This is a pretty dangerous opinion if you ask me. The BBC does well, has a strong schedule and instead of congratulating them on doing a good job they're the 'big elephant' stamping on the competition. The next thing is people will say the BBC is too big and too powerful, the license fee is shrunk and we get crap not only on ITV but BBC1 too.

The reason for ITV's current poor ratings are all to do with decisions they've made themselves - poor commissions, poor programmes, poor scheduling. Nothing to do with the BBC. Proportionately, the BBC is smaller now than it's ever been.

Because it's a legitimate debate. if the +1 figures are recorded properly and not spun then that's fair enough. EastEnders is a different kettle of fish. Because it is a same day showing, I believe that the ratings for BBC3 should be added to BBC1, but I'm not going to elaborate today as I did that last week!

I agree last nights BC should nudge it in consolidateds but given current trajectory and forum feedback episode 4 is shaping up to be a 'too close to call'.

Is next week's SW the last for the current series?

No. There are 5 two part stories so two more after this week.

The Musketeers?

Or their Wednesday programming? Though what I had forgotten about is the FA Cup replays hence one off programming airing there.

Thanks cylon. I'm intrigued to see how the 2 series fare over the next 2-3 weeks!

Well I know I am !!
The level of paranoia on here is fascinating.

The BBC are protecting their other big drama on BBC Two which starts this Wednesday at 9pm. Not everyone wants to watch Broadchurch, I certainly don't. It's not my type of show, although I do like the genre, the show just doesn't work for me - but that's me.

For the BBC to show something of high quality at the same time is giving viewers a choice. The BBC should not have to shy away from clashing their big shows simply because ITV need a hand in getting the viewers. Take a look over in America. If the big networks all worked the same way, they would be pretty screwed in prime time as no one would be able to show anything.

ITV is a shadow of its former self - turning into Fox USA, they need some outside help or they could implode one day....

Thanks I was wondering where that had got to. Wednesdays at 8pm I presume?

Is there a 'like' button around here? If the BBC are forced to take adverts then you'd really see ITV get screwed as it faced a truly competitive BBC.

I think the BBC put Silent Witness on Mondays and Tuesday as it was the best show to compete against Broadchurch and also giving the best opportunities for both Death in Paradise and Wolf Hall. The latter has been a very good slot since there is no drama competition this week at all.

Competitive not just in content and scheduling terms, but in the selling of advertising airtime, too. ITV's whole business model - centred around it being the only commercial channel where advertisers can reach a truly mass market of consumers very quickly - would be destroyed overnight.

Of course the move to BBC One makes sense, but where will it go? FA Cup replays will disrupt it on Wednesday 8pm, I think so anyway, not sure when the next ones will be. Thursday at 8pm is a possibility I suppose, but with EastEnders having to move for sport, they'll be losing the 8.30pm slot. Part of me thinks they should have left it on BBC Two and used it as Wolf Hall's lead in, that could have been a huge night for them.


I agree, I think this is a case where BBC are scheduling what's best for them instead of working around other channels.

I think Broadchurch would be dropping even up against The Musketeers (or whatever it low-rating programme people want BBC to put against it) tbh, maybe not as much but the quality just isn't there this series and that would have had an effect no matter what it's against. I couldn't care less about the legal inaccuracies, but they're pretty much tearing apart everything that worked last series just to get another series out of it and it's a real shame.

I find it interesting that Stuart Blackburn has been absent from speaking about Anne Kirkbride or Corrie since her sad death. In today's news about filming being postponed it was Kieran Roberts who made a statement which is pretty unusual.

Has H finally got his wish?

No officials for last Monday yet?

They seem to be running a day late. The Thursday officials came out Saturday, the Friday officials on Sunday. Something weird has happened with them since shortly after Christmas.

They seem to have been running behind for the past week or so. I guess there must be some kind of lag on the system. I'm intrigued to see how last Monday's clash ended up playing out?

Does anyone have access to a 5 minute breakdown for either last night's or last week's Broadchurch? I'd be interested to see how pronounced the dips for the commercial breaks are. It would give an idea of how much same day timeshifting is going on (my suspicion is quite a lot).

FOX should buy ITV then move Family Guy back to their channel, Make it more watchable overnight.

Rubbish. We heard about little else for weeks beforehand, especially on this thread. Some people were predicting the ratings for the climax episodes would top Sherlock's NYD rating!! Whereas we had few or maybe even no posts bleating on about how wonderful last night's episode had been after it had gone out - although I grant you that the death of one of the show's leading lights was one reason for that.

The BBC predicts a 1.6% share of viewing for BBC One +1.


Lots of interesting stuff in the BBC3 proposal here: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/...pplication.pdf

10,000 BC starts Monday, February 2 at 10pm on Channel 5. Continues on the Tuesday at 10pm.

There we have it. The great gods (and the BBC) do see a +1 service as a separate channel. End of discussion. Oh wait...

I would have thought last nights CS ratings have cemented him in the job for at least a couple of years.

Saying that, all the major networks are commercial entities looking for a slice of a pie for financial reasons rather than a PSB network which has a guaranteed income.

I know my views are not every popular on here and, as I said before, it would look very different if ITV bothered to show up against BBC One's big shows rather than lie down against them. Before anyone says anything, I wouldn't say Broadchurch v Silent Witness is a case of 'showing up'; it was very obvious Broadchurch was going to take the slot very early on - it's not as though ITV elected to become competitive with Silent Witness.

My personal belief (I hope I don't fall out with anyone else over this) is that BBC One is becoming more and more like a commercial broadcaster without the adverts. Arguably the fragmenting audience and ITV's rapid decline from 2013 is aiding this view but I feel the BBC should be there to compliment commercial networks and err to sometimes air shows, perhaps in primetime, that commercial networks simply cannot afford to do rather than looking to go toe to toe, it feels like all the time.

I'll shut up for now.