I suspect a lot of BB viewers went to 5* at 10pm for the groundbreaking Bit on the Side live from the BB garden, so Merton may find himself not much higher than last week what with all the confusion over the start times. They played the wrong teaser earlier in the evening but the EPGs were correct.

In other news, Marcus Bentley confirmed to me on Twitter that he will be doing some on air continuity for Channel 5 once this series of Big Brother ends.

It's a better idea than just bringing Johnny or The Risk back I agree. I like the idea of Amelia coming back too as she was great and getting rid of her was a massive mistake (let's face it, it's a public vote, none of the other 3 stand much of a chance of coming back). But I can't help but think its a bit unfair considering that she's essentially had a free pass for 4 weeks. I suppose there wasn't much else they could do though.

As for her mentor, the fairest thing to do would be to give her to Gary as he was Frankie's mentor. Letting her choose might be an idea but even if she was given the choice I suspect she'd choose Gary. I'm pretty sure Kelly won't get her back and I doubt Amelia would want Kelly as her mentor anyway! I can't really see why they'd want her to pick Tulisa though.

There is no way Ant and Dec are worth 10 million. To be honest, their cheeky chappy act is wearing a bit thin now. Their shows are very much rehearsed and scripted anyway. Their recent shows have proven that they alone can not gaurantee the success of any show eg red and black. Also, with the line up I can see IAC being a flop this time around. You are only as good as the content and production of the show you are given.

I hope Channel 5 gives Paul Merton another series because he is capable of good ratings, think with no football next year, they'll be able to slot in on Thursdays although it depends what the competition is like next year. If CSI Miami goes, we could see factual on Tuesdays although I suspect they'll fill it with a US drama.

Yes, sitcom would be an option, but it would have to be done properly, not like that half-hearted Likely Lads script remake. Light drama, too, because they've shown they can act a bit in that film they did. And they don't necessarily have to do everything together. They could do a range of joint and solo projects. If you have a double act such as theirs, where the two partners are of equal or roughly equal talent, as opposed to one talent and one straight man, it's easily done.

They don't have to stick to light ent format after light ent format whether they're established light ent formats or new ones like Red or Black. Although, as I said, if the money's good, and the work is copious if a little repetitive, and there are few or no obvious signs of ambition from them or their employers, then why not keep banking the cheques! I would!

The Jury was always going to struggle with High Stakes as a lead in; it held up ok and ITV will be hoping it will be around that mark tonight considering the opposition. Death in Paradise took a knock, presumably from the drama opposition and CSI really struggled.

The thing is that I don't think they could get away with drama or even a sitcom where they played characters that weren't called Ant & Dec and heavily based on themselves. People know them too well now as Ant & Dec. They could get away with "Ant & Dec are two 30 something guys, working and living in Newcastle..."

In terms of presenting, I think they've got a decent spread with Britain's Got Talent, I'm A Celebrity and Takeaway. A talent show, a reality show and a variety show. And if Red or Black survives, they've got a gameshow as well.

For a while I think their aim was to build their production business but I think they found that quite a challenge and especially with Ed Forsdick passing away, their focus might be off that now.

In fact, do we know if Gallowgate has been sold to ITV Studios as part of this new deal? Because there was talk of it a few months ago.

A sitcom based on them could work, there's been many sitcoms like Seinfeld, Ellen and Miranda which are based on the people themselves.

I don't know if Ant and Dec could do solo work, they are so synonous with being a double act, its impossible to have one without the other unlike say Phil and Holly who do worked solo on other shows.

My first thought too... even the thought of that show gives me the creeps

The DS headline writers are hilarious their US rating report says
'NCIS' trickles over 20m for season high. Trickles? surely a show that gets that much should says storms to 20m, Trickles sounds really feeble.

Sam Hodges
Last night's #FrozenPlanet was the highest rating programme of the day across all channels with 7.2m viewers. #BBC1
3 minutes ago

Er - hello?!?

Unless you work for ITV and are desperately trying to spin the facts, I hardly see how The Jury losing two million viewers against quite flimsy opposition can be viewed as it 'holding up OK'.

Death In Paradise did indeed take a knock - but rather less than expected and, without +1, beat The Jury (just). Given that DIP is pretty formulaic and very much 'light viewing', I'd say it did quite well under the circumstances. Yes, it lost viewers - and will lose more next week against I'm A Celebrity - but, considering how heavily promoted The Jury was, ITV is the channel that didn't 'hold up OK'.

Both shows dented each other as they appealed to a similar audience. And I wouldn't call Death In Paradise flimsy. I do like it.

The fact The Jury got roughly the same audience again last night shows that 4.5m is its level.

New You've Been Framed 4.18m (19.4%); 108k (0.5%) ITV1+1
Celebrity Who Wants to Be Millionaire 4.43m (19.1%); 127k (0.5%) ITV1+1
The Jury 4.28m (17.3%); 170k (0.9%) ITV1+1

The Impressions Show 3.16m (13.4%)
Frozen Planet 7.16m (29%)
Ask Rhod Gilbert 1.48m (11.5%)
Film 2011 with Claudia Winkleman 600k (7.3%)

Great British Food Revival 1.72m (8%)
MasterChef: The Professionals 2.67m (11.5%)
Peter Jones: How We Made Our Millions 1.09m (4.4%)
Rab C Nesbitt 1.32m (6.6%)

Kirstie's Homemade Britain 1.66m (7.2%); 180k (0.7%) +1
Grand Designs 2.03m (8.2%); 327k (1.8%) +1
Fresh Meat 820k (4.5%); 126k (1.4%) +1

Lost Heroes of World War I 743k (3.4%)
Dangerous Drivers' School 903k (3.9%)
Big Brother 1.28m (5.2%)
Paul Merton's Adventures 706k (3.9%)

whats YBF doing on, on a weekday, and why is it being watched by 4 million viewers? Lost Heroes of WW 1, is doing fine, it was never going to do more, I think Channel 5 should be pleased with it.

Big Brother held up surprisingly well at 9pm considering the opposition. Anyone know how Bit on the Side did on 5* after?

Awful for Merton though. What a shame because it's a great show getting lost in the autumn schedules.

I would have thought ITV will be pretty pleased with the retention last night.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/c...034487.article

A good night for both BBC and ITV good for YBF which is such a cheap show to put on.

Very good figure for The Jury last night up against Frozen Planet. Despite my earlier prediction that I was likely to record The Jury and then not get round to watching it, I stuck with it and thought it was the best episode so far.

Emmerdale 7.23m (33.5%) and 154k (0.7%) on +1
Waterloo Road 4.7m (21.1%)

Ch4 Hollyoaks 1.18m (5.6%) and 119k (0.5%) on +1
E4 Hollyoaks 673k (3.1%) and 123k (0.5%) on +1

Doctors 1.67m (22.5%)
Neighbours 681k (9.2%) and 1.25m (7.4%)

Home and Away Five 787k (4.1%); 5* 467k (2.2%)

The Jury obviously benefitted from a stronger lead-in than on Tuesday, with extra casuals offsetting the further drop off, whilst FP did very well to retain a fantastic 7m+ figure against less weak opposition than the under-performing Champs League. As it was "summer" in FP last night, a large part of it wasn't "frozen" at all, so was nothing like as spectacular as eps 1 and 2. It did well to retain that number.

Good for WR, despite a reasonable showing for ITV - holding steady on last week despite the less weak opposition.

One wonders if YBF and WWTBAM might move to Tuesdays with those numbers. Sure WWT.. was getting a caning from Holby, 2 to 1 at times, but it was doing better than the rubbish 2m figures ITV is currently getting on Tuesdays.

This is a new one - the temparature of the programme also affecting ratings. So if its snowing outside your house but featuring a warm day on screen is there some sort of universal equilibrium?

Good news for ITV. The Jury didn't completely collapse against Frozen Planet which they'll be happy about and of course the BBC will be overjoyed about Frozen Planet. Decent enough night for both last night all things considered.

Over on Channel 4 it is slightly ridiculous that they went from just over 2 million for Grand Designs to about 800k for Fresh Meat.


Worth mentioning that when The Mentalist was sold into syndication the general thought was that CBS was going to give it a good push into the Thursday 9PM slot and obviously that didn't happen. At least not yet and if it doesn't happen midseason then it probably never will.

Don't be silly. It just occurred to me as I was watching that most of "Frozen Planet" didn't actually feature much "frozen" footage last night. And as such, it was less jaw droppingly spectacular than eps 1 and 2. So people may have found it less compelling.

Is that so difficult to grasp?