Channel 4's problem is that I think their drama series just seem to use the same template as Teachers, No Angels and Shameless. Their single and one-off dramas are fine but series wise, if all you have is an aging drama like Shameless, it's not good. Maybe they should consider commioning drama that is aimed at a wider audience that could air at 9pm.

Channel 5's safest bet would be a crime drama, I think doing a series of pilots would engage what could be a potential series.

The latest dates and times from DigiGuide this Monday evening...

The Golden Compass: Sunday 4th December, 5:15pm, Channel 4
Mark Zukerberg: Inside Facebook: Sunday 4th December, 9pm, BBC Two
A Night with Beyonce: Sunday 4th December, 9pm, ITV1
Black Mirror (latest Charlie Brooker project): Sunday 4th December, 9pm, Channel 4
Pineapple Express: Sunday 4th December, 9pm, Channel 5

Come Date With Me: Monday 5th December, 5pm, Channel 4
IAC: Coming Out: Monday 5th December, 9pm, ITV1
The Great British Property Scandal: Monday 5th December, 9pm, Channel 4 (and the next two nights at 9)
The Million Pound Drop Live: Monday 5th December, 10pm, Channel 4 (and every weeknight at 10 or 9 thereafter)

My Child's Not Perfect: Tuesday 6th December, 9pm, ITV1

Inside Job: Wednesday 7th December, 9pm, BBC Two

Without You: Thursday 8th December, 9pm, ITV1

The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song: Friday 9th December, 9pm, ITV1

Channel 5 are quite happy with a programme rating 1.0m-1.5m, especially if the demo's are quite youthful. I personally don't watch Celeb tv or Celeb documentaries - the thought of an hour with Kate Thornton or Jodie Marsh will appeal to some - mostly females aged 18-45. They have a few programmes this week worth a watch, Paul Merton Adventures, New Hotel Inspector and BB Winner's Story - maybe in 2012 they will turn a corner and find a few more successful shows .

Was 1992 the year BARB missed it off by accident, or was that a different year?

Black Mirror should do decently, although I imagine if its like Dead Set, it's going to be quite dark. The Golden Compass should do well for Channel 4, seems all the New Line films are finally being shown, wonder if Channel 4 will show Hairspray? Pineapple Express should do okay for C5, wonder if Stepbrothers will be shown this year or saved until the New Year?

That's a fantastic rating for I'm A Celebrity... but then again The X Factor launched well and dropped, and I'm A Celebrity... is going to have a day's break and then will have to air opposite Frozen Planet which isn't going to be easy. Talking of The X Factor, ITV1 will be relieved to see it growing but it appears to have a steady audience across both nights now - previously, IIRC, the results show was making substantial gains on the performance show. The Cube struggled; maybe the smaller lead out is not helping it.

While the performance shows are down year on year despite the better scheduling, Strictly Come Dancing's results shows are certainly doing the business for BBC One. Considering the opposition, Antiques Roadshow and Garrow's Law performed well, while Countryfile is as reliable as ever in the pre-Strictly slot.

That's a terrific figure for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs on Channel 4 but it was a contained audience that soon drifted away...River Cottage seems such a strange programme to air after the family friendly film, but I guess the channel are writing off the night because of the big two. Same with Channel 5 where their two classic films performed very well for them while BBC Two had a steady evening though I wonder if Top Gear will be hurt by the number of repeats they're airing.

The Xtra Factor is going through a dire period at the moment which is a shame as it's much better than last year; understandably I'm A Celebrity hurt it, but I think it maybe should've held up better than that. I'm A Celebrity...Now recorded a decent figure in the late slot but looking at the reviews of the presenters I don't think it's going to hold up that well.


I knew this would appear somewhere.


ITV1 really do enter the 'nothing zone' after I'm A Celebrity... Looking at that does that mean they're airing the final on a Saturday (3rd) again? Why not stretch it out one more day and air on the Sunday? Doesn't make any sense to me.

Nice scheduling yet again from Channel 4 with The Golden Compass, which should pick up the pre-reality TV show audience. I'm not sure why they're throwing The Million Pound Drop around the schedule, though; they should pick a time and stick to it IMO.

The Golden Compass will be another 3m+ rater I guess. As The Guardian notes, it's in that coveted first Sunday in December teatime slot.

A bit of a random week for ITV1 really. A Night with Beyonce sounds appealing , Favourite Bee Gees Song much less so.

And yes, the I'm a Celeb final is on Saturday 3rd December at 9:30pm according to these listings published today.

The good thing about I'm A Celebrity's ratings last night is that it gives the newspapers another stick with which to beat X Factor

"X FACTOR'S RATINGS PLUMMET AS CELEBRITY'S RATINGS SOAR!"

I wonder if any newspapers will go with that angle.


And we start the week going at Celebrity's exceptional rating. I wonder if we'll end the week going at Celebrity rating lower than The One Show. (On Friday. It could happen.)

Wonder when ITV1 assuming it is ITV1 is showing The Dark Knight, The only slot available is December 18th, it wouldn't me if it is shown Christmas week. It is long though at 2 and a half hours without breaks.

Charlie Brooker said we'll see a trailer for Black Mirror on Channel 4 between 8.50-9.00pm this evening!

Tonight's the Night's bid for global domination continues.

Barrowman said at his concert that its just been sold to Germany.

Barrowman is also going to Canada to 'train' the host of the Candian version


and his company is in negotiations with a US network

um, I dont think I want to see that.

Cant fault Tonight's the Night for its international sales, sales that Red of Black? can only dream of.

Pat doesn't die on xmas day.
The storyline starts to build in the next few weeks but the Masood storyline is what takes centre on xmas day.
Yusef beats Zainab up and Kidnaps her in a few weeks time,The Branning storyline with Derek and Tanya's cancer also runs along into xmas and the return of David,Bianca,Ricky is at xmas too.
Of course the Huge Explosion and deaths are on xmas day and building nicely. One of the fire deaths are with a popular Character

Pat finally pops off im the final moments of New years eve so New years Day episodes should pull in a huge figure.

The BBC are planning on 2 40min eps for xmas day

Well I have to say the 1991/92 era of EastEnders was not the highest rated and probably not its most popular era, and the ratings reflected that. It was recovering the massive lull of 1989.

Interesting that BBC1 HD are showing the opt-out from my region (South West) tonight for Inside Out, probably because it is covering a story with national significance (the M5 pile-up). Would be interesting to know how many non-SW viewers catch up with this still-developing story.

Stupid if you ask me. I know it'll have a good lead in, but so would the Sunday show. Then they could've aired Beyonce after the Saturday final show instead of Piers Morgan; she'd be more likely to hold onto the 'right' kind of audience.

Movie ratings always seem so random - isn't that virtually double the figure the premiere of Twilight got?


I know you're too busy watching the BBC Robbie but let me assure you - ITV definately does have something shite on every week!


I really think you can admit now Dancc that Big Brother was a total and utter flop - everyone outside of the Daily Star offices can see that. If you want to believe the way Northern and Shell will spin it that's down to you - but for me they've always been far too eager to say how much better C5 is doing under their ownership, but frankly I believe their financial accounting is as creative as their so called journalism - you can't believe a word of it.

They'll have run out of ads by that time though - so keeping the "right kind of audience" doesn't really matter.

Interesting to see Million Pound Drop back to being stripped across a week.

I will do no such thing. Come back to me in 12 months and I'll give you my verdict.

Northern & Shell can say what they like, it doesn't really bother me or affect me in any way. I form my own opinions. But ultimately we will find out one way or another next year when C5 decide whether to renew or not. And you can be sure that decision won't be made purely based on the past 2 months.

Let's be honest, you were down on it from the start, partly because it's on 5 and partly because you think it came back too soon. You still maintain CBB underperformed, even though almost all of the press were praising how well it did and the launch was 5's highest rated non-sports broadcast ever. So I think we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Big Brother improved the C5 demo's no disagreement there - it will never get back into the mainstream like it did 5 or more years ago. Of course it was not an utter flop, yes ideally it would have rated 2m per evening for however many weeks - I can see CBB returning a lot stronger, by then C5 may have ironed out some of the teething issues they faced.


As we can see it was their strongest rated show throughout the week - what else could they have shown to get comparable ratings?

OK then - air Beyonce on another night. I wonder how she would do on a Tuesday...?

And that was one of the lowest rating weeks. The week before it hit 1.8 for a highlights show, which is much more like it.

The jury is still out on Big Brother on 5. But its critics have very firm views and are enjoying any excuse to stick the knife in...

I think it's more a case of the jury has delivered it's verdict and you refuse to accept it. Honestly Dancc you are practically the only person online I've seen who doesn't think it was an absolute failure in all regards.

ITV1 scoring 2m or less is considered a flop. BBC2, Channel 4 and Channel 5 are a different kettle of fish altogether. I will admit I can go days without watching anything on Channel 4 or Channel 5 - but I do enjoy movies on each channel and the occasional documentary. On a final note the Channel 5 reach is around 52.9% (so almost half of tv viewers don't even watch it at all in an average week) - Channel 5 need to keep trying new things, get viewers to try the channel out - more big movies, maybe a new quiz show / panel show?

As cheerful as ever then!


Make that two people online - Big Brother could've done better; I think Channel 5 were expecting better but it wasn't an absolute failure. It's at least solidified a base for the next Celebrity series; it's pulled in more attractive demographics then most of Channel 5's programming; it's given the channel something of an identity and a flagship show to be recognised with - it maybe isn't the tabloid's most loved show, but it's definitely a start.

They have to be careful not to overegg the pudding in terms of 'ITV2 commissions' (I personally think the likes of Impossible should've been given a fairer shot with the Big Brother lead in) but Channel 5 has some definition now, compared to before when it was a documentary channel who bought in dramas from elsewhere.

I hope Channel 5 will start developing their British drama stake, but getting some homegrown programming in the schedules which are not documentaries is a start.