It did alright yesterday actually, a 3.3% share is well above average for that slot. If it was getting that kind of rating every day they would definitely keep it. Unfortunately its typical rating is not much higher than 100k.

Hopefully they stick with it and give it time to grow. It's a decent daytime show with good guests and a fab presenter.

My Predictions for Christmas Day

Doctor Who: 10.2m
Strictly Come Dancing: 6.8m
Eastenders: 9.2m
Absoultly Fab: 5.0m


ITV 1
Emmerdale: 6.0m
Family Fortunes: 3.8m
Coronation Street: 8.1m
Downton Abbey: 8.0m:

I see BBC1's offerings are airing about 2 mins ahead of schedule so far - QOS and WW started at 5.28 and 5.58 respectively. If they follow that trend all night, then the SCD Results will start a full 7 minutes earlier than billed in the papers/guides.


Would be doubly embarrassing then should it overnight similar to or better than Downton!

Soaps look poor - again.

Have I Got News For You did well on BBC One; possibly people tuning into the Comedy awards, realising they were poor and switching over. Saying that Live At The Apollo didn't see much of a bounce. The Two Ronnies did well as soap filler.

Mastermind is really being left behind int he ratings compared to University Challenge and Masterchef; with a decent but not amazing rating for BBC Two. Masterchef was used as filler and the food programme didn't perform that well either.

ITV1 have really entered the dead zone so they'll be pleased The Big Quiz did well; maybe a Monday night showing will be in the offing next year? Wild Britain did reasonably well opposite EastEnders.

That's a dire performance from The British Comedy Awards but it was ridiculously scheduled considering the target audience would've probably been out partying. Come Dine With Me seems to be thrown into every slot going; I wish it'd get a break.

A decent night from Channel 5 with both shows comfortably over the 1m mark. I wonder how the early evening Christmas Carol will do for the broadcaster tonight?

agreed, which is odd given the poor weather in large % of the country.

Sky News shortly going live to Blackpool to give Strictly a plug!!

Probably quite well but the original and the best version is not on until 1pm tomorrow (or 5pm Christmas Eve if you prefer).

Have to say I absolutely LOVE their festive ident. Whoever puts these things together at the channel is very creative. It just oozes Christmas. Easily better than ITV1's efforts...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dkAVJXClR8

Coronation Street's first episode share looks ok but the rest seem on the low side - I guess January/February are where the soaps hit their heights rather than the run up to Christmas.

Just looking back through the months, on 12th August EastEnders pulled in 7.61m (35.2%)...so last night is actually down on a summer rating. The rest are all up, though in Hollyoaks' case only by 9k.

May I remind everyone of ITV's Christmas Day schedule in 1999:

6.00 Millionaire
6.30 Emmerdale
7.30 Corrie
8.30 Millionaire
9.00 Frost
10.30 Millionaire

In 1999 Millionaire was the biggest programme on television - the X Factor of the day. Frost was one of ITV's highest rated dramas if not thee highest rated. So the idea that ITV are doing something ground-breaking in scheduling Downton on Christmas Day is ridiculous. (Some people on this thread seem to think ITV have done something positively evil.)

ITV have also given Christmas Day slot to such ratings hits as Duty Free, Doc Martin, Dancing On Ice and Pop Idol (as World Idol). Plus Corrie and Emmerdale, two of their highest rated programmes. Surely, if they didn't care about Christmas Day, they wouldn't bother with the soaps - certainly not last year or this year when Christmas fell on the weekend.

The only reason for ITV not to make an effort on Christmas Day would be if it was more financially beneficial to schedule their big shows where BBC1 are less competitive. But this is most definitely not the first year ITV have tried.


edit: meant to mention that Frost in 1999 lost to Vicar Of Dibley in a head-to-head clash, 12m to 14m.

As you might expect BBC News have been doing their bit too with a live linkup earlier and helpfully informing us that "millions are expected to tune in." Amusingly Clive Myrie nearly got the start time wrong but quickly corrected himself.

I really do think it'll beat X Factor's final rating tonight. There seems to be a 'buzz' about Strictly that was missing from X Factor this series.

I think the problem in recent years for ITV is that they simply haven't had anything that big bar the soaps to schedule on Xmas Day. Their big shows are live entertainment formats like X Factor and BGT which, unlike Strictly, aren't exactly easy to replicate for Christmas specials. Downton Abbey is probably their first show in years that has been most suited for a Christmas special on Christmas Day.

I don't think the first episode will but the results might well do.

I agree with you there does seem to be more of a buzz with strictly come dancing final this year.

My Prediction for tonight is

Winter wipout: 5.0m
Strictly Come Dancing: 11.9m
Merlin: 7.0m
Strictly Come Dancing: 12.5m
BBC News: 7.0m
Match of the day: 4.4m

And on ITV 1
Harry Potter: 4.0m
West Life: 3.8m

BBC1 has given Strictly a better lead-in tonight than in recent weeks with a new series of a new-look Total Wipeout instead of the assorted repeats of the past few weeks.

I think the 9pm show will easily beat The X Factor in the officials, even if it's narrowly beaten in the overnights. Harry Potter may dent the 7pm programme slightly.

Yeah I was thinking the results show rather than the first show. If not it will come pretty damn close.

I have this vision of ITV sending in Fat Tony from The Simpsons to "have a word" with UEFA.

Surely not that much for HP. They showed the exact same title in a near identical slot as recently as August! The last weekend before X Factor came on it was there, and now the first weekend without it, it's back again. Hopefully this lazy can't be arsed effort by ITV will result in an even more comprehensive BBC victory tonight than would otherwise have occurred.

I hope EastEnders does well on Christmas Day.

I think it will do very well.

I can see Boxing Day making a better rating than Christmas Day though.

If there is a huge cliffhanger on the Christmas Day then I'm sure Boxing Day will have people in their millions tuning in.

I don't really see how ITV using HP against the SCD Final is any worse than BBC1 using George Gently again against TXF Final. ITV made a reasonable effort last year against the SCD Final with new episodes of The Cube and Take Me Out but it didn't really go too well so I can see why they aren't bothering this year.

But they showed it just 4 months ago, also on a Saturday night, in pretty much the same slot! That episode of George Gently that the BBC repeated last weekend hadn't been shown since May 2010.

I don't object to them showing a film repeat opposite the Strictly final as they obviously can't compete with it, but that title should have been at the bottom of their list since they literally just showed it. Other family movies do exist. By repeating Harry Potter again so soon they are probably shooting themselves in the foot in the long run. I know these films will always repeat well but they could go from being strong 5m+ raters to mediocre 3m+ raters very easily.

Note - Strictly Come Dancing is being broadcast on BBC HD in 3D. Therefore DS in the morning may well report this rating as well, however I suspect they won't because I think it will be miniscle - at most under 100k.

Naturally, when comparing with The X Factor Final, I think we will need to include 3D for Strictly. Presuming Strictly's official rating is a series high (and it should be), I will bundle in BBC HD's (3D) rating into the total Strictly number as it is a simulcast with no +1 delay.

Just a note that in case Strictly's ratings come very close to The X Factor.

Sad to see Hollyoaks yet again fail to capitalise on the boost from a big storyline. It's worth noting since the Silas storyline ended C4 seem to have stopped the "This week on Hollyoaks" promos which had been running a good few months and were clearly working.


Really don't understand why the BBC didn't get the last series of Total Wipeout on air before Winter Wipeout - it could have aired anytime since the Spring really, but would have done just fine in a pre-Strictly slot. Now although the majority of these episodes are on a course new to UK episodes, they didn't update the Wipeout Zone so it's a massive step back when these episodes do finally air probably next Spring I'd guess.

Fair point about them airing it too soon after the last screening. I was quite surprised when I saw it in the schedules as all of the Potter films aired over the Summer so I thought they'd leave it a bit longer before they show them again (I notice Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets over Christmas too - although not in primetime). I think they might get away with it tonight but I do agree that they should give it at least a year before they show it again. Other than the Potters they don't really have any other films suitable for those slots that would rate just as well on repeats so I can see why they air them so often, but I do see you're point that they may end up overexposing them like they did with Bond and Star Wars (although I'd argue that the Potter films are probably even more well loved by the public than those two franchises). They never screen them on ITV2 though which helps.