I think this is likely actually.
They knew series 3 was coming when they were making series 2 and working out Martin's schedule.
Star Trek won't start for a bit yet (and even when it does, they can easily shoot an extra ep once its finished) and Doctor Who is on a wee break.

Mark Gatiss/Stephen Thompson - could easily have their scripts done, whilst Moff's is always filmed last anyway. They could be ready for series 3 now tbh.

EDIT: Although tbf it says it got 8.2 million on Sunday, so what do they know!

Strong and steady for BBC1 looks like they beat ITV1 by 3%+ in primetime.

I loved Russian Roulette..... Somehow I think it could work on another channel..... Richard Desmond are you listening?????

Erm.....

This is 5! (1997) A Channel 5 Production
Be A Star On Neighbours (2010) A Channel 5 Production
Home And Away: Bay Reporter (2011) A Channel 5 Production

I take it Broadcast were not aware of these in-house produced programmes?

WOW!!!!!

So much for the magic of the FA Cup - 3.5 million

Very dreary and uninspiring schedule last night. BBC1's looks like it could have been transplanted straight from daytime.

Indeed :yawn:

Just realised that 5* beat Channel 5 in that hour with the live feed!

Can't win though can they? When they showed Celebrity Masterchef in the daytime lots of people whined and moaned about it and said it should be in the evening and when they show Mastershef in the evening people still moan and say it should be in the daytime.

Of course DIY SOS shouldn't be shown at any time of the day whatsoever.

Well I meant that by having a more interesting live feed than usual on 5* would kill her lead in from BB which it clearly did somewhat.

Perhaps this will encourage Channel 5 to bring back a full live feed.....


It's a good thing it's a 1-off.....

My mistake but I think people would have turned over anyway. If the live feed was after Channel 5 last night it would have gotten an even bigger rating.

It's magical when big teams are involved. I think with the new deal for The FA Cup, ITV will have more choices over which fixtures they show. That would've done well on ITV4.

Er, cylon6, it WAS after the Channel 5 show.....

What was the total share for primetime last night for Channel 5's family of channels?

What I meant to say was if the live feed was on Ch5 rather than 5* straight after the show the rating might have been higher.

Given that Star Trek 2 started shooting last week and The Hobbit is still shooting I would think the chances of Sherlock going into production any time soon are slim to say the least. Its unlikely that Freeman and Cumberbatch will both be free until at least late March (although that assumes that Cumberbatch has a lead role in Star Trek as has been suggested and it could be later than that) but even then Cumberbatch still has Parade's End to shoot for BBC2. Plus I would have though that come April Doctor Who would at the very least be gearing back up for production if not already be under way which would suggest Moffat will probably be busy with that for most of the first half of the year.

My suspicion is that Sherlock will probably go into production toward the end of the summer and roll into the Autumn which would, if I'm remembering rightly, put them on a similar shooting schedule to series two and would allow for a January 2013 transmission.

Ahhhh my mistake. However, I don't doubt it may have passed 1m viewers on Channel 5, but it did incredibly well to get the HIGHEST EVER viewing figure that five life / FIVER / 5* has EVER got.....

Just taking this over from the uneccessary thread:


No. Not if 5 have sense, they want to boost their channel over all, not just base it around BB. HOWEVER, a live feed at specific times, like last nights could work really well.

Afterall they are in control of the house, why not have live competitions akin to trials in I'm a Celeb after the main show has finished.

Live feed could do really well but in a constrained and well scheduled form - as we see from last nights ratings.

Technically it's not an unnecessary thread, some FM's don't venture into this thread, and it was clearly asking if anyone was shocked, not just TRT readers.....

And although I agree with you about the tasks after the main show, BUT, they could show delayed highlights during the day instead of teleshopping.

Solid night for BBC One, with a fairly uninspired schedule. MasterChef not exactly hitting it out the park this week - but then its never been anything more than a stable performer. It'll grow though, and does good demos by the channel's standards IIRC, so they'll be satisfied enough. ITV1 would never have been expecting all that much out of that football tie - and so it proved. Still just worth the ITV1 platform though. They've seen much worse.

Stargazing Live finished off another very impressive little run for BBC2. Interesting that though its lost some casual viewers over the three days, the amount sticking around for the 'Back to Earth' bit has stayed very stable. I'm sure it'll be back for more sometime - good show, good hosts, good ratings. Decent for The Crusades, but a shame it couldn't hit 2m. Still pretty good, mind you, if falling a bit below some of BBC2's other major history docs of late.

Elsewhere, BB continues to be strong - and they appear to have introduced the casual viewers to 5* quite successfully over the past week too. That channel badly needs it. Also, another very strong performance from One Born Every Minute to salvage C4's night. The two half hours on Wednesday @ 8 just isn't working for them. It didn't last year, and its not now.

I don't think the brand is strong enough to support a consistent live feed any more.

Yes last nights one-off special event did very well but that's because it was a one-off special event. I don't think the show or Five are in a position where they can consistently attract strong enough audiences to a live feed to make it commercially viable at least not in comparison to things like the teleshopping and casino games. I do however think last night shows that they can make use of occasional live 'events' within the Big Brother house but they would have to be occasional otherwise the novelty wears off.

Firstly it's not a brand, it's a TV show. And secondly, Channel 5 may not be as cash-rich as the BBC, ITV, Sky or C4TVC, but they are using their money very wisely. The only way to see if it's not financially viable to support a full live feed is to gradually expand the amount of live feed by a few hours per week per series. If it hits a point where it suddenly becomes unviable financially, Channel 5 can then reduce it slightly until it does. Then they would know where the saturation point would be.

Network Statistics inc +1

Five total 6.3%
Fiver total 1.2%
FiveUSA total 0.8%

I do not see 5*