I can't see UD being shown on Saturday teatime, assuming SCD and XF keep the same slots in 2011. It's a 9pm on a Sunday thing.

Anyway, it be madness to show them in the same season imo. An unnecessary overdose of top class period drama. If ITV have got the autumn season (by virtue of getting in first), BBC should show UD in the winter. Maybe doing as they did this year and beginning at Christmas but continuing into the new season.

Enjoyed both DA and UD equally as much as each other. It's great to have two drama's of this quality to watch.

It's really funny actually. The BBC are obviously foaming at the mouth about this, which is pointless considering Upstairs Downton is doing pretty well for itself, despite being a highly inferior show to its ITV counterpart. Perhaps the fact ITV has created a runaway hit in a genre they usually own for themselves has made their hackles rise.

UD has Sunday at 9.00 written all over it but obviously there are issues before Christmas. X Factor makes pre Christmas very difficult for the BBC, Saturday tea-time is no time for UD, its too grand for slots that people expect to find Total Wipeout. Personally I would have run it Sundays at 8.00 or 9.00 in the new year. Wednesdays at 9.00 as a dark horse.

The problem that BBC1 has is that ITV ploughs most of its attack into primetime and any plum slot has an ITV cherry looking back at it.

A ratings sheet confirming that SCD has just had its most popular series ever, outrated both Britain's Got Talent and I'm a Celeb in 2010, and beaten X Factor in the ratings on the one occasion in 2010 when they overlapped?


I would expect it to start on Boxing Day 2011 and then air on successive Sundays.

They finally subscribed to X Factor tactics - what a coup that bumbling oversized politician Widdywhatsits was for the show.

Maybe the show isn't so classy after all - but it worked!

I have this image of the 2 of you making out flyers to put on cars pointing out the "errors" in Broadcast and Media Guardian.

PS. Thats too many words by the way. You'll never get that under a car wiper

The EPG for UD says "contains adult themes", so I assume 9pm at the earliest.

Saturday at 9pm will work in Jan/Feb as there'll be no XFactor or DOI clash.



It'll be tricky putting it up against DOI on a sunday. If they schedule to avoid DOI then they end up in Spring, and UD really is an autumn/winter series...

Who knows, the Beeb might just throw in the towel and cancel all plans for a proper series, which would be a crying shame as there's more than enough room for both shows in the schedules.

Wow some seriously bitter ITV fans in this thread!

Yah just fanboiz passin' the time. Defs not lighthearted bantarrrrr, no.

Anyone got the Avatar ratings?

What channel and time?

Us regulars are used to it...

especially considering they both accuse the BBC of being threatened by DA but both are beyond bitter and threatened themseves.

Ofcourse its not highly inferior. Are you suggesting the acting is inferior, the costumes, the period feel? UD is a superb piece of tv, as is Downton. The thing about Downton is that to add to all the gloss the writer has made it into a kind of soap(a kind of perspective here is that the highest ratings that DA acheived are around the level of Brideshead all those years ago-Brideshead was maybe a bit too "luvvy" for the ITV audience back then)UD was very much a drama. ITV bosses will be licking their lips reading comments like yours.

Sky Movies Premiere Christmas Eve/Day

DOI is always an issue but Larkrise and Antiques Roadshow have done very well against it, like I say before ITV has a number of warhorses in plum autumn/winter slots-but some of them are not beyond attack. I just dont see anything pre Christmas as the BBC can do little more than park things like AR against XF and with DA and ofcourse Doc Martin has got to go somewhere, its very very difficult to schedule for a stand out hit.

Upstairs Downstairs did very well last night and I'm sure it'll be back, probably in Q1 2012. Do we have an more ratings from last night?

I think there is a body of people who genuinely think the BBC realised in the autumn that ITV had scored a hit with Downton, and immediately decided they needed "their own Downton" - and so in the space of about 6 weeks, they knocked out a copycat show Upstairs Downstairs in haste for airing this Christmas to ride on the Downton bandwagon, but it turned out to be a rush job, not much cop, and only got a calamitous 7-8m viewers to Downton's TXF-enhanced 10m.



As Jean Marsh has pointed out, it seems actually that ITV realised from the rights negotiations that the Beeb were planning an Upstairs Downstairs revival, so got in first with their new "sunnier, fluffier" period drama-soap.

Sorry I don't think I really value the judgement of someone who enjoyed 'Married, Single, Other'

ITV passed on UD so it went to the BBC. ITV wanted something new but luckily its LWT 1970's season in the beeb at the moment.

MSO had great potential, but the opening episode was weak. Successive episodes were pretty damn great. I'm not bothered if you value my judgment frankly.

I don't think DOI would be a problem. It's not got the same following as XF and the celebs are usually below Z rating.

Not the first time you posted lies George


http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newss...irs-downstairs
Laura Mackie later apologised to the BBC.

I think she should also apologise for Bouquet of Barbed Wire.