ITV have won the rights to the French Open.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...medium=twitter

Not much to shout about from the terrestrials last night - but a good performance from some of the multi channels.

Huge for Celebrity Juice - it still hasn't stopped growing and is turning into a real monolith. And something they can get a lot of episodes per year out of too. On one hand, based on those numbers, you can see why they're trying to break Keith Lemon into ITV1 primetime. But I just don't think it works - frankly, Celebrity Juice gets away with some stuff that The Inbetweeners would blush at. The Lemon character just doesn't work if you have to tone it down for an ITV1 audience.

Also, a solid return for Russell Howard - and strong numbers for TBBT and Hollyoakes at E4 teatime.


Another good investment for ITV4. They're building up a very nice portfolio of FTA sport, actually.

Going to be fun in America tonight with the amazing baseball game last night forcing a World Series game 7 tonight and disrupting the Fox schedules and effecting other Friday premieres elsewhere.

Presumably Sky will now have to axe next week's Fringe which will infuriate some on here!

Wasn't Life of Birds on at 8pm in autumn 1998?

Good. I'd much rather it be on ITV4 than tucked away on the BBC's red button service. They didn't take the event seriously enough IMO.

looking at the box score, your right that was a good game.

A shame its not on British TV anymore.

That's a surprise, when was the last time tennis was on ITV?!

I agree - though I wonder if they would have put it on BBC2 next year as I believe live sport is part of the plan for BBC2 daytime.

I wonder which two other games ITV1 will show then - and it's not as if it's a tournament Andy Murray does particularly well in, so little potential for big games with him IMO.


They have shown a few bits and pieces over recent years, notably taking the Albert Hall Masters tournament from the BBC.

The ratings for EP bode well for The Mentalist when it returns in a few weeks, despite Paul Merton falling, I think the repeat on Sunday will make up for any lost viewers. Both Hotel Inspector and Paul Merton will likely get renewals but HI, they are going to have to go through the process of finding a replacement for Alex. With a stronger 8pm show, they would have beaten Channel 4.

Ch5 would be stupid not to renew The Hotel Inspector. In the right slot it is capable of ~2m. I wasn't too keen on Alex at first and preferred Ruth, but I definitely prefer Alex now and it will be sad to see her leave.

Has Alex Polizzi gone? I remember her announcing she was leaving but she said her final 7 eps would be Spring 2011 but she was clearly in those and the several being aired now?

Against The X Factor though I'm not sure there's much scope for Paul Merton to post that good a rating for its repeat. I guess in the circumstances another 1m or so would be okay but really a high-profile piece like this should be doing better on its first showing. It was just unfortunate the BBC put Frozen Planet on Wednesdays as opposed to Sundays which I was hoping for.

Yesterday they launched a renewed push for Demand 5 on the channel, using clips from Paul Merton's Adventures, so I guess they are trying to encourage viewers to catch up that way.

Extraordinary People did really well yesterday, helped no doubt by the news reports. Hopefully it's a good sign for The Mentalist. They've begun promo already- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1rU907mMm8. Can't wait!

Thanks for the roundup dave01. One would imagine the soaps will jump a fair bit next week with daylight saving ending on Sunday. With a series average of 4.22m, I have to be honest and say that I think Hidden being recommissioned is 50/50. Given that Luther was recommissioned with a similar average, I would be surprised if it was axed.

So so night for BBC2 while ITV1 was boosted a little in the 8pm hour with no Watchdog. Poor shares though, the latter Coronation Street is still doing not as well as it should in that slot. Lumley's figures are heading in the flop direction however I imagine documentaries such as Lumley's are cheap for ITV1. I imagine Channel 4 will be a bit disappointed with Teen Sex's rating while Big Brother has had a slight boost on Channel 5.

Super rating for Celebrity Juice, third in slot, no doubt boosted by Ant and Dec.

Maybe they could compromise with a cheaper Joanna Lumley one-off for next year: Joanna Lumley's Job Centre Odyssey?

I don't think ever-so-demure works for these travel documentaries. You need someone more exuberant such as Michael Palin or Paul Merton. Talking of Merton, even though ratings were down this week, they were practically the same as the Lumley repeats managed on ITV1 in a plum Sunday 7pm slot.

Source: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/b...033892.article

The repeat last week did 0.7m so I can expect similar figures this week. If it gets 1m, that would be good but it's very rare for a repeat to outdraw the original airing.


I think Joanna Lumley's Greek Odyssey proves you can't just stick any old name and hope viewers watch. The only ones that work for ITV are Billy Connolly and Martin Clunes.

Was Hidden ever going to be a series? I thought it was a one off. Would be interested if you have any information about this. Thanks
Last edited by 1lennonlove : 28-10-2011 at 19:29

I know Twitter trends don't always mean anything when it comes to ratings but Lynsey, Silas and FrightNight have all been trending (both UK and Worldwide) during Hollyoaks tonight.

Will we get E4 figures tomorrow or are we likely to have to wait until Monday?


P.S. Interesting report on Australian drama - and I'm wondering if the UK has actually managed 40 original drama series this year?

http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2011/10/...ma-report.html

And P.P.S. - Kelly Rowland will be missing The X Factor tomorrow due to a "sore throat". And the way ratings have gone in recent weeks Strictly really should beat The X Factor tomorrow night.

Yep, about double that. So far this year, there's been 50 dramas altogether on BBC1 and ITV1 in primetime. BBC1 has roughly 5 more dramas in daytime = 55. Channel 4 and BBC2 probably have had about 10 altogether = 65. Probably about 10 dramas on digital channels altogether = 75. And that article includes soaps as dramas, so about 80 once the soaps are included.

Thanks rzt - though it doesn't feel that many. Of course though we've spoke many times in this thread about the plentiful one-offs and three-parters and virtual absense of any series even 13 episodes long, never mind 22.

Oh, bloody hell, it was, wasn't it. With the lottery at 8.50. I should have remembered that because the first episode had the luxury of a 'stEnders lead-in, because on the Tuesday they showed a Uefa Cup match with a 7.45 kick-off, so moved 'stEnders to Wednesday at 7.30 which they could do because Corrie was at 9.45 that night because of the Champions League.

Famiusly the first episode of The Blue Planet was on 12th September 2001 and got a huge audience, which has always been suggested as becuase people were after relaxing and soothing viewing, but also ITV's Champions League match had been cancelled so it didn't have much opposition.

Amazing for Celebrity Juice, although I have yet to meet a man who has ever watched it, the demographics for that show must be about 90% female. Shame Show and Tell hasn't done that well because I've enjoyed it, if we must have panel games where the panellists just do their act, at least on this they're honest about it and explicity say it's stuff they've prepared, rather than pretending they're making it up like on Mock The Week.

Oh, I don't know about that. I'm sure tomorrow's newspapers will be filled with "Has Kelly Quit" stories all fed to them by the X Factor production team. (Subtly, of course. All masquerading as a "programme insider").

When it comes to the X Factor and its chase for ratings, all publicity is good publicity in their eyes.

Now one of the contestants has quit.

The whole show is falling apart

Ooh, even better. The producers will be having an orgasm at the thought of the whopping great column inches they're going to get tomorrow.