New Tricks really is doing the business. Not a huge amount of shows are made for older people these days, so its good to see the BBC producing a show aimed at an under served section of society - proper public broadcasting really. Old people may not be very advertising friendly, but there are loads of them out there and they do tend to watch tv!

I expect it did fall below 2m as the rating includes +1.
That is totally unacceptable for Monday 9pm, even for the summer and the show needs to be pulled at once.

You said it.

Well done to New Tricks. I predicted it would beat EE and Corrie but thought it would go below 8m so that is above my expectations considering the weather. EE and Corrie held up better than I thought they would - thought they'd be down in the mid 7 millions.

Looks like this will be ITV's line-up for the first few weeks in October:

19:00 - Harry Hill's TV Burp
19:30 - The X Factor
22:30 - Piers Morgan's Life Stories
23:30 - ITV News

And no, three hours long is not a mistake, nor a typo: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s103/...than-ever.html

Bad news for BBC trying to make sure Strictly does not clash with The X Factor and bad news for Channel 5, putting Big Brother against The X Factor would be suicidal.

Oh dear we barely got through the 2 hour shows

Leaving aside whether many viewers would be able or willing to sit through three solid hours of XF, there will surely come a time when the wheels come off the ratings juggernaut that is XF, and ITV will be left with a pretty big hole in their schedules and their revenue streams. There has to be a limit as to how far ITV or SyCo can milk it.

I Know it could be bad news for channel 5 but why the BBC didn't Strictly finish before 7:30 last year some times?

Do we have any time splits available for Regional News / The One Show in the 6:30 - 7:30 slot? I think 6:30 - 7 it was about 50:50 on the regions as to which show they had wasn't it? Be interested to see if ratings went up or down around 7pm...

Another fantastic rating for New Tricks, it's as solid as a rock. A show in its eighth series getting some of its highest ratings ever is astonishing. Panorama before it posted a good number too. Atrocious for Show Me The Funny - the lowest rating in that Monday 9pm slot ever on ITV1! I really don't understand why they don't pull the show now, are they really going to accept 4 more ratings of 2m or below?! Any other broadcaster would pull it. Sirens has now stabilised at the 1m mark but that's still poor and C4's search for a potential new renewable drama series continues. Great rating for the cricket - it's had some 1.3m ratings before but not seen 1.4m so far this year, which is very strong for the timeslot.

I'd be really surprised if they have episodes as long as 3 hours. I wouldn't be surprised, say for instance, if they have more of the 2.5 hours live shows as they've done it in the past but just realistically 16 contestants is not enough to fill up a 3 hour show without a huge noticeable lag. As the report only uses words from an "insider", at the moment I'd take the "3-hour" bit with a pinch of salt, although the core story of there possibly being more XF might be true.


It'll be a few years I reckon. As we discussed a couple of months ago, TXF is so big that it could decline 10% per year (realistically I doubt it'd even drop that much continuously anyway) for the next five years and still easily be one of the biggest shows on TV. It's in that sort of fortunate position. The time will come one day of course but I still think it's quite a way off. I agree though that ITV need to now start bringing through new hit light entertainment shows to initially complement the current big-hitters and then possibly take their places in the schedules one day. Having nothing waiting in the wings would be a poor position to be in.

Would ITV even have enough primetime advert allowance to do that?

I suspect it's not tailor made "for old people", it just happens to appeal to an older demographic.

That said, with the huge numbers tuning in, I suspect it gets more "younger people" than some shows seemingly tailor made for them.


I take that with a pinch of salt.

But in a way I hope they do, because 4 ridiculous hours of TXF per weekend is overkill on a mammoth scale, and the inevitably lower average ratings on Saturdays combined with the lack of Cowell and the Geordie lass, will surely hasten the show's demise. The Beeb may well fancy a decent overrun too if theres a 3 hour show.

Bring it on I say!!!

And in the tea-time battle from last night, although The Chase is in repeat mode:

17:00 - The Chase: 1.16m (9.0%)
17:15 - Pointless: 2.20m (16.6%)

We don't know for sure that there will even be a Saturday highlights show yet so don't get too excited.

I really cannot see C5 pitting Big Brother against The X Factor under ANY circumstances.

Excluding +1, 1.93m (8.1%) watched Show Me the Funny. Surely it has to be pulled now.

Big Brother will get crushed against The Xtra Factor, let alone against X Factor itself. Channel 5 ought to just drop the Saturday episodes when the main series kicks in in September.

There is a certain amount of logic in a 3 hour episode of X Factor; the ratings will probably be down anyway and rather than blame it on the new judging line up, ITV could blame it on the extended running time. But even if it loses 50% of its audience (which won't happen) it would still be getting a healthy audience.

Conclusive proof that "inhereted audience" strategy doesnt work.

People will make up thier own minds what to watch and not just stay on the same channel.

At there is now something truly funny about Show Me The Funny - its ratings!

1.9m for one of Itv's plummest of plum slots. Almost unthinkable.


But how much more badly would SMTF be doing without the week's best lead in?

Even at a derisory 1.9m, it's still getting a leg up!

Excellent for Channel 5 in the 7pm hour. It pushed them up to 3rd place last night. This really could be the year for Channel 5. Has anyone else noticed how well Neighbours is doing at 1:45pm nowadays? It is still riding high even in the summer. I think the publicity it has gained through Ian Smith's promo and Jackie Woodburne's This Morning appearance have assisted with this.

And with Celebrity Big Brother around the corner, this could look up. Anyone guessing what the Celeb Big B launch will get? It normally got 7m/8m on C4 in the Winter, so I'm estimating about 4/4.5m in C5 in the summer.

The problem with pulling Show Me The Funny is that they have a live final booked in a couple of weeks time where the winner is decided, plus the prize is the chance to tour and record a live DVD, so surely they would have to continue so these are fullfilled?

Another problem is that - after bringing us The Marriage Ref and Born To Shine - Peter Fincham would have to admit that he's screwed up on the entertainment front yet again.

Still, he did give us Daybreak, so let's not be too harsh.

This is turning out to be one of ITV1's worst Summers ever. The following programmes have all been below 3m:

-Show Me The Funny
-Born To Shine
-The Marriage Ref
-Odd One In
-Penn & Teller
-Harry Potter Top 50
-Homes From Hell
-The Choir That Rocks
-Single Handed

And stuff like L&O is underperforming. The only decent rating shows are the soaps, repeats of films & dramas and an axed drama which says a lot. XF's return can't come quick enough, but I can almost guarantee it will be considerably down with the new judging line up.

Great night for Ch5 with the Cricket boosting the rest of the schedule. PI is on the way up and that's the best rating I've seen for a Monday film repeat in a while.

Ooh, Odd One In and The Choir That Rocks....two more recent entertainment turkeys. Fincham and Elaine Bedell really are earning their money.

Absolutely diabolical for Show Me The Funny, just dreadful. Surely it has to be pulled now? On the other hand, terrific for New Tricks as ever.

A little bit of comfort for ITV about last night from Broadcast:


Very solid stuff for it (709k incl +1). Interesting that Ramsay's imported shows are doing (relatively) better than his UK stuff, with Nightmares USA also doing well in the tough 10pm slot. Time for a change of tactic from C4?

It really has been appalling for them. Show Me The Funny, Born To Shine and The Marriage Ref are the three standout flops to me but Odd One In, Homes From Hell, The Choir That Rocks, Baby Hospital and Popstar To Operastar have all flopped too. Fool Us didn't exactly set the world alight (although remained above 3m with +1) and whilst Single Handed hasn't gone sub-3m yet it surely will do soon. Scott and Bailey has been their only hit. Whilst L&O is under-performing compared to everything else it's doing well and will at least timeshift to 5m+.

Next year they'll have the World Cup but the Olympics will make it even more difficult, and I think they'd be better off just going into repeat mode.