Yes, as I think DMN has suggested, The Times piece is basically just having a go at the BBC whilst planting seeds of doubt in the minds of the casual reader.

They're filming the new batch of 6 episodes at the moment and ITV have said the series will be shown in 2012. It'll probably be shown early-ish in 2012.


Yeah I think they'll have Single Handed planned for Sundays after Scott & Bailey. The first series only averaged 3.8m but it was recommissioned because it was an RTE import, so really cheap compared to your usual ITV drama. I think the next series is a co-production with ITV though so they'll probably be hoping for better figures.

Here's the BBC1/ITV1 Demographic Information for Sunday 12th to Saturday 18th June: http://i56.tinypic.com/3142zb7.jpg

That's one very old-skew for Marple - I don't recall seeing a programme in primetime terrestrial TV (bar BBC2) skewing with an audience as old as that. ABC1 audience for it is decent though.

Bit of a concern for the BBC that out of that top 10, only 3 have a future. And of those 3, one is getting only a limited run next year, probably late in the year.

Of the other 7, two were one offs, 3 have already been axed, and one has one final series to go. And the jury's out on the other which has now settled at a sub-5m figure, and may not have been recommissioned anyway even if a hit.

I doubt ITV are too bothered with the failing of PTO- it was axed once before and they'll just do it again. Its summer filler and they're clearly not expecting much from it. But the proportionate drop of SYTYCD is much higher than Flopstar to Operastar, that was getting around 5m last year up against fairly tough competition. Even with its awful ratings this year I'm not convinced its a format the BBC should quite give up on, but if they gave it a bit of a shake up with a new panel etc then it could become a good acqusition for BBC2/3. Dance shows tend to have a very loyal audience that would watch no matter what the channel, and it could rival Sky 1's Got To Dance.

Yeah, I'd like that, cheers. I do find the international ratings interesting. I post the Australian ones most nights.

Do you have the TV3 ratings as well?

Going to start a different chart as from this week, as I think it'd be nice to see what's leading out of the 'other 3' and to see what sort of shows fill their top 20, as some figures are pretty impressive (I was going to do this chart a few weeks ago, but have only just got around to doing it) :

Most Watched "Alternative" Shows of 2011 [Top 20 - Officials]
01 - 8.80m - BIG FAT GYPSY WEDDINGS (08/02/11) - C4
02 - 7.72m - COMIC RELIEF (18/03/11) - BBC2/HD
03 - 7.38m - TOP GEAR (23/01/11) - BBC2/HD
04 - 6.65m - ERIC AND ERNIE (01/01/11) - BBC2
05 - 6.05m - FORMULA 1: THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX (12/06/11) - BBC2/HD

06 - 4.59m - MORECAMBE AND WISE CHRISTMAS SHOW (01/01/11) - BBC2
07 - 4.42m - WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE (06/03/11) - BBC2/HD
08 - 4.35m - MATCH OF THE DAY LIVE (25/01/11) - BBC2/HD
09 - 4.32m - MADAGASCAR (09/02/11) - BBC2/HD
10 - 4.17m - EMBARRASSING BODIES (04/02/11) - C4

11 - 4.10m - ATTENBOROUGH AND THE GIANT EGG (02/03/11) - BBC2/HD
12 - 4.05m - SHAMELESS (10/01/11) - C4
13 - 3.98m - STARGAZING LIVE (03/01/11) - BBC2/HD
14 - 3.93m - WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP (02/05/11) - BBC2
15 - 3.87m - UNITED (24/04/11) - BBC2/HD

16 - 3.77m - THE APPRENTICE: YOU'RE FIRED (08/06/11) - BBC2/HD
17 - 3.76m - ARCTIC WITH BRUCE PARRY (06/02/11) - BBC2
18 - 3.72m - FILM: TAKEN (05/03/11) - C4
19 - 3.72m - THE SHADOW LINE (05/05/11) - BBC2/HD
20 - 3.71m - ERIC AND ERNIE - BEHIND THE SCENES (01/01/11) - BBC2

Source: BARB. Excludes +1, Includes HD for Terrestrial Chart. Only 1 programme per 'show'.

Have to admit I'm surprised about the lack of Channel 5 shows on that list. 4 C4 shows; 16 BBC2 shows.

thanks yeah a lot more was spent on this series of Single Handed, it looked good, didn't see it all as it was before i got sky plus

It is a bit odd that you ignore TV3 when it beats RTE2 in share. Do you use medialive for the figures?

i find the aussie ones interesting, surprised how well DA and CFWM do over there. Can't seem to find TV3's , if i do i'll post

Their only realistic opportunity to get onto that chart is with Celebrity Big Brother which should get launch night ratings of about 4m. I'm not sure if it has been mentioned but Broadcast are claiming it begins on Wednesday 10th August, so about 6 or 7 weeks away.

odd that a programme about an elderly spinster would rate old! but seriously its 16-34 is seriously lower than Baby Hospital and even The Choir That Rocks never mind The Waltons, so gross numbers aren't everything :

I read that article too regarding the launch date, and I'm hoping it's not true. There's an England v Netherlands football match that night on ITV1, which would dent the BB launch figure. I know the two audiences are probably largely different but it'd still be better going up against weak opposition to try and maximise the launch viewing figures rather than have it possibly dented by relatively tough competition like that.

Good timeshift for the first Camelot on C4. Up 43% from 2.24m to 3.20m.

Even the +1 version increased 21% from 299k to 363k.

RTE's are easy to get, on text or the RTE website but i cant seem to find TV3's. They do screen a lot of good shows; Corrie, Emmerdale, Irish Apprentice, CDWM Ireland, Celebrity Salon, Banged Up Abroad, Midweek, Tonight with Vincent Browne etc.

Lol, yeah I did expect it to have an old skew but not that much! I don't think anything on BBC1 or ITV1 primetime so far this year, which I've seen the demos for, have had as low as a 13% 18-49 skew! I guess it doesn't really matter though as advertising spots during Marple would've been based on its ABC1 audience but it's still interesting to note nevertheless.

Looks like Andy Murray's match will start somewhere between 5.30 and 6.00. Should be a straight-setter but could get a nice audience and dent BBC1/ITV1 tonight.

so will RTE. I think its costing about £500k an episode and RTE are rumoured to have recovered only about 5% od that in ad revenues during its RTE screening. It was up against X Factor and Downton on Tv3/UTV though. Difficult to see it returning without further ITV and/or other investors ponying up more cash given RTEs dire financial position

you can get them on www.medialive.ie but they are adults only TG4's are on their website too.

Good job they have the roof on centre court, however I wonder if it'll switch back to BBC1 at 7pm if the match is still in progress?

It's the first round so I suspect the answer is a No.

Don't be surprised. Channel 5 has a smaller reach than both of those channels and most of the shows in your list are one offs, major sporting events, major movie premieres, or spinoffs of successful programmes on other channels. In a few months time we'll get more of an idea on whether or not Channel 5 is going to make serious ratings progress this year and become a major player, it's too early to say at this stage.

There's nothing on your list that makes me go OMG except for Gypsy (why DID that rate so well?) and Eric & Ernie which is not a continuing threat. The likes of Shameless and The Shadow Line lost a hell of a lot of viewers across their runs so the figures above are absolute peaks and not at all typical of their performance.

thanks i'll find them very interesting, never heard of that website before.

Don't think they ever really do that in the first week do they? Hopefully we'll see plenty of it next week.

Like a cuckoo heralding spring, you know summer's arrived when the DS Ratings Thread is full of posts about the BBC maximising the tennis audience, and how very dare they....

Hmm. A midweek launch, same as BB8 (6.2m overnight) and BB11 (5m inc. +1 overnight). Seems like a good choice of night because it won't interrupt any of Channel 5's long-running programmes there. NCIS 7 will be done and dusted after this week so they could effectively devote the whole evening to Big Brother, perhaps kicking off with an OK! TV special and a few documentaries/retrospectives.