Doctor Who has become a Chrismas thing like Wallace & Grommit, it wouldnt be Christmas without it, and the BBC is expected to air all of them, even the repeats.

A true BBC Christmas traditonal.

If Rock & Chips ratings are good enough tonight I think we will be seeing the show become one of the highlights of Christmas for many years to come (Just like Only Fools)

If this was shown on one of the big "Christmas" days I think we could have been looking at figures between 8-9 million. With the slot it's been given, I think anything between 6m-7m would be great.

Reading this recent interview with John Sullivan (http://www.ofah.net/blog/rock-and-ch...ngs-uncovered/) he seems to have lots of ideas for lots of new episodes, even after the inevitable death of Joan Trotter.

Mon 27th Dec: 08-10am:

Sky News- 194k (3.1%)
BBC News- 612k (9.6%)

That's a terrific rating for BBC News. In fact, just looking on BARB, it's been a really strong year for BBC News as a whole - with its 2010 average up 24% year-on-year (the biggest rise for any BBC channel bar HD).


3.55m (17.0%)

That explains how ITV knew it was coming, then.

Or not, as I've just seen Jake's post.

Very good, but worth noting that Breakfast finished on BBC1 at 7.30am on Monday, so the BBC News Channel will have have got a big boost compared to normal

And at least Sky News improved later. Far more respectable figure and share Not enough to beat Peppa Pig though

I don't think anyone seems to know what actually happened, and you won't get any solid answers from reading the arguments on here today!

Trying to spin yourself out of a hole you dug when you lied once again. Its Pathetic George your 40 years old!

Oh you're still at it then. Give it a rest as it's getting tired.

And the fact you know GeorgeS's age is a little creepy when I presume you don't know who he is in the real world.

Personally, neither show is my cup of tea. I think I'd have to be regularly poked with a sharp stick in order to be kept awake through either programme.

I think I just saw him outside going through my dustbins

Calm down. It's the ratings thread, not the house of commons. None of this actually matters.

Suspect BBC News will have had a great Christmas period considering Sky essentially threw in the towel yet again, running mostly 15 minute bulletins. I can understand the thinking (cost, speed etc.) behind them but I am not a fan and there use at weekends and during public holidays makes Sky News almost unwatchable in my view for most of the day.

I'm the same, although from what I saw both looked very good for what they are, even if they're not my thing. Downton definitely looked more expensive and populist, but my judgement is based on watching literally a few minutes of each so should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Whatever the story it seems we have got a whole new BBC/ITV soap opera on our hands to go with CS/EE and XF/SCD. Not sure whether to laugh or cry

It looks very much like the BBC set out to make a stylish drama in the same way they have done with period stuff for years-and I dont see anything to suggest they have failed with UD. However ITV have had a different strategy. Its as though someone sat down and listed all the things that hooks people into tv and cleverly (or shamelessly lol) put them into Downton.

I wonder if the next series of UD will borrow a few more of the softer edges if it becomes a series?

where would this thread be without them?

What are the ratings like for The Best and Worst of the X Factor, which always does the rounds at Christmas? I know a full repeat would be pointless as everyone knows the winner, but I'm always curious as to how many people watch this highlights show that seems to run until January 2nd.

ITV2 has had an all day share of about 3% for the 26/27/28 Dec so they must be rating quite well.

Sky News has been unwatchable for a while, mostly due to a combination of the following:

1) news repeated too frequently, no good for background viewing;
2) poor weather updates with no dedicated forecaster from 0900-0600 and graphics that are hard to make out;
3) lack of watchable presenters since Chris Roberts was sacked and the roles of Paula Middlehurst and Martin Stanford were scaled back;
4) constant plugs for a HD service that is not even available to most of the people watching the channel at any one time;
5) graphics that are far too big and distracting, including advertisements detailing the above;
6) the near constant usage of the breaking news ticker for reporting on the most minute details and hardly ever used for anything worthwhile;
7) sport resources increasingly shared with Sky Sports News, leading to less presenter interaction and a cold feel to proceedings;
8) Kay Burley.

BSkyB have lost patience with the channel because it is loss making. But the cutbacks have been pretty savage and are killing the channel completely. Very sad state of affairs but Sky News is not the channel it once was and I think its best days are over. Who cares that it's in HD when the quality of the output is so far behind BBC News? God help it if BBC News HD ever launches.

I can only think of two positive things about Sky News at the moment - Sunrise, which is an excellent breakfast programme, and its breaking news coverage which is often good, particularly of domestic stories.

Thanks for them AI's rtz. Intresting.

Just a qucik question - where are they avaliable from? Are they public or like BARB and only avaliable through over sources?

A couple of yesterday/today's cricket ratings:

23:00 to 02:00: The Ashes Live (Sky Sports 1): 1.02m (11.4%)
* peak: 1.57m (13.9%) at 23:55

22:00- The Ashes Highlights (ITV4): 881k


They're usually posted on the Gallifrey Base forum (a Doctor Who fansite).

Another criticism of the BBC scheduling but it would have made much more sense for the BBC to repeat the first episode last week rather than another pointless re-run of New Tricks. As well as bringing in potential new viewers, I think many who watched it the first time would watch again in advance of the new episode too.

A point to add to the above regarding Sky News. Is it just me or do you think having to much sports coverage also damages its ratings. They seem to spend more time on sport in one hour then actual news, added to the fact that their weather reports are shocking.

Wade through all that the actual news and reporting is not that bad as some like to make out.

I thought as this seems to have been a fixture for a few years now, same as they have some highlights show for I'm A Celeb running until the new year( useful as both shows are too difficult to make into DVDs).