Yeah, that sounds right.

Have you solved Box 6/Box 7 yet? Never heard of them myself.

Too few changes for me, I've only seen the first episode but after some plot developments at the end of the last series it seemd to be back on the repetitive path of run from cgi/chase cgi/capture cgi.

I wonder what the thinking was behind the two weekend episodes? Did they think the Sunday episode could capitalise on Saturday being a ratings banker, or does it indicate a quick burn off of something they have no faith in?

Oh, I have argued that many times Glenn, don't worry. I never even bother to look at ITV1 between 7 and 9 as I know it's just going to be the same few programmes that don't appeal to me, the only variety coming from the order and length of said programmes. Increasingly I find myself not looking much after 9 either (on weekdays) so it has a knock-on effect. Yes, you might have a solid block of programmes that attract really good ratings, but by keeping an almost fixed schedule for most of the year you risk alienating viewers that don't watch those shows, who then might not consider your 9pm offerings.

The last series of Primeval was hit and miss so I'm not surprised the ratings have fallen.
However, I'm surprised the BBC didn't recommission Survivors, as there were too many loose endings. 4.5 million isn't bad for a cult drama and I'm sure a third series would have done as well.

Yeah, I was thinking more along the lines of cast changes. It's getting tiresome now having to virtually have a whole new team every 7 episodes. Last year's newbies I liked, this years I haven't really enjoyed too much.


They have something to show in 6 weekend's time on a Saturday so had to get two out of the way quickly?

The share has really crashed though - it averaged around 23% last time it was on!

There's a truth in that. Sid elsewhere I used to be a huge Ch4 fan - I could always rely on them to buy in the US shows that I loved, and to produce comedy like Drop the Dead Donkey, Who Dares Wins (I'm still scarred by the naked Tony Robinson) and Father Ted. Hardly ever watch it now.

If reports are to be believed, about £400,000-£500,000 per hour instead of the £1m-£1.1m they used to pay.


I think it's Single-Handed you're referring to. ITV paid RTE about £100,000 per hour to show the first series. As the next series is a co-production, ITV have probably upped their investment to £200,000-300,000, which is still well below the usual £600,000-700,000 for a drama.


I think it's the %-share for all The Box Television channels which Channel 4 owns 50% of.

So I think Box 7 = 4Music, The Box, Kiss, Magic, Smash Hits!, Q and Kerrang! shares added up.

Box 6 = The Box, Kiss, Magic, Smash Hits!, Q and Kerrang! shares added up.

How do you explain EastEnders then?


She could do GTD in her sleep, and anyhow would have all day to rehearse before switching studios for MPD. Quite a few of the busier presenters will be doing live shows and recording shows around the same time. (Note Holly and Phil doing This Morning 12 hours after DoI - a show which would surely require much more prep than the standard live links a talent show incurs).


Agree it needs to be stripped and agree it's worth a shot at 9pm - but really needs to get in before the BBC and ITV launch any drama series. (Talking of which, ridiculous Downton Abbey isn't nominated for Most Popular Drama at the NTAs)


I really don't think it is - the viewers seem to like Outnumbered far more than the BBC does.


I'm sure viewing the opposition would explain the fluctuations. It was a great format though cut short by the decision to run Celeb BB annually.

F&F did slightly better than I thought, but I'm sure it'll be down to the 1.1-1.3m range when up against the soaps this week. Didn't watch it but if the filler is as bad as people say, it could easily have run 9-10pm this week rather than 8-9.30pm.

I also think considering C4 is having to reposition itself this year rather than launching 2011 with a Z-list reality show they should have bought the week of Shameless episodes forward a week. That way they're positioning themselves as a channel which produces quality homegrown drama, rather than a channel in desperate search of a BB replacement.


Well two series (13 episodes in total) are commissioned, but why on earth ITV felt the need to air an episode last night is beyond me. Indeed launching New Years Day was a big mistake - it just got lost in the schedule and I think launching next week would have set up the series much better.

When is the next series due to premiere on Watch? Will be interesting to see how that does as for many watching on ITV I highly doubt they'd expect it to turn up on Watch, and ITV won't be able to cross-promote either - which of course is better news for when it airs at a later date on ITV.

I think EastEnders will get fantastic ratings tonight.

I think in the range of 10-11million.

Unless Digiguide is wrong the second season of Glee is not getting many outings.

Only one showing on E4 on Mondays at 9pm and a C4 repeat on Sunday mornings.

Shame for DOG haters. 'E4 Brand New' obscuring one showing and T4 in the 4:3 safe area on the other. (even worse for HD viewers who get the 4HD DOG as well!!).

Strong for BBC1 considering Ch4 had an exceptionally strong performance for its early evening movie premiere. How the hell did a movie premiere on Ch4 manage to outrate a movie premiere on ITV1?

Didn't expect AR to get 6.8m, which should timeshift to a very handy 7m+. Brilliant for Casualty. And CF did very well for another compilation in an early-ish slot.

ITV is having a desperate time of it at the moment. The Primeval rating isn't too big a shock, but I still expected closer to 4m. But those numbers for The Cube (I thought this was supposed to be a big smash-hit gameshow?) and Marple are pretty tragic.

I suspect even ITV's pensioners are exhausted by the Marple-Poirot overkill this Christmas....


Hardly "freefall" - it's not like it lost 50% of its audience . It lost 0.9m over 90mins and the 4.78m average for the final 15mins probably takes account of the credits rolling and trailers before the news. Like myself, a large number tuned out within the first half hour, having decided to give it 20 mins or so. Fair enough. After that, it held reasonably steady.

Not as bad as I expected - to finish with around 4.8/4.9m isn't terrible. But it does mean the next episode seems likely to only get something in the mid-4m's range. At £3m a shot (apparently), I suspect it won't be coming back if that's all it manages.

ITV's weekend 'luck' should get better next weekend with The FA Cup:

08/01 - 12:20 to 14:50 - Arsenal vs Leeds
09/01 - 13:00 to 16:00 - Manchester United vs Liverpool

The second game is easily capable of getting 4m. Easily. Of course, I do think the contract is one of the worst sporting contracts ITV have done in recent memory.

It's just lazy scheduling and dear old Corrie isn't the force it was. Yes the tram effect pulled ratings up to 11 mllion, but they are now back to 8-9 million and the old soap often falls behind TXF, SCD and Eastenders in the ratings. Maybe a case of chopping one of the episodes to improve the scripts.

Indeed. They spent over the odds to secure the rights at any price because BBC1 was getting 9m audiences for Saturday/Sunday teatime games and England matches, and that would never do.

But I suppose they are stopping BBC1 getting those 9m audiences, even if ITV aren't either, so that's got to be worth a few bob to ITV bosses in kudos terms...

[quote=Brekkie;47035501]How do you explain EastEnders then?


Thats violence and misery tempered for a family audience. Not a watcher, but i cant believe its miserable all the time?-I just thought that was a stick to beat it with- exaggerated by EE haters.

Rather poor for Zen. Expensive looking stuff too, perhaps its not a bad idea that the BBC dont come out with whole series. The fact that so few have been curious enough to tune in doesnt bode well for its longevity. There arent going to be any more curious a second time unfortunately.

Good night for the usual suspects plus Casualty putting in a stronger performance-hopefully it can put in some useful figures over the next weeks.

Primeval is looking aneamic but given the stop start nature of its recommision its hardly a glowing endorsement -maybe its too much of a one trick pony to last.

Primeval is looking aneamic but given the stop start nature of its recommision its hardly a glowing endorsement -maybe its too much of a one trick pony to last.
I found the last series too hit and miss and wasn't bothered about this one. Well, of course, a favourite was on BBC Two at the same time.

With that title, I thought it was sci-fi, so an instant disregard.

2.4m isn't so bad for Famous and Fearless, considering how staggeringly awful it was. I wouldn't be surprised if tonight's episode is under 1m.

Still a very good night for Channel 4 with Iron Man pulling in 3.5m and Alan Carr higher than usual.

There's a new controller at BBC1 now. And a new head of scheduling. Hopefully they'll treat Outnumbered with the respect it deserves.

Yes it will be fascinating to see what happens next rights time, plus the fact that the satellite rights are now out of sync. Surely ITV/BBC wont be bidding the same amounts-or will the FA just agree a two year extension with ITV?

Not too sure than that. AR tends to timeshift very low indeed. Wouldn't be surprised if Casualty finishes on top for last night when the officials come out.



It's fine for a 7pm slot but oh-so-wrong in the plum Sunday 8pm slot.

I agree. I don't think a 3 hour block running all year round is really acceptable - without ITV soaps, Sunday 7-9 is their best pre-watershed slot of the week - so use it!

I'd quite like to see them pin Countryfile and AR to 6 and 7pm respectively, leaving 8pm for some different fare - nature docs, gentle dramas or perhaps sitcoms? The only exception to that would obviously be in the autumn when AR moves to 8 to face XF and Strictly slots in earlier.


It certainly seems that way. I was stunned that it didn't get a festive special this year - I can only hope it was for production reasons rather than a commissioning decision. To me, it would have been a no-brainer for the post-Royle slot


Channel 4 do need to be far more creative in finding their BBC replacements. Just because CBB has aired at this time of year before, it doesn't mean they need to find a new nightly, celebrity entertainment format. Of course, this particular show has been killed by poor execution and terrible scheduling too.

In fact, it wasn't a vintage night all round really. BBC One's bankers did well and Casualty is beginning its annual New Year bounceback, but Zen won't be lasting very long if that breakdown is to be believed. A shame to see Primeval flop, but I don't expect ITV will be that depressed - they'd already given up on it once, after all. I suspect it'll quietly drift earlier in the evening over the coming weeks.

Also, I think it might have been mentioned yesterday but I didn't take it in so thought it worth re-posting - Eric and Ernie on BBC Two achieved the highest rating for an original non BBC1/ITV1 drama since 1996. Astonishing.

If Primeval doesn't recover to respectable levels for next Saturday's episode, I wonder if ITV will change the scheduling for episode 5 onwards? It looks set to have a Saturday 7pm slot with a Best of TV-Burp lead-in in the next few weeks but surely a sub-4m rating in that slot be unacceptable?

If it doesn't recover, I'd move it to 6pm where it'd get low ratings anyway, You've Been Framed at 7pm, TV Burp at 7.30pm and Take Me Out at 8pm.

Problem with leaving Primeval at 7pm is that it'll probably have a negative knock-on effect on Take Me Out and Best of TV Burp is starting mid-way through Total Wipeout which I suspect has a similar audience to it so it TV Burp might not rate as well as it's capable of. You've Been Framed is probably capable of better than Primeval and maybe it's better to have TV Burp as the main point of the schedule where it'll get 5m+ and provide a good lead-in for TMO instead of it being on the outskirts of the schedule.


Hardly "tragic" . Marple has never been one to get 5m+ consistently, most of its overnight ratings in recent years have been in the 4-5m range. In 2009, the three episodes which were shown averaged 4.4m and last year its average was 4.7m. So yesterday's rating was only slightly down from what it usually gets and there's good reason for that:

- airing against drama opposition
- poor lead-in instead of Corrie which it has often had
- slot was 9-11pm which is worse than 8-10pm
- STV opted out; instantly knocking off 0.2m off its overnight
- overkill; as you've said yourself having 3 episodes in 7 days wasn't the wisest idea.

It was never going to get the 6m you predicted!

I have to say I do wonder whether the makers or commisioners of drama do enough homework on what the public will want to watch in large enough numbers to make the whole thing worthwile. Everything has a psychological impact, from premise to music and indeed the title. Im sure you are not the only one who looked at the title and instantly disregarded on the basis that it was sci-fi, too arty, even just weird. Im not saying its always the best way to react but I reckon many were put off even being curious by its outer cover.

I can't see it going back to the BBC, unless they lose one of their main existing contracts. All of their main contracts look secure as far as I can tell.

I think it'll stay on ITV, I realistically can't see it going to Channel 4 or Five, and I'm not sure Sky will bid.