Very good figures there I think. ED almost breaking 7m is fully deserved as they're currently running a sexual assault storyline which has involved some really powerful scenes. The controversy surrounding the storyline has obviously drawn viewers in.

Opened up my Radio Times today to find alternative schedules for next Thursday.

ITV may or may not show Europa League football, if they do BBC1 will show EastEnders at 8 (to avoid Emmerdale 6.45-7.45) with Masterchef at 7.30. If they do not EE will be at 7.30 as normal (overlapping with the 8pm Emmerdale) with Masterchef at 8.30.

They will be showing Europa League football as Everton are involved in the 8:05pm game.

That's interesting. I'm pretty sure they'll show it but still. What are ITV airing from 8.30-10pm if they don't air football?

Those C4 figures are dreadful, 400k for Deal no Deal, wasnt it getting a million not so long ago,they would be better showing old films like they used to.

8.30 Birds of a Feather (rpt)
9.00 Emergency! Winter on the Railways

Cheers.

Looks like that railway documentary is going to air whenever they next need filler then.

From Digital Spy:

Arthur & George launches with 5.2 million on ITV

ITV's new drama Arthur & George was the most-watched programme outside soaps on Monday, overnight data reveals.

The Martin Clunes project brought in an average 5.29 million viewers (24.2%) at 9pm, with an added 200,000 (1.3%) on +1. Earlier, More Tales from Northumberland appealed to 3.11m (12.4%) at 8pm (111k/0.5% on +1).

On BBC One, Inside Out interested 3.57m (16.7%) at 7.30pm, while Panorama was seen by 2.37m (10.3%) at 8.30pm. Crimewatch was seen by 3.33m (15.2%) at 9pm.

BBC Two's University Challenge quizzed 3.09m (13.3%) at 8pm, followed by Only Connect with 2.56m (11.1%) at 8.30pm. A Cook Abroad gathered 1.76m (8.1%) at 9pm, while Let's Play Darts for Comic Relief amused 1.61m (9.5%) at 10pm.

On Channel 4, Dispatches intrigued 1.07m (4.6%) at 8pm (115k/0.5%), while Food Unwrapped was seen by 1.39m (6.0%) at 8.30pm. NHS: 2 Billion a Week and Counting attracted 707k (3.2%) at 9pm (101k/0.7%).

Channel 5's Police Interceptors brought in 869k (3.8%) at 8pm, followed by Benefits: Life on the Dole with 1.51m (6.9%) at 9pm (183k/1.2%) and 10,000 BC with 671k (4.4%) at 10pm.

On Fox, The Walking Dead thrilled 707k (3.2%) at 9pm, while MTV's Catfish returned with 90k (0.6%) at 10pm. ITVBe's Real Housewives of Cheshire was seen by 302k (2.0%) at 10pm.

Very nice rise versus last Monday. Bit of a slow episode though. Intrigued as to where it is going story wise.

I assume the lack of Broadchurch helped it get a bit of a bounce. Very good rating for it.

Would love to see a breakdown for Arthur and George.
It is of course a decent start, but with no competition I expected it to rate higher than 5.5 incl +1.

Disappointing that 1000 Heartbeats dropped ratings down to 1.4m, but at 600k more than Mel & Sue I think ITV might take the view that it's not a disaster and it is good enough for renewal.

Just 400k for DOND... Another show that used to be great at first, but got silly and OTT.

Also, Rinder holding up.

Is This Morning ITV's lowest rated Daytime show at the moment or LW?

Looks like Neighbours edged ahead of Hollyoaks yesterday for a narrow victory over its British rival: 1.65m v 1.61m inc. both showings of each and exc. +1 channels.

Also Home & Away 5th most watched m/c show of the day and most watched 5* screening for a year, boosted by current bus crash storyline.

It's interesting to see how Waterloo Road has been doing. 610k on BBC3 last night and has been their number 1 show of the week several times this series. It only got 664k on BBC1 although it has been more like 900k-1m when they've aired it at 10.35pm (it was 10.55pm last night). The BBC1 screening has been adding a lot on with timeshift too (up to around 1.6m I think). So across the two screenings it has been getting about 2.2-2.3m. If BBC1 weren't repeating it I'm pretty sure it would be over 1m on BBC3. On top of that it has been getting about 1.4m iPlayer requests per episode.

Whilst it wasn't right for primetime BBC1 anymore I think axing it completely seems to have been the wrong move. A proper switch to BBC3 could actually have really worked out for them and it could have been a major part of BBC3's online switch as it already gets a huge online audience. Seems like a wasted opportunity to me.

Anyone expecting a race for the bottom tonight? ITV have a night of wall to wall cheap factual, excluding "Holby" the BBC have "The Gift" and the rest are showing docus. It's early March ffs, not August.

So “slow TV” is coming to BBC4 later this year.

The BBC4 Goes Slow season will include

The Canal – A two hour real time canal boat trip down one of the UK's historic waterways
National Gallery – A three hour tour of the National Gallery produced by documentary film maker Frederick Wiseman
Make – Three 30 minute shows that celebrate traditional craftsmanship. Each one dealing with a different object.

All shows will be presented without voice over or additional sound effects.

Don't give ITV ideas

Any figures for yesterdays GMB? Thankyou

Chris Chibnall has tweeted that the Broadchurch finale got a consolidated rating of 9.92m.

Would have liked it to hit 10m but that's a fantastic rating nonetheless. Series 1 ended with 10.47m so it was 0.55m down, which in the grand scheme of things isn't a great deal considering the series 1 finale had a more obvious hook.

Overall series 2 averaged 9.21m, down just slightly on series 1's 9.37m. All that fuss over a 1.7% decline!

While those numbers and shares look ok I am not so sure thay are that much to crow about really. EE has just come out of a big story and ED is in the midst of one and yet their ratings are pretty much flat yoy while CS is down around 750k and 400k yoy. If EE/ED were airing normal eps they would probably be down yoy as well.

If that's not proof a fuss is made over nothing in here at times, I don't know what is.

Broadchurch series 2 was always going to be a challenge, but it's one it has passed with flying colours.

Quit spoiling the episode, some people like myself will be watching later tonight on catchup.

A slow episode is in store then...

Thats odd my RT Wales edition doesnt have an alternative schedule only shows the football being shown so masterchef on at 7.30 and EE at 8

The one issue I have with that is that ED's storyline isn't the sort you can promote really. The attack episode was low and it has grown through word of mouth. It's not a big stunt storyline and deserves the good ratings. Being flat year on year is a relative success given the level of declines have been steep for a long time now.