Idealy SCD start should not be before 6.30-preferrably 6.45. People don't seem willing to tune in in large numbers before those times-so its only the peculiar pressure the BBC comes under for not chasing ratings that may force earlier starts.
XF performance shows are brittle now, there is no payoff until Sunday and in the last couple of years polarised high peaks have been the last 15 minutes of the Sunday results shows suggesting a lessened interest in sitting through the sometimes overlong build up(and ofcourse there is the unknown quantity of Atlantis that XF will have to face also). Ofcourse it all relies on how interesting the characters are and how much intrigue can be drummed up by the XF behind the scenes machine. Simon Cowell was a one man news story 24 hours a day and he has been undoubtedly missed in recent years.

I'm not surprised EE is low for the return of Peggy. As a casual viewer I was looking forward to her return but missed it. I thought it would have been advertised more on BBC1.

Miranda is curiously blurred between one and the other-it did run at 9.00 last series though ofcourse its repeated pre watershed.

Have you included the plus one fuguer with that Corri last figure? Because DS has got a different figure and share to that.

All the soaps well down from last week and EE gets its hit more as usual on Fridays. I bet they sometimes wonder why they bother on Fridays.

+1 is shown above, just like EastEnders +2.5 on another channel, which is also shown above.

That's poor for the much hyped appearance of Peggy. Back to 3rd place, her appearance did nothing.

That's pretty sad all round approaching the end of September, and Fridays clearly don't do Eastenders any favours. At risk of starting fantasy schedule surge I wonder if a move away from Friday might help, though maybe its too fragile at the moment.

Maybe they should drop Friday and go back to x3 per week. Quality over quantity.

There was an article yesterday (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2...lth-shock.html) proclaiming EastEnders as the top soap on Thursday, which surprised many as Emmerdale had two big episodes.

I've just noticed on ITV's page however that they give an altogether different set of figures and audience shares: http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/highlights/ratings. Theirs come from AdvantEdge and it says +1's are included, but even taking that into consideration, the two sets of figures don't match.

Where do DS's figures come from, why are there two (or more?) sets of figures and which are regarded as the official overnight results?

I agree that's it's poor but "much hyped" by who exactly? I've seen no trailers, it was announced a month or so ago as is normally the case with casting/returnee news and that was pretty much it. It was a small appearance really, she helped drive the story along then was off, nothing special, that combined with Friday always being the least watched night for EE and the rating is unsurprising given it's current state.

Fuguer is a French word, isn't it?

DS has it down as 7.57m (34.0%), and a further 351k (1.7%) on +1.

Awful rating and share for EastEnders last night, particularly bad as it was the long awaited return of a legendary character.

EastEnders being back in 2nd place and Emmerdale therefore being in crisis didn't last long!

3rd place

DS ratings are tape checked and exclude +1. Those on the ITV website are full slot averages and include +1.

The ep she left was very low as well so why did anyone think it any different when she returned.

ITV Media report full slot averages including +1.

Digital Spy report tapechecked averages with +1 listed separately.

As Emmerdale finished at or just before 7:27pm on Thursday, the ratings company DS uses will strip out those last 5 minutes. So ITV Media's figure will be lower as it covers the full half an hour and Coronation Street did not follow.

As for which is better, I guess the tapechecked figures give a more accurate idea of the number that watched a given programme due to the rapid switchoff or even switchon that can occur in between programmes.

Channel4's 80s night was a success with 2.5million watching 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and a series best for Chatty Man [1.9m].

Big School finishes off its series with its best rating in weeks [3.2million].

Last week:

19:00 - Emmerdale: 6.93m (36.1%) / 7.13m (37.1%)
19:30 - Coronation Street: 8.75m (42.7%) / ~8.95m (43.7%)
20:00 - EastEnders: 6.83m (32.4%)
20:30 - Coronation Street: 8.85m (38.7%) / ~9.05m (39.6%)

Someone will no doubt mention that Corrie is down 1 million week-on-week, but of course Corrie had a storyline coming to a climax last Friday.

How do the ratings for the soaps compare to this time last year? That is what matters really.

EE may have performed a bit off last night but I
would not say that Peggy's return was hyped whatsoever, in fact I doubt the average viewer even knew she was coming back.

Wow at Cats Does Countdown. Where did that come from? Great rating for it. Chatty Man did well too.

Wonder how last night's incredibly awkward (what an awful woman Julie Goodyear is! ) episode of Life Stories did?

Yeah i agree big dan. There were no trails for Peggy Mitchell's return, I think the bbc just wanted it to be a pleasant surprise for viewers rather than making a big deal out of it. So it's understandable that the ratings didnt go up for EE. The actress who plays Peggy Mitchell is pretty dire by the way, some shocking acting. BBC are trailing David Wicks return so maybe that episode will go up in the ratings. But the trailer is just a few clips from the episode rather than a properly special filmed trailer. Its been ages since BBC done a proper trailer for Eastenders.

Not sure we can make any valid comparisons to this time last year as BARB was going through a 'funny' overnights ratings patch where there were many issues.

EDIT - Versus 2011: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3...rape-plot.html

Emmerdale: Up 350k / 470k
Corrie (19:30): Up 360k / 410k
EastEnders: Down 730k / 920k
Corrie (20:30): Down 100k / Up 60k