Exactly - I wonder where they got the idea from?

Big raw ratings is not the be all and end all though.

Firstly, I think this will rate ok, but if it heightens the profile of ITV showing critically acclaimed drama among their populist stuff, this can only be a good thing. BBC4 has overall low ratings, but is a much treasured channel in the BBC family with nothing but good reviews.

Cant help but think though that if this is on ITV1 and about someone still with us its going to be nothing more than a puff piece for the actress. Still better than another cop show though.

I love BBC4.

The current average for the series is up year on year. And if it gets the 6m+ like Im saying over the next month, it would be up from the knockout and live stages of last year. This series is on course to definitely get better overall ratings than last year's.

May I also add that by my calculations, the final of the Voice will be on the same day that Britains Got Talent returns. BGT will be favourite to win but I think the Voice final [which has had 7m+ the last two years] could put a good dent into BGT's launch rating.

What happened to The Voice being 'Britain's premier Saturday night television show' Samuel?

From Ronant

Saturday 15th February 2014
All programmes above 1.5m, plus the rest of peaktime:

BBC One
06:00 - Breakfast: 1.52m (33.3%)
...
13:00 - BBC News: 1.67m (15.9%)
13:10 - Regional News: 1.89m (17.9%)
...
16:30 - Final Score: 1.72m (10.9%)
...
18:00 - BBC News: 3.81m (19.3%)
18:10 - Regional News: 4.11m (20.8%)
18:20 - Pointless Celebrities: 4.16m (19.7%)
19:10 - The Voice UK: 7.66m (33.7%)
20:30 - The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins: 5.49m (25.4%)
21:20 - Casualty: 5.11m (24.4%)
22:10 - Mrs Brown's Boys: 4.60m (24.1%)
22:40 - BBC News: 4.07m (23.9%)
23:00 - Live at the Apollo: 1.62m (13.2%)

BBC Two
09:00 - Winter Olympics: 1.51m (17.9%)
12:30 - Winter Olympics: 1.72m (15.3%)
16:00 - Winter Olympics: 2.52m (14.3%)
19:00 - Today at the Games: 2.12m (9.4%)
20:00 - Top Gear: 1.30m (5.8%)
21:00 - True Grit: 1.76m (8.7%)

ITV (inc +1)
16:30 - ITV News: 1.62m (10.8%)
16:45 - FA Cup Live: 4.57m (23.8%)
19:20 - Splash!: 3.89m (17.2%)
20:50 - Take Me Out: 3.34m (15.7%)
22:05 - The Jonathan Ross Show: 2.63m (14.3%)
23:05 - ITV News: 1.96m (14.8%)

Channel 4 (inc +1)
19:05 - The Restoration Man: 0.94m (4.2%)
20:00 - Walking Through History: 1.54m (6.9%)
21:00 - Hostages: 0.67m (3.2%)
22:00 - Inglorious Basterds: 0.74m (5.9%)

Channel 5 (inc +1)
18:50 - NCIS: 0.75m (3.4%)
19:35 - NCIS: 0.77m (3.3%)
20:30 - NCIS: 0.90m (4.2%)
22:10 - The Secrets in the Walls: 0.59m (4.0%)

All-day shares (06:00-24:00, inc +1)
BBC One: 19.6%
BBC Two: 12.1%
ITV: 13.5%
Channel 4: 4.8%
Channel 5: 3.7%

Solid 4.2million for Pointless up against stiff sporting competition from BBC2 and Itv. It's about a million more than what Reflex launched with after being trailed loads. Indicates to me that Pointless Celebrities would be capable of around 5million in that slot on a weekly basis against average competition. I think BBC One should probably air Pointless in that slot most of the year round as it would provide a good early evening audience [4m+] to peak time, it'd be cheap to produce all those episodes too, and save all that hassle making new shows which end up flopping like Reflex and Secret Service.

You may be right, it could be light and fluffy. But it is interesting to see ITV trying to add comedy and more non crime drama to their slate of scripted programming.

As the only commercial channel to really make a big effort in original British drama and comedy, I think we should be thankful to ITV. It helps keep the standard of BBC scripted programming at a high level too. And both broadcasters have produced some brilliant drama and comedy over the years.

True. But on the other hand, Corrie and Eastenders used to be able to hit 10M with relative ease and now look at them. 10M+ episodes are pretty rare for Corrie (and non-existent for Eastenders). I think there is an argument to say '8M is now the new 10M'.

That's not to say channels shouldn't be aspiring for 12M viewers, but rather that if a programme gets 7-8M, it shouldn't be written off as a disappointment.

Surprised to see The Voice down from the same episode last year considering the scheduling and apparently positive feeling. But it's just one week and the rugby being back next week will help it although Pointless had 5.7m for its last 15 minutes so they can't complain too much about lead-ins.

The idea that 6m is an acceptable rating is just ridiculous. Even against Doctor Who's 50th anniversary X Factor didn't lose anywhere near that much. You can tell Samuel is worried when he's this transparent and desperate.

As for why it is 90 minutes next week, it gives The Voice 10 minutes at the end to score a massive peak which inflates the average and gives them a nice big number to report so it makes sense.

But we know TVUK isnt XF so you cant compare them - whatever Samuel says.

Take Me Out is getting lower and lower by the week! It was well clear of The Voice and the lead-in was probably OK so no idea what is happening there!

Solid for The Voice, it was about where I expected it to be with no rugby lead-in. It was actually down very slightly on last year but nothing to read much into. Next week will be interesting. I think The Voice will edge it overall as it has momentum, although I can see Takeaway pulling ahead in future weeks. No idea where this 6m target has come from. The Voice should be looking to hit 7m at least. Takeaway will probably launch a bit lower than last year, but I reckon they'd be happy with 6.5m (inc +1).

From ronant:

Friday 14th February 2014
All programmes above 1.5m, plus the rest of peaktime:

BBC One
06:00 - Breakfast: 1.66m (38.1%)
...
12:00 - Winter Olympics: 1.92m (26.6%)
13:00 - BBC News: 3.39m (38.5%)
13:30 - Regional News: 3.68m (40.4%)
13:45 - Doctors: 1.75m (20.0%)
14:15 - WPC 56: 1.51m (16.5%)
...
16:30 - Winter Olympics: 3.90m (24.3%)
18:00 - BBC News: 7.05m (35.9%)
18:30 - Regional News: 7.36m (35.6%)
19:00 - The One Show: 4.70m (22.1%)
19:30 - A Question of Sport: 3.03m (13.6%)
20:00 - EastEnders: 7.14m (30.5%)
20:30 - Room 101: 3.57m (15.1%)
21:00 - New Tricks: 3.72m (17.1%)
22:00 - BBC News: 5.34m (27.2%)
22:30 - Regional News: 5.07m (28.3%)
22:40 - The Graham Norton Show: 4.38m (30.5%)
23:25 - Pound Shop Wars: 1.80m (18.8%)

BBC Two
15:30 - Winter Olympics: 2.62m (21.9%)
16:30 - Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: 1.74m (12.0%)
17:15 - Pointless: 2.38m (13.5%)
18:00 - Winter Olympics: 1.47m (7.3%)
19:10 - Today at the Games: 2.20m (10.0%)
20:00 - Mastermind: 2.59m (11.0%)
20:30 - An Island Parish: 1.98m (8.4%)
21:00 - Mock the Week: 1.30m (5.9%)
21:30 - QI: 1.41m (6.5%)
22:00 - Alan Davies Après-Ski: 0.99m (5.1%)
22:30 - Newsnight: 0.53m (3.3%)

ITV (inc +1)
16:00 - Britain's Best Bakery: 1.52m (11.4%)
17:00 - The Chase: 3.10m (18.3%)
18:00 - Regional News: 4.14m (21.1%)
18:30 - ITV News: 4.26m (20.6%)
19:00 - Emmerdale: 7.07m (33.1%)
19:30 - Coronation Street: 8.55m (37.9%)
20:00 - Student Nurses: Bedpans and Bandages: 3.48m (14.9%)
20:30 - Coronation Street: 7.94m (33.3%)
21:00 - Piers Morgan's Life Stories: 3.05m (14.0%)
22:00 - ITV News: 2.14m (11.1%)
22:35 - The Americans: 0.49m (3.5%)

Channel 4 (inc +1)
18:00 - The Simpsons: 1.14m (5.8%)
18:30 - Hollyoaks: 0.85m (4.1%)
19:00 - Channel 4 News: 0.75m (3.4%)
20:00 - Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast: 1.41m (6.0%)
21:00 - Peter Kay: Live and Back on Nights!: 2.86m (13.1%)
22:00 - The Last Leg: 1.13m (6.1%)

Channel 5 (inc +1)
18:00 - Home and Away: 0.46m (2.4%)
18:30 - NewsTalk Live: 0.15m (0.7%)
19:00 - World's Toughest Prison: 0.58m (2.7%)
20:00 - Ice Road Truckers: 1.23m (5.2%)
21:00 - Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild: 0.95m (4.4%)
22:00 - World's Scariest Animal Attacks: 0.68m (3.7%)

All-day shares (06:00-24:00, inc +1)
BBC One: 24.1%
BBC Two: 9.3%
ITV: 17.2%
Channel 4: 5.7%
Channel 5: 3.9%

Would have thought the odds would be on Takeaway to be infront surely?

It's just an example to show how ridiculous it is to "predict" such a massive fall because Takeaway is starting.

Yes, SNT is the favourite to win its slot next week [excluding +1] based on how it performed last year. All expectations will be on it to win, top brass at the Beeb will be expecting the Voice to trail behind slightly.

Doubt it. Last year Takeaway launched with 7.1m (6.5m exc +1) versus Let's Dance which did 5.1m. The two episodes of Takeaway that faced The Voice got 7.2m and 7.3m (6.7m and 6.8m exc +1) up against 6.2m and 6.4m for The Voice. However, The Voice seems a lot stronger now than it was then and this year it has the momentum going into the clash, not Takeaway. Also, last year's Takeaway launch came off a 4 year break, and the 2 episodes against The Voice came during the Rhumble hype. With The Voice hovering around 8m recently, you'd think it should be able to hold 7.0-7.5m against Takeaway. Given only one episode of Takeaway got above 7.5m last year (and above 7m without +1) I suspect The Voice will take the honours next week.

Indeed, an entirely plausible scenario would be for Voice to win without +1 and Takeaway to win with it. Expect World War 3 on here in that case.

Huh? The Voice is up on last year.

So The Voice has gone from being as big as The X Factor to being beaten by a middling entertainment show in the space of a week?

But The Voice has had the head start on Takeaway this year and has built up some good feeling towards it. It's the final blind which might gain some interest too. I'm slightly surprised BBC One didn't try manufacturing a 15 minute headstart - say by airing a normal Pointless instead of a Celebrity episode - which might have helped slightly.

Take Me Out is on too late for a Saturday night audience considering it skews young. Splash! dud decently and has the feeling of an adequate summer show about it. The Voice is clearly affected by the lead in. The Winter Olympics is a great performer for BBC Two.

In fairness anything with Ant and Dec is not middling considering how well it did last year.

SNT was averaging 6.5-7m in the overnights last year. It's a hit but it's not in the top tier.

You can't really call it small though can you?

The Voice will top SNT next week. Kylie has given it a boost this year.

I didn't call it small! I said it was in the middle