only 3.3m watching BBC1 and 1.8m watching ITV at 9.40pm it'll be interesting to see how the season premiere of CSI:NY rated...any figures?

And I reckon ITV will almost definitely move DOI back to Saturdays with Sunday results next year, especially if the poor Saturday ratings continue and DOI continues to fall on Sundays this year. I think DOI needs to start with at least 8.5m tonight.

Definitely. New TV Burp up against Wipeout is not a good idea and Primeval is providing an awful lead in to TMO. If new TV Burp stays at 6.30pm it could be finding itself reguarly below 5m.