I'm sure Robbie is just under predicting as usual. The quality of these shows doesn't matter, they always rate highly (Children in Need has been dire for years for example), probably because everyone has at least one thing they want to see, and because nobody knows when it will be on, you have to watch the whole thing.

I agree that after the Chris Moyles thing, tonight seems a bit 'seen it all before'. The Moyles show was a true event, first time it'd been done on TV & Radio, not to be repeated anytime soon, it was all new.

Maybe the problem is that there are too many other shows allover the schedule in the preceeding weeks, meaning tonight is a glorified highlights show.

Don't be silly. Assuming it will average a respectable 7m or so during EmFm/Corrie, the rescheduled news leaves it just 88 minutes now to bring that average up post-Corrie to normal levels. It may well have started with 10-11m from 8.30pm, but the content was so hard-going and generally crap at least until 9.15 that I'm sure viewers will have switched off in droves, or gone down the pub.

I think it could struggle to average 8m.

There is no direct correlation between quality and ratings when it comes to Comic Relief. It's all about the promotion, and tonight's one has been promoted extensively, more than any other Comic Relief from previous years. So I expect it to rate as well as ever.

The 90-minute ITV soap block won't make much of a difference. In 2007, there was only one episode of Corrie while in 2009 there were two episodes of Corrie, but despite the tougher competition the 2009 Comic Relief got better ratings. It was because the 2009 one was trailed more and tonight's one has been trailed even more than the one two years ago so I expect it'll have done well in the figures - I certainly can't see it getting "lowest ever" figures of <6.8m or even the second lowest of <8.5m.

Worth noting too that a couple of years ago the Corrie episodes were quite big ones, involving the wedding of two of the show's more popular characters. I'm guessing tonight's episodes were probably just normal ones and unlikely to rate as well (and pose a threat to CR) as a couple of years ago. Plus there was the EE mini-episode in CR tonight to bring in some of the EE viewers, probably more than the no. who are usually interested in the EE dancing stuff they normally do.

BBC News at Ten will also do brilliantly tonight sandwiched between the two parts of Comic Relief.

I thought it has been a good night over all for Comic Relif, even if EE had sound problems, and my intolerance of costume dramas, meant I ffwd over half of Upstairs Downstairs.

It should get good ratings, previous Comic Reliefs have not been to my taste, this one has.

Also good to see a TV outing for Misery Bear later tonight, even if I suspect its the one ive already seen.

Fair point though the ratings tonight will have to take into account it had no real opposition after 8.30pm.

Cant see anything more than 5m. Most Comic relief viewers will have switched over to BBC2.

The BBC News at Ten sandwiched between Comic Relief 2009 got 5.3m and in 2007 it had 6.1m. Considering the ongoing events which have boosted news ratings over the past few days, I'd expect it to get 5m+ once again (if not 6m+).

Comic Relief does a little flat tonight but it still had some good moments like Outnumbered, Masterchef and Doctor Who. Should do brilliant as usual.

I'm surprised they have never done a Comic Relief concert mixing music and comedy, CIN Rocks the Albert Hall was very good and I think they should do a similar one for Comic and Sport Relief.

The late switch round will deliver BBC2 one of its biggest audiences of the year, for sure.

Top Gear Does TOTP got 7m a few years back at 10pm on BBC2, IIRC. I think tonight it could be getting 6-7m easily.

In 2009 BBC2's Comic Relief bit had 7.09m viewers and the Ten O'Clock News had 5.33m viewers.

Well Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson were great tonight

I think it will do very well tonight ratings wise.

I know I'm a bit late but was it some kind of special Red Nose Eastenders feature? Or just a regular 30 minute episode?

I haven't seen it but I remember lots of predictions of doom for Children in Need last year but it did as well as ever.

The EastEnders special was 10mins and continued from where last nights episode left us.

Comic Relief has been a bit weird. Not many sketches in the first 3 hours then as soon as it moves to BBC2 it seems they were firing them out continuously. I wonder if the running order was effected by the last decsion to move the News back to 10?

It's a few years ago now but I remember them doing something on location (Belfast IIRC) - I remember Lenny hosting the beginning of the BBC1 show then having to get to the event by the end of the night. I don't think music is the route to go down though - the constant plugging is what ruined Children in Need and Comic Relief have it about right in regards of music. It's more live comedy and entertainment they need.


I also think it's suffering at the moment due to a reason we talked about here not too long ago - the lack of new presenters coming through. ITV not releasing Ant and Dec (and I guess Phil and Holly) doesn't help, but there just isn't a new crop of live TV presenters coming through, or many comedians breaking through who they'd trust to anchor for an hour or so. The main problem though is the lack of the live energy tonight - virtually no live entertainment other than music, and no live incentives to vote (as in you give us that and we'll do this!)

I'm surprised Doctor Who and Outnumbered were used up so early. Maybe they were reacting to ITV's scheduling so tried to just air 'filler' while Coronation Street was on? It certainly seems really unbalanced this year - the first half hour was ok, and post 10 o'clock but between then it was very strange.

And the highlight of the night - the all-star Smithy sketch - went out at 10.35pm.

Surely this should have aired at 9pm, before the largest audience of the night, not to those who hung around till after the news?

I notice the running order has been put back an hour - Jack Whitehall & Kevin Bridges' pre-recorded clips show should have been on at 1am but is now airing at 2am. It's as if they decided to add an hour of nothing between 8.30 and 9.30, for some reason.

The average rating for the 10.35 show will now be a little lower, with it running on till 2am instead of 1am.

It's bizarre - there's another new sketch now coming on and it's gone beyond half past one. I know in other years people have complained about repeat after repeat post midnight, but I doubt any of those who complained wanted the pre-news slot to be sacrificed to prolong the show.

James Corden said the Smithy sketch was going out around 10pm but the News move obviously changed that plan. However, with it being one of the most anticipated sketches anyway it should have gone out between 9-9:30pm.

Smithy was originally supposed to be at 10pm according to the producer of it.
http://twitter.com/benwinston/status/48677425747476480

They always extend the show past 2 despite saying it will finish earlier, thats nothing new! I would be very surprised if its even finished at 2.

I wonder how late in the day they changed things around.

I thought the Ten O'Clock News had been moved to 10.30 to accommodate CR (I didn't stay up to watch). Was it changed again ?

Yeah, it was changed again.

Looking at the Comic Relief thread, it appears the show finished at 04:00. Blimey, a 9 hour marathon.

Comic Relief peaked with over 12.4m last night.

Source: BBC Head of Communications

That compares to a 12.8m peak for 2009 so it seems like a pretty similar audience watched it last night compared to the 2009 one. A good figure.

Comic Relief 2009 ratings for comparison:
- http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/...8-million.html
- http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/ne...-march-13.html

Very good peak for it last night. Not surprising it was slightly down really, even though the remaining channels closed down in effect, ITV probably managed to bring satisfactory figures and not drop to nearly 1m like in 2009.