Good spot. So ITV1 launching Downton Abbey on 18th September probably then.


Yes 6th August is the last episode of the current series of Casualty. It will return on either the 3rd or 10th of September.

thanks, whilst obviously the posted episode is a finale, it could have been Part 1 of a 2 Part finale.

All we know for definite at this moment in time is that the launch is 4 weeks away. It will launch during week commencing 13th August.

I have no idea what numbers they are expecting to be honest, but it only has to clear 3.2m to be their top rating show of 2011. It should easily manage that. And I agree, with so little competition, it should be practically guaranteed a high audience for the first night at least. Of course, everyone's interpretation of "high" is different - there will be some natural dropoff from it moving channels, even though the leap is the smallest possible. I think though just like any other CBB launch the public will be very curious to see who's going in...

Sorry, you won't get any more detailed predictions off of me just yet. I'm sitting very much on the fence until we get nearer and learn more about the scheduling. But I'm encouraged by what I'm hearing so far, and also what I'm seeing from the other commercial channels, i.e. neither ITV1 or Channel 4 in particularly good shape just now.

My birthday. Those ITV1 schedulers are spoling me.

what is Channel 5 getting you?

Looking ahead to my birthday, its going to be slim pickings unless Film4 has a movie ive not seen yet, or BBC 2 does the decent thing and airs "United States of Tara"

Does anyone have the rating for last night's Top of the Pops:1976 on BBC Four?

That's a good point, maybe they could somehow hit their news quota in primetime just through the updates so they wouldn't have to have the 7pm bulletin. It's ridiculous really that Ofcom insist on it. Why can't they just send a spreadsheet with the viewing figures for 5 News at 7 this year to Ofcom to clearly demonstrate the lack of demand there is for this second bulletin. It's not that 5 News is unpopular, we see from the ratings for the 5pm bulletin that this is not the case, but the combination of Channel 4 News already serving people perfectly well at 7pm and the fact that 5 News at 7 is identical to a successful bulletin two hours prior, means the audience isn't there for it. They should cut C5 some slack and relax the rules, especially since they air over 3 hours of children's programmes a day, which is something they are NOT obliged to do but do so anyway as a public service.

ITV4 all day share of 1.7%, so the tour is really doing excellent numbers for the channel and much cheaper than football rights.

Well Desmond could deliver on his promise to bring Panorama to Channel Five as he said when he bought it

24 hours in A&E managed a series high last night on Channel 4. Its full slot rating to 1dp was 2.7m. For the first time it makes an entry into Channel 4's most watched programs of the year so far:


Channel 4 top programs of 2011 so far:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C4 -------------- C4 +1 ----------- C4 Official
01: Big Fat Gypsy Weddings 08/02/11 ----------------------------- 7.5m (29.2%) -------- 711k --------------- 8.80m
02: My Big Fat Royal Gypsy Wedding 28/04/11 --------------- 4.0m (16.5%) -------- 650k --------------- 4.56m
03: Embarrassing Bodies 04/02/11 ---------------------------------- 3.6m (14.9%) -------- 587k --------------- 4.17m
04: FILM premiere: Taken 05/03/11 -------------------------------- 3.2m (14.3%) -------- 505k --------------- 3.72m
05: Shameless 10/01/11 -------------------------------------------------- 3.1m (15.8%) -------- 355k --------------- 4.05m
06: FILM: premiere: The Day The Earth Stood Still 19/6 - 3.0m (12.3%) -------- 633k --------------- 3.47m
07: FILM: premiere: Iron Man 2/01/11 ----------------------------- 3.0m (12.1%) -------- 561k --------------- 3.39m
08: Embarrassing Fat Bodies 6/06/11 ------------------------------ 3.0m (11.9%) -------- 504k --------------- 3.29m
09: The Real King's Speech 23/02/11 ------------------------------ 2.8m (11.3%) -------- 265k --------------- 3.31m
10: One Born Every Minute 14/02/11 ------------------------------- 2.8m (11.1%) -------- 374k --------------- 3.44m
11: Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2010 3/01/11 ------------------------ 2.7m (12.9%) -------- 400k --------------- 3.34m
12: 24 Hours In A&E 20/07/11 ------------------------------------------- 2.7m (12.1%) -------- 297k -----------------------
13: Mary Portas: Secret Shopper 19/01/11 ---------------------- 2.7m (11.1%) -------- 349k ---------------- 3.36m
14: FILM premiere: Marley and Me 10/7/11 --------------------- 2.7m (~11%) -------- 505k ---------------- 3.18m
15: Million Pound Drop 04/02/11 ------------------------------------- 2.6m (14.2%) ------ ~180k ---------------- 2.79m
16: Britain's Fattest Man 5/01/11 -------------------------------------- 2.6m (11.3%) -------- 334k --------------- 3.01m
17: Undercover Boss 5/7/11 --------------------------------------------- 2.6m (11.2%) -------- 358k --------------- 3.01m



Last year's chart for comparison (there were no new entries after that post).

C4 and C4 +1 are overnight ratings, C4 official are from the Barb website.
All overnight ratings are averages for the full slot running time, rounded to 1 decimal place.
Shows are ranked in order of overnight ratings.
Each show only gets one mention in the list.
Come Dine With Me would chart in 2011 ~ 2.6m but don't have exact rating

That appears to confirm the rumour then that Doc Martin will be on Mondays starting on Monday 12th September: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...postcount=2782

The above also means the final of Red or Black will be on Sunday 11th September. That'll be an interesting few weeks for both BBC1's and ITV1's schedules, do BBC1 get a head start of one week and potentially 'crush' Red or Black from the get go and hope it is not a hit or launch their shows the week after? Difficult choice considering ITV will be stripping Coronation Street that week. Tough call.

Also, on the basis of Celebrity Big Brother launching on 17th or 18th August - if it is 3 weeks long (which going on the length of the Channel 4 series' it will be), then the final and the debut of Big Brother 12 will both be sometime during Red or Black week.

From a ratings perspective, the first week in September looks interesting to say the least for BBC1, ITV1 and Channel 5...

Does anyone have the rating for the Season 3 premiere of Sons of Anarchy on 5USA last night? (10pm)

Going by the fact that 5USA's share rose from 1% last week to 1.2% last night, I'm guessing it went quite well.

Looking at tonight and I think Channel 5 could be a big winner. Torchwood may be able to keep 4 million but ITV will be down in the low 3 millions. If Cowboy Builders can maintain last week's rating or rise again tonight then I reckon that would provide a solid basis for Big Brother to launch on a Thursday night.

1.88m (7.7%) to beat for Cowboy Builders to set an all-time high.

I can remember it as an evening programme on Border and Tyne Tees in the late seventies and prior to that an afternoon porgramme. Not bad going for a programme, 39 years on, considering General Hospital and Crown Court are long since gone.

Very difficult call for BBC One. I think the Corrie strip makes it very difficult for them to be ultra-competetive. You don't want to go premiering important new series (something like 'The Body Farm') opposite that. There's be plenty of hollers of "BSI" on here, and rightly so. My instinct is that they'll steer clear of new series that week and pick their fights carefully the next week.

Although, just thinking, Sherlock is a bit of a problem. It has to go out on Sundays because of the 90 minute run-time - but there's no way it should be running opposite Downton Abbey or whatever follows because the XF lead-in wreaks havoc.

There is a 10-part Who Do You Think You Are? series sitting on the shelf, which could prove useful. It's the sort of series they could air against an ITV drama and be reasonably confident of 5m or so.

It can go out on Wednesdays:

19:00 - The One Show
19:30 - Waterloo Road
20:30 - Sherlock

Problem solved.

That could explain the scheduling now - testing the water, as it were.

Re. Big Brother - the problem won't be the launch, but rather the opposition it'll be up against in the autumn. It's never had this problem before but with Downton Abbey, Sherlock, Doc Martin, The X Factor, potentially Strictly Come Dancing results if they move them back to Saturday night...it's going to find it tough. Then again, it should still attract reasonable ratings for Channel Five.

A bellyful of repeats on last night meant respectable ratings all around, except Channel 4 which had a very good night.

If Downton Abbey is starting on the 18th September, it should be wrapped up by mid-November at the latest (not sure how many episodes there are). Then Sherlock could air anytime from mid-November onwards and not clash with DA. I think the X Factor lead-in wont be too problematic, Sherlock is a huge show and will hold its own against anything bar DA IMO.

They'll be looking to finish both Doc Martin and Downton Abbey before I'm A Celebrity... starts.

Isn't Sherlock planned/rumoured for News Year Day or was that just fan speculation?

There was a press release saying Sherlock was to kick off a big year for BBC1 in 2012. Some have taken that as meaning Sherlock wont air until 2012 and possibly starting on New Years Day, its all speculation at the moment.


Thats what I thought, they will probably want to avoid Im A Celeb too, even though I think Sherlock would hold firm against it.

Just to point out that the current series of New Tricks ends on Monday 5th September so that's one day of the expected Red Or Black week sorted out.

edit: and Thursday the 8th will be the penultimate episode of Torchwood.

Is Red or Black expceted to do well? I am unconvinced by it, but then it would be odd if I didnt think that.

It's all about momentum; Britain's Got Talent built it's audience through momentum, and they'll be hoping Red or Black does the same thing. It's got very tough opposition with New Tricks on the Monday, though.

EDIT: Actually, it might not be too bad as Coronation Street will take the first half hour against New Tricks. EastEnders is the only major threat towards Red or Black's main show.