Nope I do too! He looks really creepy in the ad. And I like David Jason!

so 400k deserted the final reveal. I guess its the taking part not the winning that matters

Warden Hodges trying to put his best spin on things.

Yep, that's Merlin's most watched episode ever. Its previous highest rated episode in the overnights was 6.6m for its first ever episode.

David Jason is a very shy man. He must have felt very uncomfortable doing the promo, it certainly looks that way.

MattJKR- do you know how Harry Potter and Westlife rated on ITV1 please? Thanks in advance

Sam_Hodges Sam Hodges
#BBC1's peak (18.00-22.30) and all day share was three times that of its nearest rivals (exc +1 channels).

He must be a whizz in Excel 2010.

Great night for Strictly .. I was out last night and everywhere was packed and so can imagine alot will be watching when they got in.

As for Merlin, my favorite show of the year and I wonder what they will do with it next year when Dr Who returns.

BTW .. was Brucie over-emotional? Maybe a sign that was his last series!? Get Paul O'Grady in...

Yes thats exactly it, he just looks so out of place and uncomfortable.

Great figure for the first show, not massively down on the snow enhanced figure last year. But to lose 400k for the second part is bizarre, and raises questions about how engaging the first part was. Perhaps the Westlife special did indeed provide tougher competition?

Merlin didn't get as much of a boost as I expected.

I expect there will be some disappointment at the BBC this morning.

open goal, free run, coast clear and damp squib all come to mind.

Incidentally that SCD Final Results rating of 11.94m is tape-checked between 9.05-10.05pm. Sam Hodges' rating of 11.8m is the full-slot average of 9-10.05pm.

I didn't see it but having had a gander at the Strictly forum many seem to feel there was too much filler and that it wasn't up to the standard of previous finals. Could be why half a mill switched off, or maybe they just didn't mind who won?

I wonder if the Killing finale dented the Strictly results, I chose the Killing over it and I have loved Strictly this year. I caught the final result in the break between the two episodes. And is 3D included in that figure? Not there will be many I guess

First show was about where I thought it would be in the low 12m's (interesting that it's share was up to 48.2% from 45.8% last year, which rather shows the effect of the snow on total viewing numbers last year).

Odd that the second show didn't grow, but then again it didn't really do so very much last year when the result was in doubt and it had Bridget Jones' Diary (2m) for competition. I wonder if Westlife did a bit better than expected? It would have certainly drawn straight out of Strictly's core demo...

I thought Strictly was excellent last night, and I have only caught snippets of this series..highly entertaining..well done to them, I don't know why the BBC would be disappointed with nearly 12m for both parts??

As open, free and clear as the roads, railways and airports were last night.....

The %s look very strong indeed. How do they compare to TXF's %s from last weekend?

A few more from last night:

Winter Wipeout - 5.38m (25.5%)

Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix - 3.06m (12.6%) [+1: 315k]
Westlife: For The Last Time - 1.68m (6.5%) [+1: 490k]

Extremely poor rating for the Westlife show!

Isn't it strange that ITVs king spin-meister James Macloed hasn't tweeted?

Now how does one go about spinning Harry Potter. Only he should not be named would know I guess.

OMFG!

That certainly will be the last time with those jaw dropping numbers!

I like how ITV give their ratings flops such prescient titles!

Harry Flopper didn't do much better....

Ouch, even Bieber did better then Westlife?

A person of good taste, I see! Any ratings for The Killing finale?

K

He's on holiday now (on standby for Boxing Day if necessary....)

Appalling ITV1 ratings. Cue 16-24, 25-34 share percentages spin from the dark lord...

Thanks rzt.

HP was half a million (inc +1) lower than I expected. It clearly was too soon for another screening of OOTP. Not an embarrassing rating though considering the competition and how much it has aired recently. Incredibly embarrassing for Westlife though. That is just dire. I knew putting it against SCD was a bad idea but I didn't think it would be that bad. I suspect the New Year's Eve repeat might actually get a higher rating. Makes SCD's underwhelming number even more surprising given how low the competition was. Very good for Winter Wipeout.

Excellent for the SCD performance show. Slightly underwhelming for the results-especially considering how Westlife performed, but two decent ratings nevertheless. Merlin did well in the sandwich, but I feel it should have been Casualty in the middle.

Harry Potter held up OK considering it was only shown a few months ago. Awful for Westlife-ITV really shouldn't schedule these music specials against SCD, because they always flop. JLS, Bieber and now Westlife. Admittedly Westlife are bigger than the other two, but it was the SCD final. Just realised how high the +1 audience was-probably the highest ever for such a low rating show showing it would probably have performed alright in another slot.