No it isn't.
We see all the time if BBC1 and ITV1 produce lackluster schedules against each other, ITV1 sinks to 2m and BBC1 coast along with 5m.

Hence why they can time and time again get away with showing New Tricks repeats. The success of the schedule on Friday means it will probably be repeated next year, everyone will say it's a rubbish schedule but then it will rate well!

Last Night's ratings also mean they won't bother do do any end of the year show, Graham Norton style, again, as they probably should do.

Robbie, you disappoint me. I was expecting you to point out that New Year Live's peak was 700k up on The X Factor final's peak three Saturdays ago (and that's including the 'repeat' as you call it!).

At least there is some good news for ITV this morning - the repeat beat the first showing.

The wedding (BBC1 only) had 13.44m (61.1%) average and 19.29m (68.9%) peak.

Would be interesting to see MOTD's rating, as I can't ever recall it airing on NYE before.


Seems a bit of a sweeping generalisation. Certainly the Pirates repeats have in the past done awful business for BBC1.

It's not as if ITV's 7-10pm line up was that bad. With two popular-ish shows airing 1st run editions 8-10pm, they should have beaten BBC1's mediocre film repeat.

Match of the Day averaged 4.3m / 23.9%

Possibly inflated slightly by BBC1 Scotland's offerings, but still, that looks like the right scheduling decision to keep it in the usual slot.

The BBC don't have many shows like New Tricks though, it's somewhat one of a kind. If ITV had a drama that rated as well on repeat they would probably do exactly the same thing.

Also the BBC forcing the mediocre POTC films down our throat at every opportunity when they have a few hours to fill in primetime is no different to Harry Potter on ITV, as they know they can get away with it. In the BBC's case they buried some good premieres in late slots right across the festive period only to serve up a repeat last night, which in my view, is madness.

It'll be interesting to see what the BBC do with Little Fockers in a year or two. Meet The Fockers was huge for them but the most recent one got very bad reviews (somewhat harshly in my opinion).

It would be embarrassing, would it not, if the Harry Potter premiere tonight failed to beat the 5m figure for a POTC3 repeat - on NYE!

I'm sure it will, but I reckon it will only do so by 700-800k.

Pirates of the Caribbean repeats have done well for BBC1 in the past. The last time they repeated a Pirates movie in primetime, they had 7m for it! I do agree though that the 5m rating was high - they showed a POTC2 repeat on New Year's Eve a couple of years ago which averaged 3.7m (albeit partly up against Corrie), so there was a nice rise there. I'm not sure if BBC1 has repeated At World's End previously? I notice POTC1 has tended to repeat really well, whilst POTC2 hasn't done as well but still respectably.

As for New Tricks, it will be interesting to see how the 2010 series repeats do in the coming weeks. I sense viewers are getting bored, as a show which could get c5m for repeat showings is now tending to get more like 4m and sometimes high 3m's when ITV has something decent on.

Also, ITV to their credit, don't tend to fill their schedule with lazy repeats like BBC1 do. I'm sure a primetime re-run of Downton would clear 4m, ditto Doc Martin.

After MOTD this morning BBC1 ran a big trailer for 'Call the Midwife'. Not too sure where this will be scheduled, I'd assumed Sunday nights after Sherlock but isn't it a bit early to be trailing something that won't start till the 22nd? Reckon this might be Sundays at 8, but not entirely sure. Looks good though, my mum will love it!

So BBC right and you lot all wrong.


Surely the only reason the BBC didn't do a Graham Norton show last night was because they were compelled to do a MOTD. (They'd have been in serious trouble if they hadn't shown one after yesterday's results). There won't be any football on NYE next year so they can give Graham his slot back.

Good for the NYE coverage but I think they really wasted the lead in

With hindsight, that 12.15am slot would have been perfect for The Royal Bodyguard.

It might still end its run there...

Tropic Thunder really couldn't be shown before 10 I'd say, both from the point of view of its content and other BBC scheduling commitments. And I Love You Man probably doesnt quite merit a primetime BBC1 showing. The slate of films this year for BBC wasnt briliant but this'll be different next year as has already been discussed.

Winter Wipeout 3.8m / 19.4%

Burp 3.2m / 16.4%

Bee Gees 1.6m / 8.9%

Here are my awards and wooden spoons of the year:

Hit of the year:

Strictly Come Dancing. It was down slightly on the year, but it took on TXF and won, and as near as dammit tied with the Sunday TXF Final in the ratings - something completely and utterly unthinkable at the start of 2011.

It gained all the plaudits for a brilliant run, and as far as the ordinary public goes, it was the big upwards mover this year (even though, strictly speaking, it wasn't). For all those reasons, 2011 has been Strictly's year. Helped by the buzz and spectacle of the show, including the best bit of live telly this year from Wembley Arena, and making weekend TV special - in complete contrast to TXF which was heading off in the other direction.

Runner up - Downton Abbey. I think 2010 was Downton's year to be honest, not 2011, coming from nowhere to being a 10m drama staple. This year it built a little more, but then threw it away with a poorly scheduled and seemingly rather drawn out and miserable festive special, which took on EastEnders/BBC1 and lost, generating negative PR.

Honourable mentions for Frozen Planet, delivering 8-9m audiences for a documentary series, and without question one of the hits of 2011. And Great British Bake Off for delivering staggering BBC2 ratings of 4-5m, and from nowhere. Plus Luther, which on paper looked like a "vanity recommission" rather than a ratings winner - but it banked 6m across its run and became a likely successful crime banker.

Flop of the year:

Without any shadow of a doubt, Simon Cowell's Red or Black. This was set to be the fourth of the big "event TV" formats for ITV, but after all the hype and expectation, it got beaten in the ratings by Watchdog, Countryfile and other shows as well, including cheap and cheerful ITV offerings which ranked above it in the ITV Top 30. Lavish amounts of cash spent on it, and all for nothing. Widely derided, it damaged both the Cowell and ITV brands. Astonishingly, it looks like it is going to get a second series, albeit only on Saturday nights.

Many other contenders for this one: High Stakes for sub 2m ITV1 numbers in the dark depths of winter, Show Me The Funny for delivering spectacularly low ratings in a flagship 9pm Monday slot. The Marriage Ref plumbed record new depths too. But Don't Scare the Hare gets the runner up spot for being both shit, and doing pathetic business for BBC1, a channel not so accustomed to flops - albeit it was dumped in a horror of a summertime slot from the outset.

New hit of the year:

Frozen Planet was obviously new, but a "one off" - it won't be back for a second series in 2012.

I don't want to jump the gun but I think Mrs Brown's Boys did explode onto the scene from nowhere, with a 2.5m>4m growth over s1 in a late slot, and a c7m Boxing Day figure out of the blue - it could be dragged down by the Monday night scheduling of s2, but for now it is the one show that seems to have ticked all the boxes of being a hit, new, capable of standing on its own two feet, and eminently returnable for quite some time.

Runners up Great British Bake Off and Scott & Bailey, which got what it did due to its lead in rather than on the merits of the show itself which was nothing new or groundbreaking.

Jaw-dropping rating of the year:

A few contenders for this one.

Eric and Ernie getting 6.65m on BBC2 a year ago today was a real out of the blue stunner to start the year, although I always knew it would do well - probably more like 4.5-5m.

Frozen Planet was a worthy Top 20 of the year programme with a staggering 9.72m viewers at its best.

The X Factor ratings decline was obviously jaw dropping, but we became so used to the downplaying of expectations and its underperformance during its run that some people almost took it as read that SCD would beat it for the final (and it nearly did), and the spectacular drop from 17m to 13m (peak down from 19m to 15m) for the 2nd part of the Final almost passed by without comment.

Although it fell slightly short of my own expectations, the fact that >26m Britons (in their own homes, plus those in public places) watched the Royal Wedding on a hot Bank Holiday lunchtime was a spectacular vote of faith in the wider institution of the monarchy and one in the eye for sour-faced "nobody cares" miserablist republicans. Jaws dropped on here when it was revealed that BBC1 averaged 13.5m viewers for a 5.5hr telethon from breakfast time till early afternoon, and rightly so - it was well up on most people's expectations. The BBC1 19m average for the ceremony was of course stunning, but it fell short of the 20m some of us expected, dented by a decentish showing from ITV, who in turns earned plaudits for their refreshingly alternative, if slightly lowbrow, coverage - they stopped the Beeb breaching the magic 20m mark. Had that been breached, it might have been a deserving winner in this category.

In the end, the spectacular Royal wedding ratings were nothing like as jaw dropping as 9m watching Big Fat Gypsy Weddings on Channel 4, a show that for whatever reason (and social media helped) just kept on building. My jaw dropped back in February, and still hasn't gone back right!

Mystifying rating of the year:

I think it has to be Big Fat Gypsy Weddings again, which just grew to levels of popularity that were without explanation.

A mention also for the continued Tuesday Night Flopzone which still mystifies me, as whatever ITV chucks at it seems to sink. A sort of Bermuda Triangle of scheduling.

“So glad that flopped” of the year:

The Cowell triumvirate of disaster. Red or Black, TXF and BGT all underperformed, or worse. I don't like the man, or the crud he pumps out. It's time it all turned to shit for him. And this year it did. It couldn't have happened to a nicer man.

I can't stand Piers Morgan either, and he is my runner up. So good to see his ratings difficulties with Life Stories here and on CNN in the States. He also got roundly bested by Lord Sugar in their ongoing "ratings tweets war". And he rounded off the year with a derisory 1.8m for his Xmas Eve Life Stories, which was trounced by Lapland's 6m and convincingly beaten by a repeat of a Best of Les Dawson clips compilation on BBC2 (2.4m).

“Such a shame that flopped” of the year:

The Shadow Line didn't exactly flop, but although it was one of the programmes of the year, it failed to get anything like the ratings it deserved, languishing with sub 2m ratings, although it rallied near the end.

In a different league, Outcasts wasn't as bad as everyone made out. It didn't deserve the slagging and awful numbers it ended up with. At least BBC1 isn't just trotting out endless police procedurals and "heartstrings" dramas.

Best Channel:

Tricky this, as it's difficult not to say BBC1 with its diverse range of programming and generally decent return on established and new hits. 2011 carried on in the same vein. ITV1 treaded water really this year, and had far too many flops to retain the title I think they just about merited on a "most improved" basis in 2010.

So I'm tempted to say BBC2 this year, which carried on doing what it does, with steady hits like Top Gear, University Challenge, It Takes Two, and the teatime bankers like Portillo's Railways; whilst also doing its best for BBC Drama with successes like The Shadow Line, and bringing out new hits like Great British Bake Off.

And it finished the year with new Christmas idents - among the best ever seen on any channel.

Dishonourable mention:

Craig Cash and Caroline Aherne - for failing to get round to writing the Royle Family Xmas Special in time - the top rated comedy of the moment, and a festive banker for BBC1 and the nation. Staggeringly inept.

Danny Cohen is runner up for shunting a successful BBC1 series, QI, off his books and into no man's land on BBC2 where it now gets around half to a third of the viewers it was capable of in a proper slot on BBC1. He's on a yellow card and needs to up his game as controller of the nation's flagship channel in what should be a very big year for BBC1, or else he might get the gong this time next year.

Ho ho, happy new year, a new reality show for summer 2012 Celebrities Watching Paint Dry hosted by Holly Willoughby. Laugh as Abi Titmuss and Kerry Katona throw five litres of emulsion against a wall and watch it dry. No doubt someone at Sky Living is considering this.
Anyway, back on topic, excellent rating for NYL, it just shows how far we've come from the White Heather Club.

Famous and Fearless? Big Brother?

Any predictions for Treasure Island tonight on Sky1?
Heavily trailed, think this could be a 1m+.
They also have NCIS, Hawaii and Got To Dance back.

After an awful NYE line up on the box, tonights telly is the polar opposite; I have:

Eastenders-World's Strongest Man-The Hotel-Sherlock-AbFab-Hacks-Adele Live

All lined up to record.

I didn't watch Sherlock last year, does anyone know if this series is a standalone story or will it be entwined with last years?

POTC: AWE rated fine last night for such a poor movie, I say that as a huge fan of the 1st two films. But you can't argue with ratings, MotD rated fine also, then ending the year with NYE Live was spectacular. We watched some of Alan Carr last night but it was far too long and bloated, a 90 minute show 10:25 to 11:55 would have rated a lot higher I am sure. Poor for ITV1 as expected though, Harry Potter ought give them a 22% share tonight, though up against EastEnders and Sherlock - ITV1 will be the losing channel again.

What winter? Currently a positively balmy 11C here. I take the point though.

Meant to include 'Show Me The Funny' in my own list of the year's biggest flops. Forgot all about it, like most of the few people that watched it I suspect. I didn't make it past the chronically unfunny and disjointed pilot, but in the Monday 9pm slot which is normally one of ITV's best performing, this was one horror show you just didn't see coming. At least not to that extent anyway.

I think the episodes are largely standalone. I have to admit I never saw the first series either so I'm hoping I won't need to have seen it to understand what's going on - I do it have it on DVD but haven't had the chance to watch it yet. But still looking forward to it as pretty much everyone I know raved about the first series.

I agree it's strong line-up tonight.