I agree, AYG was dreadful - good riddance to it.

Although, Hole In The Wall getting a BAFTA would be hilarious (coming from a hater of it).

hahaha...I was waiting for someone to pick me up on that

I think it just seems like the BBC purposefully put it up against Corrie as an excuse to axe it, because it was capable of 4.5-6m and with those sort of ratings there wasn't a good enough reason to axe it.

I agree, January 2009 should do well, as it has the return of Trial and Retributuion and Taggart in the 9pm hour, so that's two hits and Above Suspicion and Unforgiven both look like hits too.

At the weekend, Demons will hopefully take off to the level of Primeval, and reliable hits like DOI, Family Fortunes, Millionaire and TV Burp should all help get 2009 off to a good start.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a1387...-audience.html

BBC3 & ITV2 saw successful ratings.

Nigella's Christmas Kitchen saw a spectacular fall.

Final Barb figures in for Harry Hill for Dec 6th

HARRY HILL'S TV BURP (SAT 2018) 8.28

Top 10 Programmes- Official ratings for w/e 7/12/08
1 - 10.72m - Coronation Street
2 - 10.60m - The X Factor
3 - 9.80m - I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
4 - 9.75m - Strictly Come Dancing
5 - 9.52m - EastEnders
6 - 8.28m - Harry Hill's TV Burp
7 - 7.46m - Emmerdale
8 - 7.33m - Top Gear
9 - 7.17m - Antiques Roadshow
10 - 6.32m - I'm a Celebrity... Coming Out

1-7 December:-

- ITV's Top 5 shows were all higher than BBC1's No.1 show.
- Four ITV shows made it over 10 million viewers, versus none for BBC1.
- 16 ITV shows were over 7 million viewers, compared to BBC1's 7.
- 13 BBC1 shows were in the 5 millions...ITV did not have one show in the 5 millions.

So, what can we take from this...

ITV performs very well with I'm a Celebrity and X Factor in the schedules and nails opposition in primetime, as well as TV Burp performing well. If Sunday's were performing 'as per usual', we'd see ITV even better.

However, BBC1's news bulletins and 'normal' TV programmes rate much better than ITV's, with their Top 30 not going below 4 million viewers, unlike ITV.

How does QUEEN'S SPEECH BROADCAST: CONSERVATIVE (THU 1852) get in the official ratings?

I find it quite ironic how ITV is the most slated channel and the one that stuggles the most, yet they have 7 out of 10 of the top rated shows for that week ...

I think the shows only have to be 5 minutes long to get in, now.

you mean 6.

Is it not 15 minutes? Or are you saying 5 minutes is the new rule?

Tuesday 16th December 2008
BBC One
19:30 - EastEnders - 6.82m (29.6%)
20:00 - Holby City - 5.86m (25.4%)
21:00 - Survivors - 5.04m (22.2%)
*Down 1.5m on series debut
*Up 200,000 on last week
*Series average: 5.37m (22.1%)
*Above channel slot average for 2008 of 4.8m (20.5%)

BBC Two
20:00 - Indian Food Made Easy - 1.65m (7.3%)
20:30 - Nigella's Christmas Kitchen - 2.61m (11.1%)
*Down 1.01m on series debut
21:00 - Horizon - 1.21m (5.3%)
21:50 - Coast - 900,000 (4%)

ITV1
19:00 - Emmerdale - 6.57m (29.2%)
20:00 - Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? - 4.33m (18.8%)
21:00 - Sleepwalkers: Secrets of the Night - 2.66m (11.7%)

Channel 4
18:30 - Hollyoaks - 1.69m (8.1%)
20:00 - How to Look Good Naked - 1.67m (7.3%)
21:00 - Country House Rescue - 2.34m (10.3%)

five
17:30 - Neighbours - 1.48m (8.9%)
18:00 - Home & Away - 953,000 (4.9%)
20:00 - Combat Chefs - 1.05m (4.6%)
21:00 - CSI: Miami - 2.5m (11%)

E4
19:00 - Hollyoaks - 749,000 (3.9%) [+1: 107,000 (0.5%)]

ITV2
21:00 - FILM: Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason - 931,000 (5.4%) [+1: 156,000 (1.3%)]

BBC Three
22:00 - EastEnders - 1.29m (7.4%)

Primetime Shares
BBC One - 24.2% (last week: 26.4%)
ITV1 - 18% (15.5%)
Channel 4 - 7.1% (7.4%)
five - 6.8% (6%)
BBC Two - 6% (7.8%)

Source: Broadcast, DS

I think it is a new rule.

Ratings don't really speak for quality they just prove how popular or unpopular something is.

Variety in their list of top rating shows also isn't their strong point with the shows either being reality based or a soap.

I find it quite ironic ITV 1 has 7 of the top 10 programs but BBC 1 is the most popular British channel week on week.

That's a really low rating for EE, isn't it?

Yes, great ratings for Taggart - 6m?!

But don't take that tin hat off just yet, George....


Maybe the audience nodded off?


Or 9.08m for 9pm-9.30pm which is a more accurate average given that the show ran from 8.59pm to 9.29pm.


I find ITV trying most of the year round...


But outside the handful of their most popular shows?

In recent weeks, Sunday tea-time repeats of Star Wars films have been making ITV1's Top 10 programmes with about 4m viewers.

It clashed with an hour long Emmerdale, and beat it 6.82m to 6.57m.

Indeed, here is the latest ITV1 Top 10 from BARB:

1 CORONATION STREET 10.72
2 THE X FACTOR 10.60
3 I'M A CELEBRITY - GET ME OUT OF HERE! 9.80
4 HARRY HILL'S TV BURP 8.28
5 EMMERDALE 7.46
6 WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? 4.76
7 TAKE THAT COMES TO TOWN 4.69
8 "NEW" YOU'VE BEEN FRAMED! 4.62
9 THE BRITISH COMEDY AWARDS 4.07
10 ITV EVENING NEWS 4.06

And that's when XF and IACGMOOH are both running.

I think BBC1's Top 10 compares more than favourably:

1 STRICTLY COME DANCING 9.75
2 EASTENDERS 9.52
3 ANTIQUES ROADSHOW 7.17
4 MERLIN 6.31
5 CASUALTY 5.96
6 WALLANDER 5.90
7 PANORAMA SPECIAL 5.75
8 THE NATIONAL LOTTERY DRAWS 5.74
9 TEN O'CLOCK NEWS 5.58
10 SIX O'CLOCK NEWS 5.41

But then it is the nation's most watched channel.

Nice twist of the figures there, the fact that when IMC... is running means there isn't much else but the above programmes actually IN the schedule probably has something to do with that

How do you define quality?. apart from individual taste?
Ratings are an objective view of quality. any other way of measuring quality is not possible, its all subjective.

We were talking about the overall quality of the channel though weren't we? Or I was. So not individual shows which is down to personal taste. Apologies if I confused you there. I realise my post wasn't clear. And just because ITV has a higher number of shows in the top 10 some of which get a fair deal more viewers than BBC shows it doesn't automatically mean that ITV is on the whole quality itself, just that some of its output is more popular. So while high ratings for the X Factor might indicate that it's a good show they don't extend to indicating that ITV itself is good. It still has problems everywhere outside reality/talent contests and Corrie.

I'm not going to give my views on the individual programming. It's not like I have a problem with any of it as I watch X Factor and IAC myself so wasn't trying to be negative about them but I also like to watch a lot of other things like good dramas and documentaries and I don't feel ITV really caters here whereas the BBC do and has something for most people.

A varied schedule of hits is not ITV's stronghold unlike the BBC who can manage to produce for instance popular dramas to go alongside SCD and EastEnders, giving the viewers more choice, that's why it's the top rated channel.

I know which top 10 I'd go for as I don't have a narrow taste in television and like more than 2 genres of programming. A schedule should be built on variety and a lot of that variety of programming doing well. ITV struggle with this and until they grasp it (they've managed it before) then it will always play second fiddle to the BBC overall.

Yes ratings certainly do not equate to quality. ITV used to know this (they showed more variety in their programming than these days). The BBC in recent times have gone more rating focused, but they do have a better variety of channels to cater for a wider range of tastes so are often more about the quality of a programme rather than just what will reach the most certain range of people.

Of course your never going to be able to definitively say something is of a higher quality than something else because its always in the realms of subjectivity however things like Appreciation Indexes do canvas opinion which does tend to match ratings which combined you could conclude that, that program has something 'good' in it which people seem to be drawn too.