Someone on here once had a brief online conversation with Jack Lothian, before S4 finale aired. I know that's a long time ago, but if that person is still with us, or anyone remembers, would you PM me and tell me how it was done?

Those shows are waaay down in the ratings - along with the zillion shows involving obesity, deformity, pimp your ride/house/grandmother etc. etc. - yes, I appreciate that a vast amount of tosh does emanate from the US, but that doesn't mean we're all watching it, lol. (What made me laugh was Blue-Eyes' pompous belief that I'd somehow rigged the viewing figures to make the talent shows and soaps come out on top - sorry dear, but it is what it is!)

Perhaps, then, the collapse of Western civilization is not yet upon us.

Give it time, haha!

If you watched some of the shows that I do, you would be worried. House Hunters - not so much the content but the fact that it is a show about people looking for a house, but it's fun to guess which one they're going to pick. Lock Up - it is on Saturdays late night for like 4-6 hours on MSNBC where this film crew actually goes into prisons and does an episode about it. That is where you see the true decline of civilization. I have seen it so often that I know which prisons are better or worse than others. It is hardcore and not for the faint of heart, but is a very thoughtful and well done show. They get the prisoners to open up and talk to them, and you end up caring about them and hope they succeed. But it does make you worry about the world.

It seems to be a constant trawl for wacky new subjects that haven't been covered yet, however invasive the programme may be - some of this is vaguely interesting, but it also attracts the worst kind of inbred weirdos who are only too happy to take the money and run. (The latest 'reality' show being peddled over here is 'Duck Dynasty' - I took one look and thought, "Not another bunch of bearded rednecks!" I don't know who actually does watch these shows over here - nobody I know! Although my OH does occasionally sneak a peek at Pawn Stars and Storage Wars, lol.)

Please, would someone from the UK post all the eight weeks viewing numbers for Doc Martin. I would be interested what the trend was over the season.
Last edited by Paperchase : 25-10-2013 at 13:30

These are the viewing figures so far (all that's available at the moment):-

2 Sep 2013 - 8,769,000
9 Sep 2013 - 8,199,000
16 Sep 2013 - 8,360,000
23 Sep 2013 - 8,098,000
30 Sep 2013 - 8,273,000
7 Oct 2013 - 8,277,000

(These are BARB figures, and are ITV and ITV+1 added together.)

If you like, I can keep an eye on the BARB ratings and update this as and when the new figures come in?

(PS. Wikipedia figures should be ignored - they're fiction!)

JL contacted me about a YouTube vid I uploaded. I gave someone his YT channel info but I can't remember who it was.

One thing to remember when you look at the ratings from 2 years ago and 4 years ago is that you didn't have all the viewing options that you have today. You pretty much had to watch the show when it was broadcast or you didn't see that episode. There was also some DVR time shifting then, but I think those went into the ratings because they couldn't tell if you were actually watching or the DVR was just recording. Now, so many people watch their favorite shows using Apple TV, Roku, laptop computers and tablets. About the only television I watch live any more are local sporting events and news. Just this week I was catching up my favorite US show, Modern Family, and watching the episodes from the last four weeks on my iPad using the ABC app. This is also how I watch Corrie (yes, I have been watching for almost 40 years now) on the ITV app.

So, none of my viewing of my favorite shows show up in the ratings and there are millions more like me (the ratings only count live views and online views in the next hour) . Comparing ratings from 2, 4, 6 years ago to now are like comparing apples and oranges.

As far as I know, BARB's figures are mainly taken from ITV and ITV+1 (which started in 2011, so yes, that would skew the figures) - they have to have a benchmark.

As for my comment above about Wikipedia, I should ignore that - I've done some sums and their figures just don't add up at all (certainly don't tally with BARB's).

Did you see my longer post above? (It's here - http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...&postcount=720.) (I wasn't ribbing you, but you did make me giggle when you wanted to throw out the soaps and the talent shows, lol! ) I've tried to provide some useful information for you about the show - done my best with what I could find.

Thank you for your research SapphicGirl.

Someone asked why Americans on this board are so analytical
about the characters in Doc Martin. It might be the desire of those on the US for self-improvement as evidenced by many self-help books and other media. Those from the US want the Doc, especially, to change, improve his behavior, be happy
Not sure the Brits or many other world citizens share our mania for self help. We are a country striving for self actualization

Thanks. I was actually one of those people (I asked if you were all doing degrees in psychoanalysis, lol). I think here in the UK, we are very much "it's only a show", and we don't take it half so seriously as some of you do. You seem to read volumes into what has come out of the pen of a scriptwriter, which I must admit does seem a little odd to a Brit (we're born cynics, lol). When we read heart-rending embellished versions of what happened in an episode, and excited accounts of having discovered a children's programme called 'Listen With Mother' (known and loved by every Brit of a certain age!), I'm afraid we have an unfortunate tendency to snigger. Please don't hold it against us! We mean very well, but our sense of humour can come over as wry and sardonic. 'Taking the mickey' is a rather British quirk, and we often assume that everyone has a skin as thick as ours.

Are we forgiven? We're really just gently teasing, honestly!

Having spent a fair amount of time in England in the last several years (my daughter is married to an English citizen, has a permanent settlement visa, and my 3 granddaughters speak with a very British accent!) I have some idea of what you are driving at.

I have also read Sarah Lyalls book: The Anglo Files: A field guide to the British. She was for a period of time, an expat American living in England (now divorced and back in the States, I think.) At any rate, her discussion of British sense of humor, and irony and understatement is very much in line with your post. (Hope none of you English Forum members truly hate this book!)

Now that's something I'd like to read - I've never heard of it! I'm a terrible tease generally - just born that way! - and I usually manage fine on DS. Tellingly, non-Brits sometimes just don't get what I mean and occasionally take offence, but I always explain myself and not just leave them with a flea in their ear (like some do here!). I do try to be kind and helpful, because I think that helps the world go round a little bit - hiding behind sarcasm just because you can is not conducive to good international relations.

Mofromco:
I think you've stumbled on to something here. ME has spent his entire life "fixing" things. The clock did not work, he spent hours working on it until it did. The occupation he chose, surgery is one of "fixing" the vascular system of people.

I imagine maybe that's why he gets so frustrated as a medical clinician. He will give advise and prescriptions, but unless people follow his advise, they will not get better.

Then there's the frog. He was given the frog to dissect. I imagine that as Martin, the child, thought if he dissected the frog and then put it back together, it would live again. His grandfather might have not been aware that children at age 5 have no concept of death. Martin was expecting the frog to come back to life when he put all the pieces back together. He blamed himself when it never came back to life. He thought he did it incorrectly.

Again, we're back to one of the reasons why he became a surgeon. This undoing process. (Very Freudian)

I think many of us are constantly in self analysis, I know I am! I am always questioning my motives, and walking a fine line to determine what is the root cause of my feelings. I work hard to assess the psychology of my co-workers and determine their possible pathologies so that I understand what is making them angry or frustrated so that I can better tolerate them. I look for the meaning of everything. I even have my own set of traffic rules - if I am not in a hurry I give way to the people that are so that when I am in a hurry I don't feel guilty about cutting someone off. I know a lot of people who are just like me or Woody Allen who are trying to find the meaning of life when we are in line at McDonalds.

So it is logical for me to analyze Doc Martin and all the nutty people in Port Wenn. I question what his motives are and wonder what is the root cause of Louisa's anger. Every time I watch the show I am doing this.

Maybe British people don't have to work as hard as we do. Maybe you are doing it but don't even know it because it comes natural to you! Maybe you think we are nuts and it's a good thing you're not responsible for us any more because we are so high maintenance that we are a drag to be around. You would grow tired of always having to prop up our lack of self esteem.

Ooh, stoppit - you're not all nuts or high maintenance or lacking in self-esteem, there's nothing wrong with trying to make sense of life. (What you need is a healthy dose of self-belief and a good British stiff upper lip, lol! Hang on, I've got a spare one around here somewhere.......)

Very, very informative. Thank you for this, Sapphic!

A pleasure - many many years ago I used to work for the BBC, and was involved in compiling the 'pop charts' (long before computers!), this was a bit like old times!

If anyone has been around the forum a while, they might know my opinion for depending solely on Wikipedia info, as I personally have found mistakes in it and realize the potential for misinformation to be found in it. (I taught school age children who figured out they could "edit" it.) So, while I used it for viewing stats in a recent post, I would take them with a grain of salt.

But then again, this whole discussion about viewing stats is so ripe with WHICH stats (overnight, weekly, monthly, yearly....), INCLUDING what (demographic group, ITV player, +1, vpn views.....), throw in DVD sales eventually in the mix, and we can't even think about downloading sites, Youtube, etc. etc. ......... so that it just reminds me of the saying: "You can prove anything with statistics." (Just my thinking thrown in as an aside and how I want numbers to mean something, but it just isn't that easy sometimes. Let's just say, "It's complicated.")

And to think it all started with the question: "What would be considered a massive hit?"

Answer:

I wanted to go back and check about the frog story. When it was in S5E6. Martin tells Louisa he was give the frog to KILL and dissect. Grandad and/or members of his family wanted him to kill it first. Pretty sick for a 5 year old.

There is also another factor that some have brought up and that may play a part in the whole scenario....broken glass....starting with the glass and Holly's blood in S3..... Going on to the dream in S5 where he breaks the jar with the butterfly...which is really Louisa breaking his red glass tumbler ...then onto him dropping the plate when his mother touches him. It's not clear what the meaning of this is but I believe the theme is important. I am going to start a series rewatch and see if there were any hints we may have missed.

Sapphic I am much more like the Brits who see everything as an opportunity for sarcasm and that has gotten me into trouble as well! I agree that there are cultural differences and no where are they more evident than on this board.
Cheers.

With respect to what propels you, I don't believe all Americans are like this. There may be cultural differences between those from different countries, but I'm a little uncomfortable painting everyone from the UK or US with too broad a brush.

I guess my skills of satire and irony need polishing. It was a joke.