This seems to be a possible way forward for Channel 4 on Saturdays: fill primetime with movies (or the odd long-form drama) and they can do better than Million Pound Drop or Comedy World Cup . A 6.8% primetime share last night (7.9% with +1) compares with a 2012 Saturday-night average of 5.7% (6.6% inc +1).

Channel 5 shows movies earlier on but switches to US procedurals around 8pm so there is a gap there on the terrestrials for films on a Saturday night.

EDIT: Although BBC Two showed a movie at 21:45, it's not a regular thing and it was scarcely mainstream. (Whether Channel 4 should be in the business of showing mainstream movies is another matter - perhaps there's an argument that they're needed to pay for the PSB stuff)

C4 is showing Saving Private Ryan next Saturday

A shock result, and clearly gifted a default audience by BBC1's lacklustre line up. I don't know why I'm being singled out this morning, I said BBC1's line up was shit last Saturday.

And that Hammond would finish his run on Sunday afternoons. Fools and Horses repeats would be better anchor than this turdage.

That's not an ITV definition - ITV defines primetime as 7-10.30

Solid numbers for Splash! It's oddly an enjoyable watch

Says it all really. The public have made their decision and Splash is the comparative hit. I went for Splash losing some but but gaining others and it would seem thats happened. I think the Beeb can take some dubious credit for being able to come up with an early evening schedule which makes the tired twenty year old Framed look refreshed and appealing. The man in the dog suit makes Antics a CBBC show and almost the equivalent of Dont Scare The Hare, and the stuff presented by Secret Service would be a huge huge hit-if this was 1981! Britains Brightest is maybe worthy but too dull for Saturday nights and all in all the Beeb schedule is a badly thought out miss-the search for the "next big thing" seemingly overlooked again. Cant help thinking that The Voice would have really thrived in this quarter.
The good thing about Splash for ITV is that the figures mean it will come back next year(if there was any doubt) and give ITV a chance to tinker with it. For me it is dreadful, it needs to be tighter and have more of an element of competition, its Lets Dance in the water at the moment but the actual action is many times less. Pretty good for TMO free of the shackles of SCD. Ross, well the only slot for him is 10.35 on Fridays but that is now taken.
IITW a bit so so and Casualty, havent seen the new episode yet but first impressions about the four new characters arent exactly inspiring and its not looking as though its going to thrive as it has done in this quarter before.
Fabulous result for Mrs Brown though undoudtedly affecting the Monday showing that is ten million viewers in the week on overnights alone. The comedy hit of the century so far imo.

I'm liking that Dads Army and Fawlty Towers rated well together,shows theres an audience out there for classic comedy,just wish the BBC would put something on that's not been seen for years on normal telly

dire tv last night. Had to stick on LOTR for the first time as there was nothing to engage me at all. All this talk of splash doing well, considering the competition not hardly surprising. Never understood why tv companies think that prank shows do well - coz they don't. Jeez, one of the coldest weekends for ages, post Christmas is abs shocking. Shows the public will watch anything. Must try harder

Thanks; corrected. Of course, ITV would want to exclude Match of the Day! Just for fun:

Primetime shares
ITV definition (7-10.30pm)

BBC One: 19.6%
BBC Two: 7.2%
ITV1: 18.3% (inc +1: 19.2%)
Channel 4: 6.8% (inc +1: 7.9%)
Channel 5: 5.0% (inc +1: 5.4%)

Still a BBC One win. Checking the figures, but I guess Mrs Brown's Boys and the news tipped the balance.

For junk like "Splash" 6m is obviously not too bad, look what the BBCs junk is getting, but "Splash" is not cheap like a 5-episodes-recorded-a-day game show is cheap.

If "The Chase" or "The Cube" was getting 6m then hip hip horray, but ITVs primetime expensive shows need more.


But the BBC are in trouble I think, they've got nothin!

I hold my hands up. I got it completely wrong with Splash. Mystifying stuff.

CBB held up extremely well for a Saturday. The equivalent show last series got 1.5m and this time last year got 1.8m so 2.1m is a very positive result.

Ok for World Without End.

Celebrity Big Brother's Bit on the Side enjoyed what I believe to be its biggest Saturday night ratings on 5* ever.

The show averaged 464k (2.9%) at 10.45pm, peaking with 556k (3.2%).

Next weekend's editions of CBBOTS will move across to C5.

The cbb ratings are excellent. The first few days were boring but the twist with Speidi has completely turned the series around into a very entertainment one. Hopefully the americans dont get evicted at the next eviction.

In a way I agree, because its all old hat, repetitive and dull and there is no apparent effort to try something new. However awkwardly they appear to have won the night and may have the edge (unless Splash grows) until Takeaway starts. No excuse though.

They have a limit for any one hour (12 minutes) so they max that out on big shows (there are also limits on how many ads for different lengths of shows). IIRC the OFCOM definition for primetime is 6-11pm so what it does is encourage ITV to focus on about 3 or 3.5 hours of that and run cheaper programming or repeats on the fringes with very little advertising. On weeknights it's not so obvious because primetime is bookended by news. But it stands out more at weekends.

I don't mind the limit per hour - but I think they should just work with that rather than daily/primetime averages.


I must admit, I was starting to doubt it a bit with all the negative comment and limited Twitter and DS response last night. Pleased it held up. Sure, it's ridiculous. But it's Saturday night TV and parts of it were quite fun. Sounds like they've made some improvements in week two (although I didn't really think it was that awful in week one! )

No surprises from my perspective re. BBC One's low early evening ratings. They would have been better off having a new run of Total Wipeout between 6-7pm, rather than axing it. Animal Antics is horrible, unwatchable television. Britain's Brightest is dull, dull, dull. It's having a deterimental impact on the rest of BBC One's line-up. Times like this make me question Danny Cohen's judgement.

Splash down 5% (and up in 16-34's) from launch week. Britain's Brightest down 16%. Good result for ITV - how often do their new entertainment shows hit 5m for a launch, let alone hold so well in week two? Ms Bedell might be off to a very good start in 2013 - she still has her "banker" in Saturday Night Takeaway.

It wont necessarily be a banker if it ends up being shown against The Voice which is coming back around the same time.

Whenever they put Pointless on Saturday it always get a decent rating. Even if they put repeats it would get better ratings than the rubbish that is on at the moment

I'm laughing. Splash still doing well and defying the critics. I don't watch but it looks like fun so not a total surprise that it's found an audience.

BBC1's early evening getting the low ratings it deserves. Secret Service and Animal Antics are just atrocious, put Total Wipeout repeats or the test card on instead. Britain's Brightest seems too long and too dull for Saturday nights. When it was announced at the Edinburgh TV Festival I thought it was a bad idea and it's proved to be. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the BBC's Light Entertainment Department needs sorting out.

Special mention to You've Been Framed, I thought the show was on its last legs, but look at the ratings it can get against weak competition. Also 4m for a Mrs Brown's Boys repeat! Never ceases to amaze me.

Having a pop at Animal Antics and Secret Service seems to be flavour of the month in this thread at the moment. I wonder if you've actually watched both programmes as I did last night for the first time and enjoyed both.

They're both good, early evening family shows that make you laugh. I'd stick with both of them personally. Better than Total Wipeout which had seen its best days. I can't quite understand why they're getting so much flack. Anyone??

Splash is beating the competition and getting the demos so it's doing well enough.



This is very true. Their Saturday night entertainment is rubbish, they only have Strictly. I can't say The Voice is a hit because ratings dropped for the latter stages. If it does well in series 2 then the BBC have another Saturday night hit. They have nothing lined up either. Very poor.

One random positive with Splash... It's produced by TwoFour - one of the few "true indies" left. ITV have been mainly dependent on ITV Studios and Thames TV for their headline Saturday night output. Digital Spy's favourite Big Brother Exec, Shirley Jones, is producing.

(Although TwoFour is up for sale and if Splash holds up over the next few weeks it's going to become very appealing to the US conglomerates sniffing around the UK).

I watched a bit of both and I think both are woeful. They're not rating well either.

Ha ha, so Splash is practically level on last week, even though Twitter was down, Zeebox was down, everyone said it was rubbish, worst programme ever, never going to watch again, the critics hated it, etc etc.

It's also amusing how well You've Been Framed did considering it is a "creaking old past it's best format that should have been pensioned off when Major was PM"

Surprising that the BBC's early evening guff has got ratings it deserved. Normally stuff like this 'holds up well' with a default 3m.

It's mystifying that they have a whole series of doctor who filmed and ready to air but they're waiting til April to show it. Why not capitalise on the relatively weak competition now, rather than airing it at a time where it will likely clash with BGT?