Was that the same continuity announcer who introduces Great British Railweay Journeys on BBC HD by saying it is time to join 'Hashtag sad man on a train' ?

I just don't get what's up with Dallas, although I had to tell at least 5 of my fellow Dallas fans that it was back last night, including my parents who've loved the show since 1979. So what that says I don't know.

If we are not careful this is going to turn out like another Firefly scenario where a really good show gets cancelled. I hope I'm wrong because there is so much to love in this new series.

Fourth series in the long grass then. They'd have announced that at the same time surely?

Christmas Day and New Years Day probably the obvious slots if no fourth series, but I do sense nervousness about Christmas Day.

On the 'Oh, Doctor Beeching' theme tune - a 7 year old could have done better post.

This was not written for the TV series. It is an older song by Flanagan and Allan from the time of the Beeching axe based on the even older comic rhyme 'Oh, Mr Porter.'

The same Flanagan actually sings the theme song of Dad's Army.

Some of their older songs are classics like Underneath the Arches and Run Rabbit Run. But their style is very old fashioned.

I know what you mean - given the rather bawdy humour it could end up being another Men Behaving Badly 'tissues'-type error to show it on Christmas Day. Boxing Day and NYD would be a better bet.

All we need now is Miranda confirmed - maybe that could be a more 'family friendly' Christmas Day shoe-in?

Not too surprisinging considering how ratings fell across it's first series in almost all markets.

Revivals are always questionable - and as someone who grew up once Dallas was already a thing of the past I've always felt people looked back on it kind of mockingly rather than with affection.


Not with the current bosses - it would hold out in it's slot until the bitter end. If C4 had any sense on how to fix ratings they'd have switched Countdown back to 3.15pm by now and either put Face the Clock at 2.45pm or booted it out of the schedules altogether.


With the fans wanting more but question marks over future series I hope the BBC don't just let her do what other shows have done and just have an annual Christmas special instead. The show has earned one this year but I really think they should push for at least one more series rather than letting Miranda dictate to them that they'll just do one episode a year.

Yes Oh Doctor Beeching had several nods to the past and the theme was certainly one of them. Oh Mr Porter was about the porter of a train who a woman explains to that she's gone past her stop.

This has nothing to do with ratings obviously.

I remember Tuesdays containing Emmerdale and The Bill and top notch drama like Soldier, Soldier and Peak Practice.

ITV has ordered ITVS to produce a second, extended series of treasure hunting series, Britain’s Secret Treasures.

The 8 x 30 minute series, made in partnership with the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, will again be presented by Buerk and Hughes. Each episode will focus on historical finds in different parts of the country ending with the most important find in each area.

It will be broadcast weekly rather than stripped across a single week, as occurred with series one.

could be an 8.30 thurs show or would be better as a sunday evening show at 6pm etc

shame only emmerdale still alive and kicking, think the bill could still be revived and even soldier soldier
shame tue nights itv even after the revamp of the channel still give up and make no effort!

still think regular shows the only way to temp ppl to watch id move champions league onto itv4 till the semi finals and try clebrity chase at 8pm for at least 4 weeks not keep changing line ups each week!!

Could well be the 1996 one. I was a bit starved of ratings in the mid-1990s. I think they still had an all-channel Top 10 on Teletext, but the main place for seeing ratings was Radio Times, and I can remember one of the show's Christmas ratings leaping out at me because it was high, but I can't remember how high it actually was or what year it was.

Catherine Tate's Nan's Christmas Carol went out on Christmas Day (at 10.30pm in 2009) and I don't recall much fuss. It's not as if people don't know about the content of MBB and everyone from kids to grannies is watching it as the breakdowns reveal.

DS has alrady had an article about the likelihood of no fourth series of MBB airing before late 2014 due to Brendan O'Carroll's busy schedule.

I think the best that can hope for is the Tuesday 7.30pm slot.

I don't understand how this series carries on. It has never rated well, and the figures are still dropping.

I don't know.

Isn't Alan Titchmarsh on a ridiculously overpaid deal with ITV - I think only Ant and Dec and Simon Cowell get more.

A reference to Andrew Neil's intro to his regular contributor on This Week, in case anyone's wondering, but why the continuity announcer assumes everyone watches both shows I don't know.


I loved the last series but watched the comedies last night and somehow forget to record it. There is a repeat on 5* on Sunday night at 10pm so I will either watch that or, more likely, go on Demand 5 and try to stream in HD on my shoddy internet connection.

For the real nostalgics (who also have free or pay satellite), CBS Drama are currently showing the back end of the last of the original series (1990-91) every weekday, before going right back to the beginning (1978) from 11 February,

I may have to start watching more ITV Studios programmes. I'm developing a soft spot for their new end credit ident. It comes complete with jingle. Well, I call it a jingle - it sounds more like a hippopotamus farting.

It looks like something STV might have produced forty years ago. Or LWT.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTB0EeKT_0E

Those who were using the free ratings access, anyone got it back yet?

This is a good stat from Jake Kanter about Sunday's Top Gear return.

"Top Gear’s audience of 929k (3.16%) on BBC HD is the highest the channel has scored for a non-sporting event. #tellyratings"

Good thing we included HD then. Would have been roughly 4.3m without HD and that would make it look pretty low.

Yes, I think 10pm or 10.30pm on Christmas Day would be fine for MBB. Just for safety, O'Carroll could use just "****" that night. [EDIT: I can't believe DS censors 'f.e.c.k.'!]

Meanwhile, from the BBC web page that SamuelW linked to:


Live + 7 stats presumably being used here - I guess it's:

Monday night consolidated ~9.5m + Saturday night consolidated ~4.5m + iPlayer ~400k = ~14.4m

I now can see why Alan Titchmarsh is no longer on at peak-time, Move to ITV3 on the cards

Will ITV credit the increase in Lewis ratings to it being shown as 2 x 1-hour episodes instead of 1 x 2-hour episodes? Improved performance despite facing two popular sitcoms. If they do, will this mean they will do the same with their other 2-hour dramas? That would be a shame but could be good for the ratings.

I like the hour-long episodes of Lewis cos it takes up less of my time, but I'm currently enjoying the 2-hour long episode of Midsomer, the first I've watched for a while because I was finding some of the stories a bit silly and a bit racist in their stereotypical portrayal of country-folk. Sometimes a leisurely 2-hour crime mystery is just the thing.

Is his programme pre-recorded? I guess it's pretty cheap aside from his fee.