Thanks. Maybe they'll pull it back to the winter after it's reasonable performance this year?


2-3m in September is only really acceptable if it's airing in the flop zone (and that's being kind) or opposite EastEnders. Obviously they're just trying to plug comedy for all it's worth and hoping something sticks.

Is Take Me Out coming back this year? It did its job against Strictly but the back to back series seemed to take their toll.

I wonder if Surprise Surprise could get moved to Saturdays seeing as it held up quite well against Strictly last year?

It was fairly scorching. (wasn't forecast to be mind)

EastEnders 'midnight announcement' smacks of desperation to me!

Side-by-side breakdown comparison of 2012 and 2013 Wimbledon men's final broadcasts:



Several hundred thousand of that Corrie 'timeshift' was the effect of commercial-break strip-out.

I'm not really sure what the article is going on about myself.

I agree sorting out Today at Wimbledon should be done, although they don't seem interested.

The constant cuts to people in the audience are a tad annoying and it was a shame we never got to see McEnroe's reaction and opinion after Murray won due to his commitments with US television. Surely they probably went off air before the BBC did.

Brilliant rating for the coverage yesterday, disappointing how few posts were made before the usual suspects started banging on about Britain's Got Talent and ITV. Some people are obsessed.

It seems like a typical soap thing to me, soap news is nearly always embargoed to midnight. EE is in a bad place right now, but they would do the exact same thing it if it wasn't. There's a lot of reasons to criticise EE at the moment, so I don't see why we need to make up more.

Overnight 4.87million exc+1
Timeshift 5.73million exc+1

So Paul O'Grady's Dogs timeshifted 860k - is that more than it ever had done before?

Read a couple of tweets that back this up. It is a returning character I believe, but an unexpected one apparently. I am going to say Babs Windsor but we'll see...

EastEnders have had so many midnight announcements of late I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the BBC have hired clips of Big Ben chiming in the new day to herald the news.

So for the Autumn ITV have 10 x 60 episodes of Surprise Surprise, 12 x 60 episodes of Celebrity Chase, 6 x 30 episodes of Fool Brittania, ? x 45 minute episodes of Catchphrase, 6 x 60 episodes of Prize Island (if they ever decide to air them), 6 x 60 episodes of Big Star Little Star, 20 x 60 episodes of The Jonathan Ross Show, 5 x 90 episodes of Stepping Out and several episodes of The Cube. All alongside The X Factor and I'm A Celebrity.

Based on the amount they have to get through I doubt we'll see an Autumn run of Take Me Out again. Think Surprise Surprise might get Wednesdays at 8pm this year. Celebrity Tipping Point runs until 25th August so Celebrity Chase will presumably slot in on Sunday 1st September, running until Sunday 17th November (or the 10th if one of the episodes is a celebrity special. Think Catchphrase might take over Sundays from then, and they could well repeat the scheduling they used earlier in the year, with Fool Brittania instead of Off Their Rockers. Brittania tanked on Saturdays last year but ITV seem to like it and sandwiched inbetween Catchphrase and X Factor it could pick up an audience. Catchphrase starting at 6.45pm would also help ITV lock in a decent audience before Strictly comes along, denting those first 10 mins of Strictly slightly and encouraging audiences to stick with them for Brittania.

As for Saturdays, I think they might do with XF what they did with BGT and just plonk it at 7pm regardless of what BBC1 does. We've seen in the past that if the SCD/XF overlap is long enough audiences will record one to watch later, it's when the overlap is relatively short that the most damage is done as people just join the show having not missed much. We saw on BGT launch night when BGT and The Voice had a huge overlap that neither was dented much as viewers did the same, and +1 is always an option (and +1 was huge on BGT launch night). For the XF auditions I think they'll run around 7-8.15/8.30pm with Stepping Out afterwards for 5 weeks. Then when XF goes live and runs until 8.30/9pm it'll presumably be either Big Star Little Star, The Cube or Prize Island after it for 6 weeks before I'm A Celebrity takes over (all with Jonathan Ross at 9.30/10pm). One of either Prize Island or BSLS could possibly slot in at 6pm in the Autumn too if they're struggling to fit everything in.

As for XF itself, I think it'll run for the same number of weeks as normal, with the double auditions running on Saturdays AND Sundays for the full 5 weeks. Think it might be the rooms on Saturdays for 75-90 minutes and 60 minute arena shows on Sundays (although they haven't confirmed how exactly it'll work).

Elsewhere on the schedule, I assume it'll be Downton on Sundays, Doc Martin on Mondays, football & factual on Tuesdays and Breathless + The Bletchley Circle on Wednesdays. Think they might put Benidorm on Thursdays (to make a bit of a comedy night with that Cabbage & Pat thing at 8.30pm) with Life Stories on Fridays. Whitechapel could go in late August/early September on Sundays & Mondays for 3 weeks, with an XF lead-in on Sundays and a Corrie lead-in on Mondays. The only question then is where that leaves Vera. There doesn't seem to be any room for it now unless they run it on non-football Tuesdays but that'd be a waste and I think it'd struggle.

On the whole though I think it could be a very strong Autumn for ITV, providing XF doesn't collapse much further.

I disagree with that Guardian article too. Not sure why they criticise them for plugging the final on 3D as they said they'd be showing it anyway. And the Doctor Who anniversary special will be in 3D so they'll no doubt slate the BBC for promoting that as well.

Theres also another new Trevor MacDonald prison show. Itv knows that prison shows are watched by quite a lot of viewers and they keep doing them as a result. Theres already been two on the channel so far this year and both rated well.

whilst I agree that these midnight announcements are getting a bit much, some of them are more to do with Twitter accounts wanting followers, and there being some news to tease, I dont know if the BBC itself tells the various Twitter accounts to tease the news.

Agreed: that article is complete bilge. They even criticised the awesome Sue Barker for being too "jolly hockey-sticks"!

Who needs the Daily Mail, eh?

They're just jealous that the BBC commanded a higher audience than their leftie rag could even dream of.

I think Vera will be shown on Wednesdays this year, at 8pm, maybe at the end of summer? There's only been 4 episodes in each series, so I imagine it'll be 4 x 120 again.

Looks like a strong A/W for ITV which is good to see. However i think this Stepping Out will flop badly especially so close to Strictly.

Did they have a roof delay last year then as until 4.15pm the 2012 rating was ahead?


A brilliant informative post (did you post it in the wrong thread? ) I'm not sure ITV will have the balls to put X Factor at 7pm for the live shows - I think they might for the auditions but move them beyond that, though then again as they've often been at 7.30pm in the past moving to 7pm isn't that big a move.

I do like the idea of the audition shows being the rooms on the Saturday and the arenas on the Sunday - that is better IMO than a few episodes in the rooms then some in the arena, or just mixing and matching between the two in individual episodes. If they do it right they could effectively get rid of the troublesome Boot Camp stage and just do a BGT style quick selection after the final arena auditions.

P.S. Vera could probably run on Wednesday for 3-4 weeks before Surprise Surprise and the 9pm dramas kicked in. It's posts like this that make you wish we followed the US upfront approach and ITV just declared everything. When do advertisers find out about scheduling - is it exactly the same time we do on Wednesday afternoons?

Where did you hear this?

Trever McDonald is popular and ITV's prison docs have rated really well, and on this occasion much higher than the BBC copycat verson 'Prisoners'.

I'm taking a stab at Peggy or Grant.

It's alright EE bringing back characters but I understand it's terrible story lines that are the issue. Bit like owning a Ferrari but being a crap driver.

As long as they don't have X Factor starting at the ridiculously late time of 8:20pm as with last year, and finishing at past 10:30pm. I don't think 7:30pm would be that bad considering how past live shows have rated.

As for the double auditions being on the Saturday and Sunday, I have to say that's quite a confusing prospect. Exactly how would it work?

Just seen the trailer for Law and Order UK which looks quite big scale. The first episode centers around a train crash.

Could this rate around the high 5s, thus denting TWQ in the process or will it be around mid 4's?

Its called Women Behind Bars: http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/women-behind-bars


It has a small lead in from Mr and Mrs and is not that popular really so more likely will be rating 4-5million.

I have a feeling that Law and Order UK will do very well this year. I remember it's been a bit of an average rater in the past, but it has a good slot this time round, it's been repeated plenty on ITV3 to possibly a new audience that hasn't watched it before, and Bradley Walsh is very popular right now and there may be many viewers who watch the Chase who have never seen him in Law and Order UK and might want to check it out.

I think it'll get a mid-high 5m overnight, adding on an extra million in official figures.

Roof was on all morning due to rain; it opened for play; there was rain again about 16:15 and the roof went on again about 16:25 for the duration, play re-commencing about 16:55.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18755331

Haven't heard of Stepping Out, what kind of show is that? And I don't know of any new episodes they have to air of The Cube,


I think you meant Christmas special? And it's been mentioned that about 8 episodes have been recorded I believe.


I think it would actually work, on the basis that XF does happen to start at 8 every Sunday (until we get to the final anyway). Off Their Rockers rated well earlier this year, and it was relatively warm at the time so with colder nights, more people are in to catch it. What was the general response to that show when it was on last year?


I think as far as the auditions go, a 7pm start is practically perfect. It did help BGT stay about 9 million after all, and got it a huge +1 audience on launch night. But, still, Strictly has more chance of denting XF than The Voice does BGT. I suspect it'll be 90 minutes for the first show/few shows, then an hour for the rest.


I suspect the live shows would finish a bit later than that (no later than 10pm at best). They'd be better off sticking The Cube after it as it's on the wrong side of things (it's ratings are going down compared to when it was in the Sunday slot, but they are unlikely to have anywhere to slot it on a Sunday anymore anyway).

As for XF itself, I think it'll run for the same number of weeks as normal, with the double auditions running on Saturdays AND Sundays for the full 5 weeks. Think it might be the rooms on Saturdays for 75-90 minutes and 60 minute arena shows on Sundays (although they haven't confirmed how exactly it'll work).


Main factor there. To make XF work, they need to create characters and interest in the contestants, more banter among the judges and the like. Anything to make the show feel like event TV again as it lost that feeling the last two series. Effectively, reverse the problems of last year.