What will be next on your hitlist when they finally do drop Deal or No Deal. Will they have to bring back Shipwrecked?

To be fair though although we all see how poorly it's doing now there doesn't seem to be any question marks over Deal's future in the wider media and no indication at all from C4 they're even thinking about possibly considering maybe to axe the show. After all they've let that weekend episode continue for years despite throwing it around the schedule and it struggling to match the weekday ratings - so I don't think it's going anywhere yet.

Looks like Countdown and Deal remain at 2.40/3.30pm after the Paralympics to with Four in a Bed at 4.30pm and Come Dine with Me at 5pm. Had thought they might put Deal back to 4pm and stick 15 to 1 at 3.30pm in between them.

Who is presenting 15 to 1?

Sandi Toksvig.

Samuel - why is it important for the BBC to take Downton, I'm A Celebrity and Britain's Got Talent down? They're not there to destroy commercial television; they never have been.

It's important to offer license fee payers programmes which appeal to as many people as possible on bbc one. In recent years, the bbc has given up against those shows. It is time to battle against them to attract higher audiences. If DA/IAC/BGT audience reduces, BBC1's audience will naturally rise in the same slot. Once DA/IAC/BGT reduces in viewing figures and BBC overtake them, it will be almost complete domination from BBC1. That is the ultimate aim, complete ratings domination. We are getting to that stage.

On that logic no-one but the BBC should exist....


Anyway, huuuuuge night for the Voice as it moves away from long drawn out spinny chairs to a 2hour screech over each other-a thon

Yes, big night tonight. Will be interesting to see if The Voice can hold its lead over SNT. I am expecting SNT to build its audience. Hopefully the Voice hits the 6.5million target which would be the sort of drop it have experienced in the past for its first battle episode.

By that argument shouldn't commercial television cease to exist?

And actually appealing to as many people as possible is more to do with reach then individual figures. From what you're saying BBC One should looking more at gaining a 100% reach than ten shows pulling in 8m made up of the same audience.

God help us all if Samuel ever became Director General of the BBC.

Interesting choice - I dont mind her actually.

Sandi Toksvig. Filming is underway at Elstree and it'll be aired in May.

Soap overnight average for February 2014:

Coronation Street: 8.09m
down 670k y-o-y
down 260k on Jan 2014

EastEnders: 7.26m
down 250k y-o-y
down 70k on Jan 2014

Emmerdale: 6.65m
down 310k y-o-y
down 280k on Jan 2014

EastEnders had the best February of the big Three with the lowest y-o-y fall and best retention from the previous month.


Soap average for 2014 (Jan & Feb):

Coronation Street: 8.22m
down 740k y-o-y

EastEnders: 7.3m
down 590k y-o-y

Emmerdale: 6.79m
down 310k y-o-y

All soaps are down, Emmerdale the least. out of the big Three.

Which I have no doubt is exactly what Samuel would love.


I think you can sleep easy on that one.

No, commercial tv can continue existing. But in my opinion: a weaker Itv, means a stronger BBC. I know you'll disagree but the saying "a stronger Itv means a stronger BBC" was actually made up by an Itv employee. In reality, a weaker Itv means the BBC is stronger. For example: The Voice got 6.5m last year up against BGT's 9m. This year the Voice got 8m up against a weak Itv product of Splash [3.5m]. BBC One benefits ratings-wise when there's weak Itv programming.

Also the fact Itv are airing less dramas these days means that people are flocking more to the dramas BBC1 are airing. So far this year, Itv has aired 23 hours of drama in comparison to BBC1's 42 hours. For anyone over the age of 30, this is unbelieveable because up to 10 years ago, Itv used to rule the roost with drama. As a result of Itv's drama reductions, people are really cherishing the drama content BBC1 are airing at the moment since the magnitude on Itv is so low comparatively. This imo is one of the reasons why BBC1 drama is rating so well at the moment, because Itv are weak in this department currently.

BBC One is partly there to get mainstream audiences to achieve as high a % weekly share as possible with quality shows, whilst allowing for the other channels like BBC2/3/4 to air more niche/arty programmes that dont necessarily get high audiences. The trend over the last few years has been for the gap between BBC1 and itv to get wider and wider: 15 years ago they were roughly the same % wise. 5 years ago BBC1 was about 3% ahead. Nowadays BBC1 are about 5-6% ahead. BBC One in recent years are much more of a ratings-force compared to Itv, I think it is good to see because times are going to get tougher for BBC One after a few years if the licence fee is cut once again.

At last an interesting post - why you all argue with Samuel I will never know!!

All the soaps heading in the wrong direction I wonder whether this will continue across the year?

I will disagree with you - I think part of the reason BBC One is so dominant this winter is because of it's struggles in 2013 where ITV had a stronger year. They had to up their game to compete and credit to them they have. If ITV do not push the BBC they will become complacent and quality will dip; which is already been seen by the BBC lazily repeating New Tricks and Mrs. Brown's Boys.

As for looking to crush commercial television's best shows - maybe I'll agree when commercial television tries to do the same to BBC One programming.

Thanks dullag. Looks like Eastenders is holding onto its audience better than Coro at the moment. But thats not particularly surprising considering last years ratings for Eastenders was so poor where as last years Coro numbers were quite good at the time. Its easier to hold onto your audience when the previous years ratings were so poor, compared to a program which rated well the previous year. The fact EE is still down year on year despite all the changes is a cause for concern. I wouldn't be happy if I was EE EP looking at those ratings, down 7% so far this year compared to some already poor 2013 averages.

I'm sorry, I forgot we mustn't argue with Samuel! It has been mentioned before too.

I think EastEnders will stabilise as the year goes on and will end up ahead of 2013. Coronation Street's fortunes will depend on how the big storyline in May goes down. I'm not sure what's happening with Emmerdale as the storyline's seem to be going down well overall.

You can argue with him as much as you like - but it only encourages him!!
Its a big call to say EE will finish ahead of 2013 - I am getting the sense that there is a general drift away from the soaps and they may never gain very much back except for short periods. Of course I could be wrong - it will not be the first time.

I dont think the fact Itv had a slightly stronger 2013 [2013 was always going to be stronger than the Olympic-affected 2012] has particularly prompted BBC One to try harder so far this year. All the shows which BBC One has aired so far this year were commissioned well before Itv had a stronger year last year. I dont think New Tricks or MBB repeats are particularly lazy because at the end of the day, every channel airs repeats in prime time in order to save costs. Itv airs loads of Midsomer/Lewis repeats etc. Both these shows rate well for their repeats hence why they're repeated quite often - fans like them. In terms of complacency, I dont think the BBC would get complacent if Itv dont push them. Theres no real evidence of that having happened in the past.


It works both ways Fudd. Itv try and crush some of BBC's shows a lot. For example the Emmerdale clashes against Eastenders. Or when Itv moved BGT earlier than usual to try and damage the Voice. Or airing Downton Abbey on Christmas Day [bbc1's most important day of the year] in order to limit BBC1's ratings potential.

To play devil's advocate: Don't you think by BBC1 offering stronger opposition against IAC/DA/BGT, by your same reckoning, BBC One would encourage Itv to increase the quality of IAC/DA/BGT? Some people say DA's quality has dipped over the last few years [and that IAC has become stale], perhaps the production companies of these shwos have got a bit complacent due to lack of competition from BBC1?

Are you underselling the Voice?

I'll be PVR'ing both as the SNT is too ad-heavy and the Voice too drawn out.

I'd love the Voice to hold out and work but I just cringe at this particular stage. It goes from 'cool talent show' to 'BBC being a dancing mum at a party'

There's a distinct lack of buzz socially about the Voice, even on here which suggest it skews an older audience

I happened to grab a copy of the Sun whilst wating for the car to be serviced today, I noticed an article with Mary Berry where she listed her favourite TV shows, all BBC grey brigade stuff.

I did wonder. Is Mary Berry an atypical weekend BBC viewer?

I fell into the trap - mea culpa.


It is but I have the feeling the big storyline of the year is going to help the show out; it's shrouded in mystery and involves an iconic character so I can see it being given a boost. The problem with EastEnders last year is nothing of note really happened. In comparison, wasn't the Tyrone/Kirsty abuse storyline being aired across this period in Coronation Street?

The Voice does skew older than other talent shows like XFactor and BGT. But I dont see it as a bad thing, it's good to appeal to all generations imo.

As for Mary Berry being a typical BBC viewer, maybe you're right. The average age of a BBC One viewer is about 55 years old. So I would say the stereotype for a hardcore BBC1 viewer is a 55 year old middle class person from the home Counties or middle England who enjoys programs about antiques and dramas. Nothing wrong with that, it's what the stats show. A typical Itv viewer is one of two things- daytime: a 30-year single old mother living at home with some kids who enjoys chat shows and Jeremy Kyle, or primetime- a 53 year old working class female from the north of England who loves soaps and going bingo.

Indeed. And the Rovers fire was April time I think? Was a very strong first half of 2013 for Corrie. I think it's unfair to say Corrie is unable to command a casual audience anymore considering it was doing just that not long ago. If you look at the storylines now compared to previous years it's no surprise ratings are down, but what's important is that it's holding up well enough so that when it does get back on good form we'll probably see some big ratings again.

BBC1 is no stronger this January/February than it was last year.

Midwife, Death In Paradise and Silent Witness were all on last year as were new series of sitcom smash-hits Mrs Brown's Boy and Miranda plus the successful natural history series Africa. The only area were BBC1 had been stronger this winter is Saturday thanks to The Voice.

Never gonna happen - he actually cares about the BBC!