lol oh dear, it seems my attempt to drive a wedge between ITV and Piven has failed


lol seriously now (still im still chuckling) Ripper Street is a alot delayed, but the BBC is running promos for it again, and very good promos they are to, they are making it look less like a historic, frocks and bonnets period drama, and more like a good drama.

I have to admit getting Piven was a very good get for ITV, so that says alot about the script, and made it a very easy sell into the states, and worldwide.


but you say this like you are shocked, this is exactly how Christmas in Albert Square has always been, im not sure why it warrants comment on at this point.

Here are a couple of hit new entertainment formats from Chile which has caused some "buzz" among buyers recently and could end up here in the UK one day:

1) Opposite Worlds: this show got over a 50% audience share for the channel, Canal 13, it was shown on.

Opposite Worlds is a boundary-pushing competitive reality show which sees teams competing to live in the luxury of the future or the hardship of the past.

According to the position they obtain in a team competition, the mixed group of celebrities and members of the public will live week by week in either the past or future, with both areas of housing divided by a simple glass wall - each team can see every action of the other. Dependent on their performance, team nominations and popularity with the voting public, two contestants will be crowned The Man and Woman "of all times", receiving a substantial cash prize.

Karoline Spodsberg, Managing Director Banijay International said, "This show has one of the most outstanding track records I have ever seen. It's daring, thrilling and dangerously close to the edge of human limits. With our acquisitions manager now in situ in LA this is likely to be the first of many new acquisitions from North and South America."

Sergio Gálvez, Head of International Sales at Canal 13 Chile said, "We realise that we have something quite special in Opposite Worlds and have been looking for a distributor which could exploit it to its full potential. We have the utmost confidence that under Banijay International's wing our show will fly."

Watch Trailer: https://www.banijayinternational.com...es/show/139370

2) Year Zero: How would you cope if you were one of the last people on earth? Could you lead a new community forward, starting from scratch?

In Year Zero, 10 men and 10 women are the last survivors after an apocalyptic event. In order to stop the human race from dying out completely they must use the natural resources available to them to create a habitable environment. But personality clashes and power struggles, some people not carrying their weight and others trying to hoard or waste valuable resources, will threaten this delicate community’s stability.

Every week, the contestants will go through a grueling challenge to win the role of leader, and each week, one member of the group will be banished – until only one remains to start their new society, their own way!

Watch Trailer: http://www.c21media.net/screenings/b...onal/year-zero

8 days to go until Channel 5's ratings juggernaut returns:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV1HPp2CedE

The marketing campaign's been a little sluggish to get going this year which is slightly worrying but these special idents have started tonight, and outdoor advertising via billboards and bus stops is now extensive up and down the country.

Dreams will sponsor the series for the third time (first time on C5).

Yes, the w*** joke had Brown tell Winnie that it was "the Christmas episode" and quickly moved on.

I agree. 2013 Xmas day needs refreshing. Big time. People are maybe getting bored with the same old stuff, and while CTM was actually exceptional television, perhaps in hindsight they could have put it on a different day.

For next year? How about:

6.00pm Doctor Who
7.00 Strictly Come Dancing
8.00 EastEnders
9.00 Miranda
9.40 Mrs, Browns' Christmas Celebrities

If Downton airs at 9 then EastEnders will also air at 9
I think I prefer the later slot actually.

I also agree that the nativity business in MBB wasn't up to the usual standard, MBB should really stay in the usual sets.

Having said that, that has nothing to do with ratings, remember they are based on who watched, not how many liked it.

A shame that BBC2 no longer run the daily classic comedy repeats at Christmas, like they did in the past.

Maybe Downton could be split into 2 hour long episodes next year, with only 1 hour airing on Christmas Day. It would probably have to air at 9:30pm though, with ITV shutting up shop afterwards, as ITV would find it very difficult to schedule something else at 10pm that viewers would find.

They won't drop the Christmas special though, once it's a fixture, it'd hard to get rid of it. Imagine the negative PR both before, during and after Christmas Day if it was replaced by Midsomer Murders next year.

Also, to comment on those who are saying there is too much drama on Christmas Day. ITV have always, at least for a long time, aired a 2 hour drama on Christmas Day. It's only this year that BBC1 has joined in. If Call the Midwife doesn't get a Christmas Day airing next year then we will be back to the normal situation.

Assuming next years Christmas special is actually on on Christmas Day.

TBH mate, I would be far more excited to hear about the return of CSI, or even a new series of NCIS.

I am sure you have lots of nice things to say about the ratings for Celeb Big Brother, but its not the Channel 5 I enjoy. I find the idea that its going to be sponsored by a beds shop, highly amusing.

Remember BGT is Sat, no Sun - and I think ITV have 5 weeks of Splash and 6 weeks of Takeaway first, so BGT will probably launch the same weekend as last year.

For the sake of Dancing on Ice cutting it by a couple of weeks is a wise move, but in reality ITV aren't going to have anything lined up that gets the same sort of ratings for the two missing weeks.


So basically the Big Brother: Rich/Poor format and Survivor then.

Finally got twitter! As a ratings fan, is there anyone I should follow on twitter who post ratings info?

Thought Mrs Brown's Boys was really good tonight - we thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually thought it was better than the Christmas Eve episode. Miranda was OK but I've never been a massive fan.

I'm glad they've cut the number of celebs on DOI - the lineup is actually half decent this year. It seems they're cutting the running time of each show too - the first two shows are 90 mins and looking at the blurb it seems all the celebs will perform in each show (none of the half in week 1, half in week 2 business) so compared to last year when 7 couples took up a 120 minute show on the first night it's a big, but necessary reduction. The shows in the last couple of years have been far too long and padded. Having said that, 12 couples in 90 mins could be quite tight, and I won't be too surprised if it overruns a bit.

Mr Selfridge looks very good, but so does Ripper Street. Could be a tough battle. Can't help but feel they've screwed up the Ripper Street launch though. It's launching in a fairly low profile slot over the Christmas period where it could be overshadowed a bit. It's also starting halfway through the last ever Wild At Heart, which won't help as WAH will have 6m or so locked in. I think it should do well but they haven't exactly helped it.


I doubt BGT will launch that early. Splash is due to end on 2nd February, but as BGT auditions are taking place on 9th February, Takeaway presumably won't start until the 16th. Takeaway has been confirmed as being a 7 week run, which will take them to 30th March. I can't see them running two Ant & Dec shows in one evening so BGT probably won't launch until 6th April at the earliest. In fact because the live week seems likely to be 20th-26th May (various football means it is unlikely to be half term week) it probably will start on 6th April.

Two hour long episodes of Downton is a simple and brilliant idea. That would work.

Downton is staying as it helps bring ITV's share in primetime on Christmas Day up, well it did last year. This year because it was down ITV generally was down.

Both should land in February.


It's TV to cosy up to on a cold dank winter's night. They are a good fit.

Time to go back to splitting EastEnders to two half hour episodes IMO. Don't think the hour long format works particularly well on Xmas Day. First episode at 6ish, ending on a cliffhanger, with the second episode at 9pm would help boost the schedule without having a one hour episode dominating the latter part of the schedule. In fact it was pretty obvious last night's episode was written as two separate episodes.

It works fine. I would like 2 single episodes but the last few years it's been impossible
The BBC wanted one in 2009,2010 and 2011 but I think ITV forced them into having an hour-long, Of course last year against Downton the BBC wanted to throw their biggest show at it.

I doubt we will see a double ever again on xmas day

this is very welcome news.


I was going to go with "if you had a better bed, you would be asleep by now, not lying in bed watching this...."

More to the point, "TV to cosy up to" im sorry which Big Brother have you been watching? the one with lots of lovey dovey couples, or the one where people shout racist abuse at each other, and come damn close to causing a diplomatic incident? That is hardly what I would want to "cosy up to" my partner with when im in bed. TBH I can think of far better things to do with my partner in bed, than watch Big Brother.*


* that is of course watching CSI, if you were thinking I was talking about anything else, than that says more about you than I.

Definitely should be split again. All the best Xmas Day BBC schedules that I remember featured 2x30m EE.

I wouldn't have a gap that big between them, though.

The BBC need to get their act together. Last night just wasn't good enough - big refresh needed and that's one of the first things I'd change.

"Downton in ratings slide" from the Telegraph, "Downton loses ratings battle" on MSN, "Eastenders beats Downton Abbey" on entertainmentwise, these aren't exactly pieces of positive PR.

When you have the ratings defeat articles on Boxing Day, the loss of extra ad revenue from another day and more and so many viewers recording and watching the show after Christmas Day should perhaps make the bosses think about moving it.

Perhaps - maybe the second episode could be slightly earlier at 8pm. I do genuinely think the 9pm hour should be reserved for comedy on Xmas Day, it's not really the place for EastEnders - and I do think EE would end up doing better with that kind of scheduling.

No point running scared of Downton - last night proved a good chunk of people will record it and watch it in the days to follow. The BBC needs to be a bit more inventive with their scheduling next year.

I'm actually with you on this. Downton would be capable of so much more on a quieter night.

A big refresh of the schedule? Last night performed better than Xmas Day 2011.

By 1 share point. Because Doctor Who was on earlier.

There was no standout figures for the Beeb yesterday, which is most unusual on Christmas Day.

I see on Twitter that Adil Ray has said that in 2013 there will be a Christmas special of Citizen Khan. Does this surprise anyone else? Considering it was hardly a huge hit...however looking at how MBB has grown out of the Monday late slot I'm wondering if Citizen Khan might see a similar thing happen.