Anything for Cordon?

Well, thanks, and thanks for the housewarming messages, but if the thread is relying on my continued presence it really is in dire straits.


Yeah, I think they were still showing 1997 episodes of Big Break in 2000, certainly they were still showing them with the old BBC logo for absolutely ages. In 2000, in fact, they were showing some episodes billed as repeats...
http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules...don/2000-05-27
...which at the time seemed an outrageous bit of programming. I remember there was one around that time where Virgo introduced someone as having lost that year's World Championships and then Davidson said it would sound weird when it was repeated on UK Gold. Sounded weird enough on first broadcast.

On the Mausoleum Club Forum someone who used to do the graphics on Big Break has posted regularly with some amusing stories from the series. There was one episode where Jim suggested a contestant looked like Sunny Mann, the wife of the hostage Jackie Mann, and expressed his hope he'd soon be released. It was then kept on the shelf for ages and on the day it was due to be broadcast, the graphics guy was looking in the Radio Times, worked out from the snooker players billed it was that episode and phoned the producer John Burrowes to remind him that was in there, and Jackie Mann had long since been released. Burrowes had totally forgotten and had to go into TV Centre that day to edit it out.

That 1994 series of the Gen Game was an odd one because as well as the one where Davidson stood in there was also another edition where it was billed as a normal episode but was actually a clip show, I remember Brucie did some new links for it and him saying because it was his last series they thought it would be nice to look back at the run. I remember the papers reporting that was a very last minute affair and everyone was a bit concerned that Brucie was getting too old and ill and he was on the brink of retirement. 21 years ago.


Yeah, it's always rated rather low because it's not the massive populist affair the Last Night is. In 2005, the first half was actually shown on BBC1...
http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules...don/2005-07-15
...but they never showed it there again so you can guess how well that did. That was quite controversial actually because to appeal to the BBC1 audience they put the notes that were usually on the red button explaining the works on the programme itself, and everyone complained it was dumbed down and patronising.

A strange period, that, on Friday nights in the summer of 2005, because Top of the Pops had moved to BBC2 the week before so they tried all kinds of things there, the Proms in the first week (some contrast), then live athletics and then for a couple of weeks live travel show Departure Lounge for an hour from 7-8pm. Looks like they were trying to make that slot a bit special, a bit weekend-starts-here, but eventually they abandoned that idea and just did the usual light factual like every other night.


Yes, I agree with this. It's not like there are many Proms on BBC2 so they're hardly a huge imposition on the schedules and it's the most obvious piece of PSB imaginable. The Proms are important because they're on BBC2 and not all exiled to BBC4, just like The South Bank Show used to be very important not just for what it did in the programme itself but because it was the arts on ITV (and why on Sky Arts it just appears like every other programme).


Pretty Woman used to be a massive staple for ITV, though, it used to get a 9pm outing at least once a year in the nineties. Because my sister used to watch it every single time it was broadcast, even though she used to know it off by heart. Father of the Bride was another one. Can't be too snooty about that, though, I used to watch every single Alright on the Night repeat, no matter how often I'd seen them.



Well, funny you should mention that because last week's episode seems to have divided opinion a lot because it was an experiemental episode based around a murder mystery. I know my mum thought it was total crap, but to give Casualty credit it does occasionally try and do something different which you can do when you're making so many episodes a year. Although Casualty viewers are watching it because they want to watch Casualty and don't neccessarily want to see something "different".


PEDANTRY ALERT: It wasn't on BBC2, it was moved to BBC1 to replace the rained-off golf.

Andy Murray really is helping the BBC schedulers at the moment, he lost at Wimbledon right in time for the regional news to start dead at 6.30, yesterday his match was a suitable replacement for the golf and today he managed to win five minutes before the scheduled end of the coverage. It was then extended by fifteen minutes to do all the presentations and interviews, but it worked terribly well for them.

Have to say thats exactly what I think too. Who decided we have to have celeb gameshows anyway?

I'd forgotten about some being billed as repeats, but I can't remember if they actually were repeats.

I notice on the 2005 link you posted, there's a My Family repeat not marked as one.


It sounds as though Burrowes really cared about his work, because there were one or two editions shown around that time where some of the contestants had died since the shows had been recorded, and the announcements at the end looked as though they'd been embedded in the programme, rather than just being live continuity announcements.

When they started to rate better than civilian version. As CBB shows (although not a gameshow)

Given that there is no One Show this week, I won't be surprised if The Housing Enforcers is dropped completely, with The Open coverage on until 7pm, and the News Hour following it.

On current trends CBB gets double what BB gets, and although it has suffered a severe drop in its ratings since its glory days, there's still enough interest in it for Channel 5 to continue.
OTOH BB is toast. 1.2 million for a final is a disaster and some episodes have fallen below a million this year. Just to think, BB2 had 10 million viewers for its final and the overall rating for the show in 2005 was 6 million. I really do think it's time BB was pulled as even the Daily Star has relegated it to the middle pages.

Looks like that's the plan, if required.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/26768244

Trouble is both shows come as a package, you can't have one without the other.

The celebrity version has gone on to a be a huge success, not bad for a show that was oringally axed in 2002

I take it that a condition of the rights is that the last days coverage has to air on bbc 1

All BBC 1 shows are starting 5 minutes late tonight

Its not as important as a Murray match, In fact they will get more viewers showing Pointless while booting golf off to BBC2.

Well they started 15 mins late last week, so they are getting closer!


Well there always were celeb game shows but they tended to just be at Christmas etc rather than all year round.

As said, the fact they rate better than civilian ones is probably one reason, plus the obsession with celeb culture these days. Also with so many choices these days game shows are less popular so you have to try harder to get people to watch. A celeb you may like rather than just 'Paul, an accountant from Bristol' is one way to do this. Also probably why you don't tend to get boring people on prime time game shows anymore, often they are bubbly/out going/annoying types.

And before anyone singles out ITV, the BBC and others do this just as much, Celeb Masterchef, Celeb Mastermind, Celeb Pointless, various Celeb spin offs for Comic Relief etc etc.

No matter how late they're running there's ALWAYS time to trail some other crap isn't there? Two weeks in a row now on Sunday - Amateur hour.

The Joanna Lumley travelogue series is a real treat for Sunday nights. Lets hope ITV commission some more series with Joanna if this one does well.

Well why not make some deal with Endemol? It's clear BB is failing badly, Australia has axed it twice and other countries have only shown it sporadically, but CBB still attracts an audience that is good by Channel 5 standards.
TBH I'd rather watch paint dry than endure a bunch of glamour models, failed soap actors and not very good sportsmen prat around in a fake house for 3 weeks, while a bunch of braying idiots stand outside. I've downloaded an entire series of Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads from 1973, a hugely popular sitcom in its day and which has millions of fans now, where no one would seriously want to sit through BB/CBB after 42 years.

Peter Alliss confirmed this afternoon that contrary to rumours the BBC still have the Open rights for next yesr.

He said it goes to Sky in 2017, but there will be a two hour highlights show each night, so it's not as bad as people are saying.

I think ITV should have tried a regular Family Fortunes and Mr & Mrs then done a few celeb specials. The Chase, Tipping Point and Pointless show people will watch quizzes featuring the general public.

as I understand the franchise that is the last movie in it, I would have expected that to do a littler better, than 3 million all counted.


there was a time Casualty didnt air on the Summer, but the ratings speak for themselves its the most watch show of the evening, it may not be betting 15 million viewers, but nothing does anymore. There is no question less would be more when it comes to Casualty, but the ratings are respectable, and im no sure what the BBC would fill the hole with.

as for Big Brother, I dont see why Viacom cant renew JUST Celebrity Big Brother, the only downside would be you use the house less.

Might be. I can't remember exactly when they started showing the final day on BBC One. 1998, maybe?

When did they start showing it on BBC Two?

I don't know. Possibly the year BBC Two was launched, so it would have been in colour?

Regarding big brother, the contract must be for two series a year in some form. Even when there hasn't been a celebrity series due to the axing of cbb in 2002 and then the gap year in 2007 there's been a spinoff, teen bb in 2003, bb panto in 2004 and celebrity highjack in 2007.

BBC2 launched in 1964 and didn't go into colour until 1967

In the seventies the final day's play was on BBC One. 99.9% certain.