I think the Emmerdale 'slump' might be down to the increased opposition from BBC One. I'm not sure what's behind EastEnders' issues on a Thursday considering ITV offer very little in way of competition.

I agree. It was awful from the get go. I know someone who attended a press screening of the new years day episodes and he claims so many of the critics were left uneasy at the content of the episodes which included several shots of the dead baby and a blood soaked Kat bleeding out in her bed. This is without even factoring in the implausible angle of a dead baby swap.

All of these scenes were then cut from the BBC One broadcast. So they obviously shat themselves at the early reaction from the press screening. It was too late though. The damage had been done. You just have to wonder how they couldn't see that coming.

Which was the right thing to do.

I can understand the criticism that Kirkwood gets but he isn't the only one at fault for this; the whole executive chain let the show down badly throughout the episode and subsequent events.

Wow, I must admit I don't usually agree with you, but this is a fantastic post.

And this is from someone people always assume is a huge BBC supporter who never criticises their programmes, Samuel has rightly criticised what is classed as the BBC's main ratings banker. I think EE isn't delivering and the viewers are slowly deserting it.
However, hardcore fans will say anything, I daresay the million who still stick with Home and Away will still it's the best soap on television, even though hardly anyone else will agree, and EE is going the same way, with the casual viewers ignoring it.

Yep. To be honest, I think there's a reasonably strong case for thinking he should have been out on his arse even before that.

35% for EE ?

I'm not sure the ratings will ever go up. It could be that all three soaps are going down the gurgler, but at least the current goings-on in EastEnders might be enough to slow the rate at which it heads down said gurgler.

But, even if its future ratings rise to 8, 9 or 10m or even 15m, it'll never be good enough for the Ratings Thread.

I'm not sure I'm quick enough to knock Emmerdale. I ignore most of its ratings over the course of the week, I rarely mention how terrible the product is (whereas I could be mentioning it several times a day), and I often defend the cast and crew over how hard they work, and how I don't think they get anywhere near as much respect as the Coronation St team get from ITV. Maybe I should comment more often.

Not many on the Ratings Thread! Team ITV T-shirts, meals for one, and fingers crossed for 5/6m ratings in the morning.

lol even if in the unlikely event that EE hit 8 million tonight there would still be loads of posts pointing out negatives!!

As I said. EEs ratings might not be going up but at least they have levelled out in recent months and are now consistent. This is overlooked. If they were continuing to drop there would be a problem. I don't see anyone questioning why Corrie has lost almost 3 million since December. Its always EE getting the kicking.

All the soaps will be low tonight- not only are they usually low on Friday but factor in the bank holiday, the good weather, people away for easter, people out for the night etc

ED will get 5.3m
EE will get 5.9m
CS wil get 7.1 and 6.7

H Of De Vil chastises Stuart Blackburn almost every time a Corrie rating is posted. He/She (H Of De Vil) is certainly questioning Coronation Street's ratings. I don't understand why EE fans think they get especially harsh treatment.

The EE fans have set themselves up for a fall repeatedly claiming the next big story will be the turnaround and for nearly two years now despite their hopes the turnaround hasn't happened. Whether they've helped manage the decline and to some extent halt it is difficult to judge, but it's certainly still nearer to Emmerdale than Corrie - and any closure of the gap with Corrie has been more due to Corrie's own problems than any improvement in EE's performance.

One member is few and far between. EE is always getting it. Even if it pulls in a good ratings. Like two weeks ago when EE rated more than one of the Corrie episodes. That one performance still wasn't good enough for some.


I've never claimed this. I have always maintained EE will see no real time increase until fall 2014. I stand by that.

In the last part someone asked for the ratings for Swansea vs Chelsea on Sky vs Hull vs Sheffield United on BT at the same time on Sunday afternoon. This week's Broadcast tell us...

Swansea vs Chelsea - 1,370,000
Hull vs Sheffield United - 318,500

Also, if Nick Knowles gets the Strictly job, I will kiss Brekkie. Absolutely no chance of it happening. From the paper that brought us Rachel Riley for Breakfast, I note.

As I've said before, DTC's biggest task is convincing the habituel to watch it regularly, which is a tall order in itself. And we won't know if he has succeeded, or can draw sweeping conclusions until after he leaves. This isn't something which can be fixed in the short term; ratings will never dramatically increase.

No soap is what it was. But with EE, you often get one great week, followed by six weeks of fodder. And most of the show is filled with pointless arguing.

Whats this - ratings on the ratings thread !!! Thats not what we want.

With tongues?

Thats something of a sweeping statement. There are a couple of posters who have been saying that but thats it. As an EE fan I have been quite negative about its ratings prospects because I believe all the soaps are damaged and in decline - but EE is the only one trying to do something at the moment and we will have to see what happens.

They're all man and woman couples?

Do I get any say in the matter?

And the magic of the FA Cup hey - I know that was as low key as you can get for an FA Cup semi-final but still thought it would rate better, especially as in the end it was an eight goal thriller.

3 EastEnders radio trailers

1 of 2 TV Trailers

It states Starting Easter Monday from 8

The EastEnders trailer has been shown 3 times already tonight and BBC1 showing a break bumper? (Type thing) before the ident too.

I think the days of EastEnders being must see TV for casual viewers are over. Ever since Dominic Treadwell-Collins took over we've heard endless times how a ground breaking storyline would kick start the ratings recovery but none of them turned into anything, not even the Carters' arrival on Christmas Day (of all days!). I think this will be another damp squib. In the likely scenario that there's no movement by Autumn I think they need to stop with the headline grabbing storylines to win old viewers back because it will be clear at that point that they're not coming back, at least not in that way. They need to focus on the viewers they still have.

Coronation Street is in danger of losing casual interest as well but it is very lucky to be on ITV where it is treated with a lot of care and I am sure BGT week will produce good ratings as ever.

Re Strictly.

I think the Beeb would like to go with Vernon Kay (in fact Im surprised they haven't given him something more significant than temping on the One Show now he is freelance) but the fact that he is married to Tess brings perhaps the wrong type of chemistry to the mix.

They did Just the Two of Us together and iirc it wasn't considered a total success - well they haven't co-hosted since so I guess something didn't click.