Up was a lovely film. It deserves to do well.


Seems that nobody is all that keen on Prince of Persia. Probably one of the better video game adaptations though, which says a lot.


I would love to see it back as it was, with the antiques as prizes and challenging questions.

Does anyone know when is Channel5 showing the Jack Taylor drama series starring Ian Glen?

No they are still using them and just did on 10:00pm news

Both Miranda and Mrs. Brown's Boys got the sparkly indents.

Mrs Browns Boys and Miranda should both be in the 7-8m range, can't really see them topping the audiences of last week. Gary Barlow & Friends seems to be being well received on Twitter and has been trending for a while - I predict a rating in the 4m range.

Very strong schedule for BBC1 tonight though-should be a big winner.

The Darts final is a cracker. Should hopefully get 1.3million+.

I agree. It's odd because they're not the most imaginative idents by any means - and they've received a mauling from others on other sites - but I haven't been bored or annoyed by them like I have in previous years. I do think the variety has helped and the red curtain / sparkles theme works in lending unity to them. Bizarrely, I will probably end up missing them come tomorrow!

I would love one or two new BBC One circle idents for the New Year but I know that's in vain.

-Yes, well done BBC for keeping the festive idents going until the end of New Years Day, breaking the habit of recent years. They did use Love 2013 ordinary red backdrops for tonights MBB and Miranda trails though, hence my speculation.

I will strangely miss them, as I liked the simplicity and variety, plus getting a new one between Christmas and New Year. They were just not very festive or clever.

The only downer tonight was the cover of the festive RT coming detached - a sure sign we're in the fag end days of Christmas...

Yes thats almost happened with mine. Amazing how so much anticipation surrounds the getting of it, and how quickly the time goes.

Further to my Catch Me If You Can question earlier, I have tell you all that I have been watching over 30 films this Christmas, I predict 5.3m for another good one I saw tonight, Up. As for the BBC's Christmas idents, I wasn't impressed with them this year, bland music choice, all in front of a red curtain, all samey looking. I've seen far better in years gone by.

Focussing on series as opposed to specials, one-offs and events. Here we go then...

Standout Performance Award
*WINNER* Mrs. Brown's Boys (Gold): extraordinary performer, still growing, destroys limited competition in genre
Great British Bake Off (Silver): another remarkable year for the smash-hit cookery show, and can build on that in 2013 with a move to BBC1
Call the Midwife (Bronze): largely unchallenged for the title of biggest new drama, massively impressive series 1 numbers, slightly disappointed at Christmas but it probably wasn't quite right for the big day

Fresh Hit Award
*WINNER* Call the Midwife (Gold): see above comments
Last Tango in Halifax (Silver): another memorable drama hit for the BBC, held up well at a busy time of year, more to come
Inside Claridge's (Bronze): did wonderful numbers for BBC2 towards the back end of the year, factual highlight

Multichannel Award
*WINNER* Bad Education (Gold): standout in a non-vintage year for multichannel, outrated some scripted comedy on the main channels
Celebrity Juice (Silver): did the business again for ITV2 and then some, sets a very high standard in raw numbers
The Big Bang Theory (Bronze): new episodes continue to climb but more impressive is how well it holds up for repeats, dependable and very solid for E4

Biggest Turkey Award
*WINNER* The Voice (Gold): started very well, but once the novelty of the spinning chairs wore off, viewers got bored and ratings fell off a cliff; overhyped
Titanic (Silver): another one that had everything going for it but couldn't deliver once viewers discovered how ropey it was for a big-budget drama, embarrassment
Hunted (Bronze): the new Spooks it most definitely wasn't, failed to live up to the hype, talk of a 5 year run looked silly when the numbers came in

Channel Performance Award
*WINNER* BBC One (Gold): special year, largely event TV driven but also pulled in big audiences for new and established scripted shows, very consistent
Channel 5 (Silver): finished slightly up for the year in terms of audience share whilst commercial rivals were down, progress made but 2013 will be testing, new controller may need some time
ITV3 (Bronze): another very solid year, often leading the way on multichannel with a highly loyal audience, the dependable fall guy when ITV's main channel underperforms

Honourable Mentions
Downton Abbey, New Tricks, Doctor Who (especially in the officials), Merlin, Homeland, Strictly 2012, Britain's Got Talent 2012, I'm a Celebrity 2012, Celebrity Big Brother (winter) 2012, The Chase, Pointless, Miranda, Surprise Surprise, Wartime Farm, Watchdog, Gordon Behind Bars, The Hotel Inspector, 999 What's Your Emergency, Once Upon a Time, Arrow, Alcatraz, Rolf's Animal Clinic, George Clarke's Amazing Spaces, Great Railway Journeys, Extreme Railways, Volcano Live

Dishonourable Mentions
Eternal Law, Marco's Kitchen Wars, Superstar, You Cannot Be Serious!, Hotel GB, Planet Earth Live, The Hour, Drugs Live, LemonAid, The Jonathan Ross Show, Parade's End, Dallas, Friday Night Dinner, Baggage, Harry & Paul, Secret State, The Exclusives, Sky Atlantic (especially Mad Men with all the coverage it got), all 3D broadcasts

My Neighbour Totoro is currently 164 on the imdb list and it is a childrens cartoon (and proud. ). Don't think the imdb list means that much

It's the best we've got. 293,000 people took the time to cast a vote on Up, a quarter of which gave it a perfect 10 and over three quarters at least an 8. Hard not to conclude it's a very well-liked film. Rated highly by the critics too, of course.

Enders seemed poor in drama again tonight the episode dragging through to conclusion needs a major overhaul I think the christmas peak will be its last for a while I dont think it deserved it christmas day honour it lacks any pathos or quality at thr moment.

It'll be interesting if there is a shakeup in the controllers, Channel 5 has Ben Frow coming in February but I think there's a possibilty we could see a new head at Channel 4 if their woes continues.

Oh okay, though the fact White Heat isn't (currently) in the IMDB 250 means the list has credibility issues to me. My Neighbour Totoro being on the list does slightly baffle me, it's one of the weaker Studio Ghibli films I think, though I appear to be in a minority.

I liked Up. The rest of the film can't live up to the 1st 10 minutes, but what the heck, it's worth it for them alone.

Quick, someone say something about ratings.

I think we all agree there should be change at C4 but whether we'll see it is another matter.


Mine still firmly attached, though going off topic must say the reduced daytme listings don't do RT any favours at all, especially over Christmas when you're looking for something to watch during the day.

BTW I assume daytime viewing over the last week or so has been up on the norm?

Last night wasn't too bad. It was quite a 'fun' episode but tonight it was crap. An hour of rubbish
the writing was all over the place the storyline(s) were boring.
The acting was the best bit about the episode tbh
It was pretty strong all round

Thursday/Friday the Aftermath to Dereks death is back and his funeral takes place on on Fridays Double bill.

I hear a new family will soon be coming to Albert Square.
Looking at Lorraine Newmans latest Interview no Characters will be bought back this year (Except Dot & Janine who are still under contract and took a 6month break each.
Both back filming now)

Full lineup for Splash! confirmed:

Heat 1: Jake Canuso, Omid Djalili, Jade Ewan, Helen Lederer and Jenni Falconer.
Heat 2: Caprice, Joey Essex, Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards, Charlotte Jackson and Diarmuid Gavin.
Heat 3: Anthony Ogogo, Dom Joly, Jennifer Metcalfe, Tina Malone and Linda Barker.

Judges: Tom Daley, Andy Banks (Team GB coach), Leon Taylor (Olympic Silver Medalist) and Jo Brand.

It isn't a great celebrity lineup but it isn't as bad as I'd feared based on the rumours and the fact it was always going to be a difficult sell to celebrities as is can be quite a dangerous sport. Putting Jo Brand on the panel definitely suggests they're going for laughs and I think it might do OK overall. I suspect it'll start poorly on Saturday but pick up a bit across the run.

Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards is however an inspired choice one of the very few ive heard of.

Here's what I don't get about Splash! - ITV1 have barely promoted it. It doesn't even have a dedicated website where they can try and build some hype for the show by showing training clips etc. The trailers have been very generic instead of allowing the public to get to know some of those who are taking part; they seem to relying heavily on the Tom Daley affect.

It's going to start low and they'll just have to hope that word of mouth promotes it further. But it's been quite half-hearted so far.

They've started showing the trailer a lot over the last few days - I guess they are banking on the idea that Tom Daley is the biggest star on the show so they're marketing it around him. To be fair, the marketing for the first series of Dancing on Ice was pretty low key, and all the trailers only featured Torvill & Dean and didn't actually feature any of the contestants. I'm pretty certain it'll start low, especially with an FA Cup analysis lead-in, but I can see it picking up a bit of steam across the run. These kind of shows often work best when people 'discover' them for themselves as opposed to shoving a massive marketing campaign in everyone's faces.

They havent got enough young good looking males in that lineup. Most of the audience will be female viewers but that lineup isnt serving them, tabloids or magazines well. Only Anthony Ogogo out of the guys has a good body out of that lot. Kenzie and Leonardo Penna are ripped and both were rumoured or took part in the pilot but not in the show anymore. They got a few fattys checked like Omid, Tina Malone and Dom Joly but couldve done with a politician in the mould of Ann Widecome. Something for the fellas with Charlotte Jackon and Jenni Falconer in that lineup. If the show is a success, theyll get better celebs next year. Judging lineup is decent with three experts out of 4: Leon Taylor is playing the "Simon Cowell/Craig RH/Jason Gardiner" role according to people who went to the pilot, Tom Daley and the other bloke will be the nice guys and Jo Brand will make the jokes.

Yes, this is very true. Lots of folk (particularly those of a certain age) have a very romantic vision of film premieres at Christmas - but the truth is they're fading in impact every year.

Alice in Wonderland is about as big a film as you can find - broke a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, suitable for all ages, featuring probably the most bankable movie star on the planet. And it pulled what? Less than 5m in a prime Christmas Eve 7pm slot. You could have probably aired Pointless Celebrities there for much the same result!

The animated films do well in early evening and Indiana Jones managed 7m on NYD a couple of years back - but I think its a stretch to say that any film (reaching terrestrial 2-3 years after release) is capable of punching beyond that now. Primetime films are a preserve of C4 and C5, where the numbers and demos they pull are still very useful.