That's ridiculous. Why so late, and on the big Easter holiday weekend again - when millions will take advantage of it falling late and the extra bank holiday to get away?

I cannot comprehend why the Beeb is so keen to waste such a high profile and expensive programme by airing it in broad daylight and during the better weather.

The Biggest Loser has barely benefitted from Outcasts' poor performances. The ~4m it was getting against Silent Witness was respectable but I thought it would've grown to closer to 5m by now given that BBC1 is below 3m on Mondays at the moment. I agree with ZoeM that if it's getting 4m right now, it's never going to do better in any other slot. I think ITV will recommission it but they'd be better off putting it in a Tuesday 8pm slot or something similar next time. Channel 4 and Channel 5 are doing the best relative to their slot averages at 9pm on Mondays at the moment.

A March launch, the week after Six Nations finishes, would've been better but it might be starting late this year due to some productions delays?

I can understand why they've gone for the Easter launch because they can promote it as a big "Easter Weekend Premiere Event" and it also means that the final episode finishes the week before the Britain's Got Talent final.

Doctor Who should do well but doing a double episode means the first half of the series will be done within six weeks. When do the kids break out for Easter?

OBEM and Royal Navy are doing very well for Channel 4 and Channel 5 especially the latter. Only Hotel Inspector comfortably breaks 2m so they will happy with the show.

Mrs Brown's Boys did well, in line with what comedies do in that slot.

It will also be good to see the opening 2 parter in one weekend

A few general TV and possible scheduling news:

- The 'Red Nose Desert Trek' will be airing on BBC1 pretty soon. It's likely to be shown on Thursday 17th March at 9pm, a day before Comic Relief night. I can see it doing well after the success of the Kilamanjaro climb two years ago (not as well as that, but well compared to the slot average).
- Creator & writer of ITV1 comedy Benidorm, Derren Litten, is leaving the show. That doesn't necessarily mean the show is ending after the upcoming fourth series (they could have a new writer) but it must be a more likely possibility now than if he were still involved with the show.
- New ITV1 cop drama, Scott & Bailey, is apparently airing on Sundays from late-May, so it might get a BGT lead-in for a week or two (an audition ep will be moved to Sunday due to Champions League final).
- Channel 4 has reportedly axed 'Famous & Fearless'. No surprise there given how its ratings declined throughout the week it aired.
- Channel 4 have bought the rights to the upcoming Paralympics World Cup so will be showing live coverage of it on May 28th and highlights on other days that week.

Royal Navy: Caribbean Patrol has been a huge success story for C5 this month. It actually has a shot at beating the series average of The Hotel Inspector last year, because that dipped below 2m to 1.73m on one occasion and the rest were in the low 2s. It has managed to retain its audience really well. Although I gave them a bit of stick for it yesterday, perhaps the Sunday repeat slot is helping to maintain interest, even if it is low rating.

It's been a really good couple of weeks for Channel 5. I can't wait to see where they are going to put The Walking Dead. Royal Navy ends on the 7th March, so hopefully they will schedule The Walking Dead like this:

Mon 14th March 2100-2300 (Season Premiere, Double Episode)
Tue 15th March 2200-2300 (following brand new CSI)
Wed 16th March 2200-2300 (following brand new NCIS)
Thu 17th March 2210-2310 (following Europa League Football)
Fri 18th March 2200-2300 (following brand new Mentalist)

Law and Order would be rested for 1 week.

What do you think Jonwo?

That means Easter Sunday on BBC1 will have 2 huge shows to broadcast. With Doctor Who possibly sandwiched between Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow and Rock and Chips following AR, Easter Sunday will be a big night for BBC1.

Good scheduling idea for Walking Dead, similar to the one E4 for Dead Set, stripping it would allow it to build its audience over a week but it could easily be a weekly show as well.

I'm not keen on the Sunday repeat of Royal Navy, they could just schedule movies back to back. BTW does anyone know how Superman did on Sunday?

I do wish they'd gone for the March launch. I can only imagine they've done this in order to have a 'big' offering over the Easter weekend. It surely can't be production issues, as they've only had to produce 7 of 13 episodes for spring, and the blocks they film in do usually work in broadly chronological order.

This does mean the finale falls on the same night as the Champions League final. Won't be an issue, I suppose, if they do what they always seem to and schedule it for 6.30 - but it does block them airing it from much later than that. I've a nasty feeling the whole series could wind up in broad daylight to accommodate SYTYCD after it, but before BGT starts....

ITV have revealed who will be their main presenter for their Royal Wedding coverage...

Mark Austin? Nope.
Alistair Stewart? Nope.

Yep, you guessed it... Phillip Schofield: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/b...024109.article

He's nearly as popular at ITV as Adrian Chiles. I say nearly...

I think a first look Neighbours would be damaging to the 1.45pm showing. The afternoon Neighbours regularly hits 1m and gets a 10%-12% share which is priceless to FIVE. Home and Away on the other hand limps in with about 200k-300k in the afternoon showing mainly due to the fact that a 600k-700k strong audience have seen the episode the previouis evening on FIVER.

Pretty clear what angle they're taking on things then.

Bit of a slap in the face for their news teams, but I suppose it makes sense. Celebrity-driven coverage might give people something to tune in to the channel for. The news audience would only gravitate to the BBC anyway.

I think they will go weekly unfortunately. I'd just like to see them strip something for once, as I think it could create a really big week for them if they follow my idea.

No ratings were reported for Superman I believe, but possibly not that well. C5's all-day share was 4.6%, down quite a bit on the 5% it achieved the previous Sunday. Might not be down to Superman though. They are showing 2 and 3 as well over the next couple of weeks.


Exactly. A first look for Neighbours would only serve to damage the main teatime and lunchtime showings. I really don't think it would be wise. I'd quite like to see them do away with the lunchtime H&A altogether as I think it would help keep the teatime edition the right side of the 1 million mark.

Oh dear. 'Schofe' is full of his own self-importance already, he's going to be even more unwatchable after this!

Mark Austin should have got it, of course.

Mondays are the only day left for it unless they want to rest films on Sundays which I doubt they will. Hancock should do well on Sunday as Will Smith films tend to perform well although Ive seen it already and I think it's good but nowhere near as good as Men in Black.

New film releases have become sponsors for selected Sunday films, the animated films from Disney/Pixar are sponsored by the latest Disney film and Ghost Rider this week was sponsored by Drive Angry 3D.

itvpresscentre
Confirmed: The new series of Law & Order:UK starts 9pm Monday 7 March on @ITV1 #itvpresscentre
1 minute ago

itvpresscentre
Confirmed: New six-part medical drama MONROE starring James Nesbitt starts 9pm Thursday 10 March on @ITV1 #itvpresscentre
41 seconds ago

Oh for God's sake, why?!! :yawn:

Can't wait for his ratings tweets the day after...

Apt that with Schofield's DOI being the Netto to SCD's Sainsburys, the wedding looks set to get the same "no frills, pile it high" treatment from ITV.


They could air it in a fixed 7.30pm every week and the whole series will still air in broad daylight if they are starting it on 29th April!

Madness. Is George Dixon still there, or has he gone now?

And there was I thinking it would be Adrian and Christine with Eamonn Holmes describing the fashions.Not much competition for Huw Edwards then.

Good scheduling there I think. The new dramas on Thursdays have done well for ITV and Monroe should perform similarly with around 5m I reckon. L&O all depends on the BBC1 schedule though, although it won't do better anywhere else.


Yeah it's been a very good couple of weeks and the relaunch got off to a fantastic start last week with every 8-11pm slot above 1m (apart from maybe Thursday 10-11pm) and above 2m from Tuesday-Thursday at 9pm. H&A seems to be back on track quality wise, so hopefully this will start reflecting in the ratings soon. Signing Emma Crosby is a good move too, but it probably won't do much for the ratings of the 7pm bulletin unfortunately.


How bizarre. They're obviously going for the celebrity/entertainment route then and aiming for a different BBC audience, but if this were the case then why not give it to another of ITV's entertainment presenters, rather than Schofield who seems to be on ITV every single day with This Morning, DOI, The Cube, Mr & Mrs, Soap Awards and all his guest appearences on stuff like Celebrity Juice. It wouldn't surprise me if he's given the XF gig now.

That would be preferable.

I think ITV should've waited another week to decide the scheduling for L&O. Waking The Dead may well start the following week so L&O could struggle in the ratings for 5 of its 6 episodes. That's the last thing the show needs right now after a pretty medicore season 3 ratings-wise and a further 13 episodes already in the can. ITV could've sacrificed a non-returnable series such as The Reckoning or Injustice against WTD instead and started L&O on Mondays once WTD is over. Also a bit odd that there's no press pack for L&O and no promotion started for it yet (usually promotion for ITV dramas start 2 weeks before TX) - has it fallen out of favour with the people at ITV?

I bet Ant and Dec are kicking themselves at losing out to Gordon the Gopher's sidekick for the Royal Wedding.

With Cowell seemingly having bigger fish to fry, it looks Schofield could well become ITV's figurehead and flagship "big name star".

I still think his best work was in the Broom Cupboard though...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbbBqZyjkiE

(stick with it for a minute...)

Or: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcgqx...eature=related

The BBC has axed detective drama Zen:

Isn't Injustice intended to be stripped across the week as the successor to Collision (from an author/ format perspective)?

L&O held up well against Hustle on Monday night last year. WtD is more of a direct comparison but L&O suits Mondays better. Some of the subject matter in the last series were quite tough for a late week slot when people just want to get to Friday.

I was vocal in saying Outcasts would be moved. It did well on a relative basis to get 2.7m last night when it looked to be in freefall. The decision may have been unfair but it stemmed the venom that was spewing across most internet forums from frustrated sci fi fans. It has got better and those of us who enjoy it can still watch it in a different slot. Maybe Sky will pick up a retooled version now Kudos belongs to NewsCorp. (edited - thanks rzt, just like Zen)

TBL has hit its level. If it ever was going to breakthrough to 4m+ last night was the time to do it.

Mrs Brown's Boys seems to be on its way to becoming another comedy hit for the BBC.