Agreed. Surely putting this crap out of its misery is the way forward? Why not send it to CBBC/BBC3 or do a straight to DVD relase? Worst programme on the TV.

That is massive.



The amount of programming listed above proves how successful BBC2 has been over the last 12-18 months. Despite quite crippling budget cuts, they have still managed to churn out fantastic programming, and often out-rate their opponents. Janice Hadlow and her team deserve mountains of praise.


Top Boy down on the premiere in October 2011. That night it got 1.13m and a 6.5% share. It will probably take a large-ish hit next week when it faces New Tricks and Arsenal's 2nd leg CL play-off, both of which will rate highly.

Excellent Saturday night schedule on BBC1 that year:

5.45pm The Hidden Camera Show
6.15 Jim Davidson's Generation Game
7.15 Noel's House Party
8.05 The National Lottery Stars
8.20 Casualty
9.10 Aiport
9.40 The X-Files

Now that is what I call a Saturday night schedule! (Oct 1998)

Exactly - good mix of genres there, and something for pretty much everyone. Airport on a Saturday was an absolute masterstroke actually.

I never remember Airport being on a Saturday at all. I guess that was the peak of its powers with Jeremy Spake

That schedule remained pretty solid throughout the Autumn. The replacement for Airport in mid-November that year were repeats of the previous Thursdays episode of Dinnerladies. The Hidden Camera Show was replaced after it ended by repeats of Only Fools and Horses. Before Airport though, Saturday nights had the repeat showing that year of the previous Thursday comedy flop "Let Them Eat Cake". Who remembers that?

I liked LTEC, it was unfairly bashed.

IMDB users agree!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187653/reviews

I liked Let Them Eat Cake too. Not sure either why it failed.

It had a fantastic cast too, all recognisable faces (if not names for some)

I can't remember reviews at the time but I'm sure I've the DVD lurking somewhere

I think they need another family friendly sci-fi drama for Saturday nights. Something along the lines of Crime Traveller which I re-watched recently and really enjoyed

Though 3 of those are on the same night, one is a low-rent rip off of a BBC1 powerhouse, another a destined-to-sink rehash of an old staple but jazzed up (if not jizzed up...) for a younger crowd who will be out, two new series of existing dramas, one of which much be nearing the end of its shelf-life, the other never lived up to its early huge ratings promise, whatever the thing on Wednesday is sounds awful, and the other is a long-scheduled one-off football match nothing to do with ITV's scheduling.

I'm intrigued though to see how the old folk will react to Keith Lemmon doing Keyhole given the sort of unsavoury and distateful things he gets up to on his other puerile and revolting shows...

BBC1 Autumn Saturdays are good. This year after Strictly they will have brand new fantasy series Atlantis. Next year The Musketeers is rumoured to play out on Saturdays. Probably Spring.

BBC1 have changed their schedule for 31st. Stepping Out will start 25 minutes AFTER Pointless Celebrities has started.

BBC One blinked first it seems, and gifted the slot. Will they avoid putting new drama on BBC One on Monday at 9 for the whole 8 week run of DM ?

I don't remember LTEC being repeated at all - I thought it was just the initial showing and then it resurfaced on UK Gold a few years later. I suppose the idea of the repeat would be to see if they could muster up enough interest to make a second series viable. From what I remember, LTEC had all the right elements in place, and it was quite an original concept, but the scripting just lacked the bile or sharpness which had made Ab Fab such a hit.

I think our old friend the doctor is destined to return for a full 13-episode run in Autumn 2014, so The Musketeers featuring Peter Capaldi would well-scheduled in spring as a bit of a warm-up.

The Musketeers is 10x60 minutes, which would seem a more likely fit for a Sunday or weekday than the usual 13x45 minute commission for family dramas destined for Saturdays.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/lat...new-drama.html

The rumour for next year's Doctor Who run, by the way, is for a 12 not 13 episode run, presumably to recoup costs/time spent on the extra 50th anniversary special this November.

Confirmed: The X Factor: Saturday 31st August 8-9.20pm.

They've found an extra 5 minutes down the back of the sofa it seems, with Through The Keyhole losing 5 minutes as a result.

Everything else as announced yesterday.

As ronant said, 31 August - 6 September is a massive week for ITV: Stepping Out, X Factor Saturday, Through The Keyhole, hour long Sunday Coronation Street, X Factor Sunday, Vera, Doc Martin, Big Star Little Star, Whitechapel, Pat & Cabbage, The Guilty and the England match. Will be interesting to see how it all does!

The Musketeers was planned for Saturday nights. Just because it's an hour long doesn't mean it won't air on Saturdays. It also doesn't necessarily mean it will AIR on Saturdays either.

The trouble is the BBC pack the autumn with content then Saturday nights the rest of the year are largely bare. They could really take whatever replaces Merlin out of the schedules and use it elsewhere.

Atlantis seems perfect for Saturday nights in the run up to Christmas. It wouldn't seem right watching a magical fantasy in high summer! I agree though, the Autumn does seem packed. Makes you wonder what 2014 will have instore. One saving grace for Summer next year is World Cup football! That'll save having to commission something no one will watch.

So to clarify, the confirmed schedules for Saturday 31st look like this:

BBC One
16:30 - Final Score
17:15 - That Puppet Game Show
17:55 - News; Regional News; Weather
18:15 - Pointless Celebrities
19:05 - I Love My Country
19:50 - The National Lottery: Break the Safe
20:40 - Casualty
21:30 - Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow (r)
22:00 - News; Weather
22:20 - Match of the Day

ITV
15:25 - Midsomer Murders (r)
17:30 - Regional News; News; Weather
18:00 - NEW SERIES: You've Been Framed!
18:30 - NEW SERIES: Stepping Out
20:00 - NEW SERIES: The X Factor
21:20 - NEW SERIES: Through the Keyhole
22:15 - News; Weather
22:30 - FILM: Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

There's a huge amount of WW1 centenary material in store for 2014 on the BBC.

The only people saying GBBO shouldn't be on bbc1 are Itvistas. What a fantastic rating for gBBO yesterday, just think of what it would get on bbc1 shown after SCD on a Saturday night. Maybe 7-8million and potentially kill off XFactor. I really hope the final of gbbo this series is promoted to bbc1 and shown aft strictly.