"Scenes of emotional distress" - with that and EastEnders' inevitable misery the BBC are really pulling out the stops aren't they? Bah humbug on toast.

On a serious note, aren't things rated 12 not supposed to be shown before 8pm? There was this discussion recently regarding Doctor Who's finale 'Death in Heaven' which was reclassified to 12 but obviously shown at 8.30pm.

Perhaps it'll end up going:

5.05 - Strictly
6.20 - EastEnders
6.50 - Doctor Who
7.50 - Call The Midwife
9.05 - Miranda
9.40 - EastEnders
10.10 - Mrs Brown's Boys

ITV can then go

5.50 - Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas
6.50 - Emmerdale
7.50 - Coronation Street
8.50 - ITV News
9.05 - Downton Abbey

Oh I don't even know anymore. ITV's schedule is pretty fixed with its timings. It sort of HAS to start at 5.50pm or 5.20pm depending on if YBF is kept or dropped.

The Beeb has some flexibility with extending/shortening the 3.10pm film by +/-5 minutes. EastEnders can't go after Doctor Who (before CTM) unless ITV put You've Been Framed against it in between Emmerdale and Corrie, which I doubt they want to do.

If they did it would go:

5.05 - Strictly
6.20 - Doctor Who
7.20 - EastEnders
7.50 - Call The Midwife
9.05 - Miranda
9.40 - EastEnders
10.10 - Mrs Brown's Boys

vs

5.20 - Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas
6.20 - Emmerdale
7.20 - You've Been Framed
7.50 - Coronation Street
8.50 - ITV News
9.05 - Downton Abbey

ITV surely would be loathe to put YBF on just to have something against the 30-minute EE though. Guess it goes back to whichever network nails down their schedule first....

Family viewing for Christmas Day! Young kids will love that after Doctor Who!

Interesting. It was only classified yesterday. 21:00 on Christmas Eve then?

(That would obviously involve some re-jigging.)

Perhaps we should have clash of the period dramas? CTM Vs Downton Abbey

Call The Midwife will stay where it is. Doctor Who has had some episodes classed as 12a and kept its early evening slot.

Call The Midwife will surely be moving later anyway as EastEnders HAS to go earlier for its first episode or it'll clash with Coronation Street.

I see. So just an appropriate warning would be issued: "scenes that may be unsuitable for young children" or some such.

Then perhaps ITV need to use the junction and put Elf: Christmas opposite CTM. With that option they should get the family audience from BBC1.

like both of your schedules for beeb1, hope they do this.

I suppose.

It's hardly a prolapse.

They need to use EastEnders to help the demographic crossover between the likes of Strictly Come Dancing/Call the Midwife and Doctor Who. Now add Call the Midwife's classification into the mix...

15.00 The Queen
15.10 BBC News and Weather
15.20 Puss in Boots
16.40 BBC News and Weather
17.00 Strictly Come Dancing
18.15 EastEnders
18.45 Doctor Who
19.45 EastEnders
20.15 Call the Midwife
21.30 Miranda
22.05 Mrs. Brown's Boys

Not that I think Call the Midwife should be anywhere near Christmas Day.

I've been trying to work out a schedule for ITV around that but it's very difficult because of the strange junctions and split EastEnders:

15.00 The Queen
15.10 ITV News and Weather
15.30 The Queen's Garden
16.30 You've Been Framed!
17.00 Emmerdale
17.30 Elf: Buddy's Christmas Magic
18.30 ITV News and Weather
18.45 Emmerdale
19.15 Coronation Street
19.45 Downton Abbey
21.45 Coronation Street
22.15 ITV News and Weather
22.35 Birds of a Feather

Though even then the second Coronation Street starts midway through Miranda and For the Love of Dogs has been lost.

People are failing to realise that the junctions WILL align in the end for most of these shows... and it will be the BBC who wiggle around ITV since ITV have no film they can chop up to fit.

My post at the top of this page shows the likely options.

Fudd your above schedule for ITV does not work - they would not put Corrie on 30 minutes in to Doctor Who. Amongst other reasons.

Most likely to me is Option 1 from the aforementioned post:

3.10 - Puss in Boots
4.45 - BBC News
5.05 - Strictly
6.20 - EastEnders
6.50 - Doctor Who
7.50 - Call The Midwife
9.05 - Miranda OR EastEnders
9.40 - EastEnders OR Miranda
10.10 - Mrs Brown's Boys

vs

3.10 - ITV News
3.20 - The Queen's Garden
4.20 - For The Love of Dogs
5.20 - You've Been Framed
5.50 - Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas
6.50 - Emmerdale
7.50 - Coronation Street
8.50 - ITV News
9.05 - Downton Abbey

Note that unlike a lot of these fantasy schedules, the junctions ALIGN! Plus Call The Midwife airs mostly after 8pm where it belongs with its 12A certification.

Anyone who has interest in Doctor Who figures, this link has it, Scroll down a bit to find figures.

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/

If the BBC decide against wriggling - and frankly why should they considering Coronation Street and Downton Abbey have both shown signs of weakness this year and they represent ITV's only hope of a decent Christmas - then how would ITV react?

I fixed that about 10 mins ago, forgot Paul's Dogs

Really impressed with that Two Ronnies Sketchbook rating. What did it get when it was shown in the same slot in December a few years ago?

I remember it getting 2m on Fridays at 9.30 in summer 2008.

The 6th Nov ep of Paul O' Grady: For The Love Of Dogs made it into the top 30 shows at no29 with a consolidated rating of 5.19m from an overnight of 4.46m, meaning a 730k timeshift.

I think the BBC will move first, because ITV have given Corrie the headstart in their schedule. I think the next update will be...
18:15 EastEnders
18:45 Call The Midwife / 18:45 Doctor Who
20:00 Doctor Who / 19:45 Call The Midwife

I'm not sure whether they'll put DW or CTM in the later slot this year. Last year they changed DW into the later slot at the last update, so the same could happen again.

I took a long time to read back.

I honestly think there's a case for BBC One not to wriggle this year. They could put in a stronger schedule without wriggling as they could then prevent Doctor Who being next to Strictly or Call the Midwife in the schedule. Yes, they tried this on Saturday nights this autumn but in this case it's not really needed.

That suits me fine.

EastEnders
Doctor Who
Strictly
Miranda
Mrs Browns Boys

Will all be viewed in this household. can't bear Downton or CTM.
Might pick up half hour of Corrie or Emmerdale depending on what they clash with.

Don't know why people think it's a masterstroke to split the BBC Christmas Night comedy block up with EastEnders.

It will be a disaster for them. You need to get the misery of EE out of the way and then relax and enjoy some (ideally) top class comedy to end the night. I don't watch EE, and I want at the end of hectic but fun day to settle down to some good laughs from Miranda, the Browns and MacIntyre. I don't want that interrupted by a stupidly scheduled EE thrown in there. Millions will channel hop. Back to back, I could see Miranda overnighting to c10m which will then lead in to MBB which should get similar, or higher. A second EE (particularly if people haven't watched ep1) will see a viewing slump - let's say 8m watch - with MBB basically inheriting from that.

I really don't see BBC moving anything after 8.30pm. ITV has more to benefit from moving imo, everything moving up 30 minutes would mean there's no You've Been Framed dragging it down and Downton starts against EastEnders instead of the much stronger Miranda which surely is preferable.

Also I think if the BBC were to move they'd sooner make EastEnders an hour than move the first episode earlier where it would get lost in the schedule.

(I see the moaning about BBC's Christmas presentation has started, the most tedious of DS's Christmas traditions.)

Well, less than one in 10 post 2005 Dr Who's are rated 12, but you're right in that they'd be happy to show them at 6pm.

(The 12 rated Doctor Who episodes are- The Unquiet Dead, Dalek, Tooth and Claw, Planet of the Ood, The Doctor's Daughter, Silence in the Library, The Waters of Mars, The God Complex, The Angels Take Manhattan and Dark Water).

EE wouldn't be lost at 6:15pm. It would get the Strictly lead-out and no real competition from ITV.

Disagree.
EastEnders,Miranda,EastEnders works very well.

Chances are people that don't watch Miranda but do watch EastEnders will keep BBC1 on. I think both shows will get a benefit.

Past years EastEnders episode 1 has rated lower than episode 2 so that makes no difference at all.

Episode 1 provides a couple of shocks (from what I hear) which will no doubt have people talking on social network so could help people tune in/check it out for the second episode.
I think that's why the BBC are pushing for 2 single episodes.