Well, no one was expecting a 17m peak for last night, so it could be higher than expected.

EE until 1988 was THE show and Coronation St seemed to be lagging behind it in the ratings. However, the overkill with episodes, endless repeat showings of the two ITV soaps and omnibuses has made all the soaps boring and this must have contributed to their ratings decline. I think in an ideal world the omnibuses would go and three episodes would be enough as the scripts would improve and there would be more cliffhangers.
However, Emmerdale's quality seems to be falling off a cliff and the demos are bad.

Yeah Corinne Hollingworth had a brief tenure in the early 90s and mid 90s as well. And just checking, I think the year EE won Best Drama was 1997, when Jane Harris was Producer.


Thanks Lewie. Yeah, no 1992 episode cleared 17.85m unaggregated according to the BARB top 10, unless there was some sort of error. i think the 1992 episode (presumably Pat running over someone at Xmas) had omnibus added.

He. And Emmerdale hasn't had a great year by any means. IMO its not been too bad recently. It has picked up - but its very up and down atm. The ratings are holding upn very well y-o-y considering this.


24.24m - HUGE figure!! Its going to be a long time until something beats that (if indeed ever!).



As for last night. Some brilliant peaks for the Olympics and a brilliant 12.2m average for the evening coverage. ITV had a terrible day. They'll be glad when its all over.

Personally I think someone has to move first and launch a new soap. If its ITV/BBC then they should use that to 'pull back' on their other soaps, making the week a bit more varied (and drawn out, allowing for different story telling methods).

Personally I think ITV needs to be gutsy and launch a weekly soap to help those lows they often experience when no new shows are around. BBC One always looks good cause their shows have a loyal following even if it only adds up to 4/5 million.

Such a show might not launch too strongly but these things can grow if the quality is there.

But would ITV want to take that risk? The last primetime soap on BBC1 or ITV, was Eldorado I think, and that was actually improving courtesy of Corinne Hollingworth's changes. So you may have a point that if the quality is there or the show improves, viewers will start watching.

What ratings has Beat TV gotten all week on ITV2?

Honestly? I think they've got to, ITV need to be seriously looking at some of the ratings they've been pulling. Its obvious looking at the BBC's line up for the same times that it is not all down to 'original' content but shows that are known viewer pullers.

Instead of risking money on R/B or Titanic like shows, they need something more 'concrete'.
I'm not sure how much of a risk it is really, some of ITV's ratings are really quite low; a show running in only the 3 million range is a decent starting point, if unremarkable.

Really its the only step they can take if they want to get more consistent ratings. If it starts low there will be PR about that (not a bad thing tbf); but as long as its got good quality and the stories seem to be going somewhere...I think it could be a success.

The regional soaps (River City for example) have done rather well; ITV has room for something weekly, it also takes pressure off the other soaps as I say.

Another gold for GB!

This is so amazing. Hoping for more sky high figures!

A period soap would be interesting, but perhaps logistically difficult. Though if they built a period exterior set and such it would be possible.

Think Downton Abbey all year round. A serialised spin off perhaps, once or twice a week? RobbieSykes would be emigrating!

Not sure why on this of all days we're talking about the soaps. Anyway, this may have already been known but Broadcast brings us the news that Case Sensitive has been axed. Also, BBC1 is turning The Sheriffs are Coming into a primetime show, but it's not just going to be the daytime half hours shoved at 7.30 but a proper hour-long thing.

I know where you're coming from, but ITV's attempts at new soaps since the seventies have bombed. Indeed the only British soap launched since then to do well has been Eastenders and for a time Brookside, but this is long gone.

Surely the tennis today will be up there between 12-15 million tuning in?

Missed it, damn, but caught the medals ceremony, good for the two gymnasts as well.

Who's to say a new approach would fail?

As mentioned if the quality was there viewers would tune in, as they do to decent dramas. Soaps are hardly a dying genre...

there wont ever be a successful new soap in the UK, that Doctors launched is a minor miracle.

Hollyoaks seems to be on thin ice most of the time now ratings wise, whilst Neighbours is on a life support machine down under.

Those BBC 3 numbers are amazing, but should they really count towards BBC 3s average, its hardly typical BBC 3 content, its just BBC Olympics Extra. Its not like 3.5 million people watched a daytime repeat of "Dont Tell The Bride"

Never say never. People said we wouldn't see 20m plus audiences again.

Anyway... does anyone know the date and time of Doctor Who's return? I'm very excited, and hope it does well in the ratings.

In the late eighties and nineties EastEnders, Home & Away, Neighbours and Brookside appealed to younger people.They were always talked about at school when I was younger. Coronation Street and Emmerdale were viewed as old people's shows. Those ITV shows rarely featured at the Smash Hits Pollwinners' Party. Even now EastEnders still does better with younger viewers than Corrie which has introduced younger characters over the years to try and match them. Emmerdale is the least of the big soaps no matter how hard it tries.

But unless something major is done these shows will continue to become less and less potent in the ratings. They can still pop a decent rating with a big storyline but these ratings are exceptions rather than the norm.

A period soap which moved with the times could be the soap version of Ashes to Ashes where 'events' are actually in the show itself.

As long as it 'moves on' I think it could be great; not to mention you have historical events to promote every now and then and get people watching (good way to support your factual side too!).

Danger is a Heartbeat situation. Staying safe and in one time zone. A period drama with proper moving time would be difficult to manage, but not impossible if you have the right planning team and culture in place.

Not so much a Downton Abbey type, but you could have a show set in a working class neighbour hood and chose...any time you want in the last century or so.

It also makes the characters more real as like The Hour they can comment on contemporary events; unlike current soaps which are A-political and in a bubble universe.


The fact Brookside and Eastenders managed it shows there is some demand for them. ITV in its current state is a bit of a worry ofc (they could screw it up by putting Amanda Holden in a big role for example (they would wouldn't they?)) - but they've had successes in drama.

Personally I think theres room for it. They also still can manage huge ratings, launch if over BGT week instead of the Corrie run for example. Then go into a well advertised and specific slot for the rest of the time.

They have the means; and I think they need something like that to really help their consistency and also freshen the channel a bit (Millionaire and You've Been Framed really could do with being drop, especially the later).

I quite liked Night and Day which launched on ITV1 in 2001. It was a soap but it was quite experimental and different. It didn't last long though. There was an episode where a character arrived and made the time stand still.

Yes but the new soaps that have been launched since Eastenders have all failed with the exception of Hollyoaks, whch is really a teen show. ITV's last attempt was Echo Beach and this bombed as it was awful. Also should ITV launch a new soap, it would be a case of not another one from the viewers.

Echo Beach was not a soap, it was one half of a 12 part series. A soap runs nearly all year round, not for ~10 weeks.

So actually, the only "soaps" that have bombed since EastEnders are Night and Day and Eldorado. No other soaps have launched/flopped. And as said, Hollyoaks and Doctors have been successful, as has Holby City.

Get the right talent in place, cast well and schedule carefully and ITV could then reduce its reliance on Emmerdale and Corrie, slashing them to 4 a week each, with the new soap on twice a week perhaps. I'd actually leave Corrie at 4 a week and slash Emmerdale down to 3 to rescue it from the doldrums.

It doesn't need to be a clone of what's there already. Emmerdale is pretty poor so a reduction in episodes would help it out. Having three soaps on less would arguably increase quality of all the shows and thus, in theory, ratings.

It's not a totally absurd idea, but you're obviously not going to budge.

It was one of Murray's best performances IMO. I'd go for 13m peak, 8m or 9m average. Federer looked flat and worn out to be honest. This could be another super day for ratings - Super Saturday and Sunday.

Night and Day sounds interesting, wiki article makes it clear that ITV didn't exactly 'foster' the show, pulling it out its time slot so quickly it was still advertised in the TV guides.


Now, if thats not a sign that a calm hand to just give the show time to grow might have been successful, I don't know what is. 500,000 at that time is impressive, especially for this sort of show.


Echo Beach was such a dreadful idea, it killed its parent show as well. I never got if it was suppose to be 'funny bad' or was actually trying...I just...don't...know...

But it wasn't a soap.

With Team GB on a roll, I can see the Closing Ceremony doing rather better than first thought. I think people will tune in massive numbers, as I think Olympic fever really has hit the nation and will be the end of an era. I'm predicting 18m average, 22m peak.

PS. Well done Andy Murray!