So now Cilla has recorded a decline despite being well received. New Tricks recovered slightly.

#Cilla again proved a crowd-pleaser, winning the 9pm slot with 5.8m/26% on ITV, with further 423.5k/2.8% http://www.overnight.tv

#NewTricks put in a solid performance on BBC1 up against #Cilla at 9pm, attracting 4.8m/21.3% http://www.overnights.tv

So, ITV have the top 2 dramas and the top soap. BBC have the top show overall, in Bake-off, and will hope/expect Strictly to edge X-Factor from this weekend.

X-Factor and Doctor Who are still doing very well, the latter when timeshift figures are taken into account, but critics will pounce on any perceived marginal weaknesses with either show.

The unexpected surprises this autumn have been the ratings underperformance (against their past record) of New Tricks and Downton Abbey and (against expectations) of Our Zoo, and the overperformance of Cilla.

Overall, though, pretty much all TV viewing is down on what we would expect for this time of year.

This is due to poor programmes/poor scheduling/a BBC conspiracy/ITV reach crisis/Government cutbacks/Martian intervention - delete according to preference.

A fair summary?

510k for Release The Hounds on ITV2. That's better than the pilot did last year and looks a pretty decent number for the slot.

Lots of numbers from Bother's Bar (link here):

BBC One

Bargain Hunt 1.75 (33.8%)
Perfection 0.68 (13.3%)
Antiques Road Trip 1.56 (17.9%)
Pointless 2.76 (22.5%)

BBC Two

Pressure Pad 0.25 (2.9%)
Flog It! (R) 0.66 (5.4%)
Two Tribes 0.99 (6.6%)
Eggheads 1.06 (6.6%)
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip 1.52 (7.9%)
University Challenge 2.81 (13.1%)
Only Connect 1.96 (9.1%)

ITV

Dickinson’s Real Deal 0.63 (11.9%)
Who’s Doing the Dishes 0.80 (10.6%)
The Chase 2.35 (20.2%)

Channel 4

Countdown 0.41 (7.4%)
Deal or No Deal 0.59. (7.8%)
Come Dine With Me 0.76 (6.6%)

ITV 2

The X Factor (R) 0.43 (2.0%)
Release the Hounds 0.51 (2.3%)

Sky 1

Duck Quacks Don’t Echo 0.31 (1.4%)

All include HD and +1 where appropriate.

Release the Hounds’ share is 116% of the 13 week slot average. It is the 16th highest rating for the network in that slot (Monday, 21:00) over the past 52 weeks.

I know I am out of step on here but NT last night was excellent and while well down on previous I think still has some life left in it. 4.8m against a crowd pleasing drama is ok.

Thats no doubt the old way of measuring ratings is redundant, measuring peope in a narrow band as good for advertisers is kust ludicrous, the under 48's are now the people who are most cash strapped, while the baby boomers who are reaching old age are the people with all the money (they made sure of that) and to say they are stuck in their ways and adverse to buying new things is just stupid, they are the very people the advertisers should be targeting.

Jenny Cummins: #Cilla won the 9pm slot for the second week running, with an audience of 6.2 million/28% share, peaking with 6.6 million viewers/29% share.

Thats no doubt because the old way of measuring ratings is redundant, measuring peope in a narrow band as good for advertisers is just ludicrous, the under 48's are now the people who are most cash strapped, while the baby boomers who are reaching old age are the people with all the money (they made sure of that) and to say they are stuck in their ways and adverse to buying new things is just stupid, they are the very people the advertisers should be targeting.

New Tricks was shown at 2240 in Northern Ireland

Good retention of viewers for "Cilla" and over 6 million with +1, a hit drama that's bound to bring a few trophies too.

"New Tricks" also done well to climb but I don't think the BBC will continue after the latest series has filmed and wrapped. I never thought they were that keen on it themselves

I'm not so sure - they were certainly keen on repeating it!

Wonder how Plebs and Glue did?

Plebs got 741k Not sure on Glue yet

I think you'll find that's exactly what ITV have just done, and on a Sunday night to boot.


Oh, I see. ITV fans exclude +1 figures when it suits their spin.

Oh yes. I'm a common Northerner who watches nothing but repeats of Coronation Street and X Factor all day as I don't appeal to the BBC's upmarket demographic.

I have this

"@WillDownes: Release the Hounds launches with 509k on ITV2. S2 of Plebs kicks off with 763k."

Thanks to TV Times and Soaplife magazine Grantchester is on Monday 6th October and Lewis is on Friday 10th October (ITV obviously doing its best to kill of Lewis for good in that slot)

Thanks for those.

Looks like a good start for it, despite Samuel's moaning last night. Looks about the same as what Bad Education gets. Should have beaten Glue.

Is 741k the average across the hour then?

Thats fair enough. We know that at this time of year ITV have 3 of their big hitters which will get good ratings (whether up or down) and BBC have SCD. However tv viewing is down and its only so far at least a few exceptions that are bucking the trend.

Looking at the last few weeks though it looks like ITVs share must be down yoy with the soaps well down, XF down for the first month and most other returning/new shows being down - Cilla the only exception.
BBC may have the advantage in that at this time last year they were not that great and they have the boost this year of GBBO and DW but EE/NT/The Village are down and while their other dramas have been at best solid they are also suffering particularly the Friday comedies. So its difficult to judge but BBC probably slightly down as well I think.

Has anybody seen the August shares yet?

Plebs got 763k/4.5% for episode 1 and 649k/5% for episode 2. Good start. Perhaps the hold for episode 2 could have been a bit better but these double bills often don't work and frankly I'm not sure why they do them.

Looks like it dented Glue as that missed ITV Media's top 10 so was below 449k. That seems a bit disappointing as it had a lead in from The 100 which got 909k/4.1%.

Only Connect is rock-solid on 2.0m. This pleases me .

Also disappointing because its a pretty great drama, but, apart from Cilla, great drama seems to be a turn-off for viewers recently.

Last night's soap ratings.

Corrie (8:30): 7.47m (34.4%), 184k on +1 (0.8%)
Corrie (7:30): 7.15m (35.5%), 148k on +1 (0.7%)
EastEnders: 6.56m (30.6%)
Emmerdale: 6.03m (33.3%), 138k on +1 (0.6%)

Crikey a soap over 7 million....

Second episode strong for Corrie, but first is nowhere near what it should be.