Dan was hardly anything special...



Any other ratings for last night?

Hard to deny that he was a major character this series. His absence will be felt more than most.

It does look like all of the main networks have taken this weekend off.

Just the weekend - most have been off since June!

What's the the logic of the BBC starting to air one of their biggest drama series (New Tricks) in the height of summer when audiences are deflated ?

What other big BBC dramas are lined up for the Autumn ?

Seems to be a lot of movies on.

Just seen The Mill advertised for the first time on channel 4... actually looks very good, but Sunday at 8?

What the hell is wrong with Channel 4? Not giving any of there dramas a chance at all

New Tricks traditionally starts around this time of year - I think the BBC are actually very canny starting it off in summer as audiences by that point are desperate for something decent to watch and there tends to be little competition elsewhere.

They've got their other new drama, Southcliffe, straight after at 9pm - if the Mill doesn't finish you off, Southcliffe will judging by the comments of those who've already seen it.

When New Tricks has aired in the summer it's rated extremely well, it's two highest rated series started early July, so why start it in Autumn and take up more slots there, which could boost other shows, when it can rate just as well in Summer.

Their biggest new drama seems to be Atlantis, all the other major dramas seem to be for next year (Three Musketeers, The Ark, The Casual Vacancy, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell), it's their returning dramas that will take over most of Autumn. The Paradise is 8 episodes so that and New Tricks will fill up Tuesdays to the end of the year. Last Tango, if it airs this year, might go on Sundays. Ripper Street looks to be starting earlier than last year so that could be on Thursdays/Fridays, as I doubt they'll put in on Sunday again.

There's also quite a few crime dramas commissioned, not sure when for, such as By Any Means from the creator of Hustle. I think there's a David Tennant drama coming up and there's romantic drama The 7:39 written by David Nicholls which has a decent cast (Oliva Colman.)

Thanks, and still no word of Sherlock. Is that this year or next ?

If anyone misses it I'm sure it'll be repeated. Again. And again. And again.

Forgot about Sherlock, I think it's for this year but could air in January.

I was gutted to see Dan leave, definitely a blow. The producers probably expected Sophie and Sam to choose Jack & Joe to come over to the SH which would have been the dream scenario to knock out one of the radar dodgers early, useless from a voting revenue point-of-view though I suppose.

Anyway, there's only about three weeks left now so we're into the home straight. Great audience once again last night. It was a good episode despite the result.

Mark Gatiss finished the read-through on episode three of three on Wednesday:

http://twitter.com/Markgatiss/status/360074426219364356

So they haven't filmed that yet. Does that mean it will be pushing it for the series to air this autumn, what with the filming and all the post-production? Maybe late autumn would be OK, but I would go for a New Year's Day premiere like last year.

Also why is it on a Tuesday night ?

Hardly a big viewing night. I know New Tricks will hold up wherever it goes but surely it's more Sunday/Monday material.

I was surprised by the scheduling I must admit.

1.66m (8.5%) +1 122k (0.8%) for BB last night

3.30m (16.6%) for athletics on bbc one

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/...channel-5.html

Maybe they're trying to give it an easy ride due to the cast changes that will be happening? Though they could have given it an easy ride on any night bar Sunday and Monday...

Better than we thought. Ma Willis nailing it as per usual and getting the punters in.

Also a very strong audience for 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown which wasn't far behind on 1.63m (8.1%). Must be the highest rated one of those they've done to date.

It should be ready to air for December, I can't see them wanting to air it before then with Downton and I'm A Celeb on ITV. Not sure about New Year's Day, it fell on a Sunday last year so was an obvious choice, next year it's a Wednesday. If it does air in December, Strictly, Last Tango and Sherlock could make a very strong Sunday night schedule for them.

Oh? I had no idea about the cast changes. That may have something to do with it. A drop in viewing figures is perhaps expected anyway.

I'm uncomfortable with the idea (and it's just that, might not be the reality) of it being purely to dominate ITV totally on the one night they are most vulnerable. The BBC doesn't need to be ruthless in that way. I know they do normally air drama in that slot where possible, but not usually one of their top performing dramas.

That is brilliant!

Brekkie catchphrase klaxon!

Obviously, the 7.30pm to 8.30pm athletics segment would have rated better than it did on BBC Two, but I doubt the 8.30pm-10.00pm section would have rated any better than it did. Probably a little bit worse.

I'm wondering if the BBC were slightly wary of ITV's show about reuniting families. If New Tricks only gets Luther-sized figures on Tuesdays, I suppose they could move it to Mondays once Family finishes.

If BBC One had any new shows which they would need to promote then I'd agree but I'm not sure if they have any until the autumn now. Arguably The White Queen may have benefited slightly more being on a Tuesday with New Tricks taking the Sunday slot instead.

From a personal point of view I think the BBC should aim more quality programming when the commercial opposition is weak to try and provide something for the audience rather than pitching weak v weak and strong v strong. Complimentary scheduling would benefit the viewers more.