The Surprise Surprise Twitter feed confirmed the show would be back for a Mother's Day special. As Mother's Day is the 30th March then you'd assume it will air there. The timeslot isn't confirmed but I'm pretty sure it will be 7pm.

Ah ok, thanks

I'm glad that both ITV and BBC look to have a strong 2014. Both top channels should be firing on all cylinders most if not all the year.

Broadchurch could return with some huge figures next year - potentially 9m+ overnight

Only if it's good comedy. Just wait and see the ratings for tonight's Vicious special


Unlikely to return next year. It is filming from May/June for four months, meaning it will likely miss out on a slot in the Autumn schedules.

Thanks for stats - I love it when actual facts disprove posters prejudices. I dont know how many times it has been stated as fact that CTM only rated as high as it did because it got an easy 15mins against low rating news.

Trouble is we know that even both the main channels do not have anything like enough money to fire on all cylinders for most of the year.

The first two words that came into my head watching that were 'the' and 'bill'.

Ah...

Eek!

Why are new versions of theme tunes almost invariably worse than the one they are replacing?

Casualty had one of the best theme tunes on television. Change for change's sake again.

The original theme tune should never have been replaced in the first place. The new theme isn't actually too bad, and is much closer to the original.

Same with EE when they ditched the original theme with the jazzy remix in 1993, then did a refresh on the original theme tune a year later which lasted 15 years, before replacing with the theme we have now (which is much inferior).

And same with Corrie, and Emmerdale, and just about most shows.

Will Broadchurch 2 be ready for an Autumn run?

Am I the only one to find this report - from the BBC itself! - the most shameful anti-MBB spin?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25518352

The article ties itself in knots trying to ignore the very obvious and clear ratings victory of MBB over Dr Who, by pushing a short term peak harder than a programme average. If I was a producer of MBB, I'd feel very aggrieved.

Generally, I'm a bit sick and tired of the snobby, patronising tone of responses to the success of MBB this year. I don't watch the show myself, but I'm damned if I'm going to insult those valid license payers who do. The people have spoken in hard figures. So apparently we must now change the goalposts? Wishful thinking rubbish.

Is Mrs Brown's Boys confirmed for next Autumn? I think early 2015 may be more likely. It'll be interesting to see how some of those shows are scheduled. I assume they won't want Bake Off and The Apprentice on the same night, or even much of an overlap between the two runs. In fact, if Bake Off runs August-October for 10 weeks they could actually launch The Apprentice out of the Bake Off final in mid-October. That could be a huge night for them (I'm assuming Bake Off will go on Wednesdays). Halifax will presumably get Tuesdays in November and December as normal. If Mrs Brown and Open All Hours do both air in the Autumn they could put them together in a huge comedy doubleheader for 6 weeks, probably on Mondays. I doubt that'll happen though to be honest. Not sure what they'll do with Doctor Who. I'm fairly confident that Atlantis will keep its slot, although I suppose Doctor Who could run August-October with Atlantis then going November-January. It'd be interesting to see how Doctor Who would do against The X Factor on a regular basis. I know it did I credibly well in November but that was a very special occasion. Not sure how it would do on a regular basis. I suspect it might skew a little older than it normally does, with XF denting the 16-34 audience a bit and the Strictly inheritance boosting the old audience. The raw numbers would probably be OK though.

Not sure what ITV will have. Broadchurch won't be ready until 2015 as you've said, and none of Doc Martin, Whitechapel, Poirot or Breathless will be back. I think it'll be Scott & Bailey one night, and they might try to have another 2 hour drama in there (Vera on Wednesdays?). The new drama Grantchester will probably get another night. Vicious is due back next Autumn too so I think they'll probably have a new comedy at 9pm one night into Vicious at 9.30pm. Then of course they'll have Downton Abbey, I'm A Celebrity and The X Factor as normal. Piers Morgan will probably be on Fridays again. I'd like to see them air something a it more competitive than Celebrity Chase before X Factor on Saturdays. Not sure what form that could take though.

It says MBB was most watched programme and quotes a desk for DW which most media use ie X Factor.

Not the most shameful anti-MBB spin, it's the truth!

The article ties itself in knots trying to ignore the very obvious and clear ratings victory of MBB over Dr Who, by pushing a short term peak harder than a programme average. If I was a producer of MBB, I'd feel very aggrieved.

no it clearly states second paragraph the success of MBB

No, "snobby, patronising tone of responses to the success of MBB "


No change the goalposts all channels do this.

DW had the highest peak MBB most watched show.

Newspapers today reported exactly the same thing and you know certain papers would change the spin if their editors didn't agree with it.

In fairness the early years of the Doctor Who reboot did, with the time rift slap bang in the middle of Cardiff city centre being a focal point of at least one series (I forget which). It's only moved away from that more recently - and obviously when Moffat came in and introduced a Scottish companion it would have been ludicrous to 'set' the whole thing in Wales.

You have to say that is very very shabby journalism. It makes Daily Mail almost look like a beacon of truth.

I think it will creep back up to 8 million next year. Remember Corrie in crisis comments two years ago, when ratings were sometimes falling below 7 million, EE has gone through the same phase and will probably slowly come back? EE, for all it can often be very miserable and drab, can have some very exciting climaxes to its stories and the fast paced nature of the show when it's good always makes it more attractive to younger viewers than the ITV soaps.

Joking??

I haven't watched Casualty in ages. The original theme was indeed the best.

The first 45 seconds of the new theme is pretty awful.

I think that the BBC should be wary of commisioning a series of "Still Open All Hours" it was only a half hour burst of comedy over a very quiet Boxing Night. Once the series faced the glare of the real competition it may not stand up. "The Royal Bodyguard" viewers vanished almost instantly. I wonder how many would be left at the end of "Still Open All Hours" by episode 6 and a poor script by Roy Clarke. I haven't watched it yet but dont see how this could be brought back very easily.

The first 30 or so seconds is the 'Previously...' segment.

"EastEnders" still failing to make an impact on the ratings. A shame as the episodes are good with decent last scenes to keep viewers ciming back. Its going to take more BIG episodes to grab attention I think. The quality is excellent though so that's the main and biggest improvement. It is "EastEnders" again.

Bit like saying 'Waterloo Road is Britain's favourite contemporary drama set in a school in Scotland'

Only very slightly. I think having a picture of Matt Smith and a headline saying "DW regeneration tops Christmas Day TV ratings" because of a 5 min peak is bordering on being a lie. Not good if you ask me especially when the average viewer probably wont understand what it means.

I wouldn't bother predicting a massive strong season for BBC1. We've done that many times and what generally happens is half the programmes never materialise and get held back many months. Go back a few months and many were predicting the strongest Christmas ever.

I would agree, but it depends where it was scheduled, surely anything that was back to back with MBB would be a ratings hit.