At midnight, if stories about the running lengths of this year's X Factor episodes are to be believed.

More proof that Channel 5 are listening to the critics while also trying to please the fans or even win some old ones back. They are definitely avoiding the overkill and tedious drivel like BBLB that made the show into a chore in its last years on Channel 4. Also no Davina and new graphics suggest a different approach.
However, I am going for 2.5 million for CBB and 2 million for BB, OK these were similar to what BB10 was getting on Channel 4, but very impressive for Channel 5 and gives them a solid rater for three months.

ITV'll only air Endeavour against Sherlock if they want it buried. Better to risk it on New Year's Eve or Bank Holiday Monday than against Sherlock on New Year's Day (if it does go there).

I agree apart from NYE would be an even worse night. ITV will be hoping Endeavour can be a hugely successful, long running new drama, having it clash against something as popular as Sherlock for its debut episode would be foolish IMO.

I think Endeavour will be old skewing which means it may just get away with a half decent figure on New Year's Eve. Certainly, I think it'd be preferable to pitching it against Sherlock anyway!

I didn't even realise Sooty was still going until I saw the reports of him attacking pensioners.


I watched the first episode of The Hour but just couldn't take to it. And I think it's a simple question of quality at the moment why C4 and BBC2 aren't establishing new series - SIrens for example is good, but it isn't bringing anything new to the table.

I guess like BBC1 and ITV1 it'll come down to investment - the dramas they've churned out in the last couple of years were disappearing without a trace until recently when they were a bit bolder in their ambitions. If a channel wants returning drama they need to invest in it, not do it on the cheap.

My NYD guess for Endeavour is based on the fact that ITV has said it's airing in "early 2012" and given that Dancing on Ice/Wild at Heart occupy nearly all the Sunday slots in Q1, New Year's Day would be the most realistic option that they'd be hoping for.

I can see where you're coming from regarding the Sherlock clash, that'd it inevitably dent Morse's rating and probably also put a slight dent in Sherlock's figure too, both denting each other in a sense. But there are big advantages of airing on New Year's Day - almost 30 million people watch TV on that night, which is way more than the ~24m odd who watch TV on Sundays in Spring (a time of the year that Endeavour could air alternatively). As you say, the Morse franchise skews very elderly with almost half its audience aged over 65 whereas Sherlock is relatively young-skewing for a drama so I think they could both clash against each other on NYD and still get some good figures, purely due to the sheer number of people watching telly on that evening.

I agree with you, New Year's Day seems the most likely date for it and it could still do well there, especially if ITV run an episode of Corrie on the day as its lead in. Remember Lewis' pilot got an overnight of 10.7m and timeshifted to 11m+ just 5 years ago, and is still capable of 7m overnights now on a good day (if STV are showing it), so the chances of Endeavour being a 5-6m drama for the pilot seem slim. Against 'normal' competition it could do very, very well I think. Not as well as the Lewis pilot but certainly 7-8m or even higher. Being attached to the Morse brand will do that. Sherlock would dent it obviously but the benefits of being on NYD should limit the overall effects of the clash.

ITV seem to be making a bit of an effort with drama over the Christmas-New Year period this year what with the Downton Abbey special and Endeavour, alongside one offs Just Henry and Fast Freddie, The Widow and Me, both of which sound good for Xmas and I think they'll do well (Just Henry will probably get a 7/8pm slot rather than 9pm though). They've also got another Poirot which might pop up. Could be some meaty drama clashes over Xmas this year.

I guess this is what happens when you run out of episodes of Poirot and Marple already in the can! Last year they showed a huge 8 hours of Agatha Christie dramas in 8 days, most of which had been in the can for months/years, but this year with only one episode left in the can they probably had to order other dramas for the Christmas period so there's going to be more variety.

Some info I received at work:

- BB's Bit On The Side is to air an hour each day from 11pm, every day for 83 days.

- Upcoming Millionaire Live is a soapstar special. Seems they're sticking to the new entertainment show format as they're asking for competition prizes.

That seems to be the case. I'm glad as there was just too much Agatha Christie stuff last year (3 Marples in a week was ridiculous) and the dramas they've ordered all sound good, and they have got a decent variety, although I bet it'll be Poirot on Christmas Day again! ITV won't be able to rely on Agatha Christie at Xmas for much longer as there aren't many Poirots left to do and it doesn't look like Marple will be back any time soon, and it might have been axed altogether.

Thanks for the info. That suggests that the BB Final will be on Wednesday 9th November, which could be tough as ITV will have The Jury and (if The Sun are to be believed) Millionaire Live whilst BBC1 will have Waterloo Road and Junior Apprentice.

I don't like the idea of a soapstars special of Millionaire. I'm surprised it's not an X Factor special as it'll have an X Factor lead in.

Seven
18:00 Seven News 1.38m
18:30 Today Tonight 1.24m
19:00 Home & Away 1.01m
19:30 Highway Patrol 1.06m
20:00 IRT: Deadliest Roads 0.82m
20:30 Season Finale: Criminal Minds 0.95m
21:30 Covert Affairs 0.60m

Nine
18:00 Nine News 1.07m
18:30 A Current Affair 0.99m
19:00 The Block 1.23m
19:30 Top Design 0.59m
20:30 RPA 0.58m
21:30 RPA - Where Are They Now? 0.56m

Ten
19:00 The 7pm Project 0.72m
19:30 MasterChef Australia 1.67m
21:05 The Renovators 0.78m

ABC1
19:00 ABC News 0.84m
19:30 7.30 0.46m
20:00 The New Inventors 0.45m
20:30 Spicks and Specks 0.75m
21:00 New Series: The Gruen Transfer 1.07m
21:30 Judith Lucy's Spiritual Journey 0.57m

Eleven
18:30 Neighbours 0.40m

Sources: Mediaweek / TVTonight

Apart from MasterChef, these numbers look quite low for a Wednesday.

I wonder why Big Brother would end midweek? Surely it'll end on the Friday.

If BB is ending in November then I assume The Mentalist will debut on Friday 11th November or Friday 18th November, take January off for CBB before resuming in February.

83 days means that normal Big Brother will only be 7-8 weeks unless CBB is only three weeks and BB is 8 weeks, that's short for a normal series and slightly shorter than usual for CBB.

I imagine any big film premieres will be saved for November although I'm sure they'll be a few premiere while BB is on.

Wonder if Channel 5 will use BB to launch a new series in the same way Channel 4 did with Lost and Invasion.With Lost they had Big Brother at 8 Lost at 8.30pm BB again at 9.30 and Lost second episode at 10pm. If they a US import that they want to launch big then they should do a similar approach.

It could mean that. But since The Bachelor is airing on Fridays, presumably ending up in a CBB eviction sandwich, then this suggests there will be room for a 60 minute programme in between the two shows. So perhaps they will run a shortened first show 9pm-9:30pm with voting numbers and a condensed highlights package, with the booting out and eviction interview 10:30pm-11pm. It would be tight but I think they could fit it in. This would pave the way for The Mentalist to return closer to US transmission like last year. Alternatively they could shift everything back half an hour so that The Gadget Show starts at 7:30pm and the first CBB show at 8:30pm after EastEnders.


Angels & Demons should definitely be saved until after because it's a long film that has a lot of ratings potential. It would be wasted at 10pm. Given how The Da Vinci Code rated, they should follow similar scheduling to that, starting at 8pm on a Sunday. It could be a big pre-Christmas premiere.

Something like Step Brothers could air during CBB as with ads it will only be around 2 hours long. They could air this on the Sunday before the August bank holiday (28th) after CBB at 10pm.

Will double check the BB info tomorrow (today now in fact!) as you're right, it doesn't quite add up. Seems like both series would have to be abnormally short. It's late and my memory is hazy so I'll take another look.

Not very scientific, but Emma Griffiths is due in December and she said the baby is due 3 weeks after the show ends.

The Mentalist doesn't really need to air close to transmission TBH and they could easily air it in February without any breaks. I would think a new US import would benefit rather than The Mentalist which its own audiences. If Person of Interest ends up on Channel 5 then I think they would use BB as a lead in.

Angels and Demons would do good ratings, not as high as The DaVinci Code which benefitted from good scheduling airing the same week as A&D cinema release, it was really heavily promoted with a day dedicated to it, they even had a special with interviews with Tom Hanks and Ron Howard.

There's the small issue of I'm a Celebrity starting the following Sunday so they presumably want it wrapped up before then.

Going back to Score's post above, you seem to be suggesting that Millionaire Live will be on Wednesday 9th November unless I'm missing something.

Can't everyone wait until Big Brother is actually on before talking about it in the most minutest most boring detail, no doubt it will be talked about to death then, as it is if the show is on for 15-16 weeks then its 15-16 weeks too long. Endless BB and Xfactor talk may drive me out of reading about ratings until december which will be sad, there is only so much I can stand heh.

Sorry about the rant and didn't mean to offend the BB lovers but still.

There is of course the danger I might get sucked in like most years and watch every ep (not last year).

the Mentalist may not NEED to air close to CBS pace, but there is no reason it shouldnt.

That said I expect it wont start till at least Jan 2012, to avoid some of the gaps the show suffered from last series.

With regards to the next series of Casualty, not only is it starting about 1 month early a week on Saturday, but RT has it down as 41 episodes rather than the standard 48 that have been produced since 2004.

which makes it odd its starting early, but im not surprised it lost a few episodes, saved a bit of money.

It MIGHT also need some time off for the move to Cardiff.

Yeah, when The Sun reported that ITV would be doing Millionaire specials throughout the year they said that one would be in mid-July and another on 20th August (and they've got those right) and they also said there would be another on 9th November featuring soldiers. Plans might have changed since of course but if they haven't I guess it'll be Millionaire Live at 7:30/8pm with The Jury at 9pm.

I'm unable to get the link just now but I'll find it and post it later if you want.

Maybe because of the Olympics it will be off for a few weeks?