I wouldn't say BBC One doesn't get criticised. There were rather a lot of negative comments about the magic show, and then, for good measure, you criticised every other programme.

I thought BBC1 and ITV1 were equally as abysmal, both line-up's were shockingly bad considering we're in the depths of winter.

I agree. BBC1 are always going to be weak in some slots; every channel is. I wish they'd mix and match more for one; put weaker shows alongside stronger shows instead of going from a great schedule pre-Christmas to dross afterwards. At least the commercial channels have an excuse for doing this.


Well, I try my best.


Agreed.

Perhaps ITV should focus on the earlier evening, and have Primeval airing later, essentially swapping Take Me Out and Primeval around:-

6:30pm Harry Hill's TV Burp
7:00pm Take Me Out
8:00pm Primeval
9:00pm Film Premiere

The problem with Primeval is - the target audience's a bit narrow. It'll never appeal to older people, unlike Merlin, and the plots can get a bit complex for families and kids. So, essentially, it's a cult show for a few young geeky adults.

It's alright for a drama, the second and third series were quite good - but I dunno - the commercial breaks slow it down and seriously work against it.

It's not easy coming up with brand new shows, you know. Television has been around for years. Pretty much any new idea could be dismissed as a variation of some earlier programme.

Come on, then, if you lot are so smart, let's have your brand-new, never-been-done-anywhere-ever-in-the-world, brilliant ratings-winning ideas.

With all the official ratings for 2010 released, let's take a look at the official series averages for the BBC1 and ITV1 dramas last year. These figures include HD. In brackets is the change compared to the average for the show the previous year (or 2008 if it didn't air in 2009):

BBC1/HD
1 – 8.83m – Sherlock... (NEW)
2 – 8.39m – Upstairs Downstairs... (NEW)
3 – 8.32m – Doctor Who... (-1%)
4 – 7.85m – New Tricks... (-1%)
5 – 7.84m – Five Days... (+20%)
6 – 7.70m – Silent Witness... (+22%)
7 – 7.27m – Rock & Chips... (NEW)
8 – 6.97m – Lark Rise to Candleford... (+8%)
9 – 6.78m – Merlin... (+13%)
10 – 6.77m – Jonathan Creek... (-32%)

11 – 6.67m – Toast... (NEW)
12 – 6.45m – Hustle... (+3%)
13 – 6.33m – Spooks... (N/A)
14 – 6.32m – Ashes to Ashes... (-3%)
15 – 6.04m – Five Daughters... (NEW)
16 – 5.87m – Wallander... (-4%)
17 – 5.82m – Inspector George Gently... (-2%)
18 – 5.77m – A Passionate Woman... (NEW)
19 – 5.56m – The Nativity... (NEW)
20 – 5.51m – The Silence... (NEW)

21 – 5.48m – Garrow's Law... (+25%)
22 – 5.45m – Single Father... (NEW)
23 – 5.01m – Luther... (NEW)
24 – 4.96m – The Deep... (NEW)
25 – 4.89m – Mistresses... (+4%)
26 – 4.74m – Accidental Farmer... (NEW)
27 – 4.55m – Survivors... (-20%)
28 – 4.35m – Accused... (NEW)
29 – 3.25m – Reunited... (NEW)
30 – 2.75m – Material Girl... (NEW)

ITV1/HD
1 – 9.70m – Downton Abbey... (NEW)
2 – 9.37m – A Touch of Frost... (+12%)
3 – 7.83m – Lewis... (+11%)
4 – 7.77m – Above Suspicion... (+1%)
5 – 7.71m – Wild at Heart... (-4%)
6 – 7.41m – Benidorm... (+17%)
7 – 7.26m – Foyle’s War... (-5%)
8 – 7.13m – The Little House... (NEW)
9 – 6.78m – DCI Banks... (NEW)
10 – 6.58m – Joe Maddison’s War... (NEW)

11 – 6.52m – Whitechapel... (-25%)
12 – 6.23m – Come Rain Come Shine... (NEW)
13 – 5.96m – Midsomer Murders... (-7%)
14 – 5.71m – U Be Dead ... (NEW)
15 – 5.59m – Heartbeat ... (+9%)
16 – 5.45m – Law & Order: UK... (-15%)
17 – 5.42m – Marple ... (+10%)
18 – 5.39m – Poirot ... (+20%)
19 – 5.36m – Bouquet of Barbed Wire ... (NEW)
20 – 5.29m – Father & Son... (NEW)

21 – 5.11m – Albert’s Memorial... (NEW)
22 – 4.82m – Taggart... (-3%)
23 – 4.66m – Identity... (NEW)
24 – 4.65m – Married Single Other... (NEW)
25 – 1.94m – The Prisoner... (NEW)

Notes
- ratings include HD where necessary.
- I've included Rock & Chips and Benidorm as they were described as a "comedy dramas" by their broadcasters, although I do understand if some people consider them sitcoms.
- Some of the ITV dramas did not air in Scotland so bear that in mind if directly comparing an ITV drama (not aired on STV) rating to a BBC drama because the ITV one would be at a 0.3-0.6m automatic deficit.
- Doctor Who comparison done to the 2008 regular series.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall in 2010 – BBC1 primetime dramas averaged 6.4m while ITV1 primetime dramas averaged 6.1m. So pretty close between the two broadcasters and once you bear in mind that quite a few of those ITV ratings don’t include STV, it’s probably almost a tie.

I think it’s been a good year for BBC1 drama. Most of their new dramas have averaged 5.5m+, with two of them at mega-levels. I’m sure like Sherlock, Upstairs Downstairs will be recommissioned as 8.39m is too high an average to decommission a show. Importantly also, most of their returning dramas have held up very well year-on-year. Only Survivors and Jonathan Creek were well down but there were exceptional circumstances for the latter. There were impressive rises, particularly for Merlin, Garrow’s Law, Five Days and Silent Witness. Merlin did exceptionally considering it was up against the biggest show on TV and after a pretty low rated first series, Garrow’s Law really got into its stride this year and is probably now a reliable Sunday night show for BBC1.

I reckon the BBC will be most disappointed with how Luther performed. A 5m series average isn’t bad but they promoted it quite a lot and seemed like they were really pushing for it to do better than it did. The falling ratings must’ve been a concern but it’ll be interesting to see how it now does in its new 2-hour format. It might be better suited to that. I’ve said before: if there's one thing I think they could improve on, it's to find a new weeknight 6-8hr drama series with returnable potential. If you look at that list, most of the hit weeknight shows started pre-2005 and shows are ending (or have ended in the last year) such as Waking The Dead and Ashes to Ashes so I suspect they'll want something to come through in the next year.

As for ITV1, after a pretty bad first half of 2010 when their new shows like Married Single Other, Identity and The Prisoner struggled (especially The Prisoner!), they’d have been hoping for Downton Abbey and DCI Banks to rate well - and they certainly did, with DA becoming the most watched new drama series on any channel since 2003 and DCI Banks’ 6.8m was good for a new programme against Spooks. If STV had shown DA, its average would’ve been close to 11m! Also the other Autumn dramas like U Be Dead and The Little House did surprisingly well – I thought The Little House would struggle to get 5-6m.

We say that ITV is strong with crime dramas but I think it’s quite concerning for them that two of their crime brands - Law & Order UK and Whitechapel – were down so much year-on-year (plus Above Suspicion this year) and we don’t even know if Whitechapel is even returning. Although their 3-part thrillers often rate well, they don’t really have a Silent Witness or Waking The Dead - an hourly show which they can air for 10 weeks on any night of the week and be guaranteed of 6m+.

Looking forward to 2011, I think out of their new dramas Vera will be the biggest hit for them. I doubt it'll win any awards or be anything special but it should appeal to the Midsomer Murders/Lewis/Foyle's War/Poirot/Marple audiences who like plodding murder mysteries on a Sunday night. Scott & Bailey - which looks like a run-of-the-mill cop show should do pretty well too. With Primeval bombing, ITV desperately need a new non-crime drama to come through so it’ll be interesting to see how their new medical drama Monroe rates. I've got a feeling it'll be follow the MSO/Identity trend of starting high for episode 1 and falling off after that with people calling it a "House rip-off". Eternal Law, I suspect, will be too high concept for it to get mass audiences but we'll see.

How do other people think BBC1/ITV1 dramas did last year and what new drama do you think could be a hit for 2011?

The last series C4 showed was on Sky One in 2006/07, which was when it wasn't on Virgin so it was good news for me. Don't forget though that, for some reason, The Simpsons took absolutely ages to get to terrestrial, it didn't make it to BBC1 until 1996, so they were six years behind to start with.

However it has been a terrible purchase for C4, they started it at 9pm but that didn't work out for them so they've just stuck the new episodes at 6pm without any publicity so nobody knows if they're new or not. Presumably they bought it because the repeats at 6pm on BBC2 were thrashing C4, but they're often showing the same episodes as BBC2 so obviously the ratings are going to be lower.

Presumably this is the cue for someone to post to say C4 aren't publicising them because they're crap, as if that makes any difference.

For one thing, Penn and Teller: Fool Us showed that a magicians show should be done much better than The Magicians. Also, there are going to be weak points in the schedule; I just think there needs to be more mix and match rather than a top schedule pre-Christmas then nothing after it.

Which is a ripoff of the Beeb's family dramas, of which they have two highly successful ones in Doctor Who and Merlin, and they also did three series of Robin Hood. They don't have enough for 52 weeks of the year, but at least they've done more than one.

New Year's Day 2011 Official Ratings - Top 10:
1...EastEnders - 9.94m (33.4%)
2...Come Fly With Me - 8.80m (28.4%)
3...Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 7.91m (31.5%)
4...Eric and Ernie - 6.65m (23.4%)
5...The Magicians - 5.83m (21.1%)
6...BBC News (17:15) - 5.41m (24.4%)
7...Primeval - 5.33m (19.0%) inc. HD
8...Match of the Day - 5.01m (24.5%)
9...Wall-E - 4.79m (26.4%)
10...Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show - 4.59m (16.0%)

Thanks to MattJ for the ratings

I wonder what happened with Robin Hood? It was doing so well and then suddenly lost viewers. Did it have a timeslot change or something, I can't remember.

I wouldn't call Primeval a rip off by the way - Doctor Who and Merlin are different from Primeval.

Thank you for posting that list of 2010 averages, rzt. I don't know how you found the patience to compile it, though.

Thanks rzt for the really interesting drama list

BBC1's two main dramas Doctor Who and New Tricks stayed pretty much the same then and fantastic for them to have two new dramas so high. SW, FD and Lark Rise also posting considerable increases.

With ITV's top drama TOF ending, it was good for them to find a new high rating drama in Downton which also doesn't have any crime theme behind it. It should make them invest in more dramas of similar genres. Lewis also did well, but they will have to watch other Sunday night expensive shows like Foyles, WAH and Midsomer to make sure they don't fall any further-Midsomer will be especially interesting with a new lead role.

They also needed something like DCI:Banks to do well, especially considering the first 2 dramas of 2010: Primeval and Above Suspicion have really underperformed. If DOI continues to decrease then WAH may follow suit and Taggart will undoubtedly be down.

I'm sure they'll make sure L&O increases by returning it to Mondays and impressive increases for Marple & Poirot.

Shame Eric & Ern couldn't quite get to 7m, but it's still a stonking good rating and when you look at the drama averages for 2010, it would slot very highly into both BBC1's and ITV1's list.

Great numbers for EE, Indy 4 (what could it have got at 6.30?), and a great timeshift again for CFWM. BBC1 getting 8.8m against 6.7m for on BBC2 - second time in a week, after the Boxing Day 9.1m vs 7.7m.

I wonder when MOTD highlights last got (or ever got) 5.01m! I bet even in the 70s and 80s the post 10pm football highlights never got particularly stellar ratings.

For UD to get 8m+ officials for all 3 eps is pretty amazing, after the overnights dipped to 6.4/6.9m. It really held its audience despite the constant carping by Downton fans/those with other vested interests. A big hit, which would have been properly celebrated but for The Downton Factor mania, and it will surely be back. Hopefully the series proper (which I hope will air one year from now and not be rushed out to compete with or pre-empt DA) will be more leisurely and less rushed.

The Nativity did far better than probably anybody expected. I thought it would end the run with half those numbers.

Rock & Chips was, for me, really the only ratings disappointment for the Beeb over the whole festive period. Poor scheduling and promotion, it really did get "lost" and not only that, narrowly outrated by Marple.

rzt - do you have numbers for New Year Live on BBC1 (except Scotland)? Suspect it will have been some way below the 10.2m overnight, if 1m were watching BBC1 Scotland's offering, but would be interesting to see it anyway.

Primeval and TV Burp are surely going to swap at some point, because it looks like the weak link in the schedule.

The Morgan repeat was stupid, especially seeing that according to DS a Midsomer Murders repeat had 1.32m (5.9%) on ITV3.

I still wish they'd have split Dancing on Ice over 2 nights, so we have:

Saturday
18:30 - Harry Hill's The Best of TV Burp
19:00 - Dancing on Ice
20:00 - Primeval
21:00 - Take Me Out
22:15 - ITV News

Sunday
18:30 - All Star Family Fortunes
19:15 - Dancing on Ice
20:15 - Wild at Heart
21:15 - Dancing on Ice
22:00 - That Sunday Night Show
22:30 - ITV News

There are still episodes of All Star Family Fortunes I think to screen.

Whether Dancing on Ice would mean an increase for Primeval and Take Me Out though, is another matter.

I do think ITV could do more to make sure their big shows 'prop up' smaller shows.

Pretty uninspiring ratings last night, for uninspiring fare.

But at least BBC1 delivered consistently respectable figures. Even the 3.4m for CFWM is decent considering 12.5m or more watched it less than a fortnight ago.

Dismal for ITV1. With nothing that special on BBC1, you'd expect somebody to at least have given Primeval a try - instead they stuck with Magicians, which despite being written off universally as crap, has consistently held its audience over two separate hours now.

I've saved the best till last. 1.87m for Piers Morgan.

1.87m!

One point eight seven million!

Yes, yes, it was a repeat. But it was on ITV1 at 9.15pm in early January. Even default "can't be arsed but just leave it on" viewing by ITV's core demographic should have delivered it 2.5m+.

When a flop BBC1 drama got a 1.9m overnight one hot July evening a few summers ago, the champagne corks were a-popping amongst the ITVistas. It was referenced for ages afterwards as probably BBC1's lowest-ever prime-time rating. They were jacking off when Armstrong & Miller got 2.1m in the same slot just before Christmas.

Where does that leave Piers's 1.87m last night?

Primeval is on BBC1. It's called Doctor Who over there, and gets 8-12m.

As for The Magicians, if ITV launched an identical show to this in one of its best possible slots (say, either side of a Saturday TXF episode), then I'd imagine 7-8m was perfectly achievable - even if it was as naff as the BBC1 offering.

Looking at the drama ratings, there is a couple of things that stick out for me.

* It appears (though i could be wrong) that BBC dramas seem to depend more on ratings from after the original showing eg On demand, Iplayer, rrecordings than ITV drama does.

*Is Downton Abbey going to be the new Whitechapel. I remember that being heralded as the new drama hope of ITV in 2009.

* Dont ITV have Doc Martin this autumn? If so, who will get the post X-factor slot this year, which ever doesnt will see large year to year declines. Or after the success of Downton Abbey, will ITV want to use that slot for another new drama series. To bme that sounds a good idea, as ITV generally like to have as many adverts in the x-factor as possible, so why use a rating hit after, that could possibly help another night out, and have a full allocation of adverts.

IMO, Doc Martin does not need The X Factor as a lead in, it was bringing in huge figures before it was shown after The X Factor so theres no reason for thinking it will not again.

I think Downton Abbey will get the X Factor lead for a few years to come, a little like how Wild at Heart is always paired with Dancing on Ice.

Well The Simpsons is often Channel 4's most watched show of the day, so hardly a terrible purchase.

Speaking of Channel 4, does anyone know what the Derren Brown documentary got last night?

Sorry i changed it a bit after you quoted my post.

Considering that ITV like to use up alot of there advertising quota on the X-factor, would it possibly make more sense to move both, to bolster other nights and allow them a full allocation of adverts within them, and use the post X-fator slot to try and launch another drama?

I must admit if i was ITV i would start series two of Downton Abbey with a big two parter, part one on Sunday, concluding it on the Monday at 9pm, so it still gets a Cory lead in, then continue the rest of the series on Monday. Move Doc Martin to thursday, and start a new drama after the X-factor. That would give ITV a very strong 9pm in the autumn.

I don't think Downton Abbey will do a Whitechapel. Whitechapel was just a 3-part series whereas Downton Abbey achieved (and grew) its ratings over 7 episodes and AIs were very high, suggesting viewers were very happy with what they were watching. If STV broadcasts DA this year, I wouldn't be surprised if DA's ratings are just as good especially because there'll be a lot of buzz around its return.


I reckon they'll have Downton Abbey on Sunday, Doc Martin on Monday and a drama like Eternal Law or DCI Banks on Thursdays. Doc Martin did really well on Mondays after Corrie a few years ago so I don't think its ratings will fall too much.

I'd forgotten how staggeringly well Five Days did. Yes, it was only 5 episodes, which helps the average, but to be neck and neck with a banker like New Tricks is impressive indeed!

Silent Witness had a stonking start to 2010 - suspect it is going to be down in 2011. Can't see this new run getting that again, even if Above Suspicion is out of the way now and a more benign few weeks lies ahead.

The largely ignored Merlin's amazing 2010 has already been well commented-on. To achieve a 13% increase year on year against a TXF which eventually gained momentum on 2009 is just fantastic. If the next run won't be till Jan 2012, it will be interesting to see how much the lack of Strictly as lead-in affects it. Can't see it getting 6-7m if it airs in the slot Magicians currently has.

I think Luther did well to average 5m. It aired in summer (i think?) and was never intended as a mass audience police procedural. It deserves to be back with those numbers, and hopefully the feature length episodes (and a Sunday slot by implication??) will bring it to a new audience.

Suspect they'll want, in their hearts, to try and launch something new in the Sunday 9pm slot, but they will be so terrified of seeing a slide in DA's ratings, after all the hype they have whipped up and continued, that they have little option in my view but to keep the two married-up.

Anyway, DA is a quintessentially Sunday night period drama-soap. So it's a no-brainer really.

Downton Abbey was made for Sunday nights. They'd be mad to schedule it anywhere else.