As last night's ratings have been lost in the Christmas debate...

BBC One had a quiet night, with EastEnders still struggling to find much momentum. The Young Apprentice is struggling against reality opposition but A Question of Sport did well in the post news slot, and The One Show tipped the 5m mark.

ITV1 had a very good evening with Coronation Street tipping the 40% share, I'm A Celebrity performing well despite a lowish lead in and Real Crime benefiting from a late slot. Emmerdale is closer to EastEnders then EastEnders is to Coronation Street.

University Challenge recorded a brilliant figure for BBC Two, and MasterChef benefited from the lead in with The Choir also doing well in the 9pm slot. Heir Hunters seems like a relative weak link compared to the rest of the night.

Digging The Great Escape picked up a good rating on Channel 4 and they'll be pleased to see Hollyoaks is remaining above the 1m mark. The Simpsons has been a great purchase for them from BBC Two; reliably pulling in I was assume a younger audience every night.

Channel 5 suffered out of all the main channels with The Gadget Show back below 1m again and The Celebrity Wish List not performing in the Monday night soap slot. Charlie Boorman struggled with a mediocre lead in.

Not really. They just had two 50 minute comedies and 2 ten minute news bulletins to schedule. Might as well lump them in against ITV's two soaps and get the main shows starting on the hour.

I should hope not. On Christmas Day the news basically consists of telling us what The Queen already told us at 3pm. (And, incidentally, what the news 'predicted' she was going to tell us on Christmas Eve ).

Starting with actual ratings

Must be the best rating since last winter?


At least it's been put at 10.30pm. And its far better than last year when BBC1 shut down for the night at 10.30pm (airing the news followed by a film)


Not my cup of tea, but at least C5 should do well one night over the Christmas/New Year period

Have they got the usual daytime repeats of Ice Road Truckers scheduled this year? Missed the first run as I was at work, but a nice morning slot would be great for me


Christmas Eve last year had a 7.35pm news. Never say never

Does anyone have the BBC3 EE repeat times for Christmas Eve and Boxing Day please

here you go



ooh forgot Boxing Day

Yep, most mornings around 11am there are repeats of IRT from the 19th onwards.

After the newly revived ThunderCats which is airing at 10am for the kids (and big kids).

And somebody famous will have died.

Somebody famous always dies on Christmas Day...

with any luck we can combine the two.

You do know there's no comedy of any kind on the BBC for 12 days after she goes, if the Sunday Times is to be believed? They'd cancel everything.

I have often wondered whether the "clear the decks" approach would still apply should the monarch pass away at Christmas. I could imagine a BBC1 boss being delighted to have seen, say, a Fools & Horses special swept away for wall to wall tributes.

But let's not go there...

Thanks. Won't have to stay up too late if I miss the BBC1 airings. Boxing Day is a very quick turnaround repeat though, just an hour after it finishes on BBC1


Thanks also. Should be able to catch most of them


With respect, thats not always the case. On Christmas Day last year for example the news had to cover the sad discovery of a dead body that turned out to be Joanna Yeates. While certainly not an argument for airing the news at say 8pm, it does show that the news should not be sidelined too much on Christmas Day. Major news can, and does occur on Christmas Day. The year before for example there was the underwear bomber in the US.

And on a more general point the Christmas/New Year period has a habit of seeing major news stories - execution of Saadam Hussain/death of Benazir Bhutto/Start of last period of fighting in Gaza. Not a good idea to cutback news too much

And the Boxing Day tsunami, of course

I'd be amazed if Toy Story 3 doesn't get the late-afternoon Christmas Day slot. That's a big ratings banker right there I would have thought. Has anyone been able to work out if the BBC are saving Up for New Years Day or holding it back for Christmas next year?


It is incredibly rare (read basically never happens) that a network ever officially announcements the cancellation of a series. It just disappears from the schedule and they never mention it again. The ‘confirmation’ of its cancellation at the upfronts in May will just be that it’s not on the schedule.

there is very little of anything on new years week, so then would be a really good time for the Queen to "die comfortably in her bed surrounded by family"

As long as the news comes in after Doctor Who, and the BBC doesnt do something stupid ilke axing EastEnders for the period I have no problem. Im sure I would weep more tears for the death of

than I would the Queen, if Bryan Kirkwood has a decent job (for a change) with her death.

Wasnt there also a shoe bomber on Christmas Day a couple of Christmas's ago?

that or ABC will string it out by saying "we are keeping Pan Am in contention, for midseason."

James Brown in 2006 and Eartha Kitt in 2008 were perhaps the most famous recent ones.

I suppose it helps that it's a slow news day, normally, so the obits get more prominence.

It was Wombles creator Elizabeth Beresford who helped bulk out the festive news bulletins last year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12079067

IMO Christmas Eve and Christmas day are looking very good for BBC but Boxing day has to be the best on the BBC for a long time.

Up has only just premiered on Sky Movies, it won't be on the BBC at New Year.

And I doubt Toy Story 3 will get an airing next year. It's a 2010 release, and Ratatouille is a 2007 release only getting an airing this year.

Having got home form work and read this thread for 20 mins but still have 6 pages to go to catch up i will post my thoughts now.

BBC1 on Christmas Day is solid. Two decent films, Gruffalo's Child airing before Doctor Who again should prove wise. DW should do very well in the 7pm slot, the later time should be better and the opposition is as easy as it will get. Eastenders at 9pm is sensible, putting your biggest shows in the most prestigious slot against the toughest competition is fine, hardly a "desperate" move as it was called earlier. Ab Fab and Michael McIntyre should mop up post Eastenders and anti-Downton viewers, although I would have prefered The Royal Bodyguard on the big day but its got a very good slot on Boxing Day.

ITV1 looks ok but the striking thing for me is airing Family Fortunes after Emmerdale and splitting up the two (of the three ) ITV soaps. Doctor Who should smash Family Fortunes and that gives the BBC a chance to keep viewers on the channel from 7pm onwards. I cant see Vernon bragging about beating Doctor Who come Boxing Day morning. Downton will, of course improve ITV's usual performance but I expect it to be well below 10m and make ITV's attempt to beat the BBC a bit foolish.

To be honest, I think ITV1 would have been better by dumping Family Fortunes and just having Corrie at 7pm and Downton at 8pm. It would help keep viewers on ITV for their four hour soap marathon by not giving BBC1 a free hour to entice viewers from 7pm.

Is the second Ab Fab episode down anywhere in the festive fortnight? Or is it going to be on New Years Day instead?

Ratatouille could have aired last year but they held it back as they had Shrek The third for Christmas day, they did the same a few years ago with The Incredibles.
They aired Wall-E instead even though it was released a year later.

I doubt Toy story will be shown next year anyway as they have Shrek 4, How to train a Dragon and Alice in Wonderland to show.

never mind

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/tv/20...5875-23598436/

Simon Cowell to return to Britains Got Talent judging panel.

With Babs Windsor.....

no way, why on earth would he do that?