Good back peddling there.

You still never acknowledged the point I was making that your obsession with BBC1 blinkers you to the quality of programmes, which is obviously a shame and makes your view a bit blinkered.

The irony is, if L&O failed like you clearly hope it does because it might damage an episode of Hustle on your beloved BBC1, then ITV would be unlikely to replace it with new drama, but with more cheap reality filler, one of the clear reasons you dislike a lot of ITV. So you really should be happy that a Friday night drama is doing well for ITV.

You'll no doubt ignore the previous two paragraphs because it doesnt fit with your blinkered view.

A couple of years ago when Hustle and Law and Order both clashed, on a Monday, they were getting similar ratings.

Its no surprise Hustle is down this year with the L+O clash. Last year it was facing Comedy Rocks that was under 3m. The only surprise is how L+O has recovered this series.

Winning the title is worth much more to United than focusing their efforts on the Europa League, and I suspect the same is the case for City this year too, though in previous years the Europa League would have been their best shot at some silverware.


Didn't Fox make a big deal a few years back of rescheduling series so they were not constantly interupted, with quite a few of their shows delayed until November?

I guess Glee might repeat better than some shows as they are eseentially stand alone shows with so little plot development you can probably sneak season 1 episodes into season 3 without unsuspecting viewers getting too confused.


P.S. C4 still not learning their lesson and reportedly set to give Harry Hill a deal - another star past their best and signed more just for the sake of it rather than for a specific job. And I thought C4 was supposed to be about nurturing new talent.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/...channel-4.html

Friday 3rd February Overnights
BBC One
20:30- Room 101: 3.44m (13.8%)
21:00- Hustle: 4.78m (19.7%)
22:35- The Graham Norton Show: 3.77m (24.4%)

BBC Two
20:00- Mastermind: 2.01m (8.4%)
20:30- Mastermind: 1.82m (7.3%)
21:00- Cutty Sark: National Treasure: 1.87m (7.7%)

ITV1
20:00- Safari Vet School: 2.59m (10.9%) , +1: 102k (0.4%)
21:00- Law & Order: UK: 4.70m (19.4%) , +1: 295k (1.5%)

Channel 4
20:30- New Girl: 1.01m (4%) , +1: 155k (0.6%)
21:00- The Million Pound Drop Live: 2.13m (9.2%) , +1: 205k (1.2%)

Channel 5
20:00- World's Toughest Trucker: 1.08m (4.4%)
21:00- The Last of the Mohicans: 847k (4.1%)

Primetime Shares
ITV1: 23.2%
BBC One: 21.5%
BBC Two: 6.9%
Channel 4: 6.1%
Channel 5: 3.9%

Ratings include HD and are tape-checked where necessary

Source: DS

Two decent dramas getting good ratings and no doubt countless more people watching one and recording the other is a good thing. Something like Law and Order is a far better than ITV showing some, as you say, cheap reality filler that's likely to last one series and be completely forgotten about when it finishes. ITV needs drama hits as they have better demos and repeat potential than something like The Biggest Loser.
Actually I just like seeing big ratings for programmes that deserve them regardless of channel.

Very, very close between Hustle and L&O: UK with just 0.08m in it, but of course with +1, L&O: UK is ahead with 4.99m. It's really working in the Friday slot - so I hope ITV will keep in there if the show returns. MPD did very well with over 2m exc. +1. Whether those Corrie ratings on the previous page inc. +1 or not, I think they'll be happy with those ratings and a very solid week for the show.

The current series finishes on Friday 17th February. Benidorm will probably air in that slot from the following week.

Except it isn't though, because whatever proportion of that 4.70m/4.99m were in Scotland, they weren't watching L&O because it wasn't shown!

So Hustle had most viewers however you choose to massage the figures.

And of course stretches its lead when you look at the consolidated official ratings.

I put L&O's better performance this year down to the strong recent Corrie episodes, giving it a stronger lead in.

Coronation St has been very strong for the past month. Only a few months ago Channel 5 had the excitable Ruth Liptrot mouthing off about Corrie in crisis as ratings were dipping. Maybe if ratings fell a bit further Des might have considered putting in a bid from ITV.
CS obviously will never see the glory days of 17 million viewers again as there is so much choice now, but so long as it keeps in the 8-10 million zone ITV will be happy. However, I do think junking one of the extra episodes would help keep it fresh.

Sorry Robbie, I never know when we can add the +1 figures or the BBC3 repeats together. Obviously it suited you when DA lost out to EE on Xmas Day so you added in the repeat to make it win.

And yes, Corrie has been strong recently, so the lead-in will help.

Not true. I accepted that Downton won.

Law and Order: UK also gets a late Monday night repeat, of course.

Special commendation for me , but not Hooray for Hollywod1989!!

Firstly what happened to H&A on Thursday night? 664k is very poor and only 100k in front of the first look episode on 5*. Is that the closet the two have ever been?

Corrie did well, just edging out EE. However, that episode was the best episode of Corrie I've seen in ages so IMO it deserved more. With +1 it will be over 10m in the officials though. Emmerdale just seems to get good ratings regardless of whats happening. The Thursday double this week was rather uneventful really, but boom, out of nowhere the 8pm episode gets 8m.

The late-2010 and early-2011 series of L&O both had pretty strong Corrie lead-ins but rated worse. I think this series is rating better because it's facing relatively young-skewing opposition. The main bulk of L&O's audience are aged over 55 (about 65-70% of its audience) and so whenever it faces old-skewing BBC1 opposition in raw numbers, it tends to fall. Hustle has about 1.8m viewers aged over 55, which is relatively low for a BBC1 drama, whereas Waking The Dead was getting c3m in that demo last year which knocked down L&O hard. Even stuff like George Gently repeats and Ocean Giants (both 2.5m) and Have I Got News For You (2.0-2.5m) all had higher 55+ audiences than Hustle when facing Law & Order UK which dented its figures. Basically I think the current series is sweeping up more of the 55+ year olds who don't have many alternatives to watch at the moment. If L&O were on Friday nights as it is, but facing older-skewing opposition even if they were shows with lower overall ratings than Hustle (but had more 55+ year olds), I reckon L&O would be rating lower than it is at the moment. It's not so much the Friday slot which has boosted it (though admittedly the Corrie lead-in would've helped it compared to the one Sunday series it had), I don't think, but more to do with the type of competition it's facing.

Room 101 performed decently opposite Coronation Street and Hustle was as consistent as ever. The Graham Norton Show rates brilliantly in the evening slot and it was a strong episode last night.

Mastermind recorded a strong figure at 8pm though dipped slightly for the second episode, possibly downto the Coronation Street crossover. Cutty Sark: NationalFigure picked up a reasonable rating at 9pm.

Safari Vet School looks low in comparison to other EastEnders opposition biut Law and Order:UK has rebounded after it's relatively weak performing last series; Friday night does suit crime dramas on ITV1.

The Million Pound Drop rated very well,as did New Girl. Maybe the poor weather in the North boosted Channel 4's schedule which looks more youth orientated that rest of the main five?

World's Toughest Truckers recorded a decent figure against the soaps while The Last of The Mohicans didn'tdisgrace itself in what was an adequate night for Channel 5.

Given this, I think we'll have a lot of snow inflated figures tonight. Take Me Out I think will be the main beneficiary.

Not bad ratings for Corrie but the hype should have lived up to it's name.

EastEnders probably got 8.5-9million.

How did Stella do on Sky One?

Sorry if it was already posted but what did Sun Sex and Suspicious Parents got on Wednesday?

Corrie always seems to do best in December and January. The producers must know that the weather is at its worst so the storylines are improved. Come the summer, though, the ratings seem to drop off by 2 million and the plots become weak. I still think reducing the number of episodes by one would keep it tight and fresh.

I apoligise to all concerned, I was way off the mark.

No worries at all, there is a lot of banter here and feathers do get ruffled often.

The biggest and most watched sporting event in the world is on tomorrow - the Super Bowl. More than a billion people around the world are expected to watch, according to reports. How many viewers normally watch it on BBC One?

I think 1-2 million. Don't know if you're old enough to remember that in the mid eighties, when our football was in serious trouble with hooliganism, American football on Channel 4 used to pull in 4 million viewers. It was the in thing for a few years, as was snooker, with 18 million watching the World Championship final in 1985.

18 million for snooker or boxing? On BARB website it mentions no snooker for 1985 just the Boxing getting 18 million for Barry McGuians fight. Did see on BARB website that Charles and Diana's wedding got 21.7m aggregated in 1981, less than 26.0m aggregated for William and Kate's wedding ceremony in 2011. More people watched the premiere of Jaws in 1981 than the Royal Wedding. Film premieres used to be huge in those days, now with DVDs and the internet, its not a big deal.