Cant really blame the BBC, The Football League Show is on at 11:50pm nearly every week. ITV showed a repeat of Benidorm at 10:15pm which could have been The FA Cup highlights instead and would have taken the MOTD timeslot too.

Eh?? We're talking about ratings only here so save your little snipes for the soap forum.

Fudd made out EE should've rated much better than it did on Friday because it had a big storyline. All I did in response was state a fact and I didn't say anything about the quality of Corrie or diss its ratings either.

I said last week was a heavily promoted week for Corrie with a major storyline which it was and that surely qualifies it to be called a 'big week' - EE by comparison had a character relatively few people care about suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Hardly the same thing at all or a big week by EE's standards. Fudd, I noted, made no reference to the fact last week actually was a big week for Corrie.

For what it's worth I mostly enjoyed the tram crash episodes but even if I didn't enjoy them that doesn't make me anti Corrie. They're certainly not the be all and end all as far as the show is concerned. I reiterate that this thread is for the discussion of ratings. If you have beef with me then pick it in the appropriate thread/forum.

Good grief! And thanks Georged123 for the support.

Dance for Comic Relief returns with 7.6m / 32.3% - peaked 8.4m.

Man U v Crawley 5.4m / 27.6% - peaked 7.9m

Drop Live 1.9m / 8.1% does not include +1

Thanks dubsj.

Wow that's fantastic for Let's Dance. I can see why as it was a really enjoyable, fun show. Katie Price being on probably gave it a little boost too.

Looks decent enough for the football and whilst MPD is a little lower than it has been it still did pretty well.

Do you have anything for ITV's primetime line-up dubsj, and Secret Fortune? Thanks.

Saturday 19th February Overnights
BBC One (inc. HD)
19:00- Let's Dance for Comic Relief - 7.56m (32.3%)
* peak 8.41m (35.5%) at 19:40
20:20- The National Lottery: Secret Fortune - 6.17m (26.6%)
* peak 7.69m (32.7%) at 21:00
21:10- Casualty - 6.09m (25.8%)
22:00- BBC News - 4.52m (20.3%)

ITV1 (inc HD)
16:35- Live FA Cup Football - 6.12m (30.2%) , +1: 58k
* peak 8.83m (37.4%) at 19:05
19:20- Harry Hill's TV Burp - 4.35m (18.5%); +1: 249k
19:50- Ant & Dec's Push the Button - 4.50m (19.4%); +1: 157k
21:05- Take Me Out - 4.13m (17.8%); +1: 126k

ITV was running 5 minutes late after the football, these ratings take that into account.

Thanks to MattJ for the ratings
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Absolutely brilliant rating for Let's Dance - its highest launch rating ever and it set up a really good evening for BBC1 with Secret Fortune and Casualty up from recent weeks. We were saying last week that Q1 needs a big live entertainment/reality show on Saturdays and it seems like when it's offered, viewers do gravitate towards it. That's looking like a very solid lineup for the next few weeks and from early signs, you can add Secret Fortune to the roster of National Lottery hits at the moment (In It To Win It, Who Dares Wins...).

The FA Cup did well but apart from that some poor ratings on ITV1, especially TV Burp and Push the Button. TV Burp suffers from following on from football but still should've done better and concerning for ITV that Push the Button has already fallen that low. Seems like viewers just haven't taken to the format, no matter if they make it live or not. Even with Ant & Dec, if the format isn't good enough, viewers just won't watch it.

Fantastic rating for Lets Dance-about 1m more than I expected and I guess stuff like Katie Price, the football on ITV and the fact Saturdays are crying out for a decent entertainment show atm boosted its figure. The rest of the line up did well too as predicted with the lottery and Casualty being solid bankers.

Apart from the football, a pretty poor night for ITV1. TV Burp dented by Lets Dance which had a knock on effect with PTB. An A&D fronted show should not be getting 4.5m imo. TMO did OK, but as others have said 9pm is too late for it. Will be interesting to see if TV Burp gets a boost tonight, because the competition is weaker than normal on BBC1, and imo last nights episode was one of the best TV Burps in recent years, so it's a shame it got one of its lowest ratings in a while.

Eh? Now that is just a blatant lie....

Sorry, but your very obvious anti- Corrie and pro- Eastenders, thats why I find it hard it hard to believe your opinon isn't blinded by extreme bias.

Tram Week Episode 1- you rated 1/10.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/p...ts&pollid=1866

Tram Week Episode 2- you rated 1/10
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/p...ts&pollid=1877

Tram Week Episode 3- - you rated 1/10.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...m+week+reviews

Tram Week Episode 4- you rated 1/10
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/p...ts&pollid=1885

Tram Week Episode 5- shock, horror, you rated 1/10
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/p...ts&pollid=1885

So firstly you obviously didn't enjoy Tram Week as you rated every episode as "Terrible effort. A waste of time and effort."
and anyone that continually goes onto a poll and anyone who does that is very obviously anti-Coronation Street. I don't mind anyone making posts about shows, but some of the incredible bias on these forums makes it hard to believe that some comments are valid (... and sorry SallyLinz but thus goes for many other posts you make.)



Great figures for BBC1 last night witha really godo number for Lets Dance, which obviously boasted Secret Fortune and Casualty.
Pretty dismal night for ITV, 9:00 pm is far too late for TMO.

I was right!! PTB is dreadful, I actually tried to watch it last night, but it's beyond silly, watched Secret Fortune instead which I expected to be pants but was actually quite compellng, like a bizarre combnation of Deal or No Deal and Million pound drop/

Great figures for BBC1. I thought that ITV would have done better with their shows hosted by big name personalites, namely Harry Hill and Ant & Dec. The fact BBC1 was so far ahead really surprises me.

I've never watched it. I did watch Lets Dance though it the presenting is just awful! It was so obvious that she was reading from a cue! And Steve Jones just annoys me...I watched it on sky+ so after I heard their first bit of chat before colin and justin, I just fast forwarded it whenever they came back on!
She seems to do well on the one show when i've watched it occasionally but last night was jut awful! Maybe she'll get better...

I was just thinking the same. Excellent debut for Let's Dance. ITV need to rethink their strategy for next year. Ant and Dec have lost their ratings pull.

I watched the end of the football and the abrupt way the show ended and went straight to TV burp was just odd.

Thanks for the figures, rzt

I agree about Let's Dance. There is a massive opportunity to get big ratings on Saturday nights in Q1 but both channels seem oblivious to it. The schedule for Saturday nights in January, the time of the year when most people were inside, was dismal. BBC1 are better than ITV as they have Let's Dance but that only runs for 4 weeks out of the 14 Saturdays before BGT and Doctor Who return.

If you look back to 2008, Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway was getting 7m+ in February and March for ITV in a 7:15pm slot. Even the 2009 run, which was hit by Let's Dance and wasn't as good as previous series still averaged 6.2m, which is a damn sight better than what Push The Button gets even with weaker competition. Unfortunately, PTB just hasn't connected with the audience in the same way and ITV, and more importantly Ant and Dec need to realise that. I'm convinced that without Ant and Dec it would be on about 3m as it's just rubbish. It should be axed at the end of this series and they should either launch a new show or bring Takeaway back.

I suggest doing both. I think they should launch a new show this Autumn alongside The X Factor in September (to end in mid-October before I'm A Celebrity) and if it's a hit, bring it back in Q1 of next year, and if not, bring Takeaway back in Q1 of next year (it will have been 3 years since it last aired so should be fresh again) and try something new again in Autumn 2012, and keep doing that until something sticks which they can run on both Q1 and Q3/4 each year, and leave Takeaway behind for good.

I'm also really surprised they haven't split DOI across the weekend. They could really do with the boost and I don't see how they could go wrong with something like this on Saturdays:

18:30 Ant and Dec
19:45 Dancing on Ice
21:15 Millionaire Live

And this on Sundays:

19:00 New You've Been Framed
19:30 Harry Hill's TV Burp
20:00 Dancing on Ice: The Skate Off
21:00 Wild at Heart

Seems pretty simple to me. Ant and Dec's show obviously couldn't start until February due to BGT auditions in January so Take Me Out could run inbetween the two Ant and Dec shows from late October-January, airing before The X Factor and Dancing on Ice on Saturdays, with Harry Hill hour on Sundays. The Cube could run in the Spring alongside BGT.

As for BBC1, at least they've tried to break new formats but SYTYCD wasn't produced well at all and is too niche to get a huge audience, whilst The One and Only and Your Country Needs You were both dreadful. Let's Dance has worked for them but they've wisely kept it at just 4 weeks as it could be harmed by being dragged out for longer. The Magicians was OK but could be done a lot better and needs a better host for it to do really well. I wonder how something with Noel Edmonds could do on a Saturday night. I don't know what the format could be but I think Noel returning to Saturday nights with a decent format could be a winner.

Saturday 19th February Roundup
BBC One
18:00- Total Wipeout - 4.04m (18.7%)
19:00- Let's Dance for Comic Relief - 7.56m (32.3%)
* peak 8.41m (35.5%) at 19:40
20:20- The National Lottery: Secret Fortune - 6.17m (26.6%)
* peak 7.69m (32.7%) at 21:00
21:10- Casualty - 6.09m (25.8%)
22:00- BBC News - 4.52m (20.3%)

BBC Two
19:30- The Unknown Hancock: 1.81m (7.8%)
21:00- Faulks on Fiction: 1.08m (4.6%)
22:00- The Tudors: 1.47m (7.1%)

ITV1
16:35- Live FA Cup Football - 6.12m (30.2%) , +1: 58k
* peak 8.83m (37.4%) at 19:05
19:20- Harry Hill's TV Burp - 4.44m (18.8%) , +1: 262k
19:50- Ant & Dec's Push the Button - 4.51m (19.4%) , +1: 160k
21:05- Take Me Out - 4.23m (18.1%); +1: 125k
22:15- Benidorm: 2.95m (15.5%) , +1: 145k

Channel 4
19:10- X-Men: 1.08m (4.6%) , +1: 134k
21:10- The Million Pound Drop Live: 1.97m (8.9%) , +1: 312k

Channel 5
19:15- NCIS: 1.04m (4.3%)
20:00- NCIS: 1.25m (5.4%)
21:00- CSI: Miam: 1.18m (5%)
23:00- CSI: 798k (6.1%)

Primetime Shares
BBC One: 26.1%
ITV1: 17.5% (+1: 0.6%)
Channel 4: 6.4% (+1: 0.7%)
BBC Two: 6.7%
Channel 5: 5.7%

Ratings include HD where necessary and are tape-checked

Sources: DS, MattJ

Benidorm didn't that bad really in a later slot and a slot which ITV struggle to fill. Also Paul seems to have missed off CSI:NY from the ratings report at 10pm-do you have that figure Paul? Thanks

Very good night for BBC, in particular Let's Dance. Much better figure for the Football on ITV compared to what we're used to, probably very near old BBC levels. Still didn't stop the rest of the line-up performing dire though coming off a near 9m peak.

Andy23 - you happy now?

Really didn't expect Let's Dance to rate so highly - and what a flop for TV Burp and Push the Boredom, sorry, Button. Really dismal figures for both, ITV should be holding up better than that especially with a 9m lead-in!

Had it not been for the BSI scheduling the start of Let's Dance against a 9m-rated climax to the Man U match, one assumes it would have rated nearer to 8m!

I guess the Katie Price publicity drew in an audience, so it may well lose momentum next week and the week after. Then again, the big England v France rugby match is BBC1's warm-up, so that may help.

Good to see Casualty back over 6m in the overnights.

Yeah I agree that they should try a new show in the Autumn, scheduled before X Factor so it's got a bit of support. But for some reason, Ant & Dec haven't presented a show in the Autumn (apart from IAC) for a few years now. I think they must have it in their contract that they do a certain number of hours per year and that means they can't do another show (I could be completely wrong though).


Absolutely, something like that would work well and better than the current set-up. DOI would rate just as well for its performances as it does now and the skate-off would rate a million better than at the moment due to the good time (21:30 is too late). ITV needs to bring back Millionaire Live - the one-off last year was really good and whilst I don't think a series would get the same kind of ratings it managed in December last year, it'd surely do well for that slot with that kind of lead-in.


Yeah, keeping Let's Dance to 4 weeks has been to its advantage. They could've easily made the run longer (8 weeks) after the success of the first series but I suspect people would've got bored by it for 8 weeks. Having it for 4 weeks is ideal. Yeah it's probably time for Noel Edmonds to have another go at Saturday Night TV with a good format - not sure if it'd be possible though due to his Deal or No Deal committments.


Yeah they should be holding better than that but the actual lead-in for TV Burp was probably half of that figure due to all the people switching over rather than watching adverts and listening to Gareth Southgate giving his "expert" views!

The new series starts on Friday, so they needed to finish repeating the old series last night.

Analysis is bloody boring - ITV should be brave and cut it, and instead advertise a late-night highlights package after the news which will have everything the "hardcore" fans want.

In theory, it'll mean there'll be a 5-minute ad-break after the programme leading into an entertainment show. After a while, it should mean that

It'd also be more interesting in terms of viewing figures - a shortened pre-match programme too would mean we'd start seeing some BBC-level viewing figures on ITV for football.

So, possible early evening FA Cup football coverage will last 2 hours 5 minutes in theory, rather than nearly 3 hours.

It will cut costs a bit, more time for adverts - and a chance to establish a late-night highlights brand similar to Match of the Day (but perhaps more light-hearted and LADDY)with Adrian Chiles hosting (always after the news)

That'll improve the reputation of ITV's football coverage.

I agree with everything here, sensible from BBC One with Let's Dance schedule. I hope ITV learn a thing or two and make Dancing on Ice a little shorter. I'm a Celeb is a prime example of keeping an audience by NOT milking a show.

I've made a post about post-match analysis - interested about whether you'd agree - it'd be quite risky in terms of, would it be criticised by Ofcom/managers/hardcore viewers/Adrian Chiles?

On the Ant & Dec front, they're obviously ratings-baggers but ITV needs to find a new schedule for them. From my point of view, a six-part Saturday Night Takeaway would do best in the early autumn (September and October) as a lead-in for X Factor, then replaced by a series of Take Me Out.

Because of the BGT auditions, Ant & Dec obviously can't launch anything in January which is a bit of a problem - I'd revive Friends Like These and get them to record an 8-part series of that to go alongside Dancing on Ice on a Saturday evening.

Let's hope ITV offer such a commitment to the FA when the rights come up for the renewal.

Then the FA can say "thank you very much, we'll give them to a broadcaster who takes the game seriously, and gives us and football fans across the country what they want instead of putting ratings first".

If ITV doesn't give a fig about the coverage, just getting bums on seats for the match itself, then they shouldn't bother bidding. End of.

PJ - perhaps ITV might persuade the FA to introduce other ratings grabbing ideas, like some sort of reality TV/talent contest element to proceedings. Then the boring post-match analysis section could be done on a shiny floor set with the latest pop sensations, viewer phone-ins, Dermot and lots of flashy captions, booming voiceovers and other fluffery associated with the genre - and a bit of football talk too?

It would differentiate it from the BBC's 'school lesson' analysis - come on - is it really needed?

I hope it does improve its reputation - it just shows the football with some good commentary - and a nice succinct pre-match programme.

Your motivation is purely to try and bring the ratings back up to BBC levels again...