Well done ITV1 & five. Superb ratings for both.

Little Dorrit hasn't really grabbed me the way Bleak House has to be honest. I'm not a fan. Apparitions is a good drama and quite intelligently written, it'd do better away from I'm A Celebrity.

ITV3
8pm Touch of Frost 807,000 (3.98%) [further 49,000 ITV3+1]
10pm Life 343,000 (2.21%) [further 12,000 ITV3+1]

ITV4
5.30pm Tottenham Hotspur vs. NEC Nijmegen 479,000 (2.78%)

ITV2
10pm I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here Now! 432,000 (2.78%)


BBC3
9pm Britain's Really Disgusting Foods 246,000 (1.18%)
10pm EastEnders 1.1m (6.13%)

E4
10pm Hollyoaks Later 619,000 (4.06%) [further 236,000 E4+1]

BBC4
9pm Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights 360,000 (1.72%)

Heh, thanks for the hits. Greg Dyke later said that it was common sense to do that because they were going to be thrashed and there was no advertising money about on Christmas Day, but you don't want common sense on Christmas Day. The ITC actually censured ITV for not making the effort.

If you can't be bothered clicking through (although do read all that feature, especially the parts I didn't write in the seventies and eighties) , that ITV schedule on Christmas Day 1993 was...
3.10pm The Never Ending Story
5pm Beadle's Daredevils - Jeremy introducing various stunt performers
6pm National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
8pm Field of Dreams
10pm DOA
11.40pm The South Bank Show - Irving Berlin

And a happy Christmas to you too, ITV.

Great night for ITV1 and FIVE and for FIVE to come 2nd in its slot from 9.30pm is excellent.

Decent enough night for CH4 and BBC2, but BBC1 have another terrible night & both EE and Emmerdale performed poorly.

It makes the thrashed schedule of 2007 look positively brilliant doesn't it?

I'm A Celebrity was slightly down last night, but it still thrashed Apparitions. As Channel 4 did all they could to keep Big Brother out of Britain's Got Talent's reach, I wonder about BBC1's wiseness over airing new dramas during I'm A Celebrity... However, considering the way the programme dipped in viewers last year, I guess it's reasonable for BBC1 to expect to pick up a few more viewers than that. I would be interested to see how I'm A Celebrity'd do against the likes of Silent Witness and new episodes of New Tricks.

I feel sorry for the makers of Little Dorrit. After the success of Cranford, Lark Rise to Candleford and Bleak House, more was probably expected, but the subsequent scheduling has been little more than a joke. Obviously the attempt was to build on the EastEnders lead in, but I guess it appeals to different audiences, and the EastEnders audience is already used to switching over to The Bill.

The clash between the soaps doesn't help either. The argument that Emmerdale is hitting EastEnders hard, and it should be kept there for that doesn't wash with me. It's only weakening ITV1's audience further, and BBC1 are never going to axe EastEnders considering how it does on the other days. In liklihood, it's actually sounding the death knell in the Dales, rather than Walford.

BBC2 and Channel 4 were both hit hard by the football. The Jacksons are Coming seems one of the weirder documentaries Channel 4 have ever aired, but the whole channel seems to be a bit limp at the moment in the face of a resurgent Five. Place in the Son was dsappointing when you consider BBC1's ratings at that time - and the fact that ITV only averaged just over 5m for that hour. Fantastic for Hollyoaks Later on E4 though.

For the shows broadcast on BBC2 I think it was a bit of a horror show for them - obviously affected by I'm A Celebrity...I'd expect both Never Mind the Buzzcocks and The Graham Norton Show to do better to be honest. Oceans seems around par.

Brilliant for Five, and their football double bills always seem guaranteed to bring in the viewers. AC Milan is a big attraction - and it'd be interesting to see the average for the eight to nine and nine to ten hours to see where they came in the channel table. The average being only 300,000 off BBC1's offerings from 8.30pm says a lot.

Everything seems below par there. Even IAC seems down. Saying that, much better than the same show last year:

Episode Eleven - 8pm - 6.6 million (28%)
Eviction Show - 10pm - 6.4 million (31%)

Another bad night for BBC1 with 2 programmes rating below 3m, one only opposite a normal episode of The Bill

Lead Balloon on BBC2 looks to be doing badly, the comedy ratings in this slot are generally over 1m

Good ratings for Five which did well with Football and managing to dent IAC which did pretty good business nevertheless. BBC One did poorly with Apparitions and Channel 4 and BBC Two did okay too.

Five are doing okay at the moment with only two flops though I think that the channel will be very different next year with the emphasis of entertainment rather than factual though I'm not sure that is a bad thing.

I wonder if Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live will have a boost tonight after all his media attention this week. If it does hopefully it will give The IT Crowd a boost after the poor ratings last week for a very good show
I think Live At The Apollo will do very well tonight and match what Jonathan Ross was getting

Don't even bother with Little Dorritt during the week now it is fixed as a Sunday teatime programme. Would think there are many others like me. Just fits so much better in that slot & also in a 1 hour episode.

Thanks for typing those up, Thebenster.

A bit low for EastEnders, but the 7.56 finish and the football won't have done it any favours. And the BBC will be relieved to have a million or so viewers returning to Little Dorrit.

Programmes like People's Hospital and Wild About Your Garden don't belong on primetime BBC One, and are getting the ratings they deserve. Incidentally those two shows are being paired between 8 and 9pm on Thu 18th Dec!

Low for Emmerdale, considering EastEnders was also under 6m. Football again, I suppose. Football probably knocked I'm a Celeb slightly too.

Am I in the minority thinking that ITV have "turned it around" in the past few month and a half, after what has been a "medicore" 2008?

I wish we could see the ITV News at Ten ratings for all of this week. Perhaps Neil Wilkes could tell us?

http://www.itv.com/PressCentre/Brita...2/default.html

Oh god. Britannia High in 7pm Sunday slot for most of the series... UNTIL the very final episode:

Britannia High
Saturday, 20 December 2008, 4:45PM - 6:00PM

Ho ho ho....

In other ITV scheduling stupid(flop)ness:

Three flops in a row:
Sleep Walkers: Secrets of the Night - Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 9:00PM - 10:00PM
Police Camera Action Drink Drive Special - Wednesday, 17 December 2008, 9:00PM - 10:00PM
Fat Teens In Love - Thursday, 18 December 2008, 9:00PM - 10:00PM

The Bill - on a Monday (22nd Dec)? Presumably because it won't be on Xmas Day (and it will be on Tues 23rd Dec) Hang on.... I'm wrong. Go below...

All Star Mr and Mrs - Xmas Eve - 8pm!

For Xmas Day (at the moment):
19:00 - Emmerdale
20:00 - Corrie.
21:00 - ???

The Bill MUST be on Xmas Day

Ep. No 649 - Tuesday 23rd December - 21:00 to 22:00
Ep. No 650 - ?? (Xmas Eve - 21:00 to 22:00???)
Ep. No 651 - ?? (Xmas Day - 21:00 to 22:00???)
Ep. No 652 - New Years Eve - 20:00 to 21:00
Ep. No 653 - New Years Day - 20:00 to 21:00

BTW, The Bill episodes ARE Xmas Themed!
The Bill "plan" could actually work.....












......NOT!

They've certainly had a better Autumn than they had Spring, though its probably a little soon to be talking about 'turning the corner'.

What we've seen from ITV for the entire year seems to be big 'event tv' prospering alongside a relative weekening of day-to-day schedules. They've had two smash hits this autumn with the X Factor and I'm a Celebrity - but they're only two shows and only short term. A much better indication of overall improvement will be with the (strong looking) schedules next spring, which rely on a far broader number of shows and genres rather than in these few atypical weeks dominated by the entertainment formats.

That is a bit of a bizzare move by ITV. Having been in the Sunday 7pm slot for all the previous episodes, you would have expected the final to be in that same slot.

From what I have read on the Internet the Christmas Special is likely to be over an hour but not by much, maybe by 5 or 10 minutes at most.

Have ITV1 done anything intelligently in D.M.N's post though?

The Bill? Christmas Day??? I know it's had an ok year, but talk about losing the plot. Having a two hour Midsomer Murders/Frost would make more sense, at least they have Christmas pedigree.

BBC1 must be laughing their heads off. The roll out EastEnders, The Royle Family, Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing - family favourites. And ITV1 line up...The Bill.

Considering the amount of RTV formats they have, they could air a Britain's Got Talent/The X Factor/Dancing On Ice Special (I believe they are having a DoI special, but Iit doesn't look like it's popping up on Christmas Day) which would bring in more viewers.

As for Brittania High, I think that's ITV1 concedeing defeat to be honest. Shame as it's a half decent show in my mind, but it was scheduled wrongly and that can kill a show.

Hmmm, you don't think they're planning to air The Bill on Sunday at 7 or 8 do you, hence Brittania High's move? May make sense, would bring in more viewers then.

Ep. No 649 - Sunday 21st December - 19:00 to 20:00
Ep. No 650 - Tuesday 23rd December - 21:00 to 22:00
Ep. No 651 - ?? (Xmas Day - 21:00 to 22:00???)
Ep. No 652 - New Years Eve - 20:00 to 21:00
Ep. No 653 - New Years Day - 20:00 to 21:00

Then maybe airing 651 on the 28th?

No, sorry. I'm writing as though ITV1 scheduling makes sense.

I should have added #648 in my original post as that airs on Monday 22nd December - http://www.itv.com/PressCentre/TheBi...2/default.html

I cant believe ITV would air three hours of soap on Christmas Day

Thats pathetic. I'd rather the 1993 schedule...

I know they want to put their best highlights before Christmas to rake in the advertising money but theres also a thing called publicity - and with that line up they're going to get a roasting. And rightly so.

A lot, maybe all of the Christmas episodes of The Bill will end up scheduled in a soap sandwich...

7pm Emmerdale
7.30 The Bill
8.30 Coronation St

... to enable Coronation St to spike BBC One's 8.30pm dramas and films.

Ep. No 648 - Monday 22nd December - 21:00 to 22:00
Ep. No 649 - Tuesday 23rd December - 21:00 to 22:00
Ep. No 650 - ?? (Xmas Eve - 21:00 to 22:00???)
Ep. No 651 - ?? (Xmas Day - 21:00 to 22:00???)
Ep. No 652 - New Years Eve - 20:00 to 21:00
Ep. No 653 - New Years Day - 20:00 to 21:00

None of them are in a sandwich. I must admit though - if it gets promoted well - it could very easily end up in the 6m range.

It seems Brittania High has been moved to Saturday at 4.45 to accomodate The Alan Titchmarsh Christmas Show, on the 21st at 7pm. Why are they moving this daytime show into that slot?

Its what they did last year. I'd be surprised if BBC didn't hold back until 9pm with some of its bigger stuff like Jonathan Creek. It would seem like the obvious thing to do.