But Gently has changed day and as we have seen recently many popular programs can lose ratings especially against big opposition. Also Gently has not been over 6m that much the last 2 of the last series were 5-5.5m so I think its done really well.

So you would get rid of everything you didn't like and/or don't want to give a decent chance of success to? I am glad you aren't controller! It is obvious that if Atlantis and Musketeers don't take off during series 2 they will be axed but you do need to give shows a chance first. I would not extend episode runs but would look to finding new commissions. I agree about Live from the Apollo though.

New things I would have as BBC1 controller: a Countryfile spin-off called Countryfile Relocated, airing on Wednesdays at 8pm, which would hook in the OAPs for BBC1 in a tricky slot [bound to get 4m+]. A show about benefit cheats, but more upmarket than C4's version. A full series focussing on the Savoy hotel. A male skewing gangster drama featuring some of the top acting talent in the country [similar to Australia's early seasons of Underbelly]. A factual series called Meet My Family, which reunites members of families who have not seen each other for years [for non-adoption related reasons]. Los Blancos, a new sitcom set in the fictional Spanish resort of Los Blancos, featuring a middle class couple who have ended up spending their holiday in a 2 star hotel which has oddball characters. Inspector Smith, a cosy crime drama set in a beautiful Cornish village where everyone knows everyone and people get murdered for strange reasons, with every episode being nice and sunny with simple crimes for the viewers to understand all solved in less than 60minutes. Ham and Cheese, a female crime duo from the North who have been sent down to London to solve major crimes. Can Elizabeth Ham and Victoria Cheese cope with the stresses of being in charge of the London unit and how will their unorthodox approach go down with their new colleagues?


I can see both Atlantis and Musketeers going the same way as Ripper Street series 2. Both their ratings trajectories during series 1 indicate that series 2 will not end well ratings wise.

Is this a new game? Making up your own programs. Interesting that everything you propose is basically a rip off of an existing successful format. You would fit in well at ITV/BBC.

Crumbs. You are not going to apply are you? Those are all copies of successful ITV shows! Stick to your day job.

Steph McGovern ‏@stephbreakfast 9h
Big viewing figures for @BBCBreakfast this week. At any one point in prog we had 2million people watching. Across morning more than 7million
10:00 AM - 14 Feb 2014

And this yesterday went unnoticed...

UK TV Ratings ‏@TVRatingsUK 22h
Weds: The 6.30 BBC Regional News drew its biggest audience in over a month (7.30m/34.3%). The 1.30 bulletin averaged a mighty 4.11m/44.7%.
9:11 PM - 13 Feb 2014 ·

Peaky Blinders is a male-skewing gangster drama already airing on BBC 2. Inspector Smith also sounds too similar to Death in Paradise - I think they would be better off extending Death in Paradise's series run, rather than commissioning another series similar to it.

And the Six and Ten on BBC1 that night both cleared 6m!

Wasn't there supposed to be another hotel series on BBC2 after the success with the last one? Hope so as I enjoyed it.

I'd like to see the news ratings across the week. Every channel must have seen a boost.

I agree. There is every chance both series' will flop during series 2. Musketeers is toast already due to the BBC taking it off for a week for those dull film awards. Mr. Selfridge will succeed in the slot this week and rightly so. But you have to commend the BBC for sticking with things they believe in and giving them another chance. Things with potential should not be axed straight away. Both Atlantis and Musketeers have been given a chance to up their game. The ball is in their court.

The reason why Atlantis and Musketeers have been renewed isnt due to potential. It's mainly because the BBC have spent a huge amount of money making and creating the sets both these shows, with the intention prior to series 1 airing that they would be coming back the following year to film more episodes. It would be very costly to have made these film-esque sets for just one series. They need to come back for more episodes, even though the ratings arent good, to justify the expenditure.

Birds have only used two pairs of writers this series - the creators, Marks and Gran plus Gary Lawson and John Phelps (who worked on the BBC run). As you say, the BBC series used many more writers than this. 27 listed in the Radio Times Guide To Comedy although quite a few only wrote one episode (and there are quite a few pairs in the list).

I would put money on ITV commission 12 or 13 episodes for the next series. It would suit ITV with its good ratings and I sure Marks and Gran would be up for it too.

Women's Skeleton should get good ratings for BBC1 today.

but in fairness Musketeers deserves another series, its actually good.

Atlantis was poorly judged because the first half of the series was largely comedic filler. From episode eight it got darker and actually started to tell a decent story. If it continues in this vein during series 2 it is not unreasonable to assume it will retain its audience.

Ding! Someone always says this when they move something to BBC1, and that is not the reason and hasn't been for thirty years. They do it because it would look bloody stupid to have a Brit winning Olympic Gold on BBC2 while BBC1 ploughs on with a repeat of Pointless. Everyone would slag off the Beeb for downgrading it. It gets a much bigger audience too from being among the big-ratings programmes before and after it.

Having these big live events is what sets BBC1 apart from the million and one other channels, you don't want it pickled in aspic.

People say, oh, what about those people who are recording it, but that is a tiny minority of the audience, live sport is overwhelmingly watched by people live.


This turns up every so often, someone on DigitalSpy is a bugger for starting threads about this and the 3pm blackout, but both the BBC (when they last held the rights) and ITV have shown FA Cup replays opposite the Champions League in recent years. As mentioned, they wouldn't have it down in the schedules if they weren't allowed to show it.

Anyway, here are some things I read in Broadcast...
* BBC3 are launching their first scripted reality show, it's going to be set in Brixton but it's not just going to be faffing around, it's going to follow musicians and other performers, and feature several performances in each episode
* BBC3 have also commissioned an "alternative" magic series which will of course be exactly the same as all the other ones with all the same magicians
* ITV are piloting a new format along the lines of Long Lost Family which aims to reunite the emergency services with the people they've rescued, which they're hoping Sian Williams will present (but no, she's not leaving the Beeb)
* The new series of Perspectives on ITV will feature an episode presented by Brucie about his old mate Sammy Davis Jr. Hooray!
* And Alan Davies is going to host a new series for Dave where he's going to interview his comedy mates.

9pm - Tough Young Teachers - 527,000 (2.3%)
10pm - Ja'ime: Private School Girl - 372,000 (1.9%)

12.30am - Ja'ime: Private School Girl - 371,000 (10.5%)
1.25am - Tough Young Teachers - 185,000 (9.5%)

Both shows were #1 on all TV for their late night repeats - BBC3 is mysteriously popular at night!

Do you know how Breakfast and Daybreak have been doing this week?

Just to put some context to the BOAF conversations, here is the list the top 10 rated comedy programmes of the year so far based on their official ratings (1 rating per programme). If I've missed any out, apologies (I am still a newbie here )

I'm not aware of any other programme above 1M and have intentionally excluded comedy panel shows.

Now obviously these are ratings for a single episode, but I think there is little doubt BOAF is a hit.

What this list also shows I think, is the dearth of new home grown comedy so far this year. Two on the list are repeats and two from the US.

It certainly has, It's a thursday and thursdays are usually nasty for BBC One. BBC One have shown that the 90min drama really works well on the thursday.

I can give you yesterdays...

Breakfast - 1.50m (35.8%)
Daybreak - 0.53m (14.2%)

Both down from the week before.

Lorraine had 0.88m (15.9%)

Winter Olympics must be denting these two. Still decent for Breakfast.

Family Guy draws them in, American Dad! keeps most of its inheritance and a significant number just keep on watching. It helps that there is little else of note on TV at that time but E4 isn't particularly competitive late at night. Their strength appears to be teatime and primetime, which makes sense from a commercial point of view.