Or maybe, in the 21:30 Xmas Day ITV slot it's that episode of The Bill.

I think Coronation St will be ITV's top show of the day by a long way. Emmerdale has been pushed to the margin of the schedule again, and is up against a show which always thrashes it.

EastEnders has two really good slots, thanks to ITV's only Christmas Day big hitter being finished by 8pm.

The Dancing on Ice pre-record is going to get a pasting if it's left at 8pm.

because its not on xmas eve or xmas day so they have to make up the 5 episodes in the week!

I think Peter Fincham will want Benidorm on Christmas night at 9.30.

But last year it wasn't like that, I think. But I think things are going to be kicking off then anyway.

Doesn't Strictly do decent business against Corrie each year- 7/8m?

I'm not syaing Dancing on Ice will rate that highly, because Strictly is in another league. But I don't see it getting a pasting. It could get some decent numbers and knock down EE a couple of million.

Will ITV run Corrie in to 9pm like the BBC did with EE last year?

SCD could win its first Christmas Day slot up against Emmerdale. I cant see DOI fairing well TBH.

It will be the lesser of the two evils, people screaming at eachother in EE or Phillip Schofield.

Corrie is scheduled to end at 8pm and SCD is against Corrie.

I read that completly wrong.

I think about 5m for Dancing on Ice, and 10m+ for EastEnders.

I think 90 mins of DOI is a big ask for dance fans, straight after 60 mins of Strictly, especially as DOI has no momentum after being off-air since March.

Judging by my recent ratings game form, though, I'm probably wrong!

All seems good to me, except Blackadder.

If it was a new episode maybe, but a doco?

I hope ITV put Benidorm on at 10.30pm then. There is a huge potential audience there on xmas night.

Slightly strange slot for Wallace and Gromit too - I know its to complicate things for ITV, so they struggle to schedule Coronation St, but its a bit too late maybe.

Just had a look at the other Christmas Day schedule for the other channels and some odd choices. Channel 4 are showing The Nativity Decoded and The Secret Millionaire while Five are showing Memoirs of a Geisha and a countdown show.

I've resisted commenting on the Christmas schedules too much but a couple of things strike me as odd about this:

Wallace & Gromit is a bit late for a kid friendly show and its curious to have it sandwiched between 2 episodes of EastEnders

Doctor Who is on too early in contrast. Why would you schedule your best show this early in the evening?

My guess is that the first EastEnders would have been on at 6pm with W&G on at 6.30pm with Doctor Who at 7pm then Strictly at 8pm with EE again at 9pm.

But ITV moving their soaps about have caused the BBC to move Doctor Who into an early slot while the first EE and W&G take up the 8pm - 9pm positon which is probably not what they wanted to do. Both channels seem to want to avoid a soap clash. Hence why ITV have now moved Corrie to 7pm.

I think Doctor Who has been pushed a little earlier than they might have liked thanks to the soaps on ITV which have been pushed forward to accomodate DOI. I'm sure in a perfect world, the BBC would like to have swapped SCD and DW over, but have decided Doctor Who is better at 6 vs Emmerdale than 7 vs Corrie.

As for Wallace and Gromit - it is late but whether people love or hate EastEnders, it'll probably get a better rating there than in the early evening. Although its a kid-friendly show, its not exactly for tots. I think for the vast majority of its audience will be fine at 8.30-9.00.

EDIT: Official Diva probably explains it a whole lot better than I have!

Because it's the only realistic possible slot that it can go in, for the BBC to get full benefit overall that evening.

7pm is a no-go due to Corrie.
Now it could go in between 8-9pm. But that would mean scheduling EastEnders at 5/5.30pm and Wallace and Gromit at 5/5.30pm. (EE wouldnt air between 6-8 as it would then clash with other soaps).

Now Wallace and Gromit at 5/5.30pm is fine. But for EastEnders that is a bit early.

Both shows will pull higher numbers between 8-9pm. Yes, it might see Doctor Who down at 6pm. But in all fairness, it's got easy opposition of Emmerdale. It'll trounce Emmerdale 2:1 I'm sure of it.

For those of you that don't check the F1 Coverage thread, jb26 has posted something interesting regarding the Australian GP

If he's right.....

Saturday 28th March 2009
22:10 - BBC News
22:30 - Match of the Day
23:50 to 10:30am Sunday - Grand Prix Night [Race Start: 07:00]



Is this a first for a sporting event??

Well it wouldn't surprise me because I know they make a huge event of the Grand Prix in Melbourne, they have All Star races, last year they had a KISS concert too. Now they have moved the race to 5pm, I'd imagine they will have plenty going on during the day.

I'm sure the BBC would have plenty to show too - F1 highlights, previews, interviews, etc.

However its very early to see a provisional schedule, even though the BBC will have it all planned already.

SCD Final:

Part 1: 6.40-7.55
Part 2: 9.00-9.45

All together it seems like the BBC has 30 minutes excess of prime time programming for Christmas Day. It would have been interesting if they sandwiched W&G between the above or seperated Dr Who putting a 'part 1' section.

10pm Christmas Eve for Gavin adn Stacey seems bizarre.

Gavin and Stacey is Christmas Eve at 10pm according to The One Show.

ITV did a night of programming for their first race in 1997. There was a special at 10pm with Clive James interviewing various F1 bods, then the film Grand Prix at 11pm before the race coverage began at 1.30am.

Also, I remember when BBC1 showed that Lennox Lewis fight in 2001, they had the film Cliffhanger straight after MOTD and then a doco about Lewis at 2am before the coverage started at three.

And, of course, in 1984, LWT and Granada showed Liverpool in the proto-World Club Championships, kick-off 3am, preceded by The Bitch.

I think the excitement would be largely down to this being a ratings thread and a show getting exceptionally high ratings. I'm sure that if Strictly (or indeed any BBC show) was getting 11.9 million viewers, you would be shouting it from the rooftops.

Makes more sense I suppose. It's probably not big enough for Christmas Day, although I agree with you that the Blackadder documentary looks totally out of place. It's actually the kind of show that would be more suited to, dare I say, BBC Two. That one has baffled me.

Overall I'm not as keen on this year's schedule as last year's - Wallace and Gromit just seems to be on too late for what is essentially a child friendly show, sandwiched in between EastEnders which is about as far away from W&G as you can possibly get.

The EE/DW/EE combo last year worked a lot better.

The ratings will be the judge of that

No question, but as a viewer I don't think it'll work as well.

ITV seem to be putting on a more attractive alternative this year. DOI should tempt a few of the non-soap viewers.