Wednesday 2nd February Overnights
BBC One
06:00- Breakfast: 1.6m (34.7%)
13:00- BBC News at One: 3.4m (40.9%)
18:00- BBC News at Six: 5.2m (25.7%)
18:30- Regional News and Weather: 6.2m (29.1%)
19:00- The One Show: 5.0m (23.1%)
19:30- EastEnders: 7.83m (34.1%)
20:00- Waterloo Road: 4.6m (18.6%)
21:00- Motorway Cops: 3.5m (14.2%)
22:00- BBC News at Ten: 5.2m (25.2%)
22:25- Regional News and Weather: 4.4m (25.5%)
22:45- Match of the Day: 2.7m (25.3%)

BBC Two
18:30- Great British Railway Journeys: 2.3m (11.0%)
19:00- Top Gear: 1.6m (7.3%)
20:00- Michel Roux's Service: 1.7m (6.8%)
21:00- Who Gets the Best Jobs?: 1.2m (5.0%)
22:00- Have I Got News for You: 1.4m (6.7%)
22:30- Newsnight: 0.8m (5.9%)
23:20- Mad Men: 0.3m (3.7%)

ITV1
06:00- Daybreak: 0.8m (19.0%)
08:30- Lorraine: 1.1m (19.8%)
18:30- ITV News & Weather: 4.3m (20.0%)
19:00- Emmerdale: 7.5m (34.5%)
19:30- The Unforgettable Les Dawson: 4.3m (18.6%)
20:00- Midsomer Murders: 6.9m (28.0%)
* inc. +1: 7.1m
* most watched episode since 2008
22:00- ITV News at Ten & Weather: 2.5m (12.6%)
* inc. +1: 2.6m
22:35- The Secret Caribbean with Trevor McDonald: 1.4m (10.6%)

Channel 4
18:00- The Simpsons: 1.84m (inc. +1)
18:30- Hollyoaks: 1.16m (5.3%) inc. +1
19:00- Channel 4 News: 0.9m (3.7%)
20:00- Beauty and the Beast: Ugly Face of Prejudice: 2.07m (8.4%)
* inc. +1: 2.41m
21:00- Mary Portas: Secret Shopper: 2.08m (8.5%)
* inc. +1: 2.38m
22:00- The Joy of Teen Sex: 1.54m (7.6%) inc. +1
23:05- Shameless: 0.5m (4.1%)

Channel 5
17:30- Neighbours: 1.24m (7.1%)
18:00- Home and Away: 0.81m (4.1%)
18:25- Live From Studio Five: 0.3m (1.3%)
19:00- Five News at 7: 0.2m (1.1%)
19:30- Monkey Life: 0.5m (2.3%)
20:00- Cowboy Builders: 1.4m (5.8%)
21:00- NCIS: 1.42m (5.8%)
22:00- Law and Order: Criminal Intent: 1.0m (5.4%)

Midsomer Murders Breakdown
20:00- 7.0m (29.2%)
20:15- 6.8m (27.7%)
20:30- 6.9m (27.3%)
20:45- 6.9m (27.5%)
21:00- 7.0m (28.7%)
21:15- 7.0m (28.8%)
21:30- 7.0m (28.2%)
21:45- 6.5m (26.9%)

Ratings include HD where necessary

Multichannels
Alibi (inc. +1)
21:00- Castle: 171k

Dave (inc. +1)
21:30- Not Going Out: 382k

E4 (inc. +1)
19:00- Hollyoaks: 420k
21:00- Ever After: A Cinderella Story: 310k

Film4 (inc. +1)
18:00- A Good Year: 143k
21:00- Austin Powers in Goldfinger: 283k

GOLD (inc. +1)
20:15- The Good Life: 144k

More4 (inc. +1)
19:45- Grand Designs: 339k

Watch (inc. +1)
20:00- Too Fat For 15: 149k

Thanks rzt. Fantastic for Midsomer and well deserved. Though, it seemed to dent the other terrestrials. The Unforgettable also did pretty well considering it was against EE and it was a repeat.

I'd guess the EE/NTA boost for Waterloo Road was cancelled out by the increased ITV1 competition as it rated pretty similarly to how the last half of series 6 rated. Though the show has completely lost its way and is a shadow of its former self.

Looks like I was very wrong about ITV last night.

Phenomenal rating and share for the News at One. I know its usually the highest rated daytime programme anyway, but fair to say its seen a boost. I guess from the news in Egypt.

Any Sky Atlantic figures for last night? Would be interested to see if BE had much of a drop.

Not particularly good for Waterloo Road given the lead-in, but it is about level with how most episodes were rating last year. Only 5 episodes out of 20 rated higher than 4.6m (inc HD) last year in the overnights.

Great rating for Midsomer Murders.

That is an excellent figure for Midsomer Murders and I am glad John Nettle's last episode rated well as it and he have been good for ITV.

It will be interesting to see how Neil Dudgeon's episodes fare once any initial novelty wears off. Scheduling will be critical.

Does WR generally timeshift well? I caught a few moments and it is just looking tired - even the trailers are just a string of cliches. Best drama?

ITV will be happy as Wednesday has been problematic for them since Coronation St was moved and the football doesn't always guarantee a big audience, esp if all the English team are out of the Champions League.

I assume it will go over 41% when the HD share is added - just seems to confirm that whenever there is a big news story viewers switch to the BBC despite all we hear on DS.

Hopefully all the discerning viewers wait until the ad/DOG free versions are on Anytime. Episode 2 arrived this morning.

They're never included in BARB's figures.

As expected last night. I dont know why people thought Waterloo Road would suddenly get a huge boost after winning a NTA. Its in its 7th series, if people had any interest they would have given it a go already.

Midsomer's rating is no surprise to me, although it may surprise Fudd.

The DOG has been much improved though now, it's far more transparent than before.

I reckon there will be initial speculation and his first episode should launch with 6m+, especially if ITV advertise it well. It all depends on how the audience receive it though, and as you say the scheduling which has proven problematic for some recent episodes.

WR timeshifts around 0.5m I think, pretty average. Although it's very consistent and always around 4.5-5.5m which is what the BBC need on a Wednesday.

And yeah it's a shadow of its former self unfortunately. This series especially the show has lost its way, but it started to decline in Series 5 imo. Series 1-4 were the golden years imo and it was Series 3 when the show really came into its own when Eva Pope joined and ratings went up.

Thanks. I agree about the golden years of Waterloo Road and maybe it has a loyal audience whatever.


On a separate note, the PI for Week 8 is now up. South Riding, Mrs Brown's Boys and Silk begin that week. South Riding is a cert for Sunday 20th where it should do well as it is getting a good press.

It's not clear where Mrs Brown's Boys will go unless that is destined for Friday and Silk could take the Tuesday slot.

Masterchef is scheduled on Wednesday AND Thursday which should give the BBC a solid audience for both nights.

Outcasts is only scheduled for Monday again, so maybe Silk will take Tuesday or the BBC haven't caught up with the late Monday/Tuesday scheduling decision?

So, what does everyone think when it comes to the biggest ratings revelations of the last 10 years? (2000-2010)

Big Brother ?
Doctor Who ?
X-Factor ?

Multi Channel

The Inbetweeners ?
Torchwood ?

Just a bit of fun but it would be nice to hear different opinions and reasons as to why.

Shares include HD. Super for Midsomer, should timeshift to ~8m, maybe higher.

Slightly surprised Waterloo Road wasn't higher, even with a lower EastEnders lead-in than a normal episode.

Eva Pope really did make Waterloo Road. The cast in series 3 and 4 was the best yet.

What happens to ratings when you Sky+ a programme. Last night we recordered Midsomer Murders at 8pm, watched Railway Journeys at 8pm, then started watching Midsomer at 8.30pm, skipped through the adverts and finished about 10pm. Does this sort of viewing have any effect when ratings are calculated.

Yes, and if you have a Barb box then you would have been included in the overnight rating.

On pure ratings terms, I'd have to be unoriginal and say the talent shows - particularly Strictly, TXF and BGT. Also Doctor Who was something of a revelation. Those shows all sort of redefined or adapted their genres to appeal to a huge broad market.

If you'll allow me to be a little more obtuse though, I'd suggest that the most important ratings revelation of the decade wasn't actually a rating. It was two scheduling changes - the end of ITV News at Ten and the move of the BBC News into its vacant slot. A complete cock-up at ITV, and a complete masterstroke by Greg Dyke and the BBC. It totally transformed the competitive landscape between ITV1 and BBC One - allowing the Beeb to compete in the key primetime hour in a way it never had before. Its difficult to imagine how different the ratings could look if the BBC were still hampered by 9.35 start times. Especially given the expansion of pre-watershed soaps.

Big Brother kicked off the reality show boom that has dominated the last ten years. OK it did decline and people turned against it in its last three series, but it inspired such a huge show as I'm A Celeb, which shows no sign of stopping after nine years, and has provided television companies with a relatively cheap format that doesn't require actors and scriptwriters. However, it has created some atrocious and forgettable shows that in other decades wouldn't have ever been created( anyone remember When Women Ruled The World or The Farm?).

Delete,

Any news of Michael Portillo getting a third series of railway journies?

He surely deserves one as the figures are excellent and have risen as it went along when people presumably realised this was a new series rather than a repeat of the first.

He may also have earned other shows to present as he is a far better TV presenter than he ever was a politician and gets pretty universal praise in the thread on the series. Rightly so, in my view as he has improved from first to second series and just has that nack of engaging the audience.

American Idol came out on top of a quiet night before Sweeps begins today. Idol's 8.9 rating was down just 3% from last week and held up well vs last years equivalent Tuesday episode (down just 2%) - it's best hold of the season. Idol continues its erratic form and tonight faces some new competition - The Big Bang Theory on CBS at 8pm although in their one previous clash, there didn't seem to be much overlap.

Human Target did poorly after Idol, just a 2.4 rating. Minute To Win It on NBC seemed to get all the Idol benefit, jumping from a 1.7 in the 8pm hour to a 3.0 at 9pm - a series high and enough to beat Cougar Town (2.7) at 9.30pm.

It also gave a lift to Law & Order: SVU at 10pm which had a 2.9 rating but bad news for ABC as Off The Map stayed stuck at a 1.8 rating.

Tvbythenumbers

Everything tonight is original. The 9pm battle ought to be interesting with NBC's The Office & Parks & Recreation combination doing well, Bones thriving after Idol and new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and CSI.

Oh absolutely. Probably one if not the biggest cock-ups in ITVs history. I think BBC1 actually overtook ITV as the most watched channel in the UK a little after this blunder and ITV have never really recovered since (share wise %).

When it comes to ratings, apart from the obvious (X-Factor, Doctor Who etc..) I'd like to give a mention to Gavin & Stacey.

- It started on BBC3 with the first series averaging around 550k
- Series 2 launched with a huge 1.9m on BBC3 (The second highest rating a scripted programme has achieved on that channel)
- These impressive figures lead to a run of repeats on BBC2.
- The 2008 Christmas Special debuted on BBC1 with over 7m viewers.
- Series 3 launched on BBC1 with 6m+ tuning each week with the final two episodes both hitting over 10m.

Remarkable!