Not if this constant extension is anything to go by , and it may seem small but that'll bite into its audience potential

Maybe, time will tell.

I don't know to what question the answer is supposedly "bring back Eldorado", but it must have been a bloody good question!

Must be Thursday night for Gently as Hidden Kingdoms is due to finish January 30th, same week as Silent Witness.

Years ago on this thread I suggested they combine the two as a show called Sun Hill Emergency. Basically bringing all the emergency services together in that part of London (as The Bill and London's Burning were set in more or less the same area).

Then it will not be exactly a rebirth of either show with the added comparisons/expectations but could bring back characters from both and bring in the hospital as well, to ensure a variety of story telling.

There are only so many fires, police procedures and illnesses you can do in a continuing drama/soap, but you can ease the fear of sameness creeping in by having this broader focus to the show that will allow different areas of the cast to come to the fore in turn according to what exactly you choose to plot at that time.

Seems such an obvious concept to me I am surprised it has not happened yet.

Perhaps we should submit a ratings thread format to ITV!

On the subject of launching a new soap I'll just say that I don't think its something that BBC1 should be concerned about. They don't really need it in the schedule which already has a lot of continuing drama alongside EastEnders. On top of that its just an incredibly difficult beast to get right particularly on a big mainstream channel like BBC1. There would be so much pressure on whatever they launched to be big straight out of the gate that I just don't see how it would ever work. The Dickens idea seems like it has a degree of appeal though given that its instantly familiar characters and stories but I can't see how that would sustain as a soap for years on end. You'd have the horrible issue of the passage of time to deal with as well. I think as a one-off series it has a boat load of potential though.

Having said all that I have always wondered why they haven't invested in a soap of some kind for BBC3. Although now I've typed that I realise I'm at risk of opening up the whole 'move Waterloo Road to BBC3' debate again. It seems to me though that BBC3 could be a fairly natural home for a post-watershed soap aimed at younger audiences. And given how well the EastEnders repeats used to do at 10PM there's clearly a good slot for one as well.


Personally I wonder if rather than testing the water on five episodes a week if they're testing the water on moving an episode to Wednesday (presumably the Friday one). That would give them a lot more options on Friday night and I suspect over the long run EastEnders Monday-Thursday would work better than the current schedule with the Friday episode.

It is even odder that this is also very similar to Sky's existing recent ongoing US import from the Law and Order franchise creators - Chicago Fire. So they are, in effect, competing with themselves.

At first I assumed it was going to be a UK spin off like Law and Order: UK is of Law and Order, especially with Jamie Bamber cast in a lead role . But I guess not as it would then be London Fire.

That's such a fantastic idea

They could start off with two 30 minute episodes a week, perhaps, and have a few old faces from both shows alongside a new cast. Not sure where it could go in the schedule though. Wednesday at 8pm, Thursday at 8.30pm?

ITV really need a new 'The Bill'. Like, really bad. Especially with the BBC having Holby, Casualty, Waterloo Road and now this Dickens serial. It's so tragic the way they lifted it out of 5m twice a week at 8pm to destroy it ruthlessly and axe it without mercy. I bet it's ITV's second biggest regret after cancelling News at Ten back in the day, effectively handing the News provision to the government-serving BBC to dominate.

Time for ITV to be brave with pre-watershed drama again. 8pm/post-soaps is in.

Wonder who will pick up Showtime's The Affair, with two British leads (Dominic West and Ruth Wilson) it can't be long until one channel does. I imagine Sky Atlantic is most likely, given that it looks more like a critical hit than something that would set ratings alight, but Channel 4 is also possible (since they have Homeland/Masters of Sex.) Either way I'm really looking forward to it.

If EastEnders was to go 5-nights, I would imagine it would mean preparations would be required production-wise to accommodate; while I'm sure it's perfectly feasible to do it (without affecting quality) I think it would take a while to prepare for. Personally I have said before I think it should move from Friday to Wednesday, or make Thursdays an hour-long (2x30) to get rid of the Friday episode. If I were the Beeb I'd do Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu(1h) at 8pm.

EastEnders is much better now but casual viewers don't realise it. Johnny is right that they need a big hook/episode to get people back to sample it again. Then they will stick around when they see it is better than it was.

Does seem very Sky Atlantic. Would probably say Maura Tierney is a bigger draw than Wilson for audiences.

Room 101 is back on Friday's so it'll have to be. Question is, what will fill the other 30 minute slot at either 8pm or 9.30pm.

It's these big episodes that killed it in the first place. It meant the storylining and pacing was awful.

They just need to keep doing what they are doing.

Rip Off Britain!

It'll be Outnumbered as I can't see it staying on Wednesdays.

I agree Ken. No big stunts. DTC said he did really believe in using them anyway.

Over in the US, Idol returned with a demo of 4.6, with 15m viewers, which was lower than the 2013 debut episode, but higher than the 2013 final. After this, Fox might not be giving up on XFUS just yet.

At 9.30. Probably

What I hope is that there will be a Miranda repeat or Watchdog back as a 30 minute show at 8pm then Gently at 8.30pm. But I know they will start it at 8pm opposite Emmerdale.

Terribly sad new about Roger Lloyd Pack, only the other day i was talking to my dada about the possibilty of reviving Vicar Of Dibley with all the returning cast. Both characters he played in OFAH and Vicar of Dibley were truly great classic comedy characters. RIP

Last night poor ratings all round really apart from Bake-Off although even that looks low compared to its most recnt standards. Could dent Birds tonight though.

Corrie's rating look awfully low, the share only 36% it should be 40%+. The YOY declines are hefty still, Stuart Blackburn is bringing the soap down. Last nights rating is around the same EE got on Monday. Not good enough, just not good enough. Last year Corrie goes from YOY rises to a New Year drop in millions. Sort it out ITV.

I think unless something big happens to draw in the casual audience EE will remain at levels of 8million and under, although if Corrie continues to drop it could become top soap. That would surely cause ITV to act?

Big episodes weren't the problem it was the scrappy episodes following that didn't keep the momentum going. And you don't need big stunts, a big storyline will do. Den giving Angie divorce papers, the Stacey/Max affair being discovered on Christmas Day. Big storyline pay offs with no stunts.

I could see Channel 4 picking one up..

Its a shame Masters of Sex didn't set the ratings alight for them, but its fantastic they are gonna give it a chance and see if it can grow with season 2.
Its a brilliant show..one of the US's best new dramas this year.

Most Watched Live Shows of 2014 so far
01 - 8.28m - Coronation Street (06/01, 19:30, ITV)
02 - 7.10m - EastEnders (06/01, 20:00, BBC1)
03 - 6.84m - Sherlock (01/01, 21:00, BBC1)
04 - 6.82m - Birds of a Feather (02/01, 20:30, ITV)
05 - 6.77m - Emmerdale (06/01, 19:00, ITV)
06 - 6.27m - BBC News (03/01, 18:00, BBC1)
07 - 5.74m - Antiques Roadshow (05/01, 19:30, BBC1)
08 - 5.58m - Pointless Celebrities (04/01, 19:00, BBC1)
09 - 5.50m - Dancing on Ice (05/01, 18:15, ITV)
10 - 5.36m - Countryfile (05/01, 18:00, BBC1)

Data up to January 8th. Excludes +1, includes HD. Only one programme per show and only one news bulletin per channel.

Only top ten at the moment, will expand to a top 20 over time.

After watching for many years the big episodes (in the last few years) used to totally ruin the flow of the story. You would have repeated scenes for three weeks and it would all happen in one episode.

Instead there just need's to be natural climaxes to stories without feeling the need to write it into a box so to speak. Their never used to be big episodes for the sake of it but their were many episodes where there was a thrilling conclusion to a story which made it big.

It need's to just keep doing what it's doing and the natural ebbs and flows of good character lead drama will lead to many big moments (The examples you listed).

There are also some issues I had with "HollyEnders" when far too much emphasis was put upon "da yoof innit bro". I really couldn't care less about the youngsters unless they were part of the ongoing plots and not actually the plot. But, the balance has been restored now. The entire cast is once again part of plotlines, not just a handful.