Could tempt BBC One to move their dramas back to Mondays at 9pm. They seem to have more or less abandoned Mondays at 9pm for drama this year, and they've had a couple of four to five week gaps on Tuesdays.

ITV could do worse than keeping either Martin or Lewis for January, otherwise they won't have a returning hit for Winter.

I think the scheduling will depend on whether Martin Clunes is prepared to film another series in 2017, though. He really calls the shots with Doc Martin. If it has a future, they might schedule it carefully again this autumn, but if this year's series is the last, they might be prepared to fling it on Tuesdays or Wednesdays and hope for the best.

I can imagine, having heard Birmingham fans singing a song about Villa in the past.

I like him, but I don't see the point in giving him a variety show if there's only one guest I've actually heard of.

..................although you do have to sing that little bit louder to be heard from The Championship

They do seem to have abandoned Mondays, whilst Wednesdays and Thursdays seem to be getting used more. The only drama they've aired on Monday this year was Silent Witness (conveniently against Broadchurch). I think they will end up using Mondays for something at least, even if it's just for the final run of New Tricks.

Clunes definitely calls the shots though. I think he probably would be happy to do more to be fair. He seems happy to do it as long as it is only once every two years. I think it'll definitely air in the Autumn though, but I do think they could benefit more from giving a new show that Monday slot. Doc Martin might take a hit on another night but it'd probably still do well.

Lewis could well turn up in January. There's a lot of drama to fit in this Autumn (Downton x9, Doc Martin x8, Prey x3, Jekyll & Hyde x10, Unforgotten x6, The Trials of Jimmy Rose x3 and potentially Lewis x6 and Endeavour x4 and a couple of one-offs). With the rugby taking up slots something might have to give. It probably depends on whether Jekyll & Hyde is for 9pm or not as if not that frees up some slots.

New Tricks will be tricky to schedule this autumn. It always rated best on Mondays, but maybe it'd be better off on Tuesdays if ITV goes down the factual route again. A couple of the wheels came off New Tricks quite unexpectedly last autumn, and there are no guarantees the other two won't fall off this year.


I think Lewis still has the potential for higher overnights than it managed last year, but maybe only if it goes on Sundays or Mondays in Winter.

Ninja Warrior works well for children on Saturday night, I just like to see more courses as they only have one dragged out.

I think if they promote it as being the final series it should hold the audience it had last year. itll be interesting to see whether they give it kid glove treatment or use it as essentially filler against strong competition on ITV.


I agree, I don't think the Friday slot served it particularly well. It did very well on January Mondays in 2013 (up against strong competition too in new Miranda and Mrs Brown) so that could well be worth a shot again. With no Broadchurch they need something decent to go in that slot. They've got some quite risky big commissions in drama airing early next year (Beowulf, Jericho, Victoria) so having something solid and safe up their sleeves in Lewis could be useful. There's also the matter of running the final 10 episodes of Mr Selfridge somewhere where it isn't going to stink out the evening.

Are they definitely going to be the last ones?

I thought Ripper Street might go on Fridays at 9pm this June, but now I'm wondering if it will be Celebrity Masterchef from 8.30-10.00pm.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/lat...-professionals

The provisional schedules for w/c 8th June say the BBC are lining up The Met for Monday nights at 9pm so maybe they're looking to use the night once again; especially as the opposition will only be Vicious/Off Their Rockers.


Isn't there another series of Grantchester being line up as well? Or am I imagining it.

If you all want a post-BGT ratings meltdown, you'll be thrilled to see the temperatures heading into next weekend...

Pretty sure Mr Selfridge was devised as a 4 year show from the off, so I'm pretty certain it'll be the last one. I suspect it was only renewed this time to let them finish it.

Ah, yeah I think it might be MasterChef in that slot then. I can't see where else they'll put a 90 minute show. Isn't Celebrity MasterChef normally 6 weeks? In which case Ripper Street could then run from mid-July on Fridays.


The Met is a documentary not a drama, I believe.

Grantchester is coming back but is filming later in the year this time so probably won't air until early 2016.

They'll be 'OMG this show is dead' being heard for everyone

From what I can tell Channel 5 is still mostly Big Brother, benefits & some cheap factual. Not where I expected it to be months into the apparent Viacom rejuvenation...

Thanks.


Yes, it's a six-week series this year, too, so if they followed it with Ripper Street in July, it would more or less take them up to HIGNFY in October.

Don't forget the cricket highlights, and also the fact than Channel 5 has acquired the rights to broadcast highlights from the Football League matches on Saturday nights.

They're going to have to find something more popular than Big Brother to boost their ratings soon though. BB is still one of C5's top programmes, but I wouldn't care to be how long it will stay that way. There was a reason why Channel 4 ditched it.

No doubt Mr Cowell has had a word with the man upstairs to ensure the hot weather wasn't booked in for this weekend.

Something like say Formula 1 or MotoGP or World Touring Cars or French Open or Tour De France or Rugby could work for Channel 5.

Sorry, my mistake - I swear Digiguide said it was a drama.

I imagine all of those bar the World Touring Cars and the MotoGP would be too expensive for Channel 5 to gamble on. That said, I do think they need to expand their sports output, perhaps try and get the rights to some live cricket coverage? It may not be a huge ratings winner but I'm sure it would get more viewers than their standard daytime stuff?

Does anybody know what sort of ratings The Wright Stuff is getting? Perhaps a revamp of that could also boost the numbers. I've always thought if they put it on a bit earlier and added a news bulletin, they could potentially compete with Breakfast, Good Morning Britain and Lorraine.

Just proves that BBC One is the home of the FA Cup. The whole build up made the day special again, not the rushed and advert ridden build up ITV had.

Rain and strong winds Monday and Tuesday, then temperatures rising in mid week.

England v Yugoslavia

BGT should get 10 million tonight. I know there hasn't been as much of a buzz about this series as previous ones, but BGT is still the biggest of Cowell's two main shows.

Still far too early to judge. Television moves far slower than you might think.

There's a rebrand coming up later in the year and the channel will begin its push into homegrown comedy, from there C5 under Viacom will begin to take shape.

We're also going to see a lot more of the channels working together, especially when C5 moves into the main Viacom headquarters in Camden. At the moment they are still working from the Northern & Shell premises, which cannot be ideal.

This for me is still a transitional phase and onscreen you shouldn't expect to have seen too many changes just yet.

But two things that have very much caught the eye so far and suggest Viacom will do things differently:
* The amount of money they spent on US acquisition Gotham. Admittedly it didn't pay off, but it shows they are willing to invest heavily in the right content.
* Returning football to the channel by securing the Football League highlights, and filling what's been for a long time a difficult slot for most of the year.