Eek smiley? I dare you to put some money on that. I wouldn't even put somebody else's money on that one.

Currently scheduled for 3.55pm on Boxing Day.

Thanks.

Should do pretty well there. They could even move it an hour later if All Star Family Fortunes is given a more suitable slot (6pm on Boxing Day is such a waste - they should put it at 8pm instead).

Maybe people have realised it's such a depressing, miserable show and given up. Yet soaps all go through bad phases and six years ago Garry Bushell was predicting its demise, but it's still here. Not that well known as a fact, CS was nearly cancelled in 1973 when ratings fell below 10 million.

And the Daily Mirror TV critic famously predicted Corrie would only last three weeks

Which one do you dare me to put the money on, EastEnders hitting 10m, Coronation St dipping a bit on Xmas Day, or Emmerdale collapsing for the fortnight?

Yes, a few things already at different times on the Press Centre.

I don't know that they should be scheduling Paul O'Grady's For the Love of Dogs on Christmas Day. It was a bit of a break out hit considering it was up against Eastenders, but not sure its worthy of its place on Christmas Day.

I'd probably be more inclined to split it into 2 parts, and put it out opposite a couple of Eastenders episodes over Christmas week.

Yeah I don't think it should be there. If they had a 30 minute slot on Christmas Day then maybe but not a full hour of it. They should definitely split it, with the first episode on Christmas Eve at 8pm in its normal slot. If a 30 minute slot comes up on Christmas Day it could go there but otherwise I'd put it on Friday 28th in the awkward 8:30pm slot currently filled by The Corrie Years.

Elsewhere, All Star Family Fortunes should go on Christmas Day. Panto should be on Christmas Eve at 9pm and Doors Open on Boxing Day at 8pm with the Spice Girls on the 23rd. Doors Open will bomb on the 23rd starting half an hour into Miss Hatto on BBC1 and with a crap lead-in.

The initial reactions to it were very hostile and I'm sure it took over a year to be established. Yet CS is still here.

Are you a true Corrie fan for criticising it?


It has been a brilliant series, well deserved. One of the best ever bunches of celebs.


That reveal is the week before. It looks like the best xmas since 2007.

The shagger story has been terrible and dragged out far too long. They need new storyliners pronto. Problem is Kirkwood's stories are still running even xmas day's. Last week was the first time I noticed a difference it how the episode flowed and her episodes have been airing since July 16th.

The pressure is on Newman to pull it out of this rut next year.
If the Beeb do axe it, ITV will buy it and show it 7 times a week but there'll be no Roscoe meltdown

Dullagj, we have an awards ceremony on here for successes and flops every Christmas. I think we can make an early nomination for I'm A Celeb for a long service award. OK I'll admit I'm not a fan, but its ratings continue to surprise.

Although as IAC hasn't gone head to head with EE at all and isn't in the same genre I don't get how you can say it's damaging EastEnders.


I'd be inclined to put it in the 6pm hour, or anytime between 4pm and 7pm really. Also annoying how C4 once against aren't putting the Alternative Message directly against the Queens Speech - that's supposed to be the point of it afterall. Otherwise a rather lazy line up - a bit of effort after 9pm, but they can surely do better than a film repeat in the early evening and go for the factual or arts type programming as a real alternative as they have done for many years.

Some promos which have been shown the last few days:

- BBC1 Christmas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqHOmF_3Ry0
- BBC2 Christmas: Entertainment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa6jpf2dCqQ
- BBC iPlayer on TV Campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlxpH5jsI7I
- Africa [BBC1]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTVL_PWl7Tw
- Call The Midwife [BBC1]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f9hMzfbhYE
- Westminster Abbey [BBC2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amlEV9Rui0g
- Merry Christmas from Itv: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlmakIFHUjc
- Merry Christmas from Itv: Drama: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfPcRMoC1Y4
- The Poison Tree [Itv1]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_BrJF0j-1U
- Peter Andre: My Life [Itv2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuhIZscBSs8
- The Only Way is Essex: Live [Itv2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvowWGUmA4s
- The Real Man's Road Trip: Sean and Jon Go West [C4]: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGr-mFIUofY

I'm sick of people saying this. Its just not the case. Brian Kirkwood was on longer EastEnders EP from March. The exact same time Dederick Santer stopped being EastEnders EP in 2010. So was all of Xmas 2010 and the start of the baby swap down to Santer??? no it wasn't. The same applies here. The way people are going they will be saying all of summer 2013 is down to Kirkwood too and thats why its still crap.... now he was rubbish on EE but the point of blaming Kirkwood for the current storylines has passed.

Even Lorraine Newman has said herself in that DS interview that they have passed the cross over story point so I don't know why fans keep saying otherwise. I think the woman in charge should know. John Yorke ALSO said that Lorriane had lined up a great autumn.... his words were one of the most exciting ever to be exact... yet where was it??

Max's secret is revealed at xmas, a story which has been hinted at since November 2011. Beedles confirmed the Lexi story was conceived under her tenure as story producer. Certain characters are at a point in their arch and changing that could do more harm that good, Jamie also stated at the BSA's in May that he had a big xmas and Kirkwood stated that it'd be the year of Derek. Anyway this isn't the place for this discussion.

BK took over March 2010. The baby swap didn't start until NYE. Stacey exited that xmas with everyone finding out she killed Archie(Santer's story) It takes a while for EP's stories to get onscreen. Soaps plan very far in advance, Corrie 6 months at a time. Some EE writers are writing episodes which will air in April next year.

Actually I believe we will still be seeing Kirkwood's material up until late 2015.

What about this..

Read more: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2...#ixzz2DpEPhkSp

I think if the BBC One drama boss is thanking Lorraine for the ''autumns'' output then its her who is behind it all.

Keep making excuses and passing the buck onto a guy who suffered a vile vendetta from EE fans but he is no longer there and its time to forget him. Nothing on screen now is his work.

Maybe he meant that she was planning lots of weekend visits to Britain's best theme parks.

EastEnders will be lucky to be on air in 2014 if it keeps going like this, the normally dependable BBC 3 repeat , has sunk almost without trace, at 10:30pm.

Is it me or are soap fans talking about EP's a bit like Roman Abramovich and Chelsea managers? Some sort of weird idea that EP's click their fingers and make soaps good or bad by magic based on their respective abilities. Nothing to do with the writers or directors or storyliners or cast or legions of other backroom staff... absolutely everything - good or bad - is the fault of the EP!

I'd simply comment (as I have so many times before) that soaps move at an absolutely glacial pace. Storyline changes, cast changes, production changes and, yes, ratings changes too. Clearly EE is in a dismal ratings rut at the moment. I've no idea whose fault it is cause I haven't watched in years - but people should seriously stop expecting things to magically transform, either on screen or in the numbers, anytime in the immediate future. Soaps are habitual viewing. Even if EE became the best drama on TV tomorrow, it would take months for ratings to recover.

(In truth, this talk of EastEnders producers is getting tiresome, and becoming very tangental to the thread. There's a soap forum where people will be more than willing to engage on the quality or otherwise of Kirkwood and whoever else.)


Have I Got News For You started it's run well, but seems to have been dragged down by it's companions over the course of the last few weeks. The number of repeats the BBC has been airing in prime Friday slots has been shocking this year - first endless Mrs Browns Boys and Miranda. Now Outnumbered too. They either need to get behind the night with their big comedies coming in early 2013, or need to find something else that works at the end of the week. They don't really seem to have committed to anything there this year - its non-stop filler and placeholder stuff.

Can anyone truly see the Beeb dumping Eastenders? Its been anchoring the schedule since its started and still bringing in valuable share 4 times a week even if it is going through a bad patch.
What on earth would they put in its place!

I know there is the question of what would the BBC do without it, but it does look like the BBC has hit EE self destruct button.

As far as Kirkwood vs Newman, I struggle to believe that Kirkwoods work has much influence on the show at the moment, other than in what characters are around, and not around (Kirkwood has let alot of people take breaks)

As for the "power of the exec producer" well true its a more longer term thing, thing, but they do plan out the storylines, major arcs, making hiring and firing decisions, so there is no question, after a couple of months, a new exec producer can have a major influence on the show. We have not had one recently, but in the past new exec producers haved axed many characters in one go, early in their time wit the show, no question that has a massive influence.

EastEnders is in no danger of being axed as they don't really have a replacement for it. If they did then things would be different. That said EastEnders is now approaching the same territory that Brookside found itself trapped in and thats not really a very good place to be at.

The move of the Sunday repeat to a graveyard slot however does suggest the BBC don't see EE as what it once was. EE was Sunday tradition. They had no issue in removing 20 odd years of that for repeats of Bargin Hunt.

The real future of EastEnders will depend on whether the BBC think moving studios and the cost of that is worth it in the long term. We know they have to move within the next ten years as the Elstree base is down to be sold off by 2020.

You're sounding like that well known EE hater, Garry Bushell, who seemed to be convinced the show was dying six years ago. However, its ratings slip is worrying for the BBC, but maybe if it wasn't so bleak and miserable, people would watch it more.
Yet its two ITV rivals haven't always been sweetness and light and top of the ratings. Emmerdale in the Farm era was almost cancelled 20 years ago as ratings were falling and the demos were like Take The High Road( ie mostly elderly), and it took a rename and a massive change to the cast and plots for it to double its ratings. Also Corrie has had three major ratings slumps: 1973, when it came close to be being cancelled, 1984, when it lost 6 million viewers, and a similar slump in 1996, but always seemed to bounce back.

Against DA

Seven million at most.