Sam_Hodges Sam Hodges
#TheRoyalBodyguard opens with 7.1m #BBC1

Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas Special averaged 6.6m viewers at 10pm last night

Royal Bodyguard will shed viewers after that start, but I hope it does not drag Mrs Brown's Boys down with it. Great start for the latter.

Wow. Excellent for Mrs Brown's Boys - I was expecting more in the 5m range - disappointed with TRB; expected more really with an EE lead-in. I really think Mrs. Brown's Boys should move to 9pm and TRB at 9.30pm.

Sam_Hodges Sam Hodges
BBC1's peaktime (18.00 - 22.30) average audience of 6.1m was over a million higher than any other channel.

Suggests that ITV did very poorly outside of the soaps.

And it must mean Magadascar and The Borrowers did very well indeed.

It means the 18.00-21.00 period on BBC1 averaged 5.2m.


Seems so. ITV's scheduling last night was totally messed up. Starting Emmerdale 30 mins before its normal timeslot and then starting Corrie 30 mins after The Borrowers. Both would've rated better in their normal slots.

it will be interesting to see the actual figures, if we dont, we will only end up in a debate as to what is peak time and what isnt.

Yeah the scheduling was a shambles yesterday. They should've stuck on an hour-long Emmerdale at 7pm and hour-long Corrie at 8pm (like they did) to ruin The Borrowers' ratings. They gave them a clear run in that slot effectively, or just have Emmerdale at 7pm, an hour long Corrie at 7.30pm, and then Poirot to start at 8.30pm.

BBC1 seems to have done very well. Excellent for Mrs Brown in particular. Strong start for The Royal Bodyguard but I did expect slightly more. Still, we'll see where it goes from here.

it was said by a few of us that the BBCs Boxing Day line up was better than the Christmas Day one, and I agree it was, really loved The Borrowers, EastEnders was good as well.

That said could do with a night off EE it feels like the shows has been on for two weeks straight.

Do you have access to all the final numbers, D.M.N? I don't see them on the BARB site yet. Just interested in the double finale numbers for "The Killing" on BBC4...

K

The Mrs Brown's Boys rating is very much like how the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special (6.8m) did in a similar slot three years ago, although that was on Xmas Eve IIRC. Neither show had a new episode peak-time BBC1 showing before that Christmas special but both rated considerably better for that episode than any episode beforehand. It bodes well for MBB - I think the regular series is capable of about 5m (although how much TRB drags it down is yet to be seen) and future Christmas Day episodes of it, which I'm sure there will be, will experience some good spikes.

Boxing Day 2011 - Soap Overnights
BBC One
21:00- EastEnders: 9.94m (38.1%)

ITV1
18:30- Emmerdale: 5.57m (25.6%) , +1: 318k (1.4%)
20:00- Coronation Street: 7.94m (31.7%) , +1: 250k (1.0%)

Channel 4
18:05- Hollyoaks: 582k (2.9%) , +1: 142k (0.7%)

BBC Three
22:30- EastEnders: 703k (3.3%)

E4
19:00- Hollyoaks: 340k (1.6%)

Ratings include HD and are full-slot averages

Source: DS

Odd scheduling for Corrie damaged its overnight. Must have been dented by a good 4m rating over on BBC1.

Poor for the ITV soaps and Hollyoaks.

ouch for Hollyoaks, makes me wonder if it should just take Christmas and New Years off, like the Aussie soaps do. Corrie and Emmerdale are both low. EE is good but again fails to break 10 million.

What kind of rating did The Borrowers get?

Excellent for Mrs Brown's Boys. Disastrous for The Royal Bodyguard. With a 9.9m lead in from EE, David Jason as its star and no other major channel starting a programme at 9.30, it should have done better than that.

Actually 7.1m is only a disaster because of the very negative reaction to the episode. If it had been received reasonably well that would have been a good launch-pad. Then again, maybe DS posters are too fussy and TRB will surprise me in the weeks to come.

Be interesting to see a breakdown for its episode last night to see if there was a big switch-on across the half-hour.

Boxing Day 2011 Overnights
BBC One
19:30- The Borrowers: 5.38m (22.2%)
21:00- EastEnders: 9.94m (38.1%)
21:30- The Royal Bodyguard: 7.05m (28.4%)
22:00- Mrs Brown's Boys: 6.61m (28.1%)

BBC Two
19:00- Springwatch: Christmas Special: 1.59m (7%)
20:30- University Challenge: 2.08m (8.1%)

ITV1
18:30- Emmerdale: 5.57m (25.6%) , +1: 318k (1.4%)
19:00- The Unforgettable Ernie Wise: 3.22m (14.7%)
20:00- Coronation Street: 7.94m (31.7%) , +1: 250k (1.0%)
21:00- Agatha Christie's Poirot: 4.21m (17.6%) , +1: 287k (1.5%)

Channel 4
18:05- Hollyoaks: 582k (2.9%) , +1: 142k (0.7%)
19:05- Home Alone: 1.57m (6.7%) , +1: 182k (0.7%),
21:00- Bear's Wild Weekend with Miranda: 2.21m (8.7%) , +1: 294k (1.3%)

Channel 5
19:05- Britain's Favourite Christmas Song: 838k (3.5%)
22:00- Dirty Dancing: 1.06m (5.8%)

BBC Three
21:00- Most Annoying People of 2011: 776k (3.1%)
22:30- EastEnders: 703k (3.3%)

E4
19:00- Hollyoaks: 340k (1.6%)

Primetime Shares
BBC One: 26.4%
ITV1: 20.7% (+1: 1%)
Channel 4: 6.7% (+1: 0.8%)
BBC Two: 5.9%
Channel 5: 3.7%

Source: DS

Ratings include HD and are full-slot averages

For some reason C4 like to move the slot around at Christmas. They did it last year on Xmas Eve and this year last night, and yet again the show sinks to terrible figures.

Borrowers did OK, shame it didnt break 6 million, because I really do want a full series of the show. Still at least it wasnt The Unforgeable, but a poor night for ITV generally.


but its only 5 minutes from its normal time slot. Also EE has aired out of its normal time slot, and day, and manages to attract big number. Other than that C4 did ok last night, and Channel 5 will be pleased to break 1 million.

Anything for Magadascar?

The Unforgettable Ernie Wise tanked at 7pm and ruined ITV's night then. It meant Emmerdale was shunted to 6:30pm which cost it a million viewers and allowed The Borrowers to get a head start on Corrie and meant that Poirot had to start against EE. Very bad scheduling and the show that caused it went and tanked anyway! Poirot actually did pretty well considering what it had to contend with, it seems to have a very loyal audience, but it could have got half a million more at 8:30pm. Low for Corrie but that'll be the slot. Good rating for The Borrowers, although I did expect a million more considering it was an adaption of such a popular book. If BBC1 averaged 5.2m between 18:00 and 21:00 then Madagascar must have done pretty well (no doubt picking up a million or so at 7pm). Very good for Bear Grylls and Miranda on C4.

A better ITV schedule for yesterday would have been:

17:45 - ITV News
18:00 - The Unforgettable Ernie Wise
19:00 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Coronation Street
20:30 - Poirot
22:30 - ITV News

The Unforgettable didn't benefit from the soap sandwich at all.

They could have put The Unforgettable on tonight at 8pm instead of the SuBo repeat. Agree with the rest though, that would have worked much better.