Watched the soaps for the first time in quite a while
Hollyoaks just seems like its made up on the day
Corrie is trying to hard...comedy of errors with them trying to clear the cellar and contrived "suspence"
EastEnders it seems they've realised they've cocked up the Lucy storyline so are now just going fullforce into wrecking every character involved. Lets not start on killer Ronnie and the guy from 90's MTV
No wonder the ratings are lagging, funnily enough though i never watched Emmerdale which seems to be at least holding the imagination of its fanbase and keeping a steady rating

Gatiss episodes in DW have been patchy at best, cant see him in charge.

If anyone were to replace Moffatt at Doctor Who does it have to be a fan. I think that is the problem. Whilst someone who knows the show backwards would please them the new audience it attracted from its revival have largely ebbed away because fans are running it and it has become too introspective.

It needs to go back to basics with good adventure stories, more time travel adventures on Earth as opposed to way out (in every respect) planets and easy to understand though scary plots. The fans will watch in any circumstances and you can add little things to please them without making the plot revolve around them and so lose everybody else.

It is a simple formula really.

As for who could take it on - think outside the box of usual suspects. There must be possibilities. Fort instance, after the Midwinter adaptation likely won't be going anywhere past series 1 part 3, Stephen Volk might be free and he can write scary but believable stories that do not require a Doctorate in 'Whoology' to comprehend.

Is strictly roughly 8 mins per couple including intro, dance, judges comments and scores?

Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree with you there. The Gatiss episodes are among some of my favourites. This neologism that Moffatt and Gatiss focus too much on the fans at the expense of the casual audience doesn't really stand up. They both write episodes of Sherlock and that draws in a huge casual audience in addition to the fans and no-one says that they pander to the Sherlock fanbase there.

That's pretty much what Kevin O'Sullivan said about it on telly this morning.

As an outsider looking in, only watching the odd episode here and there, I tend to agree that that is the most likely reason for its decline.

Never understood that criticism. Last Saturdays episode could be enjoyed by anyone as everything you needed to know was explained. There was certainly more back references in the 50th and that got record ratings and appreciation.

Going to be some interesting ratings tomorrow. The 9pm battle is quite interesting with the return of Strictly. Last year it launched to 6.5m but that was against The X Factor (5.3m exc +1). The year before it was on 7.8m - so a figure around then seems realistic.

The 8pm battle between EE and Emmerdale is also interesting. No head start for the latter - can it still beat EE? I'm not convinced with EE been in its regular slot. But Emmerdale did end on a good cliffhanger and is sandwiched between double Corrie which (in theory) should be on some form of bounce from Wednesday's live episode and could potentially push Emmerdale ahead of EE.

I thought tonight's Corrie was brilliant tbh. Classic Corrie that there is humour in even the darkest of situations. The dark humour stops the show from becoming a clone of EastEnders. I found it hilarious.

Well I obviously disagree about Gatiss but I do agree with the rest of your post.

Here's how previous Friday editions of Strictly have rated.

2014 - 6.53m (28.5%), peak - 6.67m (28.7%) - X Factor clash
2013 - 7.81m (35.2%), peak - 8.07m
2012 - 8.00m (34.0%), peak - 8.60m
2011 - 7.98m (33.1%), peak - 8.36m (34.1%)
2010 - 9.05m (38.2%), peak - 9.43m (39.8%)
2009 - 8.44m (35.7%), peak - 9.07m (37.7%)

Forgot how high 2010 rated. Think it will rate around 7.5-8m, was a great show tonight. A few of the music choices were questionable and the props (grrrr damn you SCD producers, been saying this for years) but lots of talent and no clear winner (yet).

If Gatiss wanted to be producer of Dr Who I think there would have been rumblings for years about it.

Funnily enough, from reading Russell T Davies' book, The Writer's Tale, it's unclear how highly they rate Gatiss. The series 4 episode he was writing got pulled in favour of the RTD episode Midnight, and it states that the final script of The Unquiet Dead, which was credited onscreen as being by Gatiss, was written by RTD as it wasn't finished in time. This was all years ago and it may not matter now of course.

Interesting as Unquiet Dead is probably my favourite Gatiss episode - or maybe not now !!

Are the two Youtube clips shows back to back between 7 and 9 on C5 evidence of Viacom's new broom? Rip-off Rude Tube if you must but two consecutive shows on prime time Saturday night just speaks to a gigantic poverty of imagination. Unoriginal telly, badly scheduled and no doubt put together on a shoe-string. Another triumph from 5.

....

Disappointed with their acquisition of Justified last night on Spike. They must've sent out wrong PR info as the listings mags had this as season SIX, the final season but it was in fact season FIVE! This after treating it shabbily when they had it on FiveUSA - Amateurishness runs through them like a stick of rock.

Enjoyed The Transporter which has just ended S1 last night but I read elsewhere on here that the nine pm screenings had some cuts that later repeats didn't so if true, another fail. Can't see why they're holding over S2 until next year instead of just following straight on next week (a repeat about Loch Ness fills the slot!) as they only made two seasons and it's @3 years old now so should be aired ASAP before the audience for it gets it via other means.

Richard Osman ‏@richardosman 56s57 seconds ago
7.7m viewers for Strictly last night. No ratings yet for Fulham v QPR but am guessing that'll be around 23m

Richard Osman ‏@richardosman 50s51 seconds ago
Gogglebox holds up incredibly well with 3.2m.

Pretty good for Strictly, bang on what I thought it would get. And an excellent rating for Gogglebox, think it will have a higher than usual +1 rating.

A good start for Strictly, up on last year (no TXF clash this year) and in line with the previous year.

Not a bad start for Strictly, would have been nice to be a tad higher, but roughly in line with the previous Friday launches so they'll be pleased with that- The three results shows that clash with XF will no doubt drop the series average a little but hopefully the Saturday shows can make up for it

Your Strictly prediction was right. Similar to previous Friday ratings and no X Factor. Saturday will likely be down on last year due to an earlier start and facing rugby build up.

Pretty good expected start for Strictly. Not amazing or Bake Off standards though.

EastEnders: 4.50m / 22.6%
BBC News at Ten: 4.73m / 27.1%
Great British Menu: 1.63m / 8.7%
Mastermind: 1.97m / 9.9%
Gardeners' World: 1.98m / 9.9%
James Corden Does DOND: 0.64m / 3.2%
Gogglebox: 2.68m / 12.7%
Alan Carr Chatty Man: 1.01m / 6.6%
World's Biggest Beasts: 0.72m / 3.8%
NCIS New Orleans: 0.68m / 3.2%
NCIS: 0.82m / 5.2%

What the hell happened there?

It was head-to-head with Emmerdale.

22% for Eastenders that is terrible.

Good start for Strictly, great for Gogglebox too, obviously surged quite a fair amount from the last week against the opening rugby match.

Eastenders.... was there a clash? That looks painfully low.

Another 8pm screening of Emmerdale happened.

*shrugs* You reap what you sow.