Yeah sure is.
London is always going to be hotter though.

I think with EastEnders it's ratings tail off because of it's younger fanbase and it's just something that happens on A bank holiday (bonfire night ect)
should have a good BBC 3 repeat rating though

Don't forget Holby City that started as a recurring series in 1999 before becoming a full time soap. I admit the label "soap" is debatable for Holby City though.

Imo the only soaps are EastEnders,Emmerdale,Corrie,Hollyoaks,Doctors (which is also the only soap to have daily sub plots),Neighbours and Home and away.

Casualty,Holby,Waterloo road are not really soaps

Intresting point as compared to a few year's ago many many more people now work past 5pm.

Yep, but it was such an awful episode it deserved a low rating. (even if it was weather induced)

The main stories were:
- Casey won a science competition.
- Romeo sulked some more over Indi.
- April has OCD but won't tell anyone about it.

Didn't add up to the most entertaining half hour of television. The writing has just been terrible again lately. Who wants to watch all these crappy teen storylines? Not me. It's no wonder its ratings are in the toilet.

It's almost a completely different show now to the one it was 2-3 years ago. I'm beginning to think it will never get its act together.

25 mins
Yeah i agree and miles is another pointless character and everytime you see him he is eating something.

Romeo has quit school is another boring storyline.

Saying that it's still 10 times better then Neighbours where there only seems to be about 6 members of the cast these days.

Yeah, it was definitely one of the weakest this week, if not this year. I started watching again at the beginning of the season when there was the Who Killed Penn story and that was compelling viewing and it seemed to attract some more viewers, but it's gone downhill since then apart from the odd good episode. Some storylines are alright like the sham marriage one, which is much better than the one Corrie is doing!...but there's just not enough to keep continued interest.

Completely agree. The Penn story was the last decent long running storyline, although it lacked a satisfying conclusion, with the whole thing pinned on a returning character who doesn't meet the profile, killing to protect someone he'd only known 5 minutes. All a bit far-fetched, but at least it gave Alf something major to do for the last few months before his break.


I disagree on that. Neighbours has been fantastic all week with the fallout from the Tash reveal, as reflected in the numbers. The Summer/Andrew will-they-won't-they could get tedious quickly though. Summer suddenly developing morals after the event, and Andrew too dim to realise when he'd won her round, was too much of a stretch even for me! The next big one on Neighbours which they are setting up for now looks even juicier and that's the Sonya/Callum reveal. That one's been building nicely for months.

Meanwhile over at Home & Away... there's err, Nicole's pregnancy (which has a nice predictable ending that I won't spoil but it involves a baby)... and that's about it. Oh, and the stuff with Angelo and the Braxtons, which is certain not to end well but doesn't seem to be developing at any real pace.

I'm sad about H&A's audience decline but it's unsurprising to me with the writing the way it is. They really need to step it up a few gears because at the moment it's just a dull version of Neighbours with too much emphasis on the teens.

I do think Home and Away has picked up this year after an awful 2010, but it is missing the long running storyline they had in Penn Graham last year.


I guess ratings for everything have always dipped in hot weather, but now the base rating (I'm talking generally here, not about Doctors specifically) is so much lower (i.e. 5m being considered a hit compared to 8-10m a decade ago!) TV is being hit even harder now. The trouble is the British weather makes planning summer breaks virtually impossible for TV shows. It's no good saying they'll break for a few weeks in the summer holidays when the hot weather turns up in April - and summer could then be a washout!

I used to be a big fan of Neighbours and would never miss an episode (along side my 3 other soaps)
But my god it's crap now.
Andrew,Summer,Paul,Todie,Sonia is about all their cast these days and your lucky to see anyother faces.

Home and away is better then NB imo and has improved since 2010 but it's still nowhere near it's best.

Thing is You can never tell when It's going to be hot and sunny.
Last Easter we had snow and it was quite cold and this March/April we have a heatwave and i expect June/July will be a washout and Aug-Oct very warm again

The BBC didn't show a news update but a minute trailer before EastEnders tonight.
So thart could help it's ratings tommorow

Why on earth would it - people don't find EastEnders at 8pm on a Friday by accident!

If anything it's probably the 30-second regional news update which has been inflating EastEnders figures for the last couple of years. After all, we all know how popular the BBC local news is!

Hmm is this is a massive drop from it's first episode which had 1.01m. So big a drop on fact that I'm not entirely sure I believe it's accurate... It's still very popular on the iplayer and the other BBC3 programmes did as well as normal after it.

Sorry i didn't explain that well.
I mean the Trailer before EastEnders could have helped Dr who.
I doubt that very much. No one turns on BBC1 to watch a 30sec news clip when they have BBC News 24 and the news had only just finished (7:00pm)

The Weakest Link is reportedly to finish next Spring, following Anne Robinson's decision to leave the show:

It's been a good innings but probably the right time to call it a day. At least now, there'll be some new shows in that 5:15pm slot, which may well rate better than what The Weakest Link has been doing recently. Maybe they'll promote Pointless to BBC1, which has been rating really well on BBC2?

News just broken that The Weakest Link is to end next year http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/...kest-link.html

Good decision to end it completely rather than just carry on without La Robinson. It's had its time; it's hard to believe it was once such a phenomenon.

Dammit rzt, you beat me to it

Weakest Link ending, will clear space for the "Quailty" that is being put first.

Personally I find that to be an awful code name for "cuts".

4.5m is pretty decent for Long Lost Families, but no doubt helped once again by the Beeb's policy of encouraging new ITV programming by soft-soap contrary scheduling.

A new variation on the tried and tested "copycat" theme for ITV - a "cut and shut copycat" format this time, welding the front end of Surprise Surprise with the back end of Who Do You Think You Are?

I only caught a bit of this saccharine guff last night. Did Davina or Nicky Campbell sing the theme tune at the end, or did they do a duet?...


Despite it being Guardianista TV, and irritatingly left-wing, I do think it's a decent series. The brilliant Charlie Brooker's inspired monologue on the Royal Wedding coverage was a genuine tour de force, and I urge Ratings Threaders who haven't seen it to seek it out on 4OD.

They should Extend CBBC to 5:30pm and then Put Doctors in at 5:30pm to replace The weakiest Link.

Could keep the Doctors showing at 1:45pm if they wish or just show some new dramas in it's slot

Danny Cohen did say he felt Newsround/Blue Peter was on too early didn't he?

I'd expect to see a thirty minute show developed for 5.30pm.

Good for Long Lost Families and EastEnders. Coronation Street and Emmerdale did ok but the weather kicked in. Doctor Who could be in trouble with the overnights at this rate.


I'd agree with you in regards to Waterloo Road but Casualty and Holby City are never off air (the 8pm slot on Tuesday is the perfect one for BBC1 to try out new programming but...) and they're focused on personal as well as medical issues so I'd say they're soaps.


They're pitching Rock and Chips up against it next week on BBC1, and the United documentary on BBC2. No more soft soap obviously.

And ITV encourage new BBC programming by giving up in every weekday slot outside the soaps so...

This is my thinking too.

Casualty goes off air for a few weeks and allthough Holby doesn't neither of them are really soapy dramas.