The BBC will probably launch SCD on Friday September 28th and Saturday September 29th. The first vote show cwould be October 6th. Therefore the SCD final would be December 15th. Possibly the same day as it was in 2006.

Friday 6th January - Soap Overnights
BBC One
13:45- Doctors: 1.58m (21.1%)
20:00- EastEnders: 9.00m (36.4%)

ITV1
19:00- Emmerdale: 7.71m (34%)
19:30- Coronation Street: 9.05m (38.1%)
20:30- Coronation Street: 8.88m (35.8%) , +1: 165k (0.7%)

Channel 4
18:30- Hollyoaks: 1.02m (4.8%) , +1: 107k (0.5%)

BBC Three
22:00- EastEnders: 610k (2.9%)

E4
19:00- Hollyoaks: 536k (2.4%)

Ratings include HD and are tape-checked where necessary

Source: DS

EastEnders seems to be still enjoying its post-Xmas bounce - I expect that to last into next week with Pat's funeral.

There may possible be a difference of opinion here as to what constitutes "next week" - Monday in 2 days time or Monday in 9 days time.

Aussie soaps not on week commencing January 9th.

BB will dip under 2m being a Saturday and in a 8:30pm slot. But should be above 2m constantly if the audience stick around.

Take Me Out, a guilty pleasure of mine, love it, should launch with around 5m.

no I think the Monday in 2 days time, counts as next week, the Monday in 9 days time, counts as the week after that.

Monday 9th certainly isnt THIS week, so it most be next week.

Neighbours and H&A return on the 16th.

Can CBB beat Steptoe And Son and Fawlty Towers over on BBC2?

ITV doesn't have that many either - especially when you consider it's not that long ago that any 9pm weekday or weekend drama on ITV would command 12-17m viewers a week.


Not sure why SCD would necessarily end on 22nd December. It doesn't have to finish on the Saturday before Christmas. I think Saturday 15th is most likely.

Likewise now that (as we kept being told) TXF is (apparently) no longer about the Christmas No 1, there is no reason why TXF needs to finish on Sunday 16th. They won't want to have the final on the same weekend as Strictly, I should have thought. Especially after the ratings slump in 2011, and not knowing how 2012 will fare until the series has started and the final date is already set in stone.

On Red or Black, Peter Fincham's Times interview just before Xmas suggested it is coming back, but will air weekly on Saturday nights only - given that was the only night of its run to get "non abysmal" numbers due to the TXF crutch.

I guess if Cowell says "jump", Fincham jumps.

whilst I would not have bought it back (you know if I was in charge of ITV ) I think moving to Saturdays is a good idea.

you are the one that is obsessed with reducing ITVs ratings rather than maximising the BBCs.

They were supposed to be back this coming Monday, but it looks like they got cold feet over the closeness to Australian transmission. We'd have ended up just one week behind with H&A by the end of this month.

It's a mystery to me why they couldn't have brought Neighbours back sooner though to get teatime shares healthy again at this important time. We'll be a good 4 weeks behind Channel Eleven.

No idea. We don't know if these viewers are going to be loyal. But being a Saturday night, I am expecting low numbers.

Certainly yes in the 16-34 demo C5 are targetting which matters to the advertisers they are wanting to attract.

I always thought CBB trended older than BB. Also while some people regard BB watchers as chavs, CBB last time had a 45 pc ABC1 share, although the normal BB trends lower with older and ABC1 viewers.

Those ratings are ok for the soaps, but the big two should be able to drawn 10m viewers in on a January night.

The Magicians revamp is interesting. Makes it all a bit "Strictly Come Magic". Not sure I'm exactly sold on it, but at least BBC1 is making an effort against a poor ITV1 line-up which if there is any justice in the world will be crushed from start to finish.

What's it like living in the past, Robbie? Give Florence Nightingale my regards.

When was the last time Fawlty Towers was on BBC Two? It's repeated on GOLD regularly, but it hasn't been repeated on BBC One or BBC Two for several years....

EDIT - its John Howard Davies night from 19:45 to 22:00 on BBC Two, that probably explains it.

I'm guessing by "interesting" you mean dire? What on earth were they thinking doing this live? Awful.

The host is a bit poor, keeps stumbling over the autocue, but it's entertaining enough. I'd rather have this over Dancing on Ice anyday....

Not so. Last night's show had 908,000 (20% of those available) watching in the Adults 16-34 demo, which would be considered pretty huge for ITV1, let alone Channel 5.

Apart from Corrie and Emmerdale I don't believe any ITV1 show had more viewers in that demo in the week following Boxing Day, judging by the info kindly posted by rzt here. Some BBC shows managed it, but not many. And that was during a big week of viewing!

At its peak last night 24% of 16-34 yr old women and 22% of 16-34 yr old men watching TV were watching C5. And it's that kind of performance, if it continues, that will ensure CBB is recommissioned. But I must stress it's early days and the numbers haven't settled down yet.

It shows how far we've come when Winter Wipeout, The Magicians and a National Lottery quiz hosted by Nick Knowles is seen as a schedule that should 'crush' the opposition.

Looking at zeebox, and not at the ordering as a whole but at individual programmes, looking at The Magicians popularity graph, looks like there was a bit of a boost about 18:55, with it staying fairly steady after that.

At least BBC1 hasn't resorted to filling an hour of prime time Saturday night with the sort of filler "infomentary" about talent shows that you'd once have expected them to use to fill the difficult Tuesday/Thursday slot opposite Eastenders....

Its certainly not perfect and I cant imagine many will have been inspired to vote, but I think "dire" is taking things a bit far. There are some very clever people on show, but maybe illusion has become a bit like we have seen it all before.