What did CBB get with +1?

Not very good for Cucumber!

You say that but Corrie still got a boost for publicised event episodes. The highest overnights so far this year.

That is what I felt about the show. It was pushing the whole acceptability of life as a gay man back to the dark days of the Daily Mail hating crowd crowing over how QAF should not be shown - "think of the children".

RTD should know better. His gay agenda in Doctor Who was very toned and restrained, in Torchwood he had a little more leeway. But Cucumber is not what should be shown as a typical lifestyle drama. As much as the American version of QAF was nothing like the UK one, at least at times it did show normal people who just happen to be gay.

I am sorry for ranting, if it comes across as such this morning.

Doesn't always work like that though does it?

ED say that providing shock twists is a way of rewarding the loyal viewers who have stuck with a long running storyline. Corrie never rewards its fans loyalty. They just release every little detail and are more concerned about big one off ratings for a stunt. Corrie needs to think more about the viewers who watch every episode and give them a reason to keep watching.

btw, the "oh aren't we so clever" multi-platforming, innuendo-laden racy ad campaign, stings and trailers did put me in mind of this back-slapping lot from the incomparable Armando Iannucci Show 15 years ago - imagine what this lot would have done had they come up with the idea...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yVE6kdhANQ

All to get 974,000 (overnight) viewers.

(ps: Is the guy with glasses and tie now considerably more grown up as Sarah Lancashire's ex hubbie in Last Tango - or does it just look/sound like a much younger version of him?)

(EDIT: yes, it is indeed. Tony Gardner. According to IMDb, one of his first telly appearances, back in 1994, was in an episode of Lovejoy called Last Tango in Lavenham. Fancy that! Bet even Steve W couldn't have told us that.... )

ED 6.7m inc+1 for both episodes.

Great stuff from both EE and DIP.

Including the first repeat, 7.6m and 7.4m for EE.

I really don't understand why broadcasters are still going with the idea of marketing individual programmes in order to get an audience.

When it was unusual to do that sort of thing it really stood out and would bring people to your programme, that was 15 years ago!

Now everyone does it the general public often barely notice. Hence these ratings for CH4 drama and the like.

9pm slot in full:

BBC1: Death in Paradise- 6.50m
BBC2: Winterwatch Unsprung- 1.47m. Surviving the Holocaust- 1.24m
ITV: Bring Back Borstal- 1.72m
CH4: Cucumber- 1.23m
CH5: Celebrity Big Brother- 2.65m

E4-: Brooklyn Nine Nine- 700k
Sky One: Ross Kemp Extreme World- 383k

Brilliant for DiP. Great to see that for the 3rd Thursday in a row, Ch5 came 2nd, beating ITV and is now almost 1m ahead Poor for Bring Back Borstal which I have actually been enjoying. Not very good for Cucumber after all the promo!

That EastEnders clash really hurt Birds Of A Feather.

Cucumber launches with under a million viewers on Channel 4

Cucumber launched with under a million viewers on Thursday evening, overnight figures reveal.

Russell T Davies's new Channel 4 series brought in an average 973,000 viewers (4.3%) at 9pm, with an added 259,000 (1.7%) on +1.

Companion show Banana opened to 341,000 (2.0%) viewers on E4 at 10pm.

Earlier on Channel 4, Location, Location, Location appealed to 1.49m (6.4%) at 8pm (334k/1.5% on +1), while Josie Cunningham: The Most Hated Woman in Britain? fascinated 1.08m (7.0%) at 10pm (251k/3.0%).

BBC One's Death in Paradise topped the night with 6.50m (29.0%) at 9pm. Room 101 amused 3.91m (17.5%) in a new Thursday slot at 8pm, while Question Time was seen by 2.36m (21.8%) at 10.35pm.

On BBC Two, Winterwatch gathered 2.62m (11.3%) at 8pm, followed by Winterwatch Unsprung with 1.47m (6.5%) at 9pm. Surviving the Holocaust was seen by 1.24m (6.3%) at 9.30pm.

ITV's pepper-spray edition of The Kyle Files attracted 2.69m (12.8%) at 7.30pm (128k/0.5%). Birds of a Feather entertained 2.95m (12.3%) at 8.30pm (209k/0.9%), while Bring Back Borstal brought in 1.54m (6.9%) at 9pm (183k/1.2%).

On Channel 5, Benefits: Can't Work, Won't Work intrigued 1.22m (5.3%) at 8pm (153k/0.7%). Celebrity Big Brother continued with 2.32m (10.3%) at 9pm (327k/2.1%), followed by Botched Up Bodies with 742k (4.7%) at 10pm.

E4's Big Bang Theory tickled 1.36m (5.7%) at 8.30pm (360k/1.6%), followed by Brooklyn Nine-Nine with 595k (2.6%) at 9pm (105k/0.6%).

Ross Kemp's Extreme World returned with 383k (1.7%) at 9pm on Sky1.

I somehow don't think Birds of a Feather will be returning for a third series.

I read somewhere that Pauline Quirke doesn't want to do another series because she has been less than impressed by the scripts.

Pauline Quirke just got cast in the new 10 part Sky1/NBC drama so if there is another series then there may be a good wait anyway.

Disappointing for Cucumber and Banana last night with such big promotion, a similar story to Glue really whereby what looked like a good rating never happened.

And to please everyone on the ratings thread Adrian Chiles has just got the boot from ITV too!

It does work quite a bit though. Just from the first 23 days of 2015: The Voice, Broadchurch, Esio Trot, DiP; all got bigger ratings than they'd have got without extensive individual promo. On the other hand, the most notable underperformance of 2015 so far is Foyle's War, which for its sins started the day before Broadchurch so was hardly trailed at all.

Birds is now below Citizen Khan in overnights but I still think it could get another series but scheduled differently. At the moment though these birds have been well and truly stuffed.

Chiles had gradually been trying to worm his way back to the BBC in any case with 5Live. Who's next - Christine Bleakley ?

BBC 1
13:45: Doctors - 1.51m (21.2%)
17:15: Pointless - 4.14m (27.0%)
18:00: BBC News at Six - 5.36m (30.0%)
18:30: BBC Regional News - 5.78m (30.0%)
19:00: The One Show - 4.61m (23.0%)
19:30: EastEnders - 7.23m (34.4%)
20:00: Room 101 - 3.91m (17.5%)
20:30: EastEnders - 6.90m (28.7%)
21:00: Death in Paradise - 6.50m (29.0%)
22:00: BBC News at Ten - 4.32m (25.0%)
22:35: Question Time - 2.36m (21.8%)

BBC 2
20:00: Winterwatch - 2.62m (11.3%)
21:00: Winterwatch Unsprung - 1.47m (6.5%)
21:30: Surviving the Holocaust: Freddie Knoller’s War - 1.24m (6.3%)

ITV
19:00: Emmerdale - 6.56m (32.7%), +1 - 123k (0.5%)
19:30: The Kyle Files - 2.69m (12.8%)
20:00: Emmerdale - 6.45m (28.9%), +1 - 238k (1.0%)
20:30: Birds of a Feather - 2.95m (12.3%), +1 - 209k (0.9%)
21:00: Bring Back Borstal - 1.54m (6.9%), +1 - 183k (1.2%)

Channel 4
18:30: Hollyoaks - 968k (5.2%)
20:00: Location, Location, Location - 1.49m (6.4%), +1 - 334k (1.5%)
21:00: Cucumber - 973k (4.3%), +1 - 259k (1.2%)
22:00: Josie: The Most Hated Woman in Britain? - 1.08m (7.0%), +1 - 251k (3.0%)

Channel 5
13:15: Home and Away - 208k (2.9%)
13:45: Neighbours - 668k (9.3%)
17:30: Neighbours - 756k (4.8%)
18:00: Home and Away - 599k (3.3%)
20:00: Benefits: Can’t Work, Won’t Work - 1.22m (5.3%), +1 - 153k (0.7%)
21:00: Celebrity Big Brother - 2.32m (10.3%), +1 - 327k (2.1%)

BBC 3
21:00: Bangkok Airport - 821k (3.7%)
22:30: EastEnders - 398k (2.8%)
23:00: EastEnders - 508k (5.1%)

BBC 4
20:00: Horizon: Star on Earth - 519k (2.2%)

E4
18:00: The Big Bang Theory - 562k (3.1%)
18:30: The Big Bang Theory - 693k (3.7%)
19:00: Hollyoaks - 706k (3.5%), +1 - 149k (0.7%)
20:00: The Big Bang Theory - 869k (3.9%)
20:30: The Big Bang Theory - 1.36m (5.7%), +1 - 360k (1.6%)
21:00: Brooklyn Nine-Nine - 595k (2.6%), +1 - 105k (0.6%)
22:00: Banana - 341k (2.4%), +1 - 67k (0.4%)

ITV 3
20:00: Endeavour - 712k (3.1%)

5*
18:30: Home and Away - 376k (2.0%)

Sky 1
21:00: Extreme World - 383k (1.7%)

Sources - DS, DMN, Media Guardian, ITV Media

Thanks Lewie.

Bangkok Airport is a factual series on BBC3 I think.

All Death In Paradise got was a trailer. No poster campaigns, no public displays. Just a trailer. Sometimes I think that's all a show needs. Channel 4 did acres of promotion for New Worlds and the ratings were awful.

1st of the new series was okay haven't enjoyed any of this 2nd series.
its getting totally slaughtered against EE.

And the other problem BOAF has is that when it isn't opposite EastEnders the ratings don't bounce back.

Totally get the feeling they rushed the 2nd series scripts basically Dorien Is carrying the entire show even more than the Original. Sharon used to have some amazing one liners as for Garthy they should have just recast Daryl

It varies from show to show though doesn't it?

I would agree that perhaps more established shows with an established audience don't need much in the way of a promotional campaign. Or at least they shouldn't. Its really just about letting the existing fanbase know that the show is coming back and ideally broadcasters keep these performers in the same slot as much as possible anyway so viewers are broadly aware that its x time of year so their show is back on.

To be honest my problem with a lot of the marketing for new and returning shows these days is that broadcasters seem to go for saturation rather than any sense of audience targeting. Sometimes saturation coverage makes sense – Sky going all out on a big drama like Fortitude for example – but other times it just feels like they have strategy for the show and no real awareness of what the appeal or the audience for the show is supposed to be.