It is quite clearly fixed to the extent that the judges know when to take it to deadlock or not.

They wanted to keep Rylan in but didn't want to make it look like they were doing it themselves, so lets see what the 'public think'. - Kye is bottom

Last week, the judges voted for Jade to go out - i suspect when we see the figures after the show is over that Union J were bottom. There is no way they'd let Union J go out so early.


and so on, there have been clear cases where it is obvious the judges know - hence the fixing.

Downton Abbey Christmas Special confirmed for Christmas Day on ITV1.

ITV just confirmed Downton Abbey for Christmas Day.

Though to be fair ITV has made itself a target with programme choices and subsequent ratings.

Football highlights + primetime = bad. Especially when all you have to show is Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. Havoc for a Southampton fan travelling home from Newcastle only to find out your game is last, with the briefest of footage.

Before that, it was Popstars, which was the first of its kind. Wonder if the Beeb would be interested in bringing back Whatever You Want, without the Roslin for the 21st century? Bit like Jim'll Fix It, without the Jim. Actually come to think of it, there are a lot of these shows around today.

Doubt it - unlike a month ago it wasn't really a controversial decision tonight as Kye himself is pretty rubbish too.

I take the point you are making - but Shivas isn't really a great example to use. He had a significant track record before becoming Head of Drama for the BBC - and his producer credits certainly didn't consist solely of a series deemed unbroadcastable, as Stephenson's does ...

The Premiership was a flop and one reason ITV never bid for highlights now. Popstars was OK and a clever take on the wannabe pop star show, but we also had Blind Date slowly dying, Lisa Riley killing off YBF ( she should have tried a bit harder) and totally unmemorable tat on BBC One. At least TXF, SCD and BGT have made Saturday nights watchable again after the desert we had in the early noughties.

Either I've done some very bad calculations, or based on: "The X Factor could only manage an average of 7.6m (32.3%) between 8.20pm and 10pm, adding 357k (1.8%)" and "Overall, BBC One won primetime with 27.9% ahead of ITV1's 20.1% (+1: 1.1%)", then ITV1 only averaged 10.6% (+1: 0.6%) between 19:00 to 20:20 and then 22:05 to 23:00?

Edit - just ran it through Excel, no bad calculations there, so that's either a DS typo or Take Me Out and Jonathan Ross performed hideously.

If thats true then how do you think they did. below 3m?

DS mistake, I reckon.

Old news. I could have told you that at 9.37am last Boxing Day.

And probably did...

He was filming in the UK recently though, and she is on a break from EastEnders at the minute, so it's possible.

I think that idea might have stemmed from Germany. The Bundesliga highlights are shown every week at 6.30pm and regularly draw in 5m. Maybe ITV thought it would work here although, as we all know, it didn't quite work out.

Next year they need to revamp the show massively - which is what they should have done this year. The warning signs were there this time last year. The priority should be those early weeks with the auditions and doing something new. Obviously a new panel as well - back to 3 judges, maybe keep Nicole. But new judges can't be the only thing they do. And they need to be organised.

They have plenty of gaps through the year to try out new formats which, if needs must, could eventually take the autumn slot. But they've got to actually have a replacement sitting on the shelf before ditching X Factor.


There's no shortage of people with big salaries and fancy titles on X Factor UK - 4 Executive Producers to be precise (plus Richard Holloway). Then there's ITV who should have been looking for changes (unfortunately they seem to have been keen to keep it the same).

If these shows need Simon Cowell to physically be there to give everyone a kick up the arse then he needs some new people.

There's also the fact that the producers are the ones casting the show and they've not got it right this year. And what makes them think that saving Rylan again is going to make any difference? It's not like it helped in the first week.

The format needs work. But they also need some new "story" ideas for the series.

STV are piloting "First Dance" sometime this month. It follows engaged couples who are taught by world class choreographers to pull off a spectacular first dance and amaze their friends and family.

Sam Hodges "#Strictly's results show averaged 9.6m, peaking at 10.4m #SCD #BBC1"

Probably beat XFactor, maybe Downton, but that probably saw a boost from being the finale.

9.83m for Downton Abbey last night. And 1.6m for Space Dive on BBC2 including BBC HD.

Jenny Cummins ‏@jscummins
ITV1 Ratings - peak of 10.9m for X Factor (av 9.2m) and Downton bows out with a series high - peak of 10.7m (av 10.1m) - figs inc+1
9:46 AM - 5 Nov 12

Is 9.8m down on last years closing Downton?

Space Dive down on what I thought. MIght have done better at 8pm/9pm junction?

So SCD beats TXG on a Sunday incl +1. is that a first?

XFactor probably under 9m without +1, peak was higher than Strictly though.

I thought it would have got higher before hand, but watching it, it was very niche, though really enjoyable.

It did last week as well

Downton could end up higher than last year's finale. I didn't see any promotion for Space Dive. Did anybody else?


I think it could be a second this series.