I don't know - we'll see - I'm mainly basing it on how different Spooks is, so it might steal a few viewers over who were maybe more casual post-x-factor - nothing else on viewers and might want to watch BBC's spy thriller.

I'm easily wrong - it just depends on the Downton audience really.


But your right - Spooks will likely do well whatever.

The next step will be a sidekick for Noel, someone pretty no doubt.


Has there been a celebrity version of this show yet?

A ITV spokesman said: "We are delighted with the performance of Daybreak etc etc etc......."

Some sneaky S4C ratings from last night that someone must be interested in...

7pm Wedi 7 - 14,000 (6.7%)
7:30 Newyddion a'r Tywydd - 11,000 (4.1%)
8pm Pobol Y Cwm - 52,000 (16%)
8:30 Ffermio - 23,000 (6.4%)
9pm Llwybr Yr Arfordir - 21,000 (6.9%)
9:30 Taro 9 - 18,000 (6.9%)
10pm Sgorio - 7000 (3.3%)

It was always last. During the day it either a couple of thousand or flat zero with 0.0% share.

For comparison's sake Doc Martin got 560,000 (39%) in Wales at 9.

Worth remembering that he was excellent (and Emmy nominated) in Damages. I think the casting of Danson is pretty inspired and potentially does a lot of good for the show.

Excellent start for Doc Martin. Seemed to pick up where New Tricks left off. The Palaces opposition on BBC One did about as well as could be expected in the circumstances.

Doesn't seem like it took very long for Channel 4 to clip the wings of Embarrassing Bodies by way of over-exposure. They never learn, do they?

And as for Big Brother - well thats undoubtably a very poor rating. I'm sure the fans will argue until the end of time about housemates and live feeds and whatever else, but what I think we can definitely say is that the greed of Endemol/C5 in trying to pack both runs into 2011 could be the undoing of them. Following straight on from CBB has clearly worked against them, and trying to generate any sort of conversation in a week like this - with so many bigger new series launching or ongoing - was clearly madness. BB is a summer show; with good reason.


I agree. Spooks or no Spooks, I can't see how Downton could fail to be at least at the upper end of last years ratings range, given the chatter that has surrounded it all year.

God. And the BBC are going to be footing a bill of £75m a year for this within the next few years. Thats way more than the BBC Four budget. At the risk of being rude to our Welsh cousins - if Welsh-language programming is so important, couldn't they watch it from time to time?

This might seem like a random point but...

I've never understood why after all these years Channel 4 haven't invested in a replacement for Brookside. Looking at how they've scheduled Embarrassing Bodies (and countless other shows) its pretty clear that they're looking for some kind of consistency in their schedule and a show that can pull viewers in for the night and traditionally that role is played by a soap not any number of flash in the pan reality formats.

It bombed, even suffering the humiliation of losing out to Dickinson's Real Deal.

All the details are here from MediaGuardian:


Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...illion-viewers

That went worse than I thought. Muppets - absolute muppets.

Out of interest did the BBC promote Celebrity Masterchef? I can't remember seeing anything. I wonder if it'll grow throughout the run as people find out its there.

I would hope it does manage to grow since there are two primetime/semi-primetime airings a week planned. But that's a terrible start for it.

The daytime episodes are being repeated in primetime on Friday and Saturday afaik, but the whole thing is complete madness. They deserve it to completely flop.

It's confusing. Friday's is billed as a repeat, but Saturday's is not.

Shine must be furious to see the BBC killing off one of their biggest brands.

100% agree, everyone involved must be raging, presenters, celebs, production crew etc, all that hard work to be dumped into a slot nobody watches, I don't understand the thinking behind it at all,

Given the size of the order I don't think the BBC have pulled this scheduling out of thin air at the last minute. This basic structure seems to have been planned from this years series was commissioned.

The changes to the format earlier in the year were met with a fair amount of criticism I know that - perhaps it's related to that. But the ratings were extremely strong.

As you say it's total madness for a hit show to be put in that position. It doesn't even appear to have benefited daytime, with a property rerun managing the same numbers last week.

Obviously it's only day 1 so we'll have to see how it goes, but the early signs are bad. Judging by the forum comments nobody can get their heads around the scheduling.

So 11,000 watching the news - wouldn 't it be cheaper to just e-mail the details to them

The ratings for S4C are horrific, I imagine a lot of people just watch Channel 4. I dread to think what the ratings for BBC Alba are like.

Other than the football it'l be very poor.
Add the fact most people will mute the commentators and both channels are massive failures.

I have no problem with romantic nationalism, but two languages which will NEVER be of long term importance don't need to be financed like this.

BBC Alba even stopped people accessing radio on their freeview. Its ridiculous.

ITV set to revamp 6pm hour: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...ews-new-format

Dire for Big Brother last night.

From the Guardian:

Celebrity MasterChef, BBC1, 2.15pm – Having tinkered with the format, BBC1's enduring cookery hit has now had its scheduling put into the mixer with a switch from prime time to daytime.

The new recipe may leave a bad taste in the mouths of John Torode and Gregg Wallace, as the celeb version returned with an audience of just 1.1 million viewers, a 16.3% share of the audience between 2.15pm and 3pm.

The cookery show lost out to Dickinson's Real Deal on ITV1, which had 1.2 million viewers (16.7%) between 2pm and 3pm.

Last Monday in the BBC1 2.15pm slot, an Escape to the Country repeat attracted virtually the same figures – 1.1 million and 16%.

Last year Celebrity MasterChef launched with overnight figures of 4.673 million and a 22.3% share in the 8pm hour on BBC1 in July.

I imagine the BBC has Masterchef for a few more years but I wonder if Shine has considered moving the show to a different channel because I'm sure it would be popular on Channel 4 or 5 and they would be able to put in product placement and sponsorship in the same way Masterchef Australia does but not to the same extent.

As for CSI, Ted Danson looks like a great choice after the mixed response for Laurence Fishburne who while a great actor looked out of place on the show and they sorted had to justify having him there with the whole Haskell storyline.

I have this fear that having found a strong show, BBC1 are going to run Pointless uninterupted at 5:15pm all year round.

They could have taken a break from it to run Celebrity Masterchef, but they don't want to give The Chase a chance to overtake them in the ratings.

Perhaps if the BBC actually advertised what the scheduling is that problem might ease. At this point everyone just seems to be fumbling in the dark trying to work out what the hell BBC1 are doing with the show.


I'm not sure why they think this is going to help them. It just seems like the new plan to phase out regional news to me.