To be fair EE stayed above the 6m mark on Monday against similar rating factual. It was dented but not to the extent of last night's ep which followed Tuesday's soap clash and was out of slot. I don't know why factual is looked down on when some of it is well made and quite popular. POG Dogs and the Martin Lewis show clearly fall into that category. To play down their success and term them run of the mill is being disingenuous. POG especially is a major commission for ITV or they wouldn't have it on at Christmas. If they rated 2.5m-3m as a lot of programmes against the soaps do then I would say they should be having no impact on EastEnders.

I have been racking my brain to think of a positive for EE performance in the ratings last night. Here goes:

EE did win its slot by quite a big margin and in the process dented Paul O'Grady and the dog thing. Although you could spin it around and say O'Grady did the same with EE.

Half a million for Liverpool's Europa League game vs Bordeaux on BT Sport Europe yesterday- and 2.9% share.

Pretty decent that. More than Arsenal's CL game on Tuesday (~452k) and not too far behind United's on Wednesday (542k).

ITV press centre now reporting the Abba Christmas party which by the sound of it may be going out on Christmas eve.

ITV's Chrismas Eve offering...


Whilst entertainment is a decent idea for Christmas Eve, I don't see this doing too well.

Not an inspiring set of guest performers, is it?

Still, it's Abba. Will probably rate well enough.

There is difference, One is the state broadcaster receiving 3,7 million from the state,the other is a commercial organisation.Think people forget that sometimes.

Would do even better if they had the real Abba

Not really. The Mamma Mia cast makes sense and SuBo tends to be a decent draw for audiences but other than that it's pretty poor. I wonder if it's live? Would explain the uninspiring guest list. If not its just lazy booking.

Yes, you're probably right that it being Abba should mean it doesn't entirely die on its arse. I guess 3-4m, competition depending.

Well said.

Didn't ITV air something like this 15 or 16 years ago in the summertime, or am i dreaming?

Are you thinking of ABBAMania? If so yeah it was late 90's I think.

I'm aware of that fact but I still find it ironic particularly when the clashes are largely unnecessary/could be avoided. ITV obviously depend on soaps a lot more than the BBC so I can't understand why they would want to speed up the decline of the genre.

EE may take the bigger hit but all these clashes and extra episodes are contributing to the general fatigue. Fewer people are making the commitment of watching the soaps every year. Throwing extra eps out on a whim and creating clashes will only cause more people to abandon the genre completely over time.

It makes more sense to run their usual programming against EE which does okay in the circumstances than it does to waste Emmerdale against it which takes a hit itself. They could surely use the extra soap episodes if they must have them at all to boost numerous other slots where they get 2m or less. Or maybe they're happy having huge chunks of their schedule rating at that level.

Good to see ITV is across that all-important 41st anniversary.

I think I'll be avoiding all of the channels on Christmas Eve.

I think people forget that 3.7 billion pounds doesn't all go to BBC1 and if programmes fail on the BBC some people's jobs are on the line just as much as in the commercial sector. ITV don't care that much because they're still turning a profit no matter what they put on.

I have nothing against factual but EastEnders shouldn't be affected by facing it that much. For The Love Of Dogs took off partly due to an EastEnders in the ratings doldrums. If this was the EastEnders of Live Week quality the competition wouldn't affect it so much.

Yes. The jump the shark moment was funnily enough the live episode. Bobby Beale as Lucy murderer. Jane sociopathic body lugger. Ian accepting of it within 10 mins. Endless dragging on of the story so that half the Square knows who did it but is keeping quiet. Max in prison for her murder and nobody cares including his own daughter who is in on the Bobby secret. Add on top Kathy (boring as hell) return. Total recon of her character and then recon after recon of classic characters for the backstory.

Beales are damaged beyond repair. Mitchells on rinse and repeat. EE is stuck on downward spiral which is speeding up. Brookside revisited.

Well apart from mixing billions with millions; and the BBC emphatically not being a "state broadcaster" in the usual meaning of that term; plus the fact that the licence fee, while being mandated by the state, is paid by individual licence-fee payers at arms' length from the state, northlad has a point.

The BBC should seek to avoid treading on commercial toes for the sake of it, I agree. But (1) that is the whole commercial sector, not just ITV, and (2) that doesn't mean bending over for ITV at every opportunity.

That is all (on that general broadcasting subject).

Digiguide has updated:

BBC One
Christmas Day
15:00 - The Queen
15:10 - FILM PREMIERE: Brave (2012)
16:35 - BBC News
16:45 - Stick Man
17:15 - Doctor Who
18:15 - Strictly Come Dancing
19:30 - Call the Midwife
20:45 - EastEnders
21:45 - Mrs Brown's Boys
22:20 - Michael McIntyre's Very Christmassy Christmas Show
23:20 - BBC News

Brave shortened to 85 minutes, and the whole schedule moved 15 minutes earlier, as I predicted.

I'll update ITV shortly.

ITV
Christmas Day
15:00 - The Queen
15:10 - Cameraman to the Queen
16:10 - Countrywise Winter Wonderland
17:15 - The Nation's Favourite Disney Song
18:15 - ITV News
18:30 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Coronation Street
20:30 - Downton Abbey
22:30 - Our Cilla
23:30 - ITV News

I think it may hit the mark as its something different.

Elgin over on Gallifrey Base has updates for the whole of Christmas fortnight:

Sounds like you think the rot is set. Bleak prospects for the show's long-term future you think?

The BBC needs to seriously wake up to the fact all is not well with EastEnders. It's hard to believe a year ago, the show was firing on all cylinders. Are we sure Dominic Treadwell-Collins and the questionable story producer, Alex Lamb, aren't on a job share arrangement? e.g. "Dom, you took care of nursing EastEnders' recovery in 2014; I'll bring it all crashing back down again in 2015?".