Good slot. It will get good promotion during Christmas. Very sensible decision.

Now that's what you call advanced scheduling!

When that happens then feel free to comment, until then stop bashing ITV with stuff that is only in your head

As it's so advanced, there could definitely be changes to that. If it does remain on NYD though, I reckon it'll face the final 2-hour Wild at Heart on ITV1.

So NYD a Tuesday this time around then - IIRC ITV don't usually bother with Corrie unless it falls on a Corrie day, so probably an hour long Emmerdale then Wild at Heart at 8pm - though that could well get an outing on Sunday 30th if they're just burning it off as I'm sure they'd have a detective drama able to fill the slot on Tuesday.

Actually I had to restart my home hub.

This is worth noting, as BBC1 always wins all day share unless it is one of ITV's big days (BGT week etc), maybe daytime is performing better recently?

So much for ITV becoming 'just another digital channel' which was the title of a few pages of bashing a few weeks ago.


Showing a Christmas special in late September is shocking scheduling. I've not known a Christmas special airing Sept to Nov before.

The cut backs in the 10:35pm slot are really showing now with new content spread thinly and then repeated many times. Citizen Khan shown at 10:35pm Monday, repeated 11:05pm Tuesday and no doubt the whole series repeated again at 11:05pm in a few months time.

Would I Lie to You wasn't even just a repeat, it was a repeat of a 'best of'. Quite poor for September. If Norton wasn't back until October they should have commissioned something to run throughout September.

I imagine ITV will bid for the terrestrial premiere of Skyfall which will also give them rights to the previous Bonds, that's what they did with CR and QoS. Could see Channel 4 and Channel 5 bidding as well.

According to ITV Media, the next series of Dancing on Ice will be 10 weeks long - down from 12 weeks the last few series have had. It remains on Q1 Sundays, with the main show 90-minutes (a bit less than previous few years which have been as much as 2 hours long) and the separate 30-min results shows remain. Not sure what will air between those two episodes now that Wild at Heart has been cancelled.

There was some programme on somewhere recently where Barry Cryer talked about writing the Morecambe & Wise Christmas shows and how Eric Morecambe used to say "Don't mention Christmas. We won't get the repeats". But this is nonsense. As long as there have been repeats on television, there have always been Christmas specials repeated at the height of Summer.


It wasn't a "best of", it was an "unseen bits". Though obviously not unseen bits if it was a repeat.

Is it tonight that Cheryl returns to X Factor? If so the figures should go through the roof.

If they don't then we know the show has bigger problems than the absence of former judges. If Cheryl doesn't boost the ratings significantly then it's fair to say there's a general viewer fatigue around the show.

Also since Cole sold out her self-respect with this return it would be a shame if it was all for nothing.

I would be very surprised if Sky let that happen.

No point launching the 007 channel, with all the movies exclusive to them, if they allow the new one, to air on terrestrial TV, at any point.

Sky will just buy all the rights to Skyfall, and never let it air on terrestrial TV.

TBH I would not put it past them, to stop is airing in the cinema.

You don't remember the seventies and eighties when the BBC used to show The Two Ronnies Christsmas Specials in August. One summer, they even showed a programme called The Funny Side of Christmas during a heatwave. However, ignoring the tinsel, these were usually good shows to watch again.

I wonder if they even considered moving it back to Saturdays? I know it had its best ever series (Series 3?) when it moved to Sundays but that was a long time ago and the schedules are a whole different prospect now. Those Sunday nights in January/February are just about the toughest schedules all year. Saturday meanwhile, I'm imagining, will have very little going for it, so DOI might be able to air without being crushed and maybe grow a bit from this year if they iron out of the problems.

That said, what else are ITV going to air on Sunday that will get 7 million viewers. I suspect despite the drop in viewers ITV are happy enough with it even though it feels like it's being sacrificed.

It's worth considering as ITV seems to stall on Saturdays after Christmas. However, this would then leave Sundays vulnerable. Yet I have suggested having an hour long Emmerdale followed by a strong drama like Lewis.

Well we know that Lynda Bellingham's programme has been helping ITV1 in the 4pm hour lately, crushing Noel Edmonds in the process, but that's finished for now and they have May the Best House Win starting up again on Monday; not sure how that rates.

It will be interesting to see in January if the BBC's adult-focused afternoon programming such as Flog It does any better when it switches to BBC1. I have to say BBC2 weekday afternoons are looking pretty poor at the moment - the period before 5.15pm (Antiques Road Trip) is all repeats until the week commencing 15 October, when the following new series apparently begin:

3.45pm Paul Martin's Handmade Revolution (factual)
4.30pm Breakaway (returning gameshow with Nick Hancock)


Wild at Heart's surely not going to do much on NYD, last hurrah or not. It was struggling in March and BBC1 is traditionally dominant on that day.


I guess they're hoping a new drama will stick: you really expect at least one drama on an ITV1 Sunday in winter.


"Now another chance to see... the unseen bits."

I think you've quoted the wrong quote. I most definitely remember Christmas repeats in the Summer. I can remember they showed Blackadder's Christmas Carol three times in a year. A premiere at Christmas, then the usual Summer repeat, then another repeat at Christmas following the huge ratings success of Blackadder Goes Forth in the Autumn.

I suppose it offers an alternative to Call The Midwife/Countryfile or whatever it clashed with before. It's just a shame that it's like a sacrificial lamb in order to achieve this considering the behemoth it used to be in its own right.

Mind you, the problems are probably more with the show (dull routines, Louis Spence) than the schedules. But it doesn't help and on Saturday it could maybe flourish. Whereas the Saturday line-up (whatever that will be) would probably end up rating the same if it aired on Sundays against everything (i.e not much at all).

But yes, they probably have nothing else. I really hope they have some lightweight drama up their sleeves on those Sundays cause they'll need something, DOI or no DOI. But whether it's a hit or not...

DOI paired with TMO could be the answer to ITV's prayers on Saturdays. Also an hour long Emmerdale on a Sunday followed by a popular drama could sort Sundays out as well. DOI has been dented by CTM, but is still good enough for 7 million viewers.

Wow. Looks like a cracker of a game on ESPN just now. Might boost MOTD tonight.

Of interest, BBC Four are showing a drama documentary about the life of Kenny Everett and two of his shows on Wednesday. As Kenny's shows haven't been shown on terrestrial for decades, I reckon BBC Four should have a high audience for this.

And to be taken with a mighty big pinch of salt.

It's September, even if it has been held back from the autumn schedules it could go absolutely anywhere this far out. I can't see something as ordinary sounding as LTIH either getting the plum NYD slot full stop, or it being set in stone as far back as September and communicated to the cast.

Any bets on how high TXF will go if Shezza makes a comeback? I'd go for 10 million.

How does judges' houses normally rate compared to the rest of the series? Do we really think X Factor will rise due solely to a Cheryl Cole bit part!?

Although she is inevitably more liked than Nicola and Tulisa, the ratings were high back then because the show was at its peak, she was obviously part of the whole thing (not for 5 minutes) and it just worked with her, Dannii and Simon.

If it rises tonight I don't think much will be down to her, more the fact it's so close to the live shows.

People become used to not watching X Factor now that they will never tune back in