Reference whether ITV will schedule Downton for Christmas Day next year.

This year's Christmas Day episode was set at the height of Summer for the benefit of American television. Presuambly they'll down the same for next year's Christmas show. So, in that respect, there's no need to show the episode on Christmas Day.

And it would probably be more financially profitable to screen it on another day when the competition is weaker.

But would ITV want to suffer the embarrassment of dropping a programme from Christmas Day capable of getting 7m in the overnights and possibly 10m in the consolidated to replace it with something that, based on past performances, would rate little better than 4m overnights? Midsomer Murders. Poirot.

Maybe they could use the excuse of last ever episode to screen Poirot on Christmas Day. Although....

Of course that's only for the BBC HD simulcast, I expect more watched it on the permanent 3D channel on Sky.

What do we really think Mrs Brown's Boys could get tonight? Could it really top the spectacular performance on Monday night? I'll actually be shocked if it rates higher. If so, it'd be the highest rated sitcom since possibly Only Fools and Horses, The Green Green Grass or The Vicar of Dibley (whichever got less than 8m most recently for a first showing).

Will they leave the next series of Outnumbered until autumn next year or air it in early 2013? Reading that Mrs Brown's Boys isn't doing a new series next year due to an arena tour and whatnot, it should do well considering repeats on a Friday are getting 2-3m.

Will BBC One air the new series of Outnumbered (I believe there will be a fifth series) in early 2013 or leave till autumn like usual?

I think Mrs Brown's Boys should crack 9m tonight, which, if it does, would make it the highest rated sitcom in the UK since Only Fools and Horses (correct me if i'm wrong).

I doubt Curtain will be scheduled for Christmas 2013 since there are four more Poirot films to be shown before then. Unless ITV are going to show all five 2013 then I cannot see it.

as for the book...


I wonder whether having a Midsomer Murders Christmas Special with the latest Barnaby is worth a go. Since they have only made two with John Nettles and the last one was around 4 years ago,

EastEnders BBC3 repeat @22:45 got 881k (5.4%)

Be honest Dan. You're loving this moment aren't you?

Hello all!

Hands up if you were really nervous coming into this thread in the morning? *Puts hand up*

Well done to EE, I love it and am so happy that it won the night!
WTF happened to DA and CTM, especially DA??? I watch both shows. I watched CTM live but felt it was way too long and dragged out and took ages to get to the actual plot of the episode. I recorded DA and watched one hour of it after EE and will finish it off later today. I thought it was a good episode (so far) and quite enjoyed it, but 6 million! That is really shocking and its worst performance to date.

The movie ratings continue to disappoint. Are Netflix, lovefilm etc THAT popular that they're causing premieres to flop so badly in the ratings? I mean Shrek should've done much better! Tangled was a complete disaster.

I'm a HUGE Miranda fan and am soooo excited for tonight! It's been two years since new episodes, and the hype is unbelievable! It better be a fantastic episode! Two really good movies on tonight as well (alice and how to train your dragon) but I don't think they'll get the ratings they deserve.

What do we think Miranda will get tonight? If it gets 10m or above I will actually cry with joy! But seriously anything above 7 million would be amazing!

Still so much to say about the ratings but this post is getting long and I'm getting all hyper

I'm sure The Royle Family, Come Fly With Me and Vicar of Dibley have all gone past 9 million at some point

Of course. TBH before I put out my prediction I looked into every Avenue but I always knew EastEnders would do well.

I see Downton as No Threat what so ever and I feel if ITV1 show it next Christmas then the BBC should roll EastEnders out against it too.

I said How EastEnders will reach 8million before October but was told I was wrong but it did

and now with Christmas and also predicting EastEnders would break 9million before the year is out and it has,

Will we see some 'Emmerdale in crisis' threads when EastEnders thrashes it like we did earlier this year? Doubt it

Nice to see the BBC promoting the huge new year week too with 6 episodes in it

Just a shame its so inconsistant the rest of the year. 2012 has seen the largest drop in EE viewers in its entire history. Winning Christmas Day isn't anything to be thrilled about when you look at the bigger picture. EastEnders really needs to keep hold of the viewers who tuned in last night and make sure it isn't back to 7 million in a few weeks time.

Last nights figure cannot and will not hide the cracks.

Why did they move Miranda to BBC One when it was doing pretty fine on BBC Two?

A festive Midsomer is possible and could be OK. I doubt they'll air all 5 Poirot's next year too although one or two will probably air next Christmas. I suspect Curtain will be the following Christmas instead (so NYD 2015?).

They might well also have the last ever Lewis next Christmas. They normally make 4 stories per series, and I'm almost certain they did this time too, but they are only airing 3 stories early next year in the main series, so I think they might be holding the last one back to air next Christmas. That'll probably get this year's Wild At Heart slot instead though.

Come Fly with Me has but it's more of a mockumentary than a sitcom.

What ratings do you predict for CITV the weekend they are showing classic kids shows? Probably an all day share of 2% or every show getting around 4-500k viewers?

I doubt thry will be shouting it from the rooftops that their Disney classic beat a Christmas service.


I would imagaine if you look at it's ratings tomorrow morning then that should tell you why.

EastEnders will do just fine in a few weeks time. There's a lot of big things lined up right into January
Some exits,some returns and a bit Wedding,Plus of course a funeral

It's back, it's the 5-minute breakdown as a graph: http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/8948/breakdown.png

Thanks, as always a really interesting way of seeing the data.. Thanks DMN for all your hard work throughout the year, a belated Merry Christmas..

Miranda is very much a mainstream sitcom with universal appeal. Like Gavin And Stacey, which also had mainstream appeal which resulted in it getting 10m concolidated for the last two episodes in Christmas Day and New Year Day slots.

The Lewis boxset is set for release on 18th February and it only states three episodes. I notice rather than air them as two hour films they're splitting them into two part episodes, Similar to DCI Banks earlier this year.

As for Poirot. It will be the show's 25th anniversary in January 2014.

With fairly weak opposition, I;m going for 9.5 million.

What the hel r I on about. Of course it's somthing 2 b thrilled about not only was it a high rating, it was the highest of the night. Now for a show that has seen some drop in viewing figures, I would say that there is a lot 2 b thrilled about.

Interesting results but all fairly understandable if you ponder them. Only East Enders, Corrie and Doctor Who doing well share wise. The rest underperformed.

But people try to watch the soaps live as they are on a lot and you get behind. Nobody needs to watch a two hour drama going on to nearly 11 pm on Christmas night. And Call the Midwife (as the first ep of a new series that will not start for a few weeks) is also dispensible live viewing, Very obvious why it makes no sense to expect huge numbers to watch either of those live when one of the two big soaps is in opposition.

The Royle Family did okay but was not very good and if on next Christsmas that will down its figures. I hope they do something different (which in reality will mean reviving The Vicar of Dibley or Birds of a Feather I expect). However, there was a sad lack of family viewing/variety - which is what you really want after a Christmas Day.

That is the message for 2013.

For Christmas Eve curiously the Sun today leads its ratings coverage with a story that Outnumbered was the winner that night with 9.1 million peak? MBB is simply said to have been a hit for matching the East Enders figure but below a photo of Outnumbered.

Must be false. No show on Xmas Eve peaked with over 9m and Outnumbered certainly wasn't the winner.