The last time EastEnders got 10m in the overnights (BBC1-only) was Monday 18th April for the fall-out of the Baby Swap storyline.

It does it all the time when you include EE +2

Quite surprised really. I know in the officials it has got some excellent ratings like 11m for the Tanya/Greg wedding I think back in April and the baby swap fallout, but of late, ratings haven't been spectacular. Obviously, if you count the BBC3 showings as well, it is edging closer to 10m.

A few things re the not unexpected SPOTY flop

- wrong night totally, it's a Sunday institution when people can commit two lazy hours to telly watching

- Corie and Em always more likely to squeeze the core audience than say TXF; Sky having chelsea spurs won't have helped

- as the show becomes more talk less action, those who do tune in are less likely to bother the following year, tuning in at the end for the big reveal instead. There was hardly any live action or studio action at all last night. It is becoming a dull staid affair, and the BBC need to look at what made Sports Review an institution in the glory days and try to bring back a bit more zip. The fact millions still tune in for the result, 8m this year, 12m last, shows that the award itself is important and of mass interest

I agree, have not watched alot of TV this week as have been busy and had things recorded to watch too. But it's been mostly BBC2 we have watched. The TOPT specials are so entertaining, and there's been some good comedy and light hearted panel shows.

Thursday 22nd December - Soap Overnights
BBC One
19:30- EastEnders: 8.39m (35.2%)

ITV1
19:00- Emmerdale: 7.03m (32.2%) , +1: 152k (0.6%)
20:00- Emmerdale: 7.43m (31.1%) , +1: 150k (0.6%)
20:30- Coronation Street: 7.79m (31.6%) , +1: 197k (0.8%)

Channel 4
18:30- Hollyoaks: 967k (4.9%)

Channel 5
17:30- Top 20 Soap Moments: 379k (2.3%)

BBC Three
22:00- EastEnders: 825k (3.7%)

E4
19:00- Hollyoaks: 665k (3.0%) , +1: 122k (0.5%)

Ratings include HD and are tape-checked where necessary

Source: DS

All the soaps quite low. EastEnders' share looks pretty low to me, it should be in the 37-38% range ideally. Emmerdale doing well, the 2nd episode only 0.36m off Corrie's rating and first ep of Emmerdale beat Corrie share-wise. Quite an odd night but ITV soaps may have been dented a bit by SPOTY and Chelsea v Tottenham on SS1. Hollyoaks below 1m - it has totally lost its momentum from the serial killer/Silas story and the focus has now swung back to the younger characters and people are switching off - a shame really, considering ratings were as high as 1.6m back in November.

Unless it becomes an hour long show I honestly think it'd be more suited on BBC Two.
It is becoming very dull and frankly more for the sports people than anyone else.

They should change it to a years review or something which builds up to SPOTY as oppose to...well as you say 'talking'...and 'talking'...'talking'...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

ITV soaps dented a bit in the 8pm hour unsurprisingly, but nothing great there either. Notable mention for a good Hollyoaks rating on E4 though.

So what a whole '2%' more
TV landscape is changing and those 2% might be chsoing to watch the growing choices (its still growing no matter what some say) on multichannels or to watch later on when their partner etc. gets on - etc. etc.

I think shares arn't really to be paid much attention to anyway.

[quote]Emmerdale doing well, the 2nd episode only 0.36m off Corrie's rating and first ep of Emmerdale beat Corrie share-wise.[/qupte]

Emmerdale is the shining light soaps wise. If it plays its cards right I think it'll do extremely well on Christmas - especially since it and Who arn't fighting each other.

Corrie has gone down a bit it has to be said. Getting taken over a bit - then again I honestly have no idea of any of its stories..

Calm down dear! Take a few deep breaths and relax, that 12m peak for the naughty BBC was a year ago and everyone had forgotten about it till you brought it up again.

You make it sound like the BBC deliberately "cheat" and overrun to bump up the audience (and so what if they do anyway)

The BBC News has only been getting 4m this week anyway, so it seems more likely the audience built as people tuned in for the result rather than the news.

I am calm Robbie, dear . I was just explaining to D.M.N., who said in his post which I quoted that the peak was abnormally high to previous years, that this isn't a one-off thing, it's happened as recently as last year (12m peak v 7m average). You're putting words into my mouth - I don't think it's "cheating" or "naughty" or whatever you're implying. I actually think it's good that the BBC are over-running past the scheduled timeslot to bump up the peak figure (and thus the average). It's a clever tactic that works well for a show like SPOTY which builds up to a big moment at the end of the programme and I think they ought to continue doing it in future years. Of course the BBC are intentionally overrunning the show to bump up the audience (and there's nothing wrong with that) - do you honestly think it's simply been down to bad time-keeping 3-5 years in a row?

Edit: I think we had this exact same conversation last year and I should imagine we'll have it again in another 12 months' time .

Any word on ratings for The Lakes and London's Burning?

Ratings really are low this week, given what week it is.
Looking at those soap ratings you'd think it was March or April, NOT Christmas week.
I wonder will the dip continue over Christmas? Interesting times ahead.

I'm sure you'd have the same opinion if ITV did it aswell

its always the same. Every year the hype from july onwards and than the slow realisation that Christmas Day & New Years Day apart nobody much watches tv apart from as a time filler

SPOT - massive flop. Yikes.

It's a bit of a myth that BBC1/ITV1 rate significantly well in the week leading up to Christmas Day. Here's the 9pm overnight averages of the 5 weeknights leading up to Christmas Day of the last 5 years:

BBC1:
2011- 4.4m* (set to change with tonight's rating included)
2010- 4.3m
2009- 4.8m
2008- 4.8m
2007- 5.2m
2006- 4.4m

Average- 4.6m

Every year apart from one has averaged below 5m in the immediate few nights leading up to Christmas Day. This year, so far, has been on a par with 2006/2010.

Likewise with ITV1, here's the averages:

2011- 4.0m/4.2m* (exc/inc +1)
2010- 5.1m
2009- 3.5m
2008- 4.2m
2007- 3.3m
2006- 4.5m

Average- 4.1m

This year's is on par with the average of the last 5 years and it was only last year's few nights before Christmas Day which averaged over 5m (undoubtedly partly boosted by snow).

You moaning about the irrelevance of xmas tv and nobody is watching is also always the same every year... :yawn:

Ratings may be low this week because people are trying to get last minute shopping done. Also, the weather has been good and people are more likely to go out and socialise rather than sit at home and watch TV. I know that I have watched very little this week due to socialising

Thanks for the stats rzt, Dunno why I thought it used to do better?

see Rzt's excellent "myth buster" posting. It should really be a sticky for the first Christmas 2012 schedule which I expect to see in about 15 minutes time

Excuse me?

Well, in comparison to last year