True...especially if they have CSI: Who killed Mr. Blobby? at 9.

ITV have rejected a new show based solely on the 'Win the Ads' segment from Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, according to Broadcast.

ITV Studios co-produces Take-away with Gallowgate, sharing the rights and format for the programme, and are looking to sell the show to other to UK broadcasters such as Living, Sky 1, Channel 4 or Five.

Glad ITV rejected the show because it sounds terrible in my opinion! I don't think it would have done well in the ratings at all. I can barely sit through it during Ant and Dec, so for an entire programme- no way.

Also according to this article in The Times, The Prisoner will be shown on ITV1 next year:

I think the show was in ITV's Spring Press Pack, so it looks like it's been delayed. These are the drama that ITV still have to show from their Spring Press Pack:

Collision
An Englishman in New York
Wuthering Heights
Agatha Christie's Marple
Albert's Memorial
U Be Dead
Boy Meets Girl
The Fixer
Kingdom
Midsomer Murders
Blue Murder
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Heartbeat

Quite a lot of drama over the next couple of months, if things go to plan. But I doubt they'll go to plan due to ITV's financial situation.

So they are delaying The Prisoner and the NTAs and putting them into 2010's budget. Not to mention what they are axing. Clearly they are struggling.

I can see why someone's been tempted to produce it as a show. I won't be surprised if ITV Studios make it for another channel, but am not completely surprised that they rejected it.


Maybe they meant Spring 2010?

Yeah, really bad times. Shame that we're going to have to wait for The Prisoner.

From what's been commented on here with links to article:

Collision: Likely to be spread across a week - maybe preceeding Britain's Got Talent finals week, or just after it?

An Englishman in New York: Think this'll turn up in a Thursday night slot sometime in the near future. Just seems to suit there with the title.

Wuthering Heights: They've only just announced the cast for the show, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been in production for some time. I can see it being held back to the autumn now.

Agatha Christie's Marple: Sunday's, probably 8pm-10pm slot preceded by Heartbeat or Kingdom. Aired possibly after Lewis is out of the way?

Albert's Memorial: Haven't heard much about this. It sounds like another Sunday night drama, so I'm going to plump it'll air over a Bank Holiday weekend, on either the Sunday or Monday. There's enough Bank Holiday's coming up to put it in!

U Be Dead: Has Monday Night Thriller written all over it. Maybe going to be held back until after the second run of Law and Order?

Boy Meets Girl: Probably another Bank Holiday drama.

The Fixer: I think there were indications this would be aired after the first run of Law and Order.

Kingdom: Sunday night coming soon? They've started airing it in Holland/Belgium so it can't be too far way. Possibly within the next month at 7pm?

Midsomer Murders: 8pm Sunday - just when is the question.

Blue Murder: Again, I thought there were indications that this would follow Moving Wallpaper/Al Murray in the Friday 9pm slot, after the success of Trial and Retribution in the Friday slot. Wonder why it was seemingly held back though, and Moving Wallpaper bought rapidly forward.

Agatha Christie's Poirot: Another Sunday series, probably 8pm.

Heartbeat: Another Sunday series, probably 7pm.

Actually Sunday's are looking slightly better than this time last year with ITV having a plan behind them. Heartbeat/Kingdom at 7pm followed by the 2 hour crime drama. Will keep them going to the summer at least.

Wuthering Heights is done and dusted. I think it's already aired in the States actually.

Tbh, I'm not too concerned. They do seem to have a considerable stack of drama and it makes sense to take advantage of this by holding some for 2010. That way viewers probably won't notice a difference, even if there is actually less being commissioned.

It seems suited most to a Sunday night slot - is it a one off or is it covering the story over a series? If it's the former, I can see it being aired over a Bank Holiday wekend. If it's a series - then surely Sunday night would be the most suitable place for it.

ITV really seem to be trying on Sunday's this year. Last year they seemed to have lost the plot on what they were doing after Dancing on Ice finished.

EDIT: Surely ITV can't be in that much of a financial meltdown? They wouldn't be recomissioning shows like Above Suspicion otherwise - just more reality TV/gameshows and relying on repeats with regards to drama.

I've just read this, which is beyond belief really...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/...5875-21226768/

This is inexcusable now. They already have a shameless copy of Come Dine With Me! It's called House Guest.

What land are they living in? Things like this really annoy me. You never find your next big hit this way. Big Brother, Deal or No Deal - original, distinctive, different.

8pm - 11pm is fine, but 6pm - 8pm is currently film repeats.

This is the channel that used to attract 9m at 7.30pm on a Sunday.

There is a lot of drama for the spring. But from initial indications, there doesn't seem to be much for summer or autumn. There's the remaining Law and Order: UK episodes for then, but what else is there?

I think ITV's summer ratings might be terrible. It looks like the BBC have scheduled a lot of drama for later in the year, and I don't think ITV will have much chance against that. At least last year there was Euro 2008 for a few weeks which brought in good advertiser-friendly ratings at peaktime. This year they don't even have that.

Talking of big events the BBC will be busy next year - Winter Olympics, World Cup, Commonwealth Games.

I'm looking forward to them all.

Bit annoying we have nothing in 2009 of major significance. 2011 Rugby will be on the early morning and thats about all that year too.

I doubt there will be much for summer, they tend to bury shows there. I'm thinking Millionaire on Tuesdays, Police Camera shows on Wednesdays, repeats on Friday nights, The Cube, The Wish List and All Star Mr and Mrs on Saturdays. Mondays might be The Fixer or possibly some Thriller repeats. Some factual shows will make their way in amongst that as well.

Autumn has the 6x60 minute series from the makers of Cold Feet, "Married, Single, Other". 6 hours worth of Foyles War. 4 Poirot and 4 Miss Marple stories are being adapted with some airing in autumn/winter. Plus 8 hours of Doc Martin as well as the remaining L&O episodes.

Yes, I'm looking forward to them too. But I read the other day that the the BBC have yet to agree a contract to cover next year’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and there is little progress in the talks.

Edit: right at the bottom of here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/art...s-war-LMA.html


How could I forget? The brilliant Doc Martin is back . You're right I think about summer; there's going to be a lot of repeats.

But...don't ITV Studios MAKE Come Dine With Me? I thought that was the one big argument when they made House Guest? That it was their format to start off with in the first place.


To be fair, ITV didn't start with the big hitters while Dancing On Ice was on, because that didn't air until 7 anyway. I guess they'll continue that format with film/news/Creature Comforts running up to 7, then Kingdom/Heartbeat followed by Marple/Poirot/Midsomer Murders and probably some repeats bunged in at some point along the way.


Will they be too concerned though? The main objective for ITV (and for any commercial channel) is to have a good run up to Christmas. Summer is always the weak point, because there's no point airing fresh programming for an audience who are not really buying. Save the best programming for spring (post Christmas/pre summer sales) and autumn (back to school/Christmas) where advertiser's will want to spend most.

Talking of BBC1 drama, what have they got coming back? New Tricks, Waking the Dead, Silent Witness, Spooks, Ashes to Ashes...that's five shows of at maximum 12 episodes? 60 more nights of new programming covered and we're only in March. Though admittedly I may have missed off a couple of programmes.

This is true, and for me, ITV could really build up a solid Sunday night schedule in loads of different ways. There could be many plans, as to be honest, the audience on other channels from 6pm-8pm is not spectacular either.

The 6pm-7pm slot on a Sunday night is calling for an early evening chat show in my opinion. Light hearted & focused on the older generation, I feel ITV's best bet would be to move The Alan Titchmarsh Show from weekdays to Sunday evenings. It could span the whole year.

The main point of this move is: it brings in a loyal audience early enough for ITV to control the evening. ITV now don't do 5pm chat shows, so a Sunday evening one would be filling a vacuum. It's cheap to make, and would probably start with around 3 million, making it up to 5 million viewers, as viewers start to tune in over a long series. I could see its success as similar to The One Show's on BBC1.

However, at 7pm there are other options that could still work after Alan Titchmarsh.

Plan A
Move the soaps back to Sunday nights, eliminating Tuesday's 7:30pm episode and Coronation Street's Friday night 8:30pm episode. Then, air 2 hour dramas [new+repeats] after it, and introducing a 'News at Ten' on Sunday's - this would provide stability. Another alternative could be an 8pm 1 hour drama [such as Kingdom] followed by 'Piers Morgan' shows.

Plan B
Re-commission old dramas Heartbeat & The Royal, combining the series with Wild at Heart and Kingdom to set up a 7pm drama rota across the year, keeping the soaps in their weekday slots. Then, a 2 hour drama at 8pm with 'News at Ten'

Plan C
Do neither & introduce entertainment shows. They tried this last year, with the only real successes Beat the Star and, of course, Dancing on Ice. Unfortunately, it couldn't be sustained, and in balance, ITV have a better slate of calm Sunday-esque dramas than calm, cosy gameshows.

And on a final note, with Piers Morgan's rejuvenation of late night chat shows for ITV, I bet executives are seething that Parkinson wasn't re-commissioned for specials, as I feel it could have got audiences of up to 6-7 million on a Sunday night at 9/10pm. I think it's target audience would be maximised.

I agree that ITV generally having their big shows in the spring/autumn/winter is the best option.

But I think they should still have some good stuff lined up for summer. At the moment, there's hardly anything. Maybe I'm speaking too early and they will probably announce a few things in the next couple of months.

But essentially, if they show good programmes the viewers will come, even in summer. Just look at the BBC with New Tricks getting close to 9m in July and August- simply astonishing. If ITV could even get half of that, I'm sure they'd be pleased. I just think sometimes they need to spread out their shows a bit more around the year.

It'll be interesting to see how Doc Martin does. It has been away for so long but when it was last on it was getting up to 10 million viewers. Will people have forgotten?

A few ideas for ITV summer:

Sunday nights could have The Royal at 8pm and then use the 9pm slot to air the 2 ITV3 drama's, "Ladies of Letters" and "Martina Cole's Lady Killers". I'm guessing that if they fit the ITV3 demographic, then they'll match up reasonably well with The Royal.

Monday nights could have The Fixer or otherwise, run some Doc Martin repeats to get viewers ready. Tuesdays would move Millionaire to 9pm. Wednesdays could run some cop shows. IIRC, they had a show about police dogs that did well last summer? Thursdays would be home to a few authored journey's if possible. And various other factual nonsense that they will no doubt commission. Fridays would be filled with repeats of the successful Monday Night Thrillers, Place of Execution, Unforgiven, Whitechapel etc.

Saturday nights have You've Been Framed, The Cube and The Wish List and I think All Star Mr and Mrs will run into the summer.

I'd also have delayed Hells Kitchen, but I suspect it's too late for that now.

I think ITV had the same idea - hence trying him out in an early evening slot on a Sunday before Christmas. I think he just scraped 3m, so no better than what ITV are getting now, and he hardly appeals to the all important advertising demographic - of two shows are scraping 3m, then they'd chose the one which'd attract more 18-35s.

I can't see an audience being that loyal to Alan Titchmarsh. If you'd said Fern Britton, then maybe, just maybe, that would work.


A strong plan, but would affect ITV on Tuesday's and Friday's where they would lose audience, and not give the 9pm show any leg up on Friday's.


I think this is what they're thinking of at the moment, but want to see whether Heartbeat can stabilise for putting it into full action.


Of course, there is a risky Plan D: move the Saturday entertainment shows to Sunday. Saturday can be filled up with the gameshows - they suit more there, and it fits in with ITV's 'history' alongside the quiz shows and family dramas (it'd really help if they could find another drama to help out Primeval)

Sunday could then have the support of Dancing On Ice (January-March), Britain's Got Talent (April-May) and The X Factor (September-December), with June-August being filled up with the 7pm cosy drama/8pm crime drama formula.


If Parkinson had been recomissioned, he would've aired on Saturday's. If Plan D was put into operation, I'd guess Piers Morgan would move there too to make room for the reality TV shows.

Just been reading more into this.

Sounds like a nightmare.

The BBC will be holding out for a smaller price. Quite right too I suppose, with the amount of money they will have to spend on production and security - on something that might end up getting moved elsewhere (although we are so far down the track now that is really not an option).

It's worrying that all the major sporting events set for Delhi have been postponed or pulled in recent months. If they can't hold a World Badmington Championships there has to be serious doubts about a Commonwealth Games.

I do want it to go there though - they are building new trains and railways and motorways and terminals for it. It's so much expense that will be wasted if the CGF has to pull it.

I think it was important for ITV to have a strong start to the year this time round, after a rather disastrous 2008 where nothing semmed to pay off. I think they may have sacrificed some of the summer stuff, either bringing it forward (was Moving Wallpaper a show that would've been aired in the Summer but bought forward?) or putting it back until autumn.

I'm guessing they will hold back on the dramas in the summer, and maybe try something like this:

Monday - The Fixer: didn't do too brilliantly last time round, so not one of ITV's big white hopes.

Tuesday - Cops on Cameras: Does reasonably well, and Tuesday's do appear to be 'dross night' for most channels now.

Wednesday - Travelogues:The Thursday night spot will probably not be vacant come the summer, and they may try something diferent on a traditionally weak night for BBC1.

Thursday - The Bill: Though considering Ashes for Ashes and Hotel Babylon may be taking this slot on BBC, ITV may regret the move, but moving it is.

Friday - Blue Murder: Though this may be held back until autumn now.

The 8pm slots on Tuesday will probably have Millionnaire; Wednesday a cheap documentary on the lines of Homes From Hell, and Thursday possibly a review of the Champions League season or something like that.

No, I don't think so. I think it could actually increase people's anticipation for the show as it's not been on air for about 2 years. At least by not airing last year, the show won't be stale (or as stale as it would have been if it had a series last year).


The ITV Insider person on Twitter has said it's starting "very soon". They didn't give any specific dates, but I would imagine mid-to-late April. It would mean an episode on one Tuesday not being shown due to Champions League Football.

People say that moving Emmerdale and Coronation Street from their worst performing weekday's is a bad thing, because the weekdays would suffer as a result

I think it could initially, before the changes bedded in. But ITV need to see the bigger picture. They tried to in 2008, but they did it all too quickly. Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach was a good concept, on the wrong channel. Starting out on ITV2, it could have been promoted to ITV1 with both critical acclaim (which in all fairness it got for the concept alone), even if it was shown in a post News at Ten slot.

By moving Emmerdale and Coronation Street, ITV can swiftly introduce other shows that appeal to a broad, youngish audience, especially in that Friday 8:30pm slot.

That slot could be filled by a music show. Would a show with the Singles/Album Charts, Interviews & a couple of live acts really cost that much? And do you think it has the appetite to claim a 5 million+ audience on a regular basis.

Tuesday 7:30pm could be filler consumer shows: these shows tend to hold 3-4m against EastEnders, which is good business.

Whilst 'Tonight' probably costs more money to make without reeking in the benefits, it's good for ITV's reputation, and adds some variety.

Although House Guest has been dubbed a copy of Come Dine with Me, I think it's still a good show - I only saw a couple & I thought they were good. Plus, they got very good daytime audiences if I remember.

The Tuesday 7:30pm slots could have these type of entertainment/factual programmes. They are a cross between the two definitely, and therefore appeal to quite a wide audience.

The question is: Do ITV have a better chance of consolidating Sunday night slots or Tuesday/Friday night slots without the soaps?

THE ACTUAL POINT MADE HERE:
Because with the financial troubles, a strategy needs to be efficient, and at the moment, I can see ITV's Sunday night schedule falling with its expensive drama not having the sufficient lead-in.

I agree- I think the Fixer may have to now be shown in the summer. After Law and Order: Uk ends, there's Hell's Kitchen starting soon after. Then there's Britain's Got Talent week. Summer sounds like a good bet for the show.


The Bill will definitely avoid Ashes to Ashes because that's starting in the next 2-3 weeks. Hote Babylon... meh... I don't think that will be too difficult for The Bill to compete against .


According to cylon6, ITV sent out an email recently saying that Blue Murder will be shown sometime in April/May. Perhaps as C14E says, they will show repeats of their succesful 'Monday Night Thrillers' on the Fridays?


I think Millionaire should be promoted to Tuesday 9pm. It showed at the end of last year that in the 9pm slot it can get around 5m. I think it's being wasted away up against Holby City at the moment.