If sacked, he'll be a free agent and able to work for whoever he wants with immediate effect.

I suppose they could hold him to his contract but just not put him on air - stick him on gardening leave effectively.

It's probably not that simple though, as the much talked about £6m contract is probably with his production company to produce a set number of episodes of Friday Night.. each year.

I imagine a deal would be done where he was paid off for some of the contract and not able to go to anyone else for a short period of time.

Then he'll pitch up with exactly the same show, identical set and the same Four Poofs, but on ITV1 at 10pm, complete with ad breaks, and slightly more Z-list celebrities coming on to promote their new offering on ITV2...

I do hope the Beeb hold their nerve and not pander to the Daily Mail braying mob and lose one of their biggest talents to ITV for a knock-down price.

One things for sure Robbie, Al Murray aint going to get a gig on BBC1 anytime soon.

PS These BBC guys seem to be resigning in their droves tonight. Did they put something in to the water in West London?

Going back to Sunday, but does anyone have an answer to this, and how it compared with the same on Sky Sports?

Michael.

The impression I got was that they weren't just told about Tennant, but figured now was a good time to release that to fill tomorrows papers.

Brand leaving won't change his work, really. The Radio 2 show was just one thing of many. Disappointed at the way the BBC have handled it, a bit like C4 with the CBB race row. They did nothing, then they buckled under pressure. I have little idea what is to be gained by suspending Jonathan Ross. Better to power through, at least C4 stuck with CBB for the rest of the series. I just hate the idea that the Daily Mail can have such importance. It's quite a terrifying thought that 26,998 of the complainants only did so because the media told them to.

The whole thing sets a precedent for divisive personalities to be restricted and chased down when on BBC and wider TV. You look at how C4 have just totally handed their balls over to OFCOM over the past 2 years when it comes to BB and what that has done to the show. Suspending JR could do the same thing to him. They should just have ploughed through. What the whole thing really needed was someone of stature to say "yeah, it was wrong, but this has become ridiculous". Unfortunately, all the BBC lot seem to have been told to shut up and nobody else came forward.

Anyway, on the topic of ratings (I think that's what we're here for!), good to see Dead Set still above 1m. Hopefully it will get through tonight and tomorrow night above 700,000. I have a feeling that airing on a Friday, Halloween no less, will make for a poor rated ending.

Somebody explained to me that the story was embargoed and the press were told to keep it under wraps until 10pm but Media Guardian jumped the gun and so pulled it. The link is working again now.

Bit hard to keep the embargo when Tennant announced it on the National Television Awards - before 10pm.

I found the link at 8pm this evening and it stayed up for about 20 minutes and then they took it down. They broke the news before he had a chance too.

Someone was quick off the mark there. As leaving the BBC seems to be the order of the day, I wonder whether someone will be sacked or resign over the broken embargo?

This whole debacle has shown how sheep like the general public in particular Daily Mail readers are. Out of the 27,000 complants I would bet that only a small portion of them had actually heard the show. An apology should have been enough but it seems the DM and the usual suspects on the broadcasting forum have decided to have a BBC bashing session when there are more pressing issues to be reported.

The BBC isn't perfect but it get too much criticism from the press and certain posters.

TBH, Jonathan Ross is unlikely to be sacked and the suspension is more than enough punishment.

2m for CSI : Sunglasses

Whats the highest rated CSI: series in the UK? (nodding to the fact CSI:NY gets a Saturday airing as opposed to Sunglasses and the original)

The whole thing is just so ridiculous. I can't believe this has been top of the news agenda for two days now when we're bang in the middle of a financial crisis, heading into a recession and a US election is less than a week away, but there you go.

I feel like complaining that too much of the BBC's resources have been wasted today covering this non-story.

As for the newly created gaps on BBC radio and TV, I suggest the BBC fill them with shows hosted by Forsyth, Wogan, Parkinson, and Aspel etc, because they will surely hit the spot with the audience nicely, very PC humour and no risk of anything unreputable - heck, the BBC won't even have to check the stuff before putting it to air, so that eliminates the issue surrounding the incompetence of their editorial staff as well. Perfect.

I believe that CSI Vegas pulls in 3m+ when new episodes on Five but CSI: NY pulls in decent audiences on Saturdays and it even beat ITV1 once or twice.

I was hoping it'd be the original (Jonwo, stay strong....don't call it Vegas! )

I know the Without A Trace crossover did well but I think five are starting the new CSI : Original soon?

I'm sure that by next week this story will have blown over and we'll see the return of proper news like the financial crisis and the US elections and of course David Tennant quitting as Doctor Who .

The media really pisses me off sometimes especially the tabloids and it's quite sad that people actually take time to complain about something they seen or heard.

This story has gone on far too long and I've ranted about this about too much and I think there are more pressing things to talk about...like ratings!

ITV1
8pm National Television Awards 2008 5.3m (22%)

CH 4
6pm The Simpsons 2.6m (incl. +1)
6.30pm Hollyoaks 2.1m (incl. +1)

8pm EMBARRASSING TEENAGE BODIES 2.0m (incl. +1)
9pm The Family 1.8m (incl. +1)
10pm Desperate Housewives 1.6m (incl. +1)
11.-5pm EMBARRASSING TEENAGE BODIES 641,800 (incl. +1)

Low for NTA, last year it got 6.9m (31%).

Embarrasing Teenage Bodies has had a huge drop-off.

Deal or No Deal: 2.53m

Ouch! Did it peak after Tennant's announcement?

Will have to wait for Broadcast.

E4 inc +1

Hollyoaks- 656,400
My Name is Earl- 278,100
Friends- 380,600
Friends- 381,600
The Big Bang Theory- 218,800
The Big Bang Theory- 276,300
Dead Set- 810,700
Fonejacker- 141,400
Star Stories- 68,500
When Women Rule the World- 35,900

Dead Set dropped a little bit but still performing very well

dead Set dropped but the ratings are still good dont forget it was up against desperate Housewifese as i watched that then Dead Set at 11

Ratings from Media Week:

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/bull...ediaAMBulletin

Australian Overnights: Wednesday 29th October 2008

ABC
19:00 ABC News 1,103,000
19:30 The 7.30 Report 904,000
...
20:30 Spicks and Specks 1,202,000
...
22:00 At The Movies 314,000

Seven
17:30 Deal or No Deal 744,000
18:00 Seven News 1,517,000
18:30 Today Tonight 1,327,000
19:00 Home and Away 1,206,000
19:30 Crash Scene Investigators 1,180,000
20:30 Criminal Minds 1,270,000
21:30 Criminal Minds (R) 967,000

Nine
17:00 Antiques Roadshow 490,000
18:00 Nine News 1,120,000
18:30 A Current Affair 1,078,000
19:00 Two and a Half Men (R) 1,135,000
19:30 Two and a Half Men (R) 1,371,000
20:00 Two and a Half Men (R) 1,549,000
20:30 The Mentalist 1,005,000
21:30 CSI: NY 749,000

Ten
19:00 Will & Grace (R) 517,000
19:30 Jamie's Ministry of Food 617,000
20:30 House 875,000
21:30 Life 757,000

Sources: OzTAM, Ten

Evening shares
ABC: 18.6%
Seven: 30.9%
Nine: 27.2%
Ten: 18.9%
SBS: 4.5%

Wednesday 29th October 2008
BBC1
20:00 - Motorway Cops - 5.1m (21.2%)
21:00 - Silent Witness - 6m (24.6%)

BBC2
19:00 - Autumnwatch - 2.8m (12.5%)
20:00 - The Restaurant - 3m (12.5%)
21:00 - Heroes - 2m (8.3%)

ITV1
20:00 - National Television Awards 2008 - 5.3m (21.9%)
*Started off with 5.5m (24%)
*21:00 - 5.5m (22.5%)
*Never went below 5m
*Up on slot average for 2008 of 4.6m (19.8%)
*Down on previous years:
**2007: 6.9m (30.8%)
**2006: 6.7m (29.6%)
**2002: 8m (28.8%)

Channel 4
20:00 - Embarrassing Teen Bodies - 1.8m (7.4%) [+1: 293,000]
21:00 - The Family - 1.6m (6.4%) [+1: 262,000]

five
20:00 - Axe Men - 902,000 (3.7%)
21:00 - Paul Merton in India - 1.5m (5.9%)

Source: MediaWeek, Broadcast

More coming (I hope!)

-------------------

Pretty solid ratings there. I wonder if the football dented the NTA awards then? It's share in previous years was high 20's, this year low 20's?

NATIONAL TELEVISION AWARDS: RATINGS THROUGH THE 00s
2000: 11.8m (50% share)
2001: 9.6m (41% share)
2002: 8.0m (29% share)
2003: 7.6m (peak 8.2m)
2004: 6.7m (peak 7.6m)
2005: 7.1m (31% share)
2006: 6.7m (30% share)
2007: 6.9m (31% share)
2008: 5.3m (22% share)