No doubt the same tired out celebrity gossip, discussions about the soaps, whatever reality show is on ITV that week and premium rate quizzes. Typically when Workington was being devastated by the floods in 2009 they found Jordan in the jungle a bigger news item.

It's a shame a twenty five minute firework show is going to knock a new drama out of the top twenty (and I would say that whatever channel the drama had been aired on). Jools Hootenanny also performed well - I wonder if the 12.4m/1.65m split is the kind of thing we can expect to see during the Olympics (obviously when ITV1 are not airing the soaps and there's a big event on with British interest)?

ITV1 had a torrid day overall, really. The Cube and It'll Be Alright For The Night really struggled and Westlife didn't exactly light up the board, even if the repeat did beat the original airing! And what is their obsession with The Nations Favourite Bee Gee Song? I might be wrong, but isn't that the third airing in a month?

Pirates Of The Caribbean and Match Of the Day recorded excellent figures for BBC One. Specstacular did wellfor Channel 4 and Rude Tube didn't perform too badly considering the time slot while Channel 5's differing approach with Up The Front didn't particularly pay off - though they did have a decent early evening with World's Strongest Man and TV's 50 Greatest Magic Tricks.

Also, regarding ITV1 and Channel 4 - they're never going to be the channels they once were. They have to appeal to the lowest common denominator to survive in an increasing competitive world. The emergence of Sky has damaged the terrestrial commercial channels because of the increased options it gives to the audience. The BBC is not is the same boat as they have a guranteed income and can budget accordingly; the commercial channels can not. I'm hoping now ITV1 is in the black it'll start producing higher quality programming but if LCD programming pulls in the most viewers they're going to continue to produce it; there's little point criticising the 'dumbed down' approach if that's what the audience seemingly like/want.

(I haven't included Channel 5 in the above paragraph as I believe that they're in a better state now than they were before; they just need to be careful how they move forward).

It's only the OOTP premiere that's a bit off there. The slight dip for the GOF premiere was because it was on a Sunday night and ran until 10pm (so too late for kids) and faced tough competition including SCD. OOTP's rating was odd though. It aired straight after a low rated FA Cup match and was on a fairly hot day in April which won't have helped, but it should still have got a million more. What makes it more strange is that the second and third showings of the film outrated the premiere, so clearly something was off that night.

Tonight's premiere has very tough competition, but is also on a much better night than the last couple of premieres. I think it'll get c6m, but it'd be capable of 8m like the earlier premieres in the right slot in the Winter or over Christmas so it's a shame they don't schedule them as well as they used to.

How has its replacements been doing?

Order of the Phoenix was up against Over the Rainbow (5.35m/25.1%); National Lottery: Who Dares Wins (6.03m/26%) and Casualty (5.61m/24%); the former had a Doctor Who lead in of 6.36m/32.3%.

EastEnders and Sherlock should out-rate the above but it's a winter night which should balance it out so I'd say The Half Blood Price will get the same kind of rating.

I think the HBP premiere would've got about 7-7.5m tonight if it had been up against the usual BBC1 lineup of Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow. But I think EastEnders will knock it down quite significantly as it's the toughest competition any of the premieres have faced and I suspect both programmes have a similar kind of audience (young-ish/family) and these viewers will most likely opt for EE due to the big hyped up exit. I can see HBP picking up a good +1 audience though of about 500k due to non-Sherlock EE viewers tuning over just after 8pm.

Yes and no about ITV, Fudd, they are strong in drama, their factual content is better than it was and News at Ten is back in good health, but the rest of their output has this distinctly downmarket edge to it. Also junking whole genres of programming hasn't helped. Plus they seem to overkill their hits like TXF and even if they have improved in some areas, a lot of viewers have deserted them after a nightmarish spell of awful shows in the noughties.
Channel 4 I have less confidence in. This one time equivalent to BBC Four has shot downmarket and has a confused image. Since BB went, and they were right to axe it as it was expensive and falling in the ratings, they seem rudderless. You get the distinctly elderly DOND followed by a cheap reality show, then an hour of teen programming and then a heavygoing news bulletin. Also their so called creative renewal, where they said there would be no BB rip offs, has seen the ultimate rip off Shipwrecked revived to total indifference and cheap tat like DOND and Coach Trip flogged to death.

EE is pretty gloomy stuff right now and with Harry Potter struggling against Voldemort does not make for happy viewing, viewing figures ought be strong though - can see a 16 million combined rating for both shows. I imagine BBC1 will get a near 30% primetime share tonight.

The example you quoted there is GMTV by the way, not Daybreak. Daybreak didn't start until September 2010.

Do you always relate back to negative situations that happened many years ago in real life? It must have been fun on Christmas Day when you expected the turkey to be dry because it was dry in 1995 dismissing all the good Christmas dinners that have taken place since.

Sounds all a bit like Channel 5 and Big Brother that you seem to support? Even though you dislike downmarket tv and reality tv when it airs elsewhere.

Hasn't Shipwrecked been brought back after being axed twice before?

I don't think overkill lead to the problems with The X Factor; the show maybe over-extended itself it terms trying to create controversy and headlines - and basically panicked because it was down year on year by quite a considerable margin. I think the soaps would look more better with a more balanced schedule; at the moment they're airing four episodes of Emmerdale and five episodes of Coronation Street over three weekdays which is ridiculous.

For me, drama is where they need to build from. Drama gains the channel prestige and kudos and, as you say, they have improved slightly in that area though they do need to work on their non-crime drama slate. It's a shame Eternal Law has been panned (though I did read a favourable write up in The Mail's TV magazine) as that'd be a good base to build more non-crime drama.


I agree but it'll never return to the 'BBC Four' approach as it simply won't be able to afford it without taking a larger chunk from the license fee. It's needs a clearer structure and direction then it has at the moment; the other four terrestrial channels do seem to have a forward-looking plan even if I don't agree with the plan in all cases but Channel 4 is just stagnating. They really shouldn't have dropped Big Brother - the creative renewal was nowhere near ready to take over and it still isn't ready.

You can mock but a bad decision in the past can damage a show for a long period afterwards, whether rightly or wrongly.

But Daybreak is of the same ilk and I think viewers have seen through it, also Adrian Chiles looked about as happy discussing TXF as Andrew Marr would be. I think what is needed at breakfast is a real alternative to hard news and gossip like The Big Breakfast.
Actually I had salmon, prawns and a crab bisque this Christmas Day which was nice and a break with tradition. I can honestly say every Christmas dinner I have had has been nice.

When ITV does things well, they get big audiences. Only the most extreme ITV hater could class DA as rubbish or inferior to the BBC's period dramas. 10 million people tuned in to this highly entertaining show and as it has DVD and repeat potential, it can continue making money for years to come. Also Doc Martin, WAH, Whitechapel, Lewis have led the ITV quality drama revival and pulled in at least 6 million viewers.
On balance ITV1 is a much healthier station than it was when Michael Grade took it over and there has been an attempt to raise standards since ex BBC man Peter Fincham took over.
Channel 4 I have less faith in. They seem directionless, have no clear business plan and seem to beat their few hits into the ground. The station which brought you dramas like The Irish RM is now better known as a rest home for Noel Edmonds.

Eastenders - Happy New Year

I've just been watching the Parkinson Morecambe & Wise show with added Andre Previn sketch on the iPlayer. Hiliarious, feel-good entertainment.

This EE episode is pretty grim fare, not exactly an uplifting start to 2012.

Extra grimness added by BBC1 dropping its festive idents for the evening schedule. Don't know why they keep doing this - it's still Christmas, it's New Year's Day one of the festive flagship days, and you've dropped the Christmas trimmings you introduced on Saturday 10th December. Is 10th December "more Christmas" than NYD?

Clueless numpties. Am I the only person who gets mad about this?


Why?

I thought it a shame that a bland police procedural managed to get an artifically high 9m viewers on the back of a strong lead in.

Andrew Preview, the glory days of BBC light entertainment when nearly half the population would watch a comedy show. I watched the 1976 special last week.
Sadly Deadenders gloom and misery is unlikely to lift soon as 8-9 million people still watch it.

The final shortlist for the National Television Awards has been revealed in the new Radio Times mag (7th to 13th Jan). Voting opens Monday morning, closes midday 25th January. The awards take place that night...

Drama - Dr Who, Downton Abbey, Merlin, Waterloo Road
Drama, male - John Barrowman, Martin Clunes, Matt Smith, David Threlfall.
Drama, female - Karen Gillan, Jaye Jacobs, Suranne Jones, Eve Myles.
Factual - An Idiot Abroad, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, This Morning, Top Gear.
Situation comedy - Benidorm, Miranda, Outnumbered.
Talent Show - Britain's Got Talent, Dancing On Ice, Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor.
Comedy panel show - Celebrity Juice, Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week, QI.
Talk Show - Alan Carr Chatty Man, Loose Women, Graham Norton, Jonathan Ross.
Reality - Come Dine With Me, I'm A Celebrity, The Apprentice, The Only Way Is Essex.
Entertainment presenter - Ant & Dec, Keith Lemon, Michael McIntyre, Dermot O'Leary.
Entertainment programme - Dynamo : Mission Impossible, Harry Hill's TV Burp, Michael McIntyre Comedy Roadshow, Take Me Out.
Serial drama - Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks.
Serial drama performance - Katherine Kelly, Alison King, Danny Miller, Jessie Wallace.
Newcomer - Chris Fountain (Corrie), Chelsea Halfpenny (Em), Jacqueline Jossa (EE).

www.nationaltvawards.com

It won't win but I'm impressed Dynamo made it to the short list. UKTV must be over the moon.

Indeed, I can understand Radio Times editor Alison Graham saying "The best drama category doesn't contain The Killing or The Shadow Line, both brilliant but not exactly mainstream viewing", so for Dynamo to appear is quite an achievement.

I agree but it seems to be because the idents are more of a promotional device rather than a decoration thesedays. Just the same as shops who decorate from 1st Nov to 24th Dec and rip them down immediately when they close on Christmas Eve.

Christmas idents should run the weekend before Christmas (or the weekend before if Christmas is at the weekend) until the last day before most people go back to work, so 17th Dec to 2nd Jan this year.

You may find I have criticised It's All About Amy and Tamara Ecclestone, which are Channel 5 shows. Also I didn't shed any tears over the end of OK TV. Downmarket, poor television can be made by anyone and a few BBC Three offerings have been dire. However, the general feel of stations like Sky Living and ITV2 at times is trashy.

Re: Shipwrecked. How has it been rating on Sundays - I know last time C4 tried to put it in primetime it didn't rate as well as it had during T4, although T4 is another area on C4 which is a bit of a mess now, with the Hollyoaks omnibus sometimes as early as 8am and things like Shipwrecked which once had a fairly reasonable slot around 1pm now airing around 11.30am.

As for reviving Shipwrecked. With Battle of the Islands they were right to revive it when it did - five years had past and it came back in a new format and gave them four series, and the first series where it began to tire (the 4th since the return) saw them drop it again.

I think too on paper they were right to revive it again this year - but they got the format completely wrong and cast some of the most unlikeable people in reality TV history - both of which kind of ripped away what made Battle of the Islands work - the idea of community and people generally getting on and working together, rather than it being all about fighting for yourself. They were right too to try premiering it on E4 - but it's not really worked for them. It was a better commission though than Soriety Girls.

Where it goes from here I don't know - it can't have another series in the same format but could be worth a second (well, fourth) chance rather than yet another derivative format. On the other hand nobody could really argue against axing it either.


Anyhow, talking of C4's seemingly make it up as they go along approach - something summed it up nicely in today's People TV guide. The overview of the week highlights "The Body Shop" on Tuesday at 8pm, the listings label it "The Fitness Freaks" - but the actual show is now called "The Fat Fighters". Whatever the name it's the kind of derivative stuff we've come to expect from Jay Hunt.

For the person who asked earlier, Sherlock has started where series 1 left off (the swimming pool).

I'm surprised they didn't keep the idents until tomorrow night, as that's the last night of the holiday.


At least the 'bland police procedual' had more thought put behind it than sending Jake Humphries to the Thames Riverbank.