POD dogs 4.2m (20%) v EastEnders 5.1m (24%)

Given it started life against EE, and dented the soap in its 1st series due to its popularity, I see its happened again.

Why shouldn't a broadcaster promote its own programmes - the days when the Radio Times sold 8 million copies a week and every household had one are long gone.

I remember Love Of Dogs really taking off when EastEnders was doing badly. That was an impressive performance.

So not plugging the time for EastEnders really worked a treat plus the fact the show put itself in this mess.

Actually you could be right about that! Just goes to show any broadcaster (particularly ITV just now) can't be complacent about their big hitters - and I guess most programmes/shows/series have a life span.

The problem is though that if you click on a wrong link again you will be back to square one and have to clear everything again. Its a royal pain in the nether regions.

Oh great. Something to look forward to then

These ratings are truly dire urgh. The show needs to fix up quickly.

At the start of The Apprentice the BBC1 continuity announcer said EE was on at a later time of 8.30 on Wednesday, and mentioned before The One Show and Watchdog on Thursday.

EE had a long plug for tonight on This Morning, with the actor who plays Ben, long plug and clip.

This morning also gave a token small plug to Simon Cowell, on some live show he is doing and a category he didn't want, he doesn't want to be reminded that he is older then the overs.

EastEnders was on an hour later and the rating was only slightly higher than it would be had there been a clash. Not great. If Corrie is in crisis what about EastEnders?

Whilst the ratings for Corrie are poor generally, it only lost 200k viewers from it's regular slot episode on Wednesday. Why does EE lose so many more viewers every time it is moved out of slot? EE had tougher competition without doubt but the fact is that it has had lots of promotion. Even if the start time wasn't advertised, people would find it it if they really wanted to. We'll have to wait and see what happens tonight.

Funny that people talk about Corrie's OAP audience, and yet they seem to be able to find their way around slot changes and TV schedules much easier than EE's younger fanbase .

There was better shows on BBC Two and BBC Four at that time, Ratings don't measure quality and never have.

Takeaway ought to be on a lot more. Don't they only do about 6 episodes a year? What the hell are Ant & Dec doing the rest of the year apart from BGT and IAC which aren't on for very long.

Just mentioning a time just before Apprentice isn't as effective as putting it in a trailer to get the message across. Watchdog and The One Show got 3m plus a lot of the soap audience was already watching ITV.

Third for the night. EastEnders needs a lot of work. It's better written than under Lorraine Newman but is mostly average. It's just like Doctor Who. The diehards watch and it has difficulty attracting the casual audience.

Nobody can defend the poor ratings. Nobody. How they managed to screw up after Live Week is one of the all time great mistakes in television.

I am thinking it going to get 5.5 million today.

There's enough Takeaway on already. Isn't that why it took a break? Because they ran it into the ground. BGT goes on for a while with all the auditions. Ant & Dec have said many times that they are too busy to do any new projects and have a big enough workload already. Plus they enjoy the shows which they are doing currently. A Takeaway Christmas special could be fitted in I'm sure if they wanted to do it though.

I don't think EE rating is all that bad given it would've been below 5 million had they let it clash with ED. It still won it's slot but I do think EE need a change of producer and fast. DTC is clearly an egomaniac who only ever planned until the live and ever since has been treading water. Block story telling it crippling development of everything but I guess this is a cost saving issue but with the BBC hating government it's only going to get worse.

The thing puzzling me about the overall response today is that had it clashed with ED the rating would be lower but wouldn't really have merited much discussion. Tonight's rating is the real key. Surely it won't be beaten by an out of slot and earlier starting Corrie?

Friday is always EE lowest night normally and with it starting earlier I doubt that will help things. CS out of slot last night brought 6.5 million so I'd expect 6 million + for CS which is tough to reach for EE on a Friday. In other words, no I don't think EE will beat CS tonight.

Well said.
DTC and his team always like to hype episode but when it comes the actual episodes it disappointing. He needs to leave, He too arrogant and his followers are no better keep tweeting the show has been thr best it been in years and how he the best producer ever.

He re-tweets and Favorited them. DTC thinks he's doing a great but he not. Look at social media such as twitter and Facebook everyone is sick of the show always dragging the story lines out. DTC and his crappy writers need to leave asap.

I'd like to think EastEnders will have people timing in for a special episode. But it's on Friday, the lowest rated day for soaps.


EastEnders hasn't crossed 7m in overnight ratings since March. That's awful. Something needs to change.

Corrie got 5.3m at 6:45pm the other week. Starting at 7 it should get around 6m (5.8 I'll predict). EE hasn't topped 6m on a Friday since May . So you might be right. But the competition is less and realistically with promotion it should do tonight.

I suppose there's room for six more in Sep/Oct but why would A& D do anymore on less money.

It's because it had seemingly less competition at 8.30pm and is later in the evening. You'd expect more than just over 5m. And if people can't be arsed to watch when it goes out it will be zero use over Christmas to be a tentpole to build a schedule around.

In fact just thinking about Corrie attracting more viewers at 6:45pm than EE did at 8:30pm when far less viewers are around and it's up against the regional news (one of the highest rating programmes every single day) just reinforces that point.