Thanks.

I fear for EastEnders slightly more between 8pm and 8.30pm; Coronation Street has a half hour headstart and a World Cup lead out. On the plus side the second half of the hour long episode will be against build up.

The first two Big Brother consolidated numbers from last week:

- 05/06 - 2.27m (10.1%) / 2.43m (10.8%)
- 06/06 - 1.88m (9.0%) / 1.96m (9.4%)

Are these lower than last year? I must admit this is the first BB I haven't watched since it started...

British actor Sam Kelly, best known for his roles in Allo Allo and Porridge, has died at the age of 70.

The Manchester-born star's agent Lynda Ronan said Kelly died peacefully after a long illness "bravely fought".

She said: "He does not leave any family but a host of friends who were his chosen family."

Former Doctor Who Colin Baker paid tribute on Twitter to his colleague from drama school, describing Kelly as a "lovely, funny, talented chap".

"Cannot believe that lovely Sam Kelly has died," he added. "So sad".

Baker studied alongside Kelly at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in the 1960s.

Kelly's agent described his death as great loss to his friends "and the profession".

A tribute also came from Quadrophenia film actor Phil Davis, who said on Twitter: "So sad to hear that Sam Kelly has died, a wonderful actor, a proper gent and one of the funniest men I ever had the pleasure of working with."

Kelly played prisoner Bunny Warren in the BBC's Porridge between 1974 and 1978 and Nazi captain Hans Geering in the first four series of Allo 'Allo between 1982 and 1987. His other roles include the ITV sitcom Barbara and On the Up, in which he appeared alongside Dennis Waterman and Joan Sims.

- BBC News

Here were the ratings and 15-minute breakdown for the day of the Opening Ceremony, courtesy of D.M.N.:

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...&postcount=302

The build-up averaged 10.1m (44.8%) overnight across two hours, and it averaged well over 9m against Corrie in the 19:35-20:30 slot. The ITV soap managed 6.25m (27.2%) excluding +1.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3...oHcfrintc4J5Wo

Thanks.

It held up pretty well against the Opening Ceremony. The show's skew lets it pull in a bigger audience against sporting events than others. Saying that, doesn't Emmerdale have an older skew? Though a lesser 'base' to start with.

The equivalent episodes last year consolidated to 2.19m / 2.35m and 2.20m / 2.40m.

Don't have the shares; I suspect the total TV audience was lower this year as it has been consistently.

BBC Sport website mentioning the Curse of Itv:

Very similar age skews going by episodes on a particular Monday last October, with Emmerdale older than Corrie by a smidgen: http://postimg.org/image/wdja3enb1/full/

I just saw that and thought of you.

I think you are right to fear. There is little resilience. Eastenders is like a washed up boxer, a punch bag for Emmerdale, ITV scheduling, BBC scheduling (cough), Football, weather, BGT, press and some posters on this thread (which are its deadliest foe ).

Its ok finding reasons in its defence but its very difficult to spin figures starting with a 4 or a 3. Iv had a few days away and its been a hard slog reading all the related posts-but not surprising. Even Samuels radar which hones in on anything damaging to BBC rating share has now identified Eastenders -this show which has a series of BBC's greatest ever ratings. Time was the displaced 7.00 EE would have squashed ED starting at 7.10. Clashes though don't seem to hurt ED at all these days.

What does EE need? 6 months of unchallenged settled scheduling!

On a serious level, all the games so far this World Cup have been fantastic in terms of goals and entertainment. This is a big change from the last world cup which started out with a low goal to game ratio [about 1.5 goals per game in first 3 days]. The broadcasters must be delighted by the attacking flair shown so far [3.5goals per game so far], it does make for a better tournament.

Thanks - so it simply goes lower because of the lower starting base.

No heat break for England vs Italy, as the temperature hasn't reached 32 degrees: https://twitter.com/danroan/status/477912725491056642

Doesn't mention the curse of ITV, does mention the fortunes of the BBC.

Using Lewie's lists and Wikipedia, I have determined that ITV have shown ten group matches involving England since 1982. We won 3, drew 6 and lost one.

Yes, even as a big football fan, the quality last time was miserable. This time it's been incredible, probably the best start since '82. Mind you wait for England to make it dull again.

Tremendous start for the World Cup on ITV and equally for BBC on the following day. Proof again that event status drives ratings and no doubt this will be repeated day after day.

Weird experience watching I love 1988, a retrospective which is now an antique itself.

World Cup 2014 ‏@Brazil14WC 1m
Number of goals after the first six games at the tournament: World Cup 2014: 22... World Cup 2010: 8

Yeah lol, after all these goals, whats the betting that England v Italy will be a boring 0-0?

Which will be the fault of the pitch... or the heat... not the teams.

Or A̶d̶r̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶C̶h̶i̶l̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶I̶T̶V̶ the Beeb and Lineker.

Hope England do well for the BBC tonight.

Goal wise: I'm predicting 2-1 to Italy.

Ratings wise: 9.2m broadcast average, 12.1m match average, 15.6m peak.

Bold predictions I know

I'm finding the Super Casino ad bumpers during Big Brother very odd - they're all about football. I know practically everyone knows about the game but I'm still surprised they're sort of 'promoting' it considering Bit on the Side follows the highlights show.

Danny Baker ‏@prodnose 7h
Incredible latest audience figures for @BakerKellyBTS MATCHING those for ITV & BBC i assume. We are doing what we can to make the hour...

Harold Shand ‏@GeorgeKnows89 7h
@prodnose @BakerKellyBTS Just a 100 behind the 2.30am repeat of The Sky At Night

https://twitter.com/prodnose/status/477813441626140672

As an aside, according to Overnights.tv, The Sky at Night hasn't been on BBC One at all this year, or indeed BBC Two - just on BBC Four. I hadn't noticed that.