It's a very tough slot. There are two ways of looking at the rating:

1) It's an excellent rating for that timeslot- the near 10% share recorded says it all. Rivals left behind included ITV.
2) It does make you think "what if?" had it been given a more sensible slot on a Sunday, for example.

It could be that this sets it up for another big rating when it comes to Film4 like we saw with Red. With the sequel hitting cinemas about now they might want to get a rapid repeat on quite quickly to capitalise as much as possible on that.

Mediocre ratings all round last night. BBC1 performed well (with the exception of I Love My Country). ITV did well, and good to see YFSF ending on a high note. I think with a few changes it might return in January 2015 on Saturday or Sunday nights.

Channel 4 did ok. Kick Ass' overall viewers was a bit disappointing, but the share was great. C5 had a poor night with only BB getting over 1m. I don't think England's performance in the Ashes is helping them somehow.

I think I Love My Country might timeshift well, it's currently #7 on iPlayer, and apparently its audience grew over the course of the show. If anyone could provide a breakdown, it would be much appreciated.

Nice choice for Doctor Who too. Peter Capaldi might just get a few more viewers tuning in.

Something for Dancc to jizz his pants over - Channel 5 have a license for a new channel on Freeview '5later'.

Also included in the new Ofcom licence database for Freeview: 4seven HD, Channel 4+1 HD and True Entertainment.

http://www.a516digital.com/2013/08/c....html?spref=tw

Shame The Americans is struggling, but it's a great show. Totally the wrong slot for it though.

So did they reveal who was going to play the new Royal baby yet?

5later - maybe something like 4Seven? Or adult content? Heh. Probably the former. I was wondering when we'd get the first +1 channel in HD. And True Entertainment is an odd one. With its current cable and satellite distribution it has only a 0.8% weekly reach and 0.1% share according to BARB. It can expect a big rise if it gets on Freeview.

Sophie Ellis-Bexter/Victoria Beckham being one.

I spoke to Sophie about it years ago and turns out Beckham was leading up until Saturday night when it all shifted.


Peter Dinklage.

Bit inappropriate. Perhaps you could be as kind as to rein in your hate for me a little bit. It's a family thread after all.

I've not seen Kick Ass but see it is rated an 18, so wonder if content meant it needs at 10pm slot - though from the clips I've seen I wouldn't have thought it any more violent than some of the films played at 9pm.


Would be ridiculous if 4seven HD and C4+1 HD came to Freeview ahead of E4 HD, Film4 HD and even More4 HD and 4 Music HD. Hope they are nothing more than placeholders - C4 probably got to work through existing contracts before they can launch them.

5Later - not sure C5 has the content for a 4seven type channel (though neither does C4!) - just hope it's not a late night gaming or shopping channel, or knowing Desmond's other TV ventures, something a bit saucier than that!

Talking of 4seven tonight is an example of where it absolutely fails IMO. It's supposed to be the highlights of the week yet flagship drama like The Mill and Southcliffe gets just one repeat airing, compared to multiple airings for the lightweight factual and lifestyle.

Hate?! Really, really not, just a jolly jape Dancc. I knew you'd be excited by the news .

Lol normal people buzz

Don't give me that nonsense. I don't appreciate being the resident punchbag and next time you try your capers I'll alert the post and hopefully the mods will take action. It's uncalled for.

As for 5Later, assuming it's going to work just like the C4 counterpart, it'll be a pointless channel just like 4Seven. Even that only has a share of about 0.3%, so why would this excite me? A total waste of time and resources.

No doubt this is due to the higher repeat fees payable for UK-produced scripted content. With the top rating on 4Seven in the latest BARB week being just 160k (for the programme about Princess Diana's dresses) I guess they couldn't make multiple showings of these dramas pay. However I agree this is a major flaw in the channel.

The channel is flawed anyway. It fails to take into account this is the year 2013 and most viewers have access to things like PVRs and on demand telly.

I haven't used 4Seven once and I'm unlikely ever to do so as anything I want to watch on C4 is either watched or recorded at the time of first transmission or if I've missed it I will look for a repeat showing on C4 itself before I would even think of 4Seven. And 4OD works adequately should I ever need it.

That is the norm for BB on a Saturday. It was actually higher than most BB Saturdays this series.

Film4 HD launches on Sky next month, so expect at least a two or three year contract. Same with More4 HD which only started earlier this year.

Thanks for the info. Great news about Film4 HD which I believe was exclusive to Virgin Media for a while. I'm getting a bit of an HD snob and won't even consider watching an HD film in SD.

Southcliffe DVD to be released on Amazon on 26th August, which would suggest the finale will be on Sunday 25th.
A great watch so far.

Go on say it...there's normal people, then there's those Whovian geeks with their twitter and Tom Baker hoodies!

Any thoughts on the BB final potentially being split up into two parts? Not confirmed that it is what they intend to do yet, but it looks possible. Short trails for Under the Dome, a new US sci-fi series which will launch the same week BB ends have appeared on C5 these past two nights and it looks highly likely they will look to get it off to the best possible start by making use of BB somehow, possibly by sandwiching it in between two instalments. I'm thinking one of the following:

Wednesday, August 21
20:00 Big Brother: Live Final
21:00 New Series: Under the Dome (1/13)
22:00 Big Brother: Live Final
22:30 Big Brother's Bit on the Side
...or...
20:30 Big Brother: Live Final
22:00 New Series: Under the Dome (1/13)
23:00 Big Brother's Bit on the Side

I'm assuming you won't approve of this, but my gut feeling is that anyone who's been following the series nightly for two and a bit months aren't going to want to miss it even if the first part goes out at 8pm or 8:30pm. And recent ratings have been strong enough to give confidence that it wouldn't be massively inconvenienced by this.

Unless of course I've got it wrong and Under the Dome is in fact going to get a lead-in from the live launch of Celebrity Big Brother. That would be a gamechanger and a half, but it would require a no messing about launch show as 10:30pm is too late to be launching a big new acquisition. Third possibility then:

Thursday, August 22
21:00 New Series: Celebrity Big Brother
22:00 New Series: Under the Dome (1/13)
23:00 New Series: Celebrity Big Brother's Bit on the Side

Under the Dome would be inheriting between 2.5m and 3.5m viewers. Bit on the Side would be hit (normally rates VERY strongly on launch nights and finale nights) but would give CBB viewers good reason to stick around at least.

Any chance of the CBB launch starting at 20:00 or 20:30, allowing Under the Dome to air earlier than 22:00? The possibility of swearing is an issue, but it hasn't stopped them airing the BB final before 21:00 in the past.

Wouldn't people get caught out by the earlier start? It hampered The Apprentice a few weeks ago.

If CBB starts as early as 20:00 or 20:30, then it will be a clear indication they are no longer chasing a big headline figure for launch night and instead looking at the evening as a whole. Whilst it wouldn't be surprising to me if they placed slightly less emphasis than usual on the launch after the opening night figures for BB14 basically proved meaningless, I don't think they would do that.

It's one thing putting BB in that position- it tends to get lower ratings, and the audience is more loyal- but the CBB launch could be their most watched broadcast of the year, or up there anyway. It can't possibly be that if it starts before 9pm. On the other hand, it tends to build gradually over the 90 minutes, so a 60 minute programme could be quite restrictive and might hinder its ratings potential slightly anyway. Still less harmful than a very early start though, and if Under the Dome does the business then it might be worth it.

Tonight and tomorrow, next Sunday and Monday

EDIT

Tonight, tomorrow, next Sunday and the Sunday after.

How confusing!!

Lol you sure you haven't been spying on me Ambassador