To be fair not much could come close to Great Expectations that was absolutely brilliant.

I'm not saying its light in tone so it won't air over Christmas I'm saying its much lighter in tone than the drama the BBC has put in this slot in recent years. I'm not entirely convinced its a good fit though and if its done correctly it certainly won't be the kind of period drama that people are expecting. As I say I'm just unconvinced by the whole thing.

On a somewhat related note whatever happened to the adaptation of The Moonstone they announced a couple of years ago?


I don't know. Given some of the stuff they've aired in the slot before I'm not convinced it is too heavy. Great Expectations isn't exactly light fluffy drama. Generally speaking I'm a little surprised they haven't gone for more Dickens adaptations in this slot to be honest.

Thanks.
Can see that airing boxing day like the previous too.

Seconded. It was outstanding and Gillian Anderson was heartbreaking yet mesmerising.

Ah! But despite it not being fluffy and light, it was Dickens! And Christmas and Dickens go together like Santa and reindeer!

I don't see why it would be a problem, as mentioned they did an adaptation in the eighties which I think is very fondly remembered, enough for it to come out on VHS and DVD over the years. I don't think it's particularly niche either, it won't be Pride and Prejudice or anything but it's hardly going to be totally incomprehensible to the audience. If you've heard of it, fantastic, if not it doesn't matter I don't think. I also think you're over-estimating the appeal of ITV over Christmas, they never try very hard so even if it does lose out on one night it will be highly unlikely to do so on all three, and there's plenty of other stuff on BBC1 to give it a leg-up.


Well, thanks to everyone for their nice comments. I only post like this because I obviously can't post when I'm working so it's easier for me to do it like this than do umpteen posts in a row. People can delete the stuff they don't need when they're replying.

I actually assumed the original comment was because cylon thought I'd accidentally put their comment about Charlotte Moore alongside the other personal comments I didn't like, but it was there because I put it there. Again, I don't think Charlotte Moore just does what she wants, she's told what to do a lot of the time, and obviously she speaks in management speak, she's in management. Clearly she's going to support her staff and be diplomatic in public. She could be swearing like a docker in meetings but we're not going to see that, nor would we want to.

There's truth in that - they suffered quite a number of drama misfires, starting in summer with Case Histories, Frankie and then the ten part White Queen. And it never really picked up.

Mind you, I don't think the autumn of 2012 was much to compare to - the Olympic momentum died a pretty quick death that year too (Good Cop, Hunted, History of the World, The Paradise, In With The Flynns). By contrast, 2014 has probably been the channel's best autumn season in a few - hugely boosted by the arrival of Bake Off and The Apprentice on the scene, of course.

I had not realised The Casual Vacancy had such a terrific cast - Keely Hawes/Michael Gambon/Julia McKenzie/Rory Kinnear.

Speak for yourself - I would pay to see that.

The Apprentice has worked well this Autumn. If rumours about it being Lord Sugar's last series are true, then would the BBC axe it or perhaps find a new businessperson? I actually think that bloke from Dragons Den (Peter Jones) or even Karren Brady would be good replacements. Considering the success of it this year it would be a shame if it didn't return next Autumn.

It was and the big Christmas dramas on BBC1 since then haven't reached that level of greatness. Restless was very good and certainly entertaining. And the first Upstairs Downstairs mini series on BBC1 was good as well. A shame the series wasn't as good.

I wonder whether the BBC would risk him considering Tycoon flopped miserably for ITV in 2007.

If the rumours are true, I wonder if Duncan Bannatyne has stepped down from Dragons' Den for a reason...

I think with Esio Trot on the scene this year, Call The Midwife may find itself on another day, therefore meaning the three part drama won't start on Boxing Day. This means the 3parter won't have to air on a Saturday, so could start on Sunday 28th, and run till the 30th. It would fit nicely?

Also I think Last Tango might get Wednesdays in January with factual on Mondays?

Once we got to March in 2013, BBC1 felt like it lost momentum after the great start to the year. And Autumn didn't really seem to get started until October. Although to be fair some of his commissions have came through this year or will be on in a few years like Poldark, Our Zoo and Dickensian. 2013 was generally weaker from Spring onwards though and EastEnders was messed up on his watch too.

They're already looking for contestants for the next series of The Apprenticeand Lord Sugar has said he's doing it. Of course that last bit could be a ruse on his part and The BBC's. We will find out sooner or later.

Charlotte Moore interview doesnt reveal much about her plans for BBC one unfortunately, she's not really revealing any future projects apart from "The Met" a new documentary and "Prized Apart" a new light entertainment show for BBC one.

I have to disagree with her decision to schedule "Our Girl" against "Downton Abbey" on itv. I think the channel would have made better use of it on Tuesdays evenings at 9pm, it ended up looking a bit lost on Sunday evenings and had difficult competition which lost it any casual viewers to then build an new audience on. It would have stood better chance during the week soaking up the "EastEnders" audience from Lacey Turner appearance in both shows.

It was shockingly bad. It didn't deserve more than being 'used up' and a slot against DA did just that.

On This Morning today Miranda Hart appeared to be wavering over whether the two Christmas episodes really will be the final ones.

She said that she has written the last as a proper finale but lots of people seem to be saying they want it to go on and after filming she wondered herself what she had done.

So do not bet against it coming back in future.

As for Generation Game she said that the leak was premature as they have not decided yet what to do and whether the show could work in this day and age. So they are really looking at adapting a similar type of show with some elements that can be effectively updated rather than just remake Generation Game.

But that nobody had committed to anything yet.

She also apologised for being on everything this Christmas!

Wherever it deserved to go, it was pretty resilient in a very tough slot iirc.

Now that is interesting. Could we yet see Miranda back as specials in future years? And The Generation Game(ish) could become a series after all.

I think they'd need a name to replace Sugar, I think the most obvious is Sir Richard Branson but I don't know if he'd want to risk it. The Apprentice got lucky with Trump in the US and Sugar over here and that's not easy to replicate.


Dickens does do well hence the adaptations of Great Expectations, Oliver Twist etc even Channel 4 have A Tale of Two Cities in the pipeline. I'm surprised A Christmas Carol hasn't been done as a three part drama yet.

In regards to period dramas, it'll be interesting how Wolf Hall does, I expect it's going to be the centrepiece of BBC Two's winter schedule and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up on Wednesdays at 9pm since BBC One won't schedule any drama due to FA Cup matches and not to hurt it in anyway in the same way they didn't schedule a drama against The Fall or Line of Duty.

I was told that they wanted a rather well known unnamed producer to come in short term after the horror of Kirkwood until DTC was ready to take over but unnamed producer allegedly refused citing he wanted the EP position not temp EP, the powers that be panicked and hastily installed Newman, I knew Newman was going before she was informed in fact Its to fair to say quite a few at the BBC knew as well.

I was at Elstree the day of the announcement of Newmans impending departure, while I did not see her I did bump into a rather ecstatic EE cast member.

Love the way you (and others) always refer to TV producers by their surnames only.

Reminds me of Harry and Paul's "Self Righteous Brothers".

According to tellymix 'Get Your Act Together' will be broadcast late January.

Oh THAT story! Yes it's true. Got the name of who they wanted too. And Newman was pushed out. I think she was only meant to be temporary and when that other name fell through they have it to her full-time.

Newman wasn't missed and it is very telling how the cast talk about DTC but not her in glowing terms. The mood has definitely improved on set.