She hasn't really started yet. See post above.

Ken

I do agree with this post. Officials are still a good healthy 8 million with 7 million for Tue & Thursdays. I also agree that making 2013 a blockbuster year is a priority rather than trying to fix 2012 as we only have 29 days left. That being said, regardless of what state EE is in, Xmas is always exciting and it seems like this year will be a good one.

Crap performance from EE - thrashed by Corrie and I don't think there are any excuses for this one. At this rate, EE will be lucky to hit 9m on Christmas Day, but it always seems to pull it out of the bag regardless. The storylines are poor, the writing is poor and everything seems awfully dragged out.

If it wasn't for Call The Midwife I think Corrie would beat EastEnders this year. Regardless, I think it's going to be close.

Judging by the reaction any negative comment gets in the soaps section by it's overly protective fans, some of them would happily watch an episode of Billy watching paint dry, so a Christmas boost is inevitable. followed by another long lull till it's average again.

My worry is that so much loyalty and trust has been lost that even if it's on of the best EE Christmas's it still wont do well. It's going to take time for EE to be were corrie is. Along time.

Ken

It will be but I don't think there can be any excuses for how weak EE is looking at the moment. 2012 has been pretty disastrous, barring a good period earlier in the year, Heather's murder, Ben going to prison and Ian's breakdown. I'd say EE will get high 8's or low 9m on Xmas Day.

I'm a big fan of EE but this year has been pretty bad. I hope things turn around next year.

Well done to Emmerdale on another great week, it is going from strength to strength.
i don't watch EE so can't comment on the quality other than it was on at a friends house on Thursday and I was bored to tears.
Emmerdale deserves to win big at the award shows in 2013.

Emmerdale's been doing well since the 40th and they've got a very good Xmas lined up.

You're a true fan for acknowledging it's in trouble... Respect for that.

Many other FMs will never accept there is a problem.

all we can do is pray!

Ken

Very concerning for Eastenders. Whilst it will no doubt pick up for Christmas and New Year, albeit probably not as high as last year, by the end of the 2nd week in January I think it will be back down to these poor levels.

It annoys me that the BBC have damaged their own flagship show by moving the BBC3 repeat, losing 400k-500k from that and moving the omnibus and losing 500k-1m from that. Aside from the quality of the show they have damaged it through these changes. The Iplayer seeing a rise of 190k doesn't get any where near making up for the losses.

I know alot of people who aren't regular viewers of EE who watch it on Xmas and if a story is good, stick with it for a few months.

I think we will see ratings boosts on Xmas Day.

I think The BBC made a huge mistake regarding BBC Repeat & Omnibus.

either way the damage is done, the BBC have not supported/promoted the show as they have done in previous years when things it rock bottom.

I have no idea what may happen in 2013 but i'll wager a new EP must be odds on if ratings do not rise significantly.

Changing tack for a moment we watch Holby City and when it goes through a bad period we know that it will turn its self around and back on track but with EE we have had near three years of this mess and the next few months are going to make or break it for us, so much that we will watch DA on Xmas Day and catch EE on iPlayer later so we can FF the boring stuff.

I agree. Next year will be crucial for the program.

Ken

It is annoying how some of the more hard core fans refuse to see any problems.

EE is in a very bad place and its not something that will be fixed anytime soon. Its lost a huge chunk of its audience since 2010. This has been a gradual loss in viewership. To win them back is going to take time but nothing seems to be getting done in order to fix this. Brian Kirkwood left EastEnders at the end of February. So its almost been a year. Yes its true EastEnders plan very far in advance for alot of storylines but when Dederick Santer took over from Kate Harwood in October 2006, his first storylines were airing in April 2007 (which was Dot stealing that baby from the church). So its not as if the material on screen is still down to the previous producer. Alot of it is down to the current team. That to me is more concerning as it seems no one has any idea what direction to take the soap in. I honestly think they aren't sure what to do with it anymore. Its like its lost its inital purpose. Its not even the same show it started out as anymore.

If Christmas is a disaster then I am willing to bet they get a new producer almost straight away as a new BBC Drama boss is coming in and will want to make their mark known from the outset and EE is obviously the one gathering most concern right now.

I think the problem of EastEnders is that people must be getting fed up of sad story-lines when there is enough of it on the news

She has. She's been credited as Executive Producer for months, and when asked in her recent DS interview...


There's no way that eight months on everything on screen is still down to Kirkwood. Plus, Lorraine is the one who has been reading and approving every script since he left yet there has been no change in the poor quality (quite the opposite).

The figures on BBC three look around halved, but this is hard to tell whether its a reaction to the programme quality or the time move, but it seems absurd to move it while its shaky. To pitch it against Downton also seems to want to damage the brand as it will be lucky to get 8 million in the overnights if the trend continues. The show will need careful handling in 2013. The programme lack of momenteum seemed to go up in flames with Peggy and the Vic. Her departure like so much of what followed was an non event.There was a change in the show at that point and I never returned as a regular viewer, compounded by the terrible writing that followed.

Not in the current climate it isn't. Tank is the perfect word. EastEnders is underperforming and the excuses for why it's rating badly are running out.


And this is why I say EastEnders is tanking going into Christmas. It'll be the greatest comeback since Lazarus if it does well on Christmas Day. Don't think that's going to happen.

Corrie has its share of sad stories as does Emmers but they are in a good place ratings wise, Emmers has been on ratings fire since the 40th anniversary.

Misery is what EE does best, some of the best episodes have been Christmas ones, this year i'm not waiting with baited breathe as they reveal the sleazy Kat shagger storyline.

Great night for ITV, Corrie doing well and I'm A Celebrity is flying. What I don't understand is why don't ITV do the IAC final on Sundays anymore? It'd be even bigger.

Eastenders is suffering a ratings crisis. Two days in a row it has been beaten by a normal episode of emmerdale fm

Some low ratings for Itv daytime yesterday too.

This is just my opinion but i feel the BBC no longer has the faith,commitment to EE as they had in the past, the BBC has had plenty of opportunities to stop the decline but has failed to do so, why? well thats a question only the BBC can answer.

Yep I feel this too and that is a worry I think. Really the BBC should have done something with EastEnders a long time ago but it feels like its now no longer as important to them as it has been in the past but then to be fair. Many of the 9pm dramas can pull in figures that now match what EastEnders gets so you can see why they would feel this. There was a time when EE was millions ahead of all the other BBC one shows. Not anymore.

I think the moving of the Sunday repeat signaled that EE was no longer as important to them as it once was.