No. Because Downton is always on Sunday and Doc Martin is on Monday. Two of the best days for ratings as more people are around.

They do need to find some solid returning drama & factual shows. They have Long Lost Family, For The Love Of Dogs and Grantchester but more are needed.

I think the presenter wrote the book the series is based on. I'll need to check that.
Well quite. They can't complain about Strictly clashes where demos between the shows are mainly different then clash soaps where the demos are similar.

Looks like XF will be back up to the regular 7ms (8m +1) this weekend if it emulates CBB's post bank holiday effect as well as the attention Sunday's show in particular gained.

What happened Sunday ? All I read about was crashing ratings

Its best since the Olympic Torch episode in July 2012 thanks to the big Masood storyline they're airing at present.

All these Emmerdale clashes are really harming EastEnders. Holby shouldn't be out rating it. The BBC should be protecting their flagship show.

Can not be bothered to have this debate again, Bake Off will get four times more then the amount of viewers that X Factor will get these days.

I agree, the BBC should switch Holby to 7.30pm and Eastenders to 8.30pm on a Tuesday clash if they want to keep the pace going. But any change of timeslot should be advertised at every junction with a high rated programme, as well as of course on the closing credits of the previous episode. Hell i would even go as far as having an on screen caption just before the credits rolled on the episode - usually when a character is just having their duff duff moment.

BIB - I realise this is largely about scheduling, but ITV gave Emmerdale a big cash injection this summer, whereas EastEnders is subject to the same year-on-year cuts that blight every BBC programme. So while the head-to-heads are obviously damaging EastEnders, there are other issues in the mix, too.

ITV has tried using Emmerdale to attack EastEnders for about 20 years now - former Emmerdale exec Keith Richardson was quite open about wanting to bring it down. Unfortunately for Emmerdale, nothing it does ever quite seems to be enough for it to steal any of EastEnders' limelight; there have been strong episodes in recent years that could (and arguably should) have netted it BAFTAs, but they've not even had a nomination … and the tabloids seem fixated on EE and CS, while Hollyoaks laps up all the younger demographic. So, in a sense, the BBC can afford to ignore these skirmishes … unless ITV sense blood - but EastEnders doesn't seem to be anywhere near the troubled territory it was a few years back.

In any case, you would think that ITV has other things to prioritise now …

This Morning did very well.

Disagree as EE fans will catch up on Three and IPlayer moving Holby out of a regular slot damages it and it delivers good Drama viewers to the 9 pm drama on One that always does well.

ITV need to put their money where their mouths are and stop stupid clashes.

Deleted.

That rating for The Hotel Inspector is poor. How come Channel 5 have decided to put it on at 10pm? It was in a more prominent slot before and it's one of the channel's most popular programmes, so I don't know why they have put it in such an inappropriate slot. 7pm or 8pm before CBB would have been better. Maybe it was running scared of Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners, but they could have still aired it at 7pm. It could have complimented the soaps well and done a better rating.

Celebrity Big Brother is bouncing back. I think the celebrity series should be doing 1.5m at least.

Channel 4 had a decent night. And it has some good new programming coming up, so I think the channel is in good shape at the moment.

Poor for ITV. I think the documentary at 9pm will perform better tonight, and will be nailed on for 2.5-3m as it is crime focused. Police shows usually perform ok in the ratings. Rookies did ok earlier in the summer for them. They should be aiming much higher though.

Bake Off will be ahead the whole series reckon. But X Factor could still rate better this week.

He doesn't always appear to have his brain in gear during interviews. There was an unpleasant comment about the Strictly producers in an interview last year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29002263

Watch is this "catch up" you speak of? I don't know what it is.

What debate is this?? Where did anybody say X Factor would beat Bake Off?

Yes, a few extra writers for the last few episodes, but Croft and Lloyd did most of series 5 themselves. I've always wondered whether the extra writers were planned, or if they were an emergency measure to meet deadlines.

So? Does it have to beat the Great British Bore Off to get reasonable/decent figures?

Content sharing at Viacom continues. The US sitcom Friends is returning to terrestrial after an absence of 4 years via Channel 5 for a special marathon on (Sunday) September 13:

I suspect TXF may benefit from the bad press about the ratings as the curious tune in to see what all the fuss is about.

But those ratings still represent a shot across the bows for ITV also and the music industry, both of which have let TXF dominate to an unhealthy extent for too long.

Great British Bore Off?

Oh, I see...you mean Great British Bake Off! Ooh, what are you like!!!

James Purnell said the BBC had reversed the EastEnders budget cuts because they realised they'd been having a detrimental effect.


Some of Richardson's comments came across as quite swivel-eyed at times. I think he damaged Emmerdale more than anything when they were contriving endless conflagrations for the hour-long episodes. People still use the "Explosiondale" era as a stick to beat it with now.

No thanks!

Five learning nothing from E4 using Friends as a crutch for years I see. 14 years isn't enough of a gap let alone four.

What's "special" about back to back repeats of what must be the most repeated show on telly? If they want to celebrate Friends commission a new doco or some introductions to episodes from cast and crew members. Anything to freshen up the unappetising prospect of yet more polyfilla programming using this show to fill gaps.

Seasons DVD sets can be picked up for pennies now, such is the oversaturation so scheduling five hours(!) on TV in one go is hardly going to tantalise the advertisers or the audience.

Boxsets are dying, to be fair. Such a waste to buy a physical copy in this day and age, unless it's something really rare and unlikely to be streamed.

Although I think the terms of Viacom's broadcast deal prevents Friends from appearing on either Netflix or Amazon at the moment - in this country at least, without "workarounds." Might be on Now TV (where you'll find all Viacom's key pay brands including Comedy Central) but I haven't looked.

Anyway, good to see Friends back on Freeview. It may be old but it's still highly watchable. Fairly sure it would rate better than Home & Away in the 6pm slot and perhaps they will consider using it there over the Christmas period when H&A is off if the marathon is a ratings success.