I must admit I've started to watch C5 more than I ever have done before. My finger no longer trembles when it hits the 5 key on the remote!

Nobody likes a clever dick.

Big Brother went through a stage where it was criticised by the viewing public, ignored by magazines and newspapers and was branded as "uncool". You were seen as "uncool" if you kept watching it in the later Channel 4 years. I would argue that Big Brother is becoming "cool" again amongst viewers. A lot of my friends and work colleagues talk about the programme now, whilst before it was seen as a bit embarrassing if you admitted that you watched it. The negative limelight has stopped on Big Brother now and the tide has turned on it once again. It's become 'cool' and is seen as entertainment again.

Well, it won't, because Dynamo is only on for three weeks so will be done and dusted before the rugby begins. Unless BBC1 have highlights of series 2 lined up ready to go.

And to those trying to portray Splash!'s ratings as "pretty decent", I point out that last night's ratings put it on a par with Your Face Sounds Familiar, which went out at the height of Summer and which has already been given the boot.

Splash! and YFSF are/were both live therefore they could only produce one programme per week, which makes them considerably more expensive that the likes of The Chase, Take Me Out, All-Star Family Fortunes and even The Cube, where it's possible to record ten to twenty programmes per week if necessary.

That's good. Nice to read some positive feedback on here.

There's been some issues this week though. 5USA for example had its worst week in absolutely ages. They'll be worried about that as it's normally so solid and dependable. But it didn't exceed 0.7% in the All Day Shares Tuesday to Friday. It took Ben-Hur yesterday to lift it to 0.9%, but that was still below average for the channel. If anything it should be doing better at the moment with the main channel in full BB mode, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Despite a stronger CBB, the Five network as a whole is not doing as well as it was last January.

Superb rating there for The Voice. I have to say the show felt much improved last night, both Marvin and Emma were huge improvements on Reggie and Holly and brought some much needed warmth to the presenting team.

Kylie was light years () ahead of Jessie J and Ricky too came across as quite likeable.

I suspect the ratings for the auditions will either increase or at the very least remain stable next week. The big test will, as usual, come following the blind auditions, but I wonder if this new team might just be able to reduce the inevitable drops.

Elsewhere CBB did phenomenally and deservedly so, last nights show was thoroughly entertaining. Casting is critical to this show's success and this year they have got it right.

Disappointing for Splash, but it is a dull format and was clearly not going to stand up to a popular format. Better news for ITV with Take Me Out though, which held up well despite a lower lead-in and if it can stabilise at that level will guarantee itself another series.

Considering UK TV shows in general are in a pretty good shape this past week, that may have affected the FIVEUSA ratings. This past week we've seen some unusually exceptional ratings for UK shows across the board. It's no secret that UK audiences relate to UK shows better.

Normality will resume though in due course and once interest in our own shows wane, then people will be looking for alternatives elsewhere.

Don't panic just yet.

I forgot it was 1 February before the rugby begins. However, it wouldn't surprise me if there were highlights of series 2 (and maybe even 3) in the can already.

Does anyone know if there repeating the Voice on BBC Three? Thanks

No idea. Have you checked your EPG? it normally gives you 7 days of advanced schedules.

Yes, tonight at 19:00.

Splash was OK, it probably did better last year due to Secret Service being its opposition. However, faced with Kylie and Sir Tom Jones, it was bound to drop, although 3.7 million isn't a total collapse. I think, though, Splash will probably fall to 3 million and then be cancelled.
I think BBC One now has a decent schedule, the Six Nations will be starting soon, TV should deliver 7-8 million, Casualty continues to do well, the lotto shows are passable and MOTD is an old stager whose 4 million rating is excellent. ( I much prefer this to watching a full match as it shows you the best of the games).

At the beginning of the week I thought it was something affecting most digital channels, but as the week went on 5USA stayed low whilst the others went back up to more normal levels. They could do with Played next week being a hit, but Friday at 10pm isn't exactly a great slot.

Me thinks they need to start doing cross-channel menus on the main channel again. For some reason they haven't been doing them recently. Something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Beov8a1GUiY

Especially when you've got 2.5m watching CBB per night. They might not be interested in whatever is showing next on C5 so you tell them what's on 5* and 5USA as well. It's kind of a basic thing they've forgotten to do.

Thanks for that Neil.

Saturday 4th January 2014 - Consolidated Ratings
1 - Pointless Celebrities: 6.05m
- live figure was 5.58m / +0.47m
2 - Casualty: 5.44m
- live figure was 4.08m / +1.36m
3 - Splash!: 5.25m (5.04m excl. +1)
- live figure was 4.46m (4.29m excl. +1) / +0.79m/+0.75m
4 - The FA Cup Live: 5.17m (5.10m excl. +1)
- live figure was 4.94m (4.89m excl. +1) / +0.23m/+0.21m
5 - The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins: 4.89m
- live figure was 4.64m / +0.25m
6 - Take Me Out: 4.87m (4.66m excl. +1)
- live figure was 3.92m (3.76m excl. +1) / +0.95m/+0.90m
7 - BBC News (18:10): 4.54m
- live figure was 4.48m / +0.06m
8 - Catherine Tate's Nan: 4.47m
- live figure was 3.61m / +0.86m
9 - BBC News (22:05): 4.09m
- live figure was 3.93m / +0.16m
= - Celebrity Mastermind: 4.09m
- live figure was 3.90m / +0.19m

Some low timeshifts, would have thought that Take Me Out would have broken 5 million, but it seems not, which ITV may be a bit disappointed with. Great timeshift though for Casualty, but I'm not sure Nan is going to get a full series, screwed over with a poor timeshift in my opinion.

No but he is developing a format ''inspired'' by the Generation Game. I wonder how that works as the format is actually owned by a Dutch TV station which sold it to the BBC and everything was above board. If you are ''inspired'' does that mean you don't have to pay for the format ?

I am working on Celebrity Fireworks Displays in which viewers vote for the celebrity they would most like to see strapped to an Apollo rocket and one lucky viewer gets a chance to press the launch button.......

Yes, worth highlighting that excellent rating of 4.13m (27.2%). It presumably dented the last ten minutes of Ross. I wonder how the 2006 Colin Farrell film Miami Vice did for ITV in the late slot (23:05-25:25)? The FA Cup highlights last week managed 1.80m (16.2%) inc +1 from 23:10 to 24:35.

They would not take much to edit would they - but it may not hang on to that number so you never know whether they will bother. I wonder how new shows would do?

Big Brother is still classed as cheap TV but seem to worked well for Channel 5, I hope they be investing in good TV shows alongside it for balance.

Thats not a bad figure for Splash afterall. Nan also very good for the slot it was hidden in.

I am submitting Celebrity Witch Dunking to ITV for Halloween. Six celebrities are strapped into chairs and are placed on a platform high above Loch Ness. The celebrities have to play to the game of "Truth" live on air to the shows host. The celebrity each week that viewers do not believe the most is dropped, still tied and strapped in the chair, into Loch Ness. If they free themselves, then they're classed as a "Witch" and shot! If they drown then they're declared as innocent but of no "loss to the public!". Do you think it will catch on?

Thanks for these. Nice to see Pointless above the six-million mark and topping the day officially.

By the way, I got an answer from BARB on how 'live' a programme has to be to count as live rather than timeshift (people on here previously suggested periods of 20 seconds or 20 minutes):


So live-pausing (on Sky+ etc) and watching even one second later will count as timeshift.

It seemed that only the Daily Star was interested by 2009 and even HEAT magazine had largely lost interest. Also you had people like Ally Ross in The Sun royally trashing it.
I think what has happened is BB/CBB has settled on Channel 5. It will never be as big as it was ten years ago, but 1.5-2.5 million people still seem to like it. Channel 5 saved it by showing less of it and stopping the pointless through the night coverage and reducing the fanzine shows. As a show it does nothing for me, but it has given Channel 5 a new audience.

Boy, I wish he would ... with an almighty 'splash!'

Looks like it has been a very good week for CBB, higher than usual for a Saturday show and it was a good one.

Channel 4 might be pleased with those Reflex ratings. The show itself isn't the only thing with obvious similarities to The Cube. Just like its sister show, Reflex was originally in development at Channel 4 for ages but they then passed on it. In the case of The Cube they might have regretted letting it go to itv. Probably not the same feelings with Reflex.


Yes because X Factor is full of attractive young things like James Arthur and Mary Byrne.


Unfortunately it's not that simple at all when one over excited 14 year old troll is allowed to set the tone of the entire thread. Not pointing fingers of course...