14th October episode 1
15th October episode 2
22nd October episode 3

Another 11 episodes would take us to after Christmas . I would have thought the planned end date might be Sunday 21st December

The fourteen probably includes the 'final five' and 'why I fired them' episodes. The general task episodes will still be twelve, I think.

What George said!

Sugar said early in the initial briefing that the series would still run for twelve weeks, so I'm guessing a few double-firings along the way, and probably also a four-candidate final.

So on that basis it will finish Sunday 21st December

They could do what they did on YA2, and fire a whole losing team and someone from the winning team in one go towards the end... although I really hope they don't, because I hated that twist.

It is on for twelve weeks so said Lord Sugar.

So we're looking at this series ending in mid-January?

Yeah probably either 28th Dec or 4th Jan

I think it's more likely to end on Sunday 21st December (they've done a Sunday finale before, I'm sure of it).

Going off last years air dates, I imagine this year it'll run like this:

Week 1: 14th October
Week 2: 15th October
Week 3: 22nd October
Week 4: 29th October
Week 5: 5th November
Week 6: 12th November
Week 7: 19th November
Week 8: 26th November
Week 9: 3rd December
Week 10: 10th December

Final five: 15th December
Interviews: 17th December
Why I fired them: 18th December
Final: 21st December

12 episodes + 2 "specials" over 10 weeks. I can't imagine they'll run it over the Christmas period, and almost certainly wouldn't have the final on Christmas Eve - it'd get lost in the mire of festive TV. It's also unlikely they'd have a break so late in series and resume it after Christmas week, so I think the above schedule is most likely.

Although I sincerely doubt it will be, I would love the final to be on Christmas Eve. I love Christmas, and The Apprentice final in the middle of it would be the cherry on the cake!