For her first Christmas I am surprised that Charlotte Moore hasn't done more for BBC1 this festive season, yes there is plenty of drama and films but where is the comedy?, I know comedy has been thin on the ground in recent years but I am still puzzled as to why there are no specials of Miranda or Outnumbered, both of which we know are capable of 7M+ audiences.

Even if for whatever reason both were unable to commit to specials then I think both should have held an episode back for Christmas, it doesn't have to be set at Christmas but if its screened at this time of year then many will see it as a special anyway regardless of the content, Gavin and Stacey's only Christmas day episode was set during an August bank holiday. Also I remember a few years ago BBC premiering Come Fly with Me on Christmas day, at the time I thought it was daft but now I am wondering why since then the BBC haven't done that as it turned out to be a great idea, CFWM brought in great ratings on the big day, ok they dropped a bit after the first episode but because it got a 9M+ audience for the first episode then the drop off wasn't so big and would certainly have returned if Walliams and Lucas wanted to do another run.

Do we think that Peter Kay's new comedy isn't good enough for a Christmas day premiere?,that would have been perfect to launch tonight after MBB, a big name in his first new comedy in a few years that would of launched much higher tonight than what its going to in the New Year. I think now when commissioning new comedy that the BBC need to add on a Christmas special to the series, a moderate hit like Big School could of doubled its audience if we had a special of that in the next few days which would then of set up the second series very nicely. I still think Call the Midwife is unsuitable for Christmas day, with that, Doctor Who and Eastenders its very drama heavy, I remember My Family used to be early Christmas day for a few years, OK not everyone's cup of tea but something like My Family is far more suitable for the slot than CTM is.

I really hope next year will be different and the BBC will take some action or just have a bit of common sense in where they place there comedy, many might say its BBC being lazy but imagine if they had held back the last Miranda episode for tonight, it would of made Christmas day look so much better.

If they had billed it as "QI Xmas Special" I reckon it would have done. The XL branding made folk assume it was a repeat.

BBC - clueless as ever...

Charlotte Moore was named new BBC1 Controller in June so I think most of what we're seeing programme wise is down to Danny Cohen. Perhaps he knew how bad his schedule would be after March and ducked out quickly!

Scheduling you can put down to Moore and I think it could have been better some days over Christmas.

What's everyone's Christmas schedule then?

6.35 Emmerdale (Sky+ live-pause to skip ads, ITV HD)
7.15 News (LIVE, ITV HD)
7.30 Doctor Who (LIVE, BBC1 HD)
8.30 EastEnders (LIVE, BBC1 HD)
9.30 Coronation Street (Sky+ recording, ITV HD)
10.20 Mrs Brown's Boys (Sky+ recording, BBC1 HD)
10.50 Michael Mcintyre's Showtime (Sky+ recording, BBC1 HD)
11.05 News (LIVE, BBC1 HD)

Emmerdale will be background viewing but there's apparently a wedding and a fire and I love a good soap fire. Matt Smith's regeneration/Peter Capaldi's debut on Doctor Who and Roy and Hayley's snowy last Christmas on Corrie are must-watches for me.

I will judge EastEnders' prospects on the basis of this new episode, with a lot riding on Danny Dyer. I hope he doesn't end up being Danny Dire. Joking aside I genuinely hope the show is back on track and watch with high hopes but I won't praise it unless it feels right. Last night's was simply OK to me, as apposed to its usual "thoroughly tedious".

The comedy is weak this year but still the best option post drama/soap. Hopefully next year will be better, I always preferred The Royle Family, Dibley etc...

My DSRPG predictions:
#1. Who - 9.5m
#2. Mrs Brown - 9.1m
#=. Queen - 9.1m
#4. 'Enders - 8.5m
#5. Downton - 7.9m
#6. Midwife - 7.4m
#=. Corrie - 7.4m
#8. Strictly - 6.6m
#9. Em - 6.1m
#10. McIntyre - 4.7m

To be fair - he has every other day of the year to reply. Those people (who know who they are) have not castigated him today.

I fully agree.

EE ratings are unimportant at the moment, even at Christmas, yes I know there is ALOT of history, but its far more important that EE builds up a period of strong episodes and for people to talk about it being good again, ratings will follow.

But Samuel said it's the MOST IMPORTANT DAY OF THE YEAR for EastEnders?

I, of course, entirely agree with you. Far too much emphasis being placed on how it does today when the new exec's name has only been on the credits barely two weeks. The real test should be how it improves on whatever it manages today this time next year.

Merry Christmas to you all.

I agree with you to an extent, but like you say there is a lot of history surrounding EastEnders at Christmas. It's the perfect time to relaunch the show as many people only tune in at Christmas now because they know it'll be big. If it rates low it says a lot about the general opinion of the show right now.

I suspect it'll rate on par with last year though.

Here's mine

#1. Mrs Brown - 9.6m
#2. Who - 9.2m
#3. EE - 9.0m
#4. Queen - 8.8m
#5. Corrie - 7.9m
#6. Midwife - 7.0m
#7. Downton - 6.6m
#8. Strictly - 6.3m
#9. McIntyre - 6.2m
#10. Em - 5.8m
#11, O'Grady - 3.8m

and it is still an important day today, Christmas Day will gift EE some extra viewers, and the new Carter family will move into the Square, of course this day is important, but not for ratings, but for if the new Carters make a good impression on the viewers the show currently has.

I question the mind of an executive producer who thinks that Danny Dyer is the answer to Eastenders' problems.

edit: I should possibly have included a smilie here, but not sure which one.

I wonder how sensible it is to lay all hopes on one family.

dont get me wrong I am not overly sold on Danny Dyer myself, but is fair to say the show is improving at the moment, and whilst Danny maybe a gamble, at least they are rolling the dice, something the last producer never did.

good point, but I would point out that they are not doing so, the Spraggan family is also new to the show, for me there are bigger questions such as, why take Alife out of the Vic, ok my actual question is why have Alife at all? but he works so much better in the Vic than out of it.

meanwhile new relationships are forming, Lola and Peter seem to be taking off Romeo and Juliet, whist Carol has a cancer storyline, lets not pretend that the only new thing in the show is the Carter family.

also lets say for a moment Danny does not work, the rest of the family can stay, thanks to Shirley being an active part of the show for many years previously.

Oh what a nice idea Not keen on Danny Dyer but the rest seem good.

BBC1 Christmas possibly suffering the effect of Mark Thompson pinching all our licence fee to give to his chums in BBC management. (but also )



The problems with BBC1 comedy this Christmas.

1) No Outnumbered. If they were recording a new series, why not an episode for Christmas. It doesn't have to be set at Christmas.

2) Mrs Brown episode 2 wasted on Monday 30th. Why did the BBC let O'Carroll do a New Year special if there was no room in the New Year Day schedule for it?

3) No Christmas launch for Peter Kay's Car Share. It's launching first on iPlayer. Probably better to do that launch after Christmas because there will be less things to compete with promotion-wise.

4) Nan on January 4th. Don't know whether that's because it's rubbish or considered too similar to Mrs Brown or wasn't ready in time or has cruelty to old people in it and was thus held back to avoid clashing with the end of that court case where staff of a residential home where found guilty of cruelty to the residents.

5) QI should never have been sent back to BBC2.

just for the record I am not counting Danny out at this point, just that like some I am not totally sold on his name alone. I do however admire that the new producer is taking the risk.

What was on ITV2 that rated so well last night to give it a good all day share?

My reservation with Danny Dyer is that I'm not sure his appeal lies with the sort of viewer that I imagine has switched off Eastenders recently or the sort of viewer that they need to lure back to boost ratings.

I am still shocked at how badly MM did last night. I imagine most viewers would prefer to watch programmes live without ads, and watch the ones with after recording. I think this is why BBC is so dominant over Xmas, its far easier than ploughing through ads every 15mins.

It's a DQF Christmas plus some bad planning.


The problems with BBC1 comedy this Christmas.

1) No Outnumbered. If they were recording a new series, why not an episode for Christmas. It doesn't have to be set at Christmas.[/quote] I agree. If they commissioned another series they should have also commissioned a Christmas special.


At least Brendan gave BBC1 two special s this year. As the biggest comedy on TV they needed it Christmas. But the scheduling of the second episode seems odd I think it will rate higher than Christmas Day though.


I thought Peter Kay would benefit from a Christmas launch. I said launch not lunch!


Nan could have been shown over Christmas as comedy over the festive period was sparse.


QI wouldn't have done much better opposite Corrie than Would I Lie To You? I think that's where BBC1 would have put it rather than at 9pm. The big problem was the Christmas special was called QI XL. That makes people think repeat rather than new edition.

3.45 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
6.15 Star Wars Episode 1
9.00 The Bourne Supremacy


Films can be good value for TV companies. Raiders Of The Lost Ark rated 1.6m for BBC3 yesterday, BBC1 had strong ratings for its family films on both Monday and Tuesday and both C4 and C5 often rate well with family films on a weekend afternoon.

Merry Christmas One and All.

While you're sitting there stuffed with turkey and moaning about the Christmas fayre on television, why not give your brain something to do and have a go at the New Year DSRPG schedule, which can be found HERE.

Just press 'reply', delete the 'Quote' marks and get predicting!

Good luck and thank you to everyone who takes part.

I must agree. Only 30 minute shows are bearable live for me; the rest it's long.

2 hour dramas? No thanks, about 12 ad breaks! I'll Sky+ that and watch it later, or half an hour in to transmission. Sorry ITV!