Yes, Channel 5 beat ITV1 in primetime on Sunday 28th August 2011 with a film repeat of 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Celebrity Big Brother.'

Beat them by two whole share points too, making it a famous day for the record books:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s150/...day-night.html

Would anyone like to name the date that ITV1 next wins primetime? - My guess is January 2nd 2012.

Doubt it. Look at Text Santa. Westlife is just another poor ITV music show. They need to stop doing them.

Only big fans tune in for one band, show many sure, but not one band/artist!

ITV1's 8.2% share that night seems pretty unbeatable.


If ABBA reformed for one show only, I think it would rate 10m even on ITV1.

Wednesday definitely, probably tomorrow, maybe Thursday.

Buble will do well tonight surely. The ladies can't get enough of him.

Plus it's got 'Christmas' in the title. Stick 'Christmas' in the title of anything at this time of year = high ratings.

The Christmas Marriage Ref
The Christmas Impressions Show
Christmas Text Santa
Christmas With Jeremy Clarkson

Some programmes buck the trend for sure....

Decent (but perhaps not quite the spectacular performance some expected) for Strictly. I do wonder if the final results show is on a little too late though. Pushing what is billed as a big family extravaganza to post-9PM seems odd and always has.

ITV are throwing the night away imo. Just Henry has a pretty dire slot, then Bubbles is against:
- 2 dramas, one a nice new BBC one that Just Henry should be against
- Brian Cox on BBC Two should be good for about 3 million imo

Bubbles will do what all these other shows have done. Flop. Maybe not as badly, but think a drama is good to get what? 5 million? Thats a general drama aimed at a widespread audience of all ages.

This is a singer with a core fanbase. Sure others are appearing in it, but as well as 'Christmas' in the name its got bubbles there as the only identifiable brand. Its niche - it'd do well for a digital channel, not ITV1 sunday night.

I expect Cox to beat him, especially with being all over the news and frankly Buble is a decent artist who sells alot, but in terms of 'group viewing' you'll watch Cox or the BBC drama cause not everyone will like him (in fact the bigger the fan, the bigger the spouse/kids/partner will hate him!).

LOL! Yes, there are some notable exceptions to the rule!

Agreed, but aren't they supposed to be doing a Beyonce night. That would have brought in both male and female audiences instead and would have worked well against Strictly. They should have known most females who are fans of Westlife would be watching SCD

The last two awards were always going to be on E4, they're the dull awards, certainly no geat climax. When they were on ITV they used to do a couple of awards on the ITV2 post-match show to give it a bit of a point.

The show is longer than it used to be on ITV for the last few years when it was confined to ninety minutes. I remember back in 1998, though, it was scheduled for 9pm to 11.30 and underran by about twenty minutes and they had to show all the clip packages again. And way back in 1992, famously, they underran and Paul Merton, who'd won the phone-in award, was asked to stay on stage and do some stand-up to fill time.


No, it was on a Saturday and I thought it made more sense on a Friday because light entertainment on C4 on Saturday is a waste of time, whereas Friday is a more familiar comedy night for C4. Might have done alright tonight, I suppose.


Hmm, not sure about that, but it is true it never rated well on ITV, I was amazed they kept it going as long as they did, what with it being full of clips of BBC2 and C4 shows, and the phone-in business. But I didn't see what was so bad about this year compared to the past, apart from the fact I can't stand Ross anymore.


The slot actually changed in February 2008 but what also did for it in recent years is ITV stopping doing kids shows, so the competition was far fiercer. And the rise of the CBBC Channel, no doubt.


Yes, and I think the CBBC screenings now take priority over BBC1, hence why the Christmas show was last week as there's no space for a repeat on CBBC next weekend.

In 2004-06, it was on CBBC five days a week, and BBC1 Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with the two extra CBBC shows being clip shows and repeats (and the Wednesday show was first shown on CBBC on Tuesday), then for a bit in 2006 it was simulcast but with an extra five minutes on CBBC, which must have been a pain. In the fiftieth anniversary book, Richard Marson bemoans the fact that in recent years it shuffled around BBC1 all over the place, I think this series was the first in about five years that was on the same days as the previous series. The scheduling for CBBC on BBC1 is awful, actually, it's a mess.

You forgot Don't Scare the Christmas Hare.

It's very unscientific this and I'm assuming all kinds of things here but the ladies at work have been talking about Buble in a mucho excited kind of way (can't think why, Woolworths music at best) so I suspect he will buck the trend for an ITV music special and post healthy ratings. It'll do 4m at least.

Whilst I expect both BBC offerings to be strong, ITV is offering something completely different so it should be able to grab a different kind of audience. I'd be very surprised if Cox beat him, but I'll be sure to lend my support.

As for your argument that a mixture of artists might fare better, how do you explain the Comic Relief concert which for the channel it was on was a bit of a flop?

Things like SJA were doing amazing figures on CBBC so I think this is a big reason for it. Then again I don't watch BP so maybe its just a bit poor?


4 million across 2 hours is hardly a flop.

Because it was on against Emmerdale, Corrie and I'm A Celebrity?

Merlin has done its job for two and a half months providing a brilliant alternative and bringing in more than decent ratings against TXF, so I can see the Strictly sandwich and the Christmas Eve slot as its reward. 7.19 million is fantastic (maybe the highest Saturday overnight for a drama in years?) and well deserved.
Dancc was kind enough to share the AI's of ep 5 and 6 a few weeks ago. Does somebody know the rest?

(And if the official rating crosses the 8 million mark, I'll have to extend my stupid chart. )

Yes, and a full hour past 9pm too. The X Factor finales were never ideal so late on a Saturday and Strictly has still not really solved that particular problem. I'm not sure what would have stopped them running the results show live tonight at 7.30 or 8pm if they wanted to. It can only be a cost or availability thing - both of which ought to be surmountable.

It would almost certainly help the ratings and might well aid the quality of the show too. The finalists get a bit of recovery time (they always look completely knackered and/or semi injured by their fourth and final dance ) and they have a chance to insert extra pro/guest/judge spots that cut down on the number of repetitive VT's. And, by way of additional benefit, they could have even gifted Young Herriot the huge lead-in.

Seemed like a win-win, so I was surprised they didn't decide to stump up for it.

I'm pretty sure they've been around the 7% mark before.

The most important thing to remember about last night's ITV schedule is that they didn't spend any money on it.

The Westlife show would have been paid for the record label, and they stuck Harry Potter on again.

If ITV are to afford to continue making shows with big budgets like X Factor and Downton Abbey they have to have nights where they spend nothing.

I dont know if Harry Potter is a no money show, im sure ITV paid handsomely for the rights to show the Harry Potter moves X amount of times.

I'm pretty sure the contract would let them show it as many times as they like.

But yes, fair enough, there probably should be a cost factored in for those rights, but it would still be a very cheap night for ITV.

Charnham is right - there will be deals with these things. HP will only be able to show so many times.

Its also important to remember ITV have other costs other than programme budgets, and these need to be met day to day or the likes of X Factor have to pay for it. Which in the end hurts their profits.

I still think ITV should have started HP just as Strictly finished as Merlin was obviously a weak spot. Instead it was half way through. Stick a few of the usual saturday TV shows before it, and they'd do reasonably well.

Then instead of Westlife? You know that Downton making of show would have done them pretty nicely.


Just ideas, but certainly it wasn't a good night in any light.

tomorrow Monday

Dont get me wrong I think Harry Potter was a smart move by ITV skews younger than Strictly and at 2 hours 30, does as good a job as anything else, of holding the audience for the duration.

I cant say how many times ITV are allowed to air the Harry Potter movies, not seen the contract, but for the same reason I cant say ITV have the rights to show it an unlimited amount of times.