Given that last year's Canadian Grand Prix averaged 5.2m, and that was broadcast an hour earlier, with weather not as bad as tonight and generally F1 ratings have been up y-o-y in 2011, I think it'll have a fantastic average, certainly beating The Royal by a good margin when head-to-head especially as that period is going to be the second-half of the race when the audience usually peaks.

Edit: maybe not now that the race has temporarily stopped.


Scott & Bailey ought to be ahead, considering Case Histories probably won't rate as well as last week's opener (5.4m). I think Scott & Bailey's experienced its biggest drop for episode 2 and it should stabilise around the high 5's/low 6's from now on, which I can't see Case Histories matching.

Of course, going back a few decades they used to show imported mini series that would attract a reasonable audience, seaside special variety shows and oldish films. The BBC usually had the get out clause of test match cricket( yawn), Wimbledon, golf, cricket and whatever major athletics meeting was on to fill their schedule.

I'm no F1 expert but with 48 laps left in the race, and each lap taking about ~2 mins (?), it looks almost certain that the F1 will overun. If say, the actual race finishes about 20:10 and obviously a bit of time after that has to be dedicated to post-race filler stuff and seeing the presentation ceremony, I wonder what the BBC will do regarding their schedule - will they just drop Antiques Roadshow (currently scheduled for 20:15) and have F1 running all the way till 9pm with a lot of post-race filler during the 8pm hour or will they keep Antiques Roadshow in the schedule but starting 15-20 mins later than billed which will also have a knock-on effect on what time Case Histories begins?

I see Channel 4 are looking to take advantage of no Antiques Roadshow on Sundays from next week by airing repeats of Four Rooms. Can't see that working!

F1 stopped due to torrential rain, there are 45 laps remaining, so AR will be running late - they could have edited versions available - ie cut 10-15 minutes easily, or even put a 30 minute replacement programme in its place. - so Case Histories does not start late.

They may cut the post race waffle with Jake, David and Eddie to keep disruption to a minimum.

They could show a short 10-15 minute episode of Coast. That would be clever with a new episode starting at 9pm on BBC Two.

Antiques Roadshow was always going to start at 8.15pm so no change as of yet.

Especially giving how relatively poorly Coast performed last week. More than likely though....


....they'll just expand the waffle to 9pm. (Satellite availability permitted.)

Yesterday the Tennis finished about 40 minutes before the show was scheduled to end so instead of stopping early for a Bargain Hunt or something they showed some profile of Boris Becker and then had a bit more waffle.

They can show a short filler - they have 15 minute versions of Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers for example.

They have just said 1 hour 40 minutes left of racing time-and no start time soon.

They still have 1 hour 40 minutes left of the race to run. If it can restart we could be here for a while yet (depending whether they can finish 45 laps before the 2 hour mark or not).

That was a bit different though, Saturday afternoon and the programme was scheduled until 5pm, not primetime.

Backtracking on what I said earlier, I can see The Royal doing really well now by its own standards, as it should attract a decent chunk of the anti-sport audience (some Countryfile viewers basically) and even some of the casual F1 viewers might tune over whilst the race is temporarily stopped and currently shows little signs of restarting soon.


Yep, I suppose so. That or as Dancc said, Coast, would be suitable 15-min fillers.

Ah right. So there's a possibility that the F1 race could still be running past 9pm, if say it restarts around 7.30-7.40pm?

F1 I think will stay on BBC1 until 9pm. If say there's only 15 laps left, then they'll delay Case Histories until 9:30pm if necessary.

If however there's a lot longer left then switch until BBC2.

Edit: Fudd, there's 70 minutes, not 100 minutes left.

Could be a long wait. Any chance of them showing something else and coming back to F1 later I wonder?

Oops, I misheard 1 hour 14 for 1 hour 40. Someone on the F1 Broadcast thread has said the coverage will switch to BBC2 at 8.15 if there's been no racing by then. I haven't seen any confirmation as of yet, though - they may have just been making as assumption.

Yes realised too late - just 45 mins left now though, so I wonder what will happen, they cant fit this in now - so looks like AR pulled or F1 will switch to red button, if indeed it goes ahead? Will Case Histories be delayed? So many unknowns caused by H2O.

It's ITV's desire for the public vote which ruined Hell's Kitchen too - it's a much better format when the eliminations and winner are actually based on the cooking, not the popularity.

Ironically in the wake of The Apprentice Survivor might actually fair better now than it did then as viewers are used recorded formats, and 71 Degrees North didn't do too bad. It is one thing which worries me about The Voice - NBC had four studio shows with no public vote. I can't see even the BBC being brave enough to do that.



It does make you wonder how these deals are done - they all seem to get the On Demand rights, but overlook the need for narrative repeats, and both Camelot and Pillars of the Earth really would benefit from them, whether on C4 or More4. I'd imagine they have some sort of repeat rights after the series too - a rerun of Pillars of the Earth would really boost More4's ever weakening schedule.

They ought really show some classic F1 - with a banner every few minutes giving an update.

I dont see the point of the coverage of a race not happening wrecking BBC 1s primetime scheulde.

As long as it doesnt get in the way of Family Guy I wont mind however.

Like they used to do with cricket and tennis - with a big fat R in the corner of the screen.

Think The Royal maybe will find itself near to 6m tonight.

Yes but it's going to restart, they just know when. I'd keep it on BBC1 till 9. AR is no big loss. Surprised they haven't gone back to Jake yet, commentators still filling.

Touch James May's Toy Stories and they're dead.

Of course they won't do that. Antiques Roadshow has been deliberately scheduled to give them some leeway in the event of a race delay.

BBC not haven't much luck with the weather today what with the tennis as well. Sunday primetime on BBC1 - watching people getting wet. Still more exciting than an episode of The Royal though.