It's not on for 3 hours. It's on for 2 hours with a 30 min results show.

They can quite easily come away from the golf on BBC1 for a 15 minute news bulletin at, say, 9pm because coverage is also on the Red Button.

It is pretty obvious, as others have said, that live coverage on the BBC's mass-audience main channel is the compromise the BBC had to make to secure a share of the new contract.

Either that or they had to pay so much money for the contract, that the can only justify the cost by putting it on their wealthiest channel.

It's not that much longer than Strictly Come Dancing in the autumn to be fair. The only difference is that Strictly is split over two nights which means it doesn't feel such a marathon. For me, they should move the main show to Saturday to boost the night, and support the likes of TV Burp and Take Me Out. The Results Show could be like The X Factor's - an hour long from 8pm.


One thing I'll say about TV Burp is it's getting very risque this series. I'm really enjoying it compared to the autumn series but such things as calling someone a golden knob, implying that an owl is giving a guy, er, something and mentioning pubic hair from Emmerdale may not go down well with some parents. I wonder whether the risque approach may be losing it viewers instead of the childish 'knitted character' look.

TV Brup did perform poorly yesterday. Take Me Out is doing well considering it doesn't have much around it. Less said about Push the Button the better. BBC1 had a reasonable night - they won't be happy Let's Dance took a dip but Casualty performed well.

yes no need to worry about TV Burp, it had a 3rd series as an option on the contract, im sure ITV will be taking that 3rd series.

that is basically my suggestion (see Broadcasting forum) however I do keep the space open for "BBC Events" be that sport, or music festivals.

Let's Dance only had 6.4m, still very good but its not like its getting 9 or 10m.

Exactly, and Let's Dance was getting that sort of rating last year but TV Burp was still getting 5-5.5m. The earlier slot certainly dented it last night but there is a bit of a problem somewhere. Not a problem than can't be resolved but there does seem to be an issue somewhere along the line. It would definitely have done better at 8pm though.

For anyone who doesn't keep an eye on it, extended weather forecasts suggest snow possible for many next weekend, so we could see some high TV figures next weekend: http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-a...d&DAY=20110306

Cheers, DMN, we had a month of this bloody stuff in Cumbria last year. However, it is good for TV ratings with the big three soaps adding a million to their ratings.

Oh Christ on a bike.

good for ratings though.

This late in the year, it doubt it will be anything significant

I'm sure some will use it as an excuse to explain why their favourite show isn't performing though!

Taken did great, I watched it last week to pass the time before CSI: NY but ended up watching the whole film! Probably helped that Unknown with Liam Neeson was out this week.

Usually the biggest ratings seem to happen in the first week of January. Everyone is spent up, the weather is terrible and the nights are long. This explains why CS and EE see their ratings jump to 11 million, and then as the weather and wallets pick up, ratings drop to around 9 million,

For those who are concerned that The Masters Golf may be broadcast constantly on BBC1, the BBC website confirms that on Sunday 10th April, Antiques Roadshow is on. This sort of suggests that the golf will be on BBC2 as usual.

Sorry, why is it "pretty obvious"?

Doesn't basic common sense dictate it's pretty obvious someone has typed in BBC1 instead of BBC2?

I can't see the Beeb even wanting to show live BBC1 coverage of only the 3rd and 4th days, as it rather rubs it in that Sky has the first two days.


I agree. There are quite a few quips lately that are ill-suited to pre-watershed viewing. The owl joke last night was the 2nd or 3rd oral sex joke I recall in recent weeks. Not sure that's suitable for 6.40pm...


Some of the lesser/enthusiast weather websites seem to like making over-dramatic predictions. It looks like getting colder again during this week, but nothing more than a bit of sleet or snow on the tops in northern Britain.

I don't think we'll see any more big ratings-inducing snowfalls until November or December now.

It also notes that there is no show on 22 May due to the BAFTA TV Awards. That they have this information so far in advance suggests they would also have known that there would be no show on 10 April if the Beeb had given an undertaking to the Augusta National Committee last year that they would show live and uninterrupted coverage on BBC1 only.

Ditching TV Burp though may mean losing Harry Hill, and although it might not seem too important, You've Been Framed is the bread and butter of the early evening ITV schedule on Saturday and has gone from strength to strength since Harry took over - and although not a flagship show, it's probably worth them taking the hit (though a temporary blip I'm sure) on TV Burp to keep Harry happy.


That's a good point. As others have said a poor series in the autumn has also put people off - I gave up on him last autumn and haven't bothered with this series, but caught a repeat of last weeks episode yesterday and still found it pretty funny.


He also fronts the Champions League now for Al Jazerra Sport which might have meant clashes certainly with The Masters should the Quarter/Semi final stages be in the same week.


That's why it's only 2 hours 25 minutes. Dancing on Ice is overly long though - even The X Factor keeps it pretty much at a maximum of 10 minutes per performances - for tonight's show with the extra two group performances (oh, the irony of their shark gag!) should have come in at under 90 minutes.

I blame OFCOM - their changes to the ad rules a couples of years ago made it far too tempting for broadcasters to add an extra few minutes to get that extra ad break so now at the final 6 stage we have a show with six ad breaks, whilst back in series 1 it was probably a one hour show with three ad breaks.


No such thing as a confirmed schedule till the Wednesday deadline - we won't know about this one until the 31st March.

the weather models are split down the middle, could just as easily be "snowmageddon" again (widespread low level snowfall is still possible well into March in the right conditions, even in the south) as it could an event exclusive to Scotland and northern hills. Just a case of keeping an eye on the forecasts.

If a cold spell does occur the likely beneficiaries are unlikely to extend much beyond local news and soaps I wouldn't have thought. I think the effects we saw in February 2009 were pretty extraordinary and brought about by the sheer volume of snow that fell in and around the London area, something we are unlikely to see repeated in the setup forecast for next weekend, especially at this time of year.

The BBC wouldn't get something like that wrong.

Oh, wait....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/6107744.stm

...their athletics on the BBC page lists today's European Indoor Championship as being on BBC1 when it was on BBC2. Clearly the BBC web-page is just guessing. I apologize.

I see your point but the schedule for AR is up right until August so it would be unlikely that these would change. The AR website told that there would be a Boxing Day episode long before the final schedules were confirmed. That proved to be right. Programmes like AR, although still await allocated time slots, are pretty much set in stone so if the website says it's on, there's 99% certainty it will be.

Better late than never: Full roundups from last couple of days...

Friday 4th March Overnights
BBC One
13:45- Doctors: 1.58m (22.4%)
20:00- EastEnders: 7.89m (33.8%)
20:30- QI: 3.46m (14.6%)
21:00- New Tricks: 3.41m (14.7%)

BBC Two
20:00- Mastermind: 2.42m (10.4%)
20:30- Britain From Above: 1.16m (4.9%)
21:00- Hidden Treasures Of African Art: 909k (3.9%)
22:00- Fast And Loose: 787k (4%)

ITV1
19:00- Emmerdale: 7.15m (34.1%) , +1: 45k (0.2%)
19:30- Coronation Street: 8.60m (38.8%) , +1: 107k (0.4%)
20:00- Children's Hospital: 3.04m (13%)
20:30- Coronation Street: 8.81m (36.9%) , +1: 140k (0.6%)
21:00- Benidorm: 6.64m (28.2%) , +1: 290k

Channel 4
18:30- Hollyoaks:1.06m (5.2%) , +1: 101k (0.5%)
20:00- Relocation: Phil Down Under: 1.36m (5.8%) , +1: 153k
21:00- Embarrassing Bodies: 2.62m (11.3%) , +1: 583k
22:00- Friday Night Dinner: 1.47m (7.4%) . +1: 231k

Channel 5
13:45- Neighbours: 760k (10.6%)
14:15- Home and Away: 418k (6.4%)
17:30- Neighbours: 1.28m (7.9%)
18:00- Home and Away: 829k (4.4%)
20:00- Ice Road Truckers: 1.43m (6%)
21:00- The Mentalist: 1.73m (7.4%)
22:00- Law & Order: 1.13m (6.2%)

Primetime Shares
ITV1: 26% (+1: 0.6%)
BBC One: 19.3%
Channel 4: 6.6% (+1: 1.2%)
BBC Two: 5.5%
Channel 5: 5.3%

Ratings include HD and are tape-checked where necessary

Multichannel
BBC Three
22:00- EastEnders: 733k (3.7%)

E4
19:00- Hollyoaks: 355k (1.7%) , +1: 62k (0.3%)

Fiver
18:30- Home & Away: 583k (2.9%)

Sources: DS, DS (2)

Saturday 5th March Overnights
BBC One
17:40- Total Wipeout: 3.72m (20%)
18:40- Let's Dance: 6.35m (28.7%)
20:00- The National Lottery: Secret Fortune: 5.9m (27.6%)
20:50- Casualty: 5.85m (24.6%)
21:40- Live At The Apollo: 4m (18.4%)

BBC Two
20:00- The Books We Really Read: 1.15m (4.9%)

ITV1
18:10- You've Been Framed: 3.1m (16%) , +1: 244k
18:40- Harry Hill's TV Burp: 4.13m (19.5%) , +1: 405k
19:10- Ant & Dec's Push The Button: 4.48m (19.8%) , +1: 292k
20:25- Take Me Out: 4.92m (20.7%) , +1: 401k

Channel 4
21:00- Taken: 3.28m (15%) , +1: 505k

Channel 5
21:40- CSI: NY: 2m (9.4%)

ITV3
20:00- Rosemary & Thyme: 762k (3.3%)
21:00- Midsomer Murders: 963k (4.4%)

Primetime Shares
BBC One: 24.4%
ITV1: 16.8% (+1: 1.4%)
Channel 4: 9.2% (+1: 1.1%)
Channel 5: 5.9%
BBC Two: 4.6%
ITV3: 3.8%

Sources: DS

Ratings include HD and are tape-checked where necessary
---------------------------------------------------------------
Some strong +1 numbers there for Saturday: Audience for Taken was almost 4m (inc +1) which must be C4's highest rating on a Saturday in ages. Can't remember them getting 3m+ on a Saturday since one of the BB eps a few years ago. Seems like ITV1+1 did well too with its highest primetime share yet and TV Burp got the channel's highest audience ever. Also, a good figure for TMO - the show's 2nd highest rating ever (inc +1), only behind the post-TXF ep.

Secret Fortune holding steady which is good news and Live at the Apollo doing well, as usual, with bridging that gap between Casualty and the news. Not a great night for BBC2, as according to DS the above 'Books We Really Read' figure was their highest rating of the evening.

With HD and +1 factored in ITV didn't do as badly on Saturday as first thought - Harry Hill and Push the Button both past the 4.5m mark and Take Me Out reaching above 5m.

TV Burp at least should still be doing better though.

Really pleased Taken did well-my favourite film of all time and another strong audience for Ch4 this year.

ITV1's numbers looked pretty low originally, but TMO did really well it seems and I think it's a dead cert for recomission now when it's ITV1's top rated show of the night and beats everything else in the 16-34 demo. TV Burp is obviously being hugely dented by Lets Dance and it needs to avoid it next year. It's pulling in an extra 4m on Sundays, and the quality is still strong imo, so it's a matter of the scheduling. I doubt PTB will get a recomission though, because sub 5m for an A&D fronted show isn't really good enough.

Pleasing to see CSI:NY make the 2m mark again and after a period of decline the CSI franchise seems to be settling around and just under the 2m mark, with NCIS and The Mentalist pretty similar.

Take Me Out is actually a modest success (or if you're talking of demos, really not so 'modest'). The reason the other two shows are taking a beating is just because of their profile. They're two of the biggest entertainment stars on the channel that prides itself on being the home of light entertainment. To be taking a beating from a Nick Knowles Lottery format is a bit embarrassing, I suppose.

Looking forward to seeing how Wonders of the Universe works out for BBC Two. Last years Solar System did brilliantly for a science programme - 3m on first run, and up to 5m factoring in the narrative repeats. Brian Cox's profile has really shot up in the meantime, so hopefully this series can match it.