The Ratings Thread (Part 21)

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Fudd

20-06-2011

Originally Posted by C.M.W.:
“Saturday looks too cluttered though, MOTD would be back halfway through the series, so I can't see it fitting in despite earlier thinking.”

Sunday then? They could even hold it back and pitch it against Downton Abbey as the shows presumably appeal to different audiences.

Score

20-06-2011

Originally Posted by rzt:
“According to DS reporter Morgan Jeffery:

So maybe Torchwood will be end up on Thursdays, and New Tricks on Mondays. Seems like we're going round in circles- hopefully we'll have a better idea tomorrow with the Digiguide updated schedules .”

That looks pretty official to me, so I think that'll be the right date, although as you say the schedules tomorrow will help.

A good slot for Torchwood there - most viewers won't care about the gap between the UK and US screenings. New Tricks on Mondays and Torchwood on Thursdays will be very strong for BBC1 this Summer, and I think ITV will have some reshuffling to do...

Score

20-06-2011

Originally Posted by rzt:
“I think they should've continued making Waking The Dead, even though it's an expensive drama to make. Ashes to Ashes, Hustle, Spooks, Lark Rise To Candleford all ended (or are ending pretty soon) due to creative reasons/writers departing/natural end but the actors and producers on WTD wanted to continue to make more and I think it's even more important for BBC to keep hold of their big dramas right now as they're going through a transitional period, with a lot of the early/mid 00's stuff ending. As you say, they should only really axe the big shows when they've got the replacements in the wings to get those sorts of figures but at the moment they're not in that position to do so.”

It reminds me of when ITV axed solid shows like Wire In The Blood, Trial and Retribution, Kingdom, Foyle's War (although that one got a reprieve) etc a couple of years ago and didn't have anything to replace them with and struggled. BBC1's situation isn't as bad as that obviously but there are definitely some parallels and a banker like WTD would be useful next year in a time of so many changes.

Quote:
“I really have no idea how Eternal Law will perform. It sounds like the sort of drama which in the last 5-10 years hasn't done well on ITV generally but earlier this year Marchlands did really well, so I think viewers will watch something, and more importantly stick with it, if it's good. They need to keep it pretty mainstream though and not too niche. As for Security Men, I'm quite disappointed it's taken this long to get the project to air. The show was talked about in August 2010, yet it'll be Q1/Q2 2012 when we get to actually see it on screen and it's just 4 episodes. That means, Benidorm aside, there's no scripted comedy shows on the channel this year at all, although that's more than last year I guess! Security Men, I reckon, needs to be shown in a non-Friday slot. It's too risky putting a new show on Fridays, the track record is poor. Once a show is established, it can be moved to Fridays, but launching a new show like Security Men would ideally go into the Monday/Thursday slot.”

Eternal Law must definitely be kept relatively mainstream or it could really flop. I don't think there are many big names in it either so it won't have the popularity of an actor to boost the first episode either, so the promotion will need to be spot on. The thing that disappoints me about Security Men is that its just 4 episodes. I don't really mind the development time but surely they could have 6 episodes at least! So far ITV's sitcom count for next year is 4 episodes of Security Men and 7 episodes of Benidorm. Not great and I hope they order more. They're morons if they put Security Men on Fridays too - Thursdays or even Mondays are where it should be.

Quote:
“These co-productions come in handy because they're cheaper to make so they can air them in summer, and even if they get lower ratings than the usual dramas they're acceptable for the time of the year. The BBC are also doing it with Torchwood this year, although I think that's capable of good figures anyway (but I don't think it'll rate as good as the 5-parter a couple years ago). I'm surprised TV channels don't do co-productions more. Even something like Taggart, despite the poor ratings and demos for the last series, they could've continued putting in £200-300k per episode and showed it during the summer where on a Thursday night it could've got ~4m- respectable enough for summer and they could claim it's "original drama" for a time of the year when they usually don't air much dramas.”

Quote:
“Julia McKenzie seemed quite unsure about there being more episodes of Marple in her interview on This Morning. She originally said that the new episodes hadn't been "greenlit" officially (sort of indicating that the episodes were in development) but then backtracked and said that they need more viewers to watch. Well, the opposite happened, and I think last Wednesday's Marple was their lowest (or at least one of their lowest) rated ever! I guess it might come down to how well the show sells broad, because I don't think it's as popular as something like Poirot/Lewis worldwide, so external revenues from International sales might not be good enough to make it worth producing further episodes of. It doesn't really repeat well on ITV1 either.”

Well if they wanted more viewers then Wednesday's ratings won't have been pretty! I don't see much point in them bothering with any more episodes for the reasons you've said, and it's not like they need it as they've got plenty of other 2 hour dramas (especially now they know Vera's a hit). There is some potential there, as shown by the Wednesday episode at Christmas which got a 5.2m overnight, but generally it doesn't do that well any more.

Joe40

20-06-2011

Facebook rumour is that Torchwood: Miracle Day will show first in the USA on Friday July 8th on the Starz channel (never heard of that channel). Also, this from BBC reporter Lizo Mzimba...

https://twitter.com/#!/lizo_mzimba/s...95668171128832

C.M.W.

20-06-2011

He's been at the BFI and clearly been given a nudge and a wink by TPTB. That's that sorted then.

It's only since 2004? their has been any drama during the Summer at all, at least on BBC1. WTD had a series starting in July if I remember which was the first time it had happened, when previously it had been on in the Autumn.

Dancc

21-06-2011

Seven
17:30 Deal or No Deal 0.70m
18:00 Seven News 1.44m
18:30 Today Tonight 1.35m
19:00 Home & Away 1.16m
19:30 No Ordinary Family 0.77m
20:30 The Amazing Race Australia 1.21m
21:30 Air Crash Investigations 0.47m

Nine
17:30 Hot Seat 0.81m
18:00 Nine News 1.29m
18:30 A Current Affair 1.17m
19:00 New Series: The Block 1.34m
20:00 The Big Bang Theory 1.31m
20:30 Come Fly With Me 1.03m
21:00 Rescue Special Ops 0.68m
22:00 Rescue Special Ops 0.66m

Ten
17:00 Ten News at Five 0.65m
18:30 6:30 with George Negus 0.46m
19:00 The 7pm Project 0.72m
19:30 MasterChef Australia 1.68m
20:40 Offspring 1.00m
21:40 House 0.59m

7TWO
18:45 Heartbeat 0.18m
19:50 Jonathan Creek 0.22m
21:00 Wimbledon 2011: Day 1 0.17m

Eleven
18:30 Neighbours 0.37m
19:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 0.19m
20:30 Supernatural 0.17m
21:30 Supernatural 0.17m

Dancc

21-06-2011

Strong opening figures for The Block. Reality TV is very strong in Australia at the moment. Home & Away held up well though with The 7pm Project worse affected.

sn_22

21-06-2011

Blimey, this thread has burned through some pages today.

Lots of interesting discussion to pick up on too...

Originally Posted by RobbieSykes123:
“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.”

This situation has been brewing for a couple of years now. Every time rzt did one of these drama lists we would note how old many of BBC One's successful dramas are - and yet there doesn't seem to have been a whole lot of urgency on their part to establish replacements. Instead, they seem very happy pumping out more and more 3-4 part serials. These are often very good and pull strong ratings, but they can only realistically make so much of an impact when they arrive and leave for good in the space of a month.

Meanwhile, Ashes to Ashes, Lark Rise, and Waking the Dead have gone - Hustle is on its way, and New Tricks and Spooks seem likely to follow soon. And the only replacements really on the same level as far as I can see are Sherlock and Upstairs Downstairs. Perhaps with Luther and Silk a notch down from that. If I were Danny Cohen or Ben Stephenson, I'd find this all a bit troubling.

Originally Posted by D.M.N.:
“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.”

It's not so much C5 that surprises me - rather how comprehensively BBC2 is thrashing C4. Not very many years ago, it could well have been the other way round. BBC2 has its own ratings trouble of course (the falling share is clearly causing concern) but there's some great quality, strongly rated successes for them in that list, too. For Channel 4, things are far, far thinner on the ground.

Originally Posted by Brekkie:
“I guess so. I do think the IAAF have made the Diamond League too big - the more meetings which are apart of it the less important those meetings were. With the Golden 4 and then the 6-8 leg Golden League it truly was the most prestigious meetings on the calendar, and if they had kept it say to 8 meetings the BBC would probably be more likely to give them a regular BBC2 slot.”

I'd agree with this. I watched a good portion of the last 2 meetings in the US - and though I'm a big athletics fan, I just couldn't muster much enthusiasm at all. The athlete line ups were, frankly, very poor and couldn't justify even a BBC Three slot.

Hopefully the big European meetings will be much better and I'll be interested to see how they fare on BBC2. I do think its a real shame that the BBC have lost the World Championships at a time when their coverage of the other meets is more comprehensive than I can remember it in years.

Originally Posted by Score:
“That looks pretty official to me, so I think that'll be the right date, although as you say the schedules tomorrow will help.

A good slot for Torchwood there - most viewers won't care about the gap between the UK and US screenings. New Tricks on Mondays and Torchwood on Thursdays will be very strong for BBC1 this Summer, and I think ITV will have some reshuffling to do...”

I have to say, personally, I'd have switched those two round. NT can hold up any day, and I would have liked to see BBC One get TW as close as humanly possible to the Starz screening. I've not been on to the Torchwood forum yet, but I imagine a 5 day gap goes down like a ton of bricks there. Not that they are representative of the general audience, mind, but I still wonder whether this could generate a few negative headlines.

JCR

21-06-2011

Originally Posted by sn_22:
“I would have liked to see BBC One get TW as close as humanly possible to the Starz screening. I've not been on to the Torchwood forum yet, but I imagine a 5 day gap goes down like a ton of bricks there. Not that they are representative of the general audience, mind, but I still wonder whether this could generate a few negative headlines.”

I'd certainly imagine there'll be a few angry posts about spoilers on this board, and the Daily Mail may pick up on that.

cylon6

21-06-2011

RTD said at the Torchwood screeening tonight that the UK would get it 6 days after it's shown on Starz in America. It starts on July 8th over there so July 14th seems more or less like the date.

New Tricks home is Monday night and it never should have been moved so I say keep it there. In all honesty I'd love New Tricks to have a Sunday slot, but it's not meant to be.

Does this mean that New Tricks/Torchwood might be facing Law & Order UK when it returns?

spkx

21-06-2011

Originally Posted by C14E:
“Well there's a Mark Sidaway that has been Series Producer ever since Andrew Llinares became Exec Producer (2007, I think). My money is on it being him.

Andrew Llinares wasn't credited on BGT this year - Sam Donnelly was the other TT producer. Not sure if he'll be particularly involved with the UK show. If he is they'll end up with as many Exec Producers here as they have in the US!”

Cheers for this. May have been Sidaway I guess.

In regards to Llinares, I got him being involved from Broadcast

newkid30

21-06-2011

Originally Posted by grahamzxy:
“
I can see Case Histories holding up to 4.1m tonight. the 9pm hour is very competitive tonight all 5 programmes could do well.”

Gosh I thought 9pm last night was dreadful, worst in a long time, we turned off the TV and the weather here was terrible. Different strokes.

Charnham

21-06-2011

I do think Torchwood should be airing sooner, but Thursday works for me.

derek500

21-06-2011

Originally Posted by Joe40:
“Facebook rumour is that Torchwood: Miracle Day will show first in the USA on Friday July 8th on the Starz channel (never heard of that channel).”

It's a 'premium' US cable channel, who brought us the Spartacus shows along with Camelot and The Pillars of the Earth.

Don't know if Torchwood has been given the Starz treatment? If it has, expect lots of F words, the occasional 'see you next Tuesday' and plenty of nudity!!

excel99

21-06-2011

Originally Posted by Score:
“ITV have had a strong year so far, and with new dramas Vera, Kidnap and Ransom, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Case Sensitive and Scott and Bailey all either definitely recommissioned or almost certainly to be then they've had a solid year. In addition, returning titles Wild at Heart, Benidorm, Lewis, Above Suspicion, Law & Order: UK and Midsomer Murders will all be back in the first half of next year, along with Whitechapel, meaning that their drama slate for the next year and even further ahead is looking very strong. They could do with one or two new non-crime dramas to take off for the first half of the year to sit alongside the ones they have there and Downton and Doc Martin in the Autumn, and I think they'll be looking to Eternal Law to be that drama (I know there's a bit of crime there but that's not really its genre).”

Shame Marchlands doesn't appear to be coming back since it rated well. Is there no chance that could be recommissioned?

Originally Posted by Score:
“They're very useful and I do think they should have given Taggart another go, but it's blatantly obvious that ITV aren't interested in Taggart and even went out of their way to mess up the ratings for the last series (although I doubt they expected them to be quite as low as they were!), possibly to get one over on STV. A shame for the fans of the show, though.”

They had the perfect opportunity to give it another go when they resolved their dispute with STV. Instead they comissioned a one-off drama for Christmas from STV. Maybe they feel Taggart has had it's day?

D.M.N.

21-06-2011

So with New Tricks on Mondays and Torchwood on Thursdays, do we expect Law and Order: UK on Thursdays? I'd be surprised if that didn't happen.

supersaint1

21-06-2011

They're very useful and I do think they should have given Taggart another go, but it's blatantly obvious that ITV aren't interested in Taggart and even went out of their way to mess up the ratings for the last series (although I doubt they expected them to be quite as low as they were!), possibly to get one over on STV. A shame for the fans of the show, though. Co-productions can be really good but ITV's 2 main co-productions this year (Taggart and Primeval) haven't really worked out. With timeshift those Primeval ratings don't actually look that bad, but it definitely won't be back after the next series (which is much better than the awful fourth series quality-wise), but apparently the producers were pretty certain of that when making it so the main storylines have been resolved this time - unlike last time it was axed!

I feel as if it was Stv that messed up Taggart? They changed the cast, the writers, the producers, the directors and the "theme tune" for the last series.
They also showed it first in Scotland before it was shown on Itv1 thus denting it's network viewing figures.
A strong returning brand like Taggart really should have held its own against a Channel 4 doc about Gypies. To get less than 3m was shocking for an established show like Taggart.
Stv really are now flogging a dead horse.

derek500

21-06-2011

Originally Posted by excel99:
“Shame Marchlands doesn't appear to be coming back since it rated well. Is there no chance that could be recommissioned?”

One off story with a beginning and end. How could they bring it back?

rzt

21-06-2011

One rating in from yesterday:

Made In Britain (BBC2): 2.7m

rzt

21-06-2011

Monday 20th June Overnights
BBC One
06:00- Breakfast: 1.6m (35.5%)
18:00- BBC News at Six: 4.2m (23.6%)
18:30- Regional News and Weather: 5.1m (26.6%)
19:00- The One Show: 3.7m (17.7%)
19:30- Saints and Scroungers: 3.2m (14.0%)
20:00- EastEnders: 8.0m (33.2%)
20:30- Land of Anarchy - Panorama: 2.1m (8.8%)
21:00- Case Histories: 4.0m (16.6%)
22:00- BBC News at Ten: 4.4m (21.4%)
22:35- A Question of Sport: 2.4m (15.8%)

BBC Two
17:50- Wimbledon 2011: 3.6m (16.8%)
21:00- Made in Britain: 2.7m (10.9%)
22:00- James May's Things You Need to Know...: 1.7m (8.6%)
22:30- Newsnight: 0.9m (6.2%)
23:20- Today at Wimbledon: 0.5m (5.7%)
24:00- Kennedy Home Movies: 0.3m (6.2%)
01:00- The Tudors: 0.2m (6.9%)

ITV1 (inc ITV1+1)
06:00- Daybreak: 0.7m (16.9%)
08:30- Lorraine: 0.8m (16.0%)
18:30- ITV News & Weather: 3.2m (16.7%)
19:00- Emmerdale: 6.8m (32.0%)
19:30- Coronation Street: 8.4m (36.5%)
20:00- The Dales: 3.6m (14.7%)
20:30- Coronation Street: 8.3m (33.3%)
21:00- Four of a Kind: 4.3m (17.2%)
22:00- ITV News at Ten & Weather: 2.5m (11.9%)
22:35- Lethal Weapon 3: 0.9m (9.3%)

Channel 4 (inc C4+1)
18:00- The Simpsons: 1.6m (7.2%)
18:30- Hollyoaks: 1.1m (4.9%)
19:00- Channel 4 News: 0.7m (2.8%)
20:00- Conservation's Dirty Secret: Dispatches: 0.9m (3.3%)
21:00- Embarrassing Fat Bodies: 3.0m (10.5%)
22:00- She's the Man: 0.8m (4.9%)

Channel 5
17:00- 5 News at 5: 0.7m (5.8%)
17:30- Neighbours: 1.2m (8.1%)
18:00- Home and Away: 0.9m (5.2%)
18:25- OK! TV: 0.3m (1.7%)
19:00- Cricket: England v Sri Lanka Test Series: 0.4m (1.9%)
20:00- Police Interceptors: 1.1m (4.5%)
21:00- The Restaurant Inspector: 1.1m (4.7%)

Sky Atlantic
21:00- Game of Thrones: 667,200 (2.75%)
* second-highest overnight rating of series
* overnight series average: 595,100 (2.4%)
* double Sky Atlantic's slot average: 305,000 (1.2%).

Ratings include HD and are full-slot averages

GeorgeS

21-06-2011

Originally Posted by rzt:
“One rating in from yesterday:

Made In Britain (BBC2): 2.7m”

thats very good. deservedly so as it was interesting, even if Evan Davis was somewhat annoying with his camera hogging.

Four of A Kind did well too.

Dancc

21-06-2011

Excellent figure for Made in Britain, helped it seems by a suitably strong Wimbledon lead-in. Close between BBC One and ITV1 at 9pm by the looks of things but nothing special for either. And that's an especially low figure for Panorama, I can't remember seeing it as low as that in a long time.

Quite low for the cricket as well, which looks to have been dented by the tennis. Channel 5's Monday night between 8pm and 10pm seems very stable around the 1m mark. Not spectacular, but reliable performers I guess. Anything for the premiere of Lakeview Terrace at 10pm? I'd have thought it would beat the movie repeats on ITV1 and Channel 4.

GeorgeS

21-06-2011

How did Dinner Date ITV1's new 5pm show do?

rzt

21-06-2011

Originally Posted by mlt11:
“Still no golf ratings?
...

Look forward to seeing Sunday's ratings when you get them tomorrow.

Could the peak hit 1 million? I suspect not but could be very close. Maybe about 950k?”

Sun - SS2, 6.30pm to 12.30am: 920k (6.8%)
* peak: 1.42m (7.9%) at 22:35

Brilliant rating for the golf. Surprised no website reported it.

kittenkong42

21-06-2011

BBC Two
17:50- Wimbledon 2011: 3.6m (16.8%)

That looks like a really good audience for the tennis. Obviously the Andy Murray match being included there helps

And it didn't seem to come at the expense of other channels - viewing figures for BBC1 / ITV seem stable week-on-week, there was just a larger viewing audience.

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