Well I suppose they're hoping that they'll air some more limited series that will do well. Risky but they don't exactly have the best track record on returnable series lately.

Grantchester seems good to me tonight.

I guess it could have been but if so why not air it on a Monday and Cilla on the Thursday to give it the best chance?


Treat the audience badly and they will turn their back. It's embarrassing when you compare it with the number BBC One have or the attempts BBC One have made.

Gotham's on at 9pm and TWD is on at 10pm.

You have to try some before you get any hits though.

Nope. Both are on at 9PM next Monday.

There have been a number of shows that were slow IMO that have done alright though. I wont be watching it until tommorrow.

I doubt anyone will have noticed that ITV haven't attempted to find any new returnable hits. Any drama new, old, one off or continuing will be treat the same by viewers.

I doubt when everyone was watching Cilla last week that they were all bemoaning how it wouldn't be a 6 part series every year for the next 10 years.

It's getting daft now. Moaning all summer when they didn't air much drama and now moaning all autumn that they are showing the wrong type of drama. Who knows what they will have coming up next year. Just because we don't know doesn't mean it will be a light slate.

Talkng of it getting much buzz, I don't remember CTM getting much online buzz, but that came in at 8m.

What's everyone's predictions now Grantchester's aired?

To be fair show me any digital channel which is fully on message in daytime and isn't just any old thing thrown together. Audiences must be tiny.

We all know digital channels basically live for 9pm and 10pm and everything else is basically filler. BBC Three famously had a lot of trouble filling pre watershed slots and tried many different ideas over the years and they only had 2 hours to fill.

As long as the shows in those two time slots mentioned above are distinctive and shape the channel and follow the ethos of what the channels are supposed to be about, then they will be ok.

Anything between 4-8m.

I really enjoyed Grantchester. This will sound odd but it felt very different compared to other dramas.

This means absolutely nothing of course but it was trending quite high on twitter and got a good response on there.

Ratings wise? Can't call it. I'm predicting 6-6.5 million. I'm not very good at predicting ratings so it'll probably be 3m lower than that

I did say that these dramas don't tend to get that much and still manage to do well, I was trying to say what Cilla had going for it that Granchester hasn't. I still think it'll get around 6m despite the lack of buzz and slowness.

I think it might have a dropped as it went on, so I would guess around 6m inc+1.


Perhaps I might watch it again and see if a 2nd time makes for better enjoyment1?

Knowing what tends to happen when the two options are an old favourite and something new and unknown, I can't see it winning its slot.

In some rare cases, like with Cilla it does go the other way, but it's quite rare.

What have BBC1 got lined up after New Tricks ends?

I'm predicting about 5m

One month ago, a rating of 5million against New tricks would've been considered a success for Grantchester. But due to Cilla's performance, the pressure really is on. Also it looks like constant mentions of it on this thread for the last 8months has meant that people on here have bought into a supposed hype - but outside of this thread, is there actually much talk about it? One month ago, 6.5million would've been considered phenomenal for any drama against NT. How expectations have suddenly changed due to the freakish Cilla ratings...

I suspect Grantchester will skew very, very old.

I really enjoyed Grantchester, a good old fashioned murder mystery and James Norton is nice to look at perfect for a Monday night. I don't want to jinx it, but I'm predicting it will have launched with 6 million, including +1.

Yeah but there was a point when you couldn't move on BBC1 for Call the Midwife trailers. The BBC throw a lot behind Call the Midwife and it paid off.


5.5-6 million seems like it'd be a very good start..

And I think someone thinks might have a bit too much self importance on this thread. No one is basing they're predictions on what you've said, just on what they've seen and think it will rate.

In fact I have mentioned it more than you. Anything over 5.5m would be good against NT.

That remains an unfair comparison and allow me to demonstrate why


That came a couple of sentences after saying the pressure was on. Cilla's performance was certainly well above expectations. 5 million would have been a success a month ago for Granchester and it still is now. Its a very different drama and likely doesn't have the same in built audience that something like Cilla will.

For ITV's sake I hope it can equal the highs of Cilla but suggesting it should just reeks of over predicting so you can label it a disappointment and flop tomorrow because it didn't reach some fictional "ITV target".

To be fair though there are quite a few predicting 6-6.5m which is what Cilla got.

True. I suppose that was a bit over the top but I will say the lack of attempts to find returning drama is not good from ITV. They need a balance and they don't have that at the moment.

It actually says in the press release that Safe House is a potential returning show for them. Please read things before you post false and misleading information.

Not sure how Grantchester will launch. I'm not expecting a Cilla style launch and I think that kind of expectation is pretty unreasonable. 5.5m (inc +1) would be a good start I think. 5 million would be reasonable but wouldn't give it much room to fall. 6 million would be excellent. Even though it is a lot weaker than it was New Tricks will still knock 0.5-1m off it.