ive always thought E4 was mad to bring back Shipwrecked.

This is ratings news, but it seems EastEnders is bringing back



With the fans in danger of forming a lynch mob, and looking up Bryan Kirkwoods house on google maps, he has done what the fans will always ask for



This is ratings news as EE was starting to slump, and this should give the ratings a kick of the backside.

Again? Seems like running out of original ideas to me

this is either the last throw of the dice for a failed exec producer, or an excellent return for a new exec producer.

Isn't EastEnders all about either 'massive episodes' where they bring back characters or 'explosive episodes' where characters leave?

Dancc would you like to comment on this CSI news ?

That makes sense given that Body of Proof still has 5-6 episodes left of the first season. Will also mean CSI Miami will likely premiere the week after CSI finishes which will be July-August.

Thankfully Corrie never brings back any old characters or ever has any explosive episodes where characters leave.

CS does rather well on the implausible storylines front.

Run that whole tram crash/nightclub inferno/murder plot/cover up scenario past me again?


That did a bit better than 3.5m though, I think?

Next up it will be Pete Beale. This show really is beaten for ideas now and if we were to have a bet on which soap might not survive the decade, my money will be on EE. It is just a revolving door for talentless actors that can't do anything else and is so relentlessly miserable people are switching off.

That's been the case for at least the last decade though.

EE's biggest threat is if the BBC ever look to snatch the budget to increase the range of pre-watershed (and now probably post-watershed) drama - though I doubt they'd get as much airtime out of it and then of course they'd still be slots to fill where the budget doesn't stretch. Unless ratings really collapse in the way Brookside did (with the help from a few scheduling changes I suspect) I really don't see EE going anywhere in the next decade.


Actual EE viewers (I haven't been one for a good decade or so!) might disagree but I think the show might actually benefit from being reformatted into twice weekly hour-long episodes - and it's a move which could actually revitalise weekday primetime schedules on both BBC1 and ITV1.

I'd put EE at 8pm on Mon/Thu, building up a pre-watershed drama hour with Holby on Tuesday, Waterloo Road (when airing) on Wednesdays and move Casualty to Fridays. The BBC would need to find some content for 7.30pm of course - but the likes of Masterchef could return to a stripped format to take up a number of weeks - and they currently have five half-hour pre-watershed slot to fill anyway, though I would move Panorama to 10.35pm. It might not be a popular move, but it might actually benefit from it.

In theory that forces ITV to strip Corrie in the 7.30pm slot, though with the football and extra Emmerdale episode they'd have to use one hour at 8pm (or Sundays) for another episode. It might make ITV1 vulnerable at 8pm across the week too - and consequently at 9pm - but if the BBC made the first move ITV would have to step up to the challenge, and though it might be seen as a ratings chasing move by BBC1, it is one I think which really would improve the primetime landscape.

seems logical what with his sister having returned recently.

To be honest though, people have been saying that for most of the past 15 years about Eastenders. Eastenders has always been about "if you have been affected by this storyline........" to the exclusion of the the gentle comedy which has found its way into Coronation Street over the years. Its part of the Beebs justification for a primetime soap. Its only been a few weeks since 10 million plus were tuning in-and more than 9 million tuned in last night adding in the repeat.

EDIT: Talking about characters-the one they should bring back according to polls over the years is the one they killed off-Tiffany.

That was the date I had in mind since Body of Proof is due to finish on the 6th, so it makes sense. It's a lot later than normal but as Jonwo said it means there won't need to be a gap between Vegas ending and Miami starting as there was last year where we had the All Time Top 10.

Only missing piece of the jigsaw that's got me curious now is what they plan to do with OUAT.

I could see Once Up On a Time airing on Saturday night like Charmed used to, and like Merlin does.

I think Sunday or Monday, does Channel 5 have the rights to The Walking Dead season 2? While it did okay on the main channel, I reckon it'd do really well on 5USA, maybe acquire American Horror Story and pair them together. I think they have the rights to Justified Season 3 but I imagine that won't air until April when Sons of Anarchy finishes its run,

You seem to watch enough of it!

I'm a working class lad from Lancashire.

It's part of my DNA!

It would be impossible for me to go that long without watching it, but I don't regularly do so, and can go weeks without seeing it at all.

Diamond Geezer got nearly 10m for the one-off in 2005 then it came back two years later for a 3 part series. The series started with 6.2m but ended with 4.3m.

This seems like a rather spectacular exaggeration. It's not even as if this is the first time that EastEnders (or any soap) has had a critical, creative or commercial downturn (and I remain unconvinced that EastEnders downturn on any of those fronts is anywhere near as bad as the the majority seem to suggest). Every couple of years at least one of the soaps finds themselves in this position – the last couple of years it was Hollyoaks and before that it was either Emmerdale if memory serves. Inevitably the soaps find their feet once again and I see no reason to believe why EastEnders won't do the same. Indeed its nowhere near as bad as it was a decade or so ago when it was completely unwatchable.

Personally I think Kirkwood has had a particularly unfair reception from fans many of whom seem predisposed to dislike him anyway because he was coming from Hollyoaks. His run has produced some truly fantastic television and some of the best episodes and runs of episodes the show has had in years. His two big problems are that he's lacked the big nation gripping sensationalist storylines (with the obvious exception of the baby swap which went horribly wrong) and episodes have been massively inconsistent. They tend to be either brilliant or awful with very little middle ground.


I still think they have to put it pre-watershed.

The 7PM Saturday night 'Doctor Who/Merlin slot' might not be a terrible idea. It would be a big gamble for them but with very little else in the way of Saturday night entertainment happening now might be the time to try it. Have a big family film in the tea time slot and hope for the best.

Failing that Sunday at 8PM after Dancing On Ice/Wild At Heart finishes on ITV might not be a terrible move either.

But generally speaking I think going post-9PM with Once Upon A Time is a mistake. I just don't think it finds the audience it'll need to survive and be worthwhile there. Although to be honest I'm not sure its a show that'll translate especially well anyway. I still cannot see the appeal of it and think it is one of the worst new dramas of the US season.

for the record I gave Kirkwood a fair chance (even if he did come from Hollyoaks) but the fan are correct in what they say about him and the show. He just is not up to the job, but yet he isnt bad enough at the job to force the issue. Where before I have said the BBC can leave it a bit as they dont know if the next exec will be any better, the time for that has passed.

Also those people who are saying that EE is most likely to die soon, have a very short memory, we were saying that about Hollyoaks not that long ago, and it has returned to form, it even getting praise from a few on this thread for its serial killer storyline.

They've got a few hits there - returning series that they can get a decent run out of each year. I can see why they've done it and it makes sense, IMO. Obviously some are better than others and that's reflected in the ratings.

I think its partly the way the BBC schedulers choose to play their hand. Reasonably enough, they seem to look at the Holby lead-in and try to push on with more female-skewing, domestic stuff. But I think it generally leaves them with the weaker end of the BBC's drama selection, and a genre they don't really excel in. Mistresses, All the Small Things, Candy Girls, Mutual Friends, and now Prisoners Wives - is it me or would all those look more comfortable on ITV?

The few dramas that have done better on Tuesday have been those that play towards more conventional strengths like cop drama (Luther, Death in Paradise) and legal drama (Silk).

I did look in quite by accident on Prisoners' Wives last night and it affirmed my conviction that it was something I'd usually avoid: very straight and serious, endless scenes of the lead sobbing in a room, all-in-all rather vanilla and lacking anything that would get viewers to stick. Call the Midwife has warmth and escapism, Sherlock has verve and wit, Spooks had shocks and action, New Tricks has gentle charm. Prisoners Wives? I dunno what you'd tune in for - maybe more to do with my tastes, but things like that always seem to me lacking in the distinctive quality or attitude you can usually find in the best-rated dramas.


Quintessential Channel 4. Someone in a big glass office on Horseferry Road decided about 18 months ago that fly-on-the-wall was "back in" again, held a "thought shower" to dream up public buildings they could strap a camera to, then rocked up at the Edinburgh TV Festival to claim they want "originality" and "something fresh" for their network.

I'm not going to deny that some of these examples make entertaining, popular, and in some cases quite excellent programmes. But it's typical of Channel 4 to dilute the impact by throwing 9 examples at the wall and seeing what sticks.


Talking of over-saturated TV genres - I honestly don't think there's as much growth in this scripted reality stuff as the execs seem to think. Only TOWIE has been a proper hit - Scousewives flopped, Made in Chelsea was so-so, and Geordie Shore only does OK because of MTV's usually awful standards. It's just TV people getting carried away by Twitter trends, I suspect.

More than any other genre, stuff like this desperately needs that oxygen of tabloid column inches. And with ITV seemingly pushing TOWIE to be an almost year-round thing, are the other basically-identical shows going to be able to fight their own corner? I hope not!

So True, the only critic in the country to give the Marriage Ref a good review. 'Genuinely Entertaining' Nothing to do with Dermot presenting.

Even when Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was gone boring and stale on BBC ONE it was till getting pick of the day and 5 stars in Heat.


I remember he gave Downton a mediocre review for its first episode and then when everyone else raved about it, he rewatched it again and suddenly loved it.

I love how Jay Hunt and her predecessor were always boasting in Broadcast interviews about how fun and risky they are when their schedule is now just full of reheated 90's docusoaps.
This week we have had a docusoaps on a Hotel, Police officers, a big Family, paramedics and a Maternity Ward.
I'm just waiting for them to announce one set in an 'Airport'
The other 3 nights are taken up with a quiz and some property porn.
There is nothing wrong with that but I just wish they'd stop with all the self praise about how original and risky they are.

BBC1's MasterChef cooked up an audience of 4.23m (18.18%) share.

Midsomer Murders returned with 5.87m (24%) / 370k (1.7%) +1.

Great night for C4. One Born Every Minute delivered a series high of 3.21m / 503k +1. Bouncers admitted 2.37m / 333k +1.

ITV2's TOWIE continued with 809k / 142k +1.

Sources: John Williams, Michael Rosser