It was a nice little documentary and it would have got 2m higher on BBC1

Should have called it "Young chavs some of which may be on benefits and might have a gypsy background learn to skate. With Torville and Dean" to get the channel 4 and 5 twitter bait viewers.

BBC One's MasterChef tops Thursday ratings with 4.5m

MasterChef topped the ratings outside soaps on Thursday (April 9), according to overnight data.

The latest episode of the cooking contest was seen by 4.54m (22.7%) at 8pm. The Truth About Your Medicine Cabinet followed with 4.12m (20.1%) at 9pm, while Question Time interested 2.48m (24.2%) at 10.45pm.

On BBC Two, Coast Australia was seen by 1.50m (7.5%), before Banished continued with 1.89m (9.2%) at 9pm, and Inside No. 9 entertained 860k (5.1%) at 10pm.

ITV's Tonight gathered 1.59m (8.8%) at 7.30pm (52k/0.3% on +1), before Double Decker Driving School averaged 2.27m (11.2%) at 8.30pm (92k/0.4%) at 8.30pm, and Ice Rink on the Estate intrigued 1.39m (6.8%) at 9pm (121k/0.8%).

The Supervet continued with 1.40m (7.0%) on Channel 4 at 8pm (274k/1.3%), while the second episode of The Island with Bear Grylls rose to 2.01m (9.8%) at 9pm (300k/2.0%).

On Channel 5, The Last Days Of interested 812k (4.1%) at 8pm (90k/0.4%), while The Hotel Inspector was watched by 1.06m (5.1%) at 9pm (92k/0.6%). The Mentalist followed with 659k (4.1%) at 10pm (47k/0.5%).

E4's latest episode of The Big Bang Theory amused 900k (4.4%) at 8.30pm (288k/1.4%), while Brooklyn Nine-Nine tickled 358k (1.8%) at 9pm (102k/0.6%).

On ITV2, Celebrity Juice entertained 793k (5.0%) at 10pm. Sky Atlantic's Fortitude concluded with 476k (2.3%) at 9pm, while the first of Mad Men's final seven episodes brought in 109k (0.7%).

Who would then be around to produce their flop zone Tuesdays ?

I'm sure if they had Benefits in the title though, it would have doubled their ratings

Shares remain ok though - it really looks like a lot of the casual audiences are finding other things to do. Might ED do better if it was pushed back in the schedules. Maybe 2 one hour eps at 8.00pm twice a week.

I know. The title was appalling. The actual show from what I saw was very nice and deserved to do OK. Torvill & Dean are clearly a draw but I bet most viewers didn't know they were on that show last night. If nothing else they should have put Torvill & Dean's names in the title. I believe the working title was 'Torvill & Dean's Skate Estate' which may have worked better.

Very crappy ratings last night there wonder what most were watching else where?
I watched Continuum and Ghost Adventures.

Thursday 9 April Soap Ratings
13:15- Home and Away: 180k (3.0%)
13:45- Neighbours: 589k (10.5%)
17:30- Neighbours: 614k (5.5%)
18:00- Home and Away: 551k (4.1%)
18:30- Hollyoaks: 638k (4.2%)
19:00- Emmerdale: 5.58m (33.1%)
19:30- EastEnders: 6.31m (34.7%)
20:00- Emmerdale: 5.05m (25.6%), +1: 247k (1.2%)

I'm a bit disappointed Emmerdale was down on yesterday after rising through the week, but there was hot weather and the second episode was against Masterchef.

That's a really nice 400k climb for The Island, that's more like it!

Round up.

BBC1:
Masterchef- 4.54m
Truth About Your Medicine Cabinet- 4.12m
Question Time- 2.48m

BBC2:
Coast Australia- 1.50m
Banished- 1.89m
Inside No 9- 860k

ITV:
Tonight- 1.64m
Double Decker Driving School- 2.36m
Ice Rink on the Estate- 1.51m

CH4:
Supervet- 1.67m
The Island with Bear Grylls- 2.31m

Ch5:
The Last Days Of- 902k
The Hotel Inspector- 1.15m
The Mentalist- 708k

E4:
The Big Bang Theory- 1.19m
Brooklyn Nine Nine- 460k

ITV2:
Celebrity Juice- 793k

Sky Atlantic:
Fortitude- 476k
Mad Men- 109k

Sky Living is stopping original productions and that budget is moving to Sky1. That's from Broadcast.

Another interesting tidbit from Broadcast that's worth pointing out. ITV realising they should use The Chase more.

Looks like that push for Sky Living hasn't worked out. I guess Mount Pleasant will move back to Sky1.

I guess that'll mean fewer breaks for The Chase. Although it's taking one soon with The Paul O'Grady Show coming back. Wonder how that'll do this time? I remember the numbers last year being quite disappointing but it did have a lead-in from the flop Ejector Seat whereas this time they've left Tipping Point at 4pm which might help.

A few other bits from Broadcast:

-ITV have ordered a 3 part series called The Bully Project to be presented by Ashley Banjo where kids who are bullied film their experiences with hidden cameras and the footage is then shown to the bullies and to others.
-They've also ordered a 3 part fly on the wall series at Heathrow airport and are looking at rebooting Braniac.
-Meanwhile Channel 4 have commissioned a documentary about the Queen's VE Day celebrations.

People love The Chase and it's understandable that ITV have finally seen sense and increased the order number. Personally I would have The Chase in an early Saturday evening slot when the regular midweek shows are on their break. The final two Saturday shows could then bookend the return of the midweek show, hopefully bringing new viewers along with it. This would reduce viewer fatigue which could happen as we have seen with The Weakest Link.

Channel 5 Programme Info w/c 25th April

My Million Pound Council House (New)
Autopsy: The OJ Simpson Murder Case (New)

New to daytime: Cowboy Builders & Bodge Jobs
New to Spike: The Walking Dead (Season 5), Assassination Games (Movie Premiere)
New to milkshake!: Lily's Driftwood Bay (Series 1)

Source: C5 Press.

Also Pointless is into repeats again from Monday (Just 3 weeks after the new series started). Looks like they're saving the other 7 weeks worth of episodes from this series for when The Chase returns.

Blimey, Spike got TWD quickly, I suspect that'll be successful for them. In this in addition to the repeats?

I imagine Viacom and 5 will be looking for shows for Spike at the LA Screenings in addition to shows for the main channel and 5USA and 5*. A comedy block would work for Spike although I think it would be more beneficial for 5*

Can't believe a week (maybe two) after I asked if it was coming back it did and I've completely missed it

Thought that Torville & Dean show was quite good, deserved a higher figure although the title shouldn't have been what it was.

Emma willis has tweeted to say her and Rylan are at a bb photo shoot today. Seems that the rumours of an early launch for the summer series may well be true.

Didn't it just! I was expecting August same as last year, and that seemed to tie in with the rerun pattern. But nope, it's back at the end of this month with a double bill.

Which, considering it only just finished up on pay TV, is not bad going at all. Normally there's a bit more of a gap than that.

I think they should air the launch on the last Sunday in May then broadcast the first set of highlights episodes at 10pm off the back of Britain's Got Talent. That's working on the assumption that ITV will air finals week in the usual place.

So has BB been extended or will there be a longer break between BB ending and CBB starting?

They surely wouldn't run CBB in the middle of the summer? They are pushing it a bit already starting mid August.

The rumour is that there will be a proper break between the normal series and the celebrity one. I'm not sure if the length of the potential gap has been stated though.

In the simon cowell and Amanda Holden phone prank he said the live shows were running Monday - Sunday but I dont know if that is right or not

That sounds sensible in that case.

The rumours I've seen suggest a month between the bb final and cbb launch. Certainly seems that bb will launch earlier this year, would be very very early for a shoot if they were sticking to a June launch

I wonder if Spike might try and get FTA rights to the spin-off? FOX International Channels isn't handling it so they won't get first dibs and the only AMC channel that could air in the UK is probably The Horror Channel.

That's a shame about Sky Living but I thought something like that might happen, Sky have sadly ruined the once popular LIVING when it was owned by Virgin. The channel used to have a clear proposition, defined audience, strong brand and a good mix of programming but Sky clearly didn't know what to do with it and have made it into another bland channel with no clear focus or identity. Beginning of the end I think.

If they now say Sky Living will be focusing almost exclusively on US dramas going forward, where does that leave Sky Atlantic, which does mostly the same thing.