EE was fantastic last night; the show is back on form. Lindsay Coulson, such a great actress; the show has somehow clawed back loads of its lost 'heritage' be it in the form of well-known characters like Sonia turning up again, Phil's surprise confession etc, to remind viewers of the rich history the show has, and the sharp characterisation and gritty scripts. Excellent stuff, it feels like itself again - the gritty soap.

Wondering how high Coronation Street will go next Monday. It's been breathtaking this week; the cancer story literally silences the room and commands attention in my household. It's made everyone cry - repeatedly - but it's been beautifully portrayed in both writing and acting. I just think it's been the most wonderful (if that's the right word) plot of this nature I have ever seen on stage or screen. It is truly remarkable to struck such a chord, and to have felt so real. They've done a phenomenal job with this, which is terrific considering the very sensitive subject matter. It has received a flurry of media interest; and many casual (or non-) viewers at least know who Roy and Hayley are, and likely that she's dying. I'm positive it will pull 10m, but could see it pushing towards 11, or even 12m+. I've heard the episodes are utterly sublime (if intense and at times traumatic) and the unanimously positive media reviews seem to suggest a very sensitive handling of the right-to-die situation. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a freak figure for these episodes, National Grid spikes, and a social media explosion (of grief, mainly).

Either way, it's a renaissance for EastEnders (FINALLY!) while Corrie is about to play some of its most powerful and resonating episodes in history. I am delighted to see BOTH Corrie and EastEnders in really fine, fine form as 2014 begins!! It bodes well for the whole TV industry, for the soaps are the bread and butter.

The fifth series of the BBC1 comedy Outnumbered starting on January 29 will be the last - The Sun

Don't the writers say that at the start of every series?

Stupid scheduling as ever by the BSI:

- Outnumbered in no mans land with WR lead in

- EE tonight up against Bake Off - they may well be paired up in the autumn

- 6.45 Saturday night news giving Splash a chance against TVUK

All utterly baffling!

Well, today's Sun - as part of an article complaining how much he's getting paid for it, which is pointless - actually gives us a transmission date of Monday 10th March. It was never going to be on Friday, they don't want constant comparisons with Graham Norton. Course, Norton came to BBC1 while Jonathan Ross was still on, and often in the same weeks.

One reason why Norton is off during that period is because of Comic/Sport Relief which takes up one slot, and also for Easter, although Easter is later this year.


I wouldn't read too much into the news at 6.45, the week before last the news on Saturday teatime was at 6.10. It's often around 6.30 on a Sunday and the audience sticks with it. Presumably one reason for it was so Reflex could start on an ITV junction at six?


They've got to make pilots, of course, and by their very nature some of them don't work and aren't transmitted. BBC1 did a series of pilot gameshows back in 1999, Friends Like These came out of it but there were three others, a show called Speculate where the audience had to bet on the outcome of various stunts, a people show with Paul O'Grady called Love Bites and something with Ulrika called The Birds And The Bees. Friends Like These was already commissioned when they showed the pilot, on a Saturday night, while Speculate and Love Bites were flung out on Wednesdays and got no viewers (and O'Grady signed a golden handcuffs deal with ITV virtually hours before it was broadcast) and the Ulrika show was too bad to broadcast.

Not sure if viewers would be prepared to sit through pilots, though. There was Dale's Great Getaway which ITV showed last Christmas and was a complete disaster. It could work if you had the same popular host doing them all but just a one-off isn't enough to attract a casual audience. The best quizzes grow through word of mouth and familiarity.

There's no ITV junction at 6pm - Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang runs until 6.20 when they have the News themselves.

They simply think that the News will give a better lead in to The Voice than Reflex would. The News is usually one of the most watched programmes of the day - however by doing this you've ruined the flow of the Saturday early evening schedule and it shows that they already believe, after just 1 episode, that Reflex is a no hoper.

They only see to care about The Voice, at the expense of Reflex and a strong Saturday early evening schedule.

UK TV Ratings ‏@TVRatingsUK 22s
After news and soaps, #GBBOSportRelief was yesterday's most watched programme, with 4.31m/18.5% for @BBCTwo. @BritishBakeOff

I agree. I said yesterday that if viewers see the BBC are showing no confidence in their programmes, they can't expect the viewers to either. It would be embarrassing for them if Reflex picked up a few more ratings this week. Why they always panic is beyond me. Dynamo and Reflex would possibly do better against a film anyway. Is the Nanny McPhee film a Premiere?

UK TV Ratings ‏@TVRatingsUK 39s
After news and soaps, #GBBOSportRelief was yesterday's most watched programme, with 4.31m/18.5% for @BBCTwo. @BritishBakeOff

Looks like 9pm didn't exactly light the ratings on fire then for the main two channels.

I agree, Robbie. WR will have no EE lead in next week, so ratings for that will no doubt drop accordingly. Outnumbered will then get a very poor lead in and will be up against Midsummer Murders (?) which will already of had an hour head start.

With regards to Splash, I think it will flop wherever itv put it.

Because there was sod all on?

Why would it there wasn't anything remotely worth watching at 9pm last night.

24HinA&E 2.6m

CBB 2.49m

A good rating for 24H, I thought ratings would start to drop as this hardly ever seems to have a substantial break between series.

Odd rating for CBB, the same as the previous day which was a regular show. Hmm. Wish it had gotten higher. 11.8% share looks high for a rating like that, would have thought more around 2.6m.

2.49m is a pretty consistent and healthy amount of regular viewers who enjoy watching CBB. Whatever anyone thinks about the show, it has a loyal following and I think in honesty, it is not really going to achieve a significant amount more than that. Considering what was on offer yesterday across the main channels, CBB did very well. Don't be disappointed.

Twitter has gotten ratings wrong and have reported it lower than DS the last two days, and the share looks unusually high, so that's why I was wondering

UK TV Ratings ‏@TVRatingsUK 2m
After six years away, #TheKumars returned with 370k/1.7% for Sky1. Its last episode on BBC1 in August 2006 drew 2.5m (consolidated)

Take into consideration that it appears both BBC1 and ITV had dismal ratings at 9pm (wouldn't be surprised to see WR get around 3m and Live at the Apollo around 2m), then the share in general across the board was probably lower and so the 11% share CBB got was exceptional because there was likely to be less people watching TV at that time.

I like the sound of this.

"@johnplunkett149: Michael Palin to take first TV leading drama role for 23 yrs, BBC1's Remember Me #montypython http://t.co/FZctAgJbFV"

ITV must very gutted Man United got dumped out early from FA Cup

Man City clearly don't have enough glory hunters.... yet

ITV does inc HD, ratings are NOT tape checked

EastEnders hasn't done as bad as I expected it would have these past Wednesdays.

Wonder if its enough to make the BBC go five nights. I'm convinced this has been a trial run. It has echos of when they kept doing the random four episode test run in 1999.

The Corrie rating is poor considering they're coming to the conclusion of a big storyline. Football also fared badly last night.

EE bang on last Wednesday's figures.

Doubt they are looking at five episodes a week. They are trying to fix the other four so they wouldn't want to bring in another at this stage when the others dont get to 8 million.

Going five nights would be a bad idea IMO. Four is more than enough.

Four is too many I think for the show until it stabilises.

And yet in the Love 2014 trailer, still airing, Reflex is featured at the top of the list!