The problem is the people here watching X Factor don't have BARB boxes.

I enjoyed it but I imagine it will sink further.

The Hunt will probably be lost in all of the Downton, final series interest. I think Downton will do better than EastEnders on Christmas Day this year.

The Hunt will still start well, as most BBC1 series do. I think 4m v 7.7m

The Hunt won't start well against Downton. If it was on another day of the week it would be higher.

Now you say it,probably was,didnt pay a lot of attention but deffo has BBC logo in the advert.

3.5m The Hunt
6.1m XF
8.4m Strictly
7.4m Downton

Without doubt. Downton will be big as folks want to find out what happens. Won't want to find out on line / newspapers. EE is below par anyway.

Corrie had 8.4m plus around 500k on +1 for one of the fire week episodes. When you say it's a sign of the times you are giving up. It should be easier to get 7m later in the evening than at 7pm. EastEnders should be doing better.

It's spin when EastEnders was at a crappy base and went lower to say Corrie has fallen more so is in worse trouble. EE blew it after Live Week. Hasn't gone past 7m in overnights for even longer this year.

That's a concern going into Christmas.

I don't think EastEnders right now is strong enough for a battle with the final episode of Downton.

Aye. The only prog that you'd have thought certain to do well against the final Downton, should next week's episode leave a cliffhanger, would be Sherlock, and we already know that's being saved for NYD.

The funny thing is, it's not necessarily people tuning out of soaps because times are changing, I truly believe if they were top notch people would stay and indeed flock to them. The quality just isn't there in terms of storylines, characters or actors. There is potential in said areas but it isn't enough. It's easy to talk through rose tinted glasses but the soaps of old seemed to identify with their audience and reflect their lives in a dramatic yet character led way. Now it's just the same old thing year in, year out. Character is the key to any format whether it be a drama or a soap or even a light entertainment show in my opinion, you can make all this noise and it may pay huge dividends for a while but when people stop caring about your show and the people in it it's just pointless.

If the soaps were better the ratings would be higher. They're all suffering a gradual decline as less people are watching overall in the slot each year. But poor quality accelerates the decline. That's what happened to EastEnders from 2011. Viewers will return for a big story, EastEnders Live, Corrie fire week but if what follows isn't great they will drift away. The trick is to have good episodes so they drift away slower.

Really can't face EastEnders with DTC's Kirkwood 2.0 era.

They are all about contrived stories and stunts. Characters especially identifiable ones are being lost year on year.

I don't think he's near that level of bad but it certainly feels like it's going through the motions. Like them all for me, really. Though admittedly I've never watched much Emmerdale. I guess the easy thing to point to is how much they're on - but I suppose in the case of EE you could only really cut it down to three episodes a week and would that really make such a difference? Maybe Simon Cowell could turn his hand to revamping Corrie

Dominic Treadwell-Collins had one good year. ONE.

It is full of average stories that can't make viewers indifferent let alone excited. It's a different type of average compared to the Lorraine Newman era.

It seems weird to think that Corrie getting 9m on Mondays was the norm just two years ago. Given the ratings climate I doubt it would still be getting that even if it was on top form but the poor quality just accelerated the decline as cylon said.

Discussion on soap forum.. EE has become ever more like fan fiction.

I think you are very wise Spot on! And the one good year for me was all about potential rather than blowing me away. It's ok, but strangely it still feels very watered down for EastEnders. And DTC's hyping of his own material is rather irritating...

All the soaps would benefit from losing an episode per week, not only would it be easier for people to fit into their lives as it's a smaller commitment but they'd also not need to fill so many episodes with largely uninteresting stuff.

Problem is for ITV that would be 52 hours of primetime to find something to fill each year let alone repeat showings. Soaps are the factory equivalents of dramas, cheap to make as the sets are already in place and the actors/crew are already contracted.

And what about this Kat & Alfie spin off in Ireland for EE...whose bright idea was that? Where's it going to be scheduled? Those could be interesting ratings!

Ratings are down because we have stories that look like they were dreamt up on an EastEnders fanfic website.
Some of the stuff he hypes up! Good God! Is he still banging on about Stacey's key?

6 hour-long episodes it is too according to the initial announcement . Seems like a stupid idea to me.

For the health of a channel and the soaps they main 3 need to lose one episode a week. What have we done to deserve 6 episodes of Emmerdale a week? Double episodes of Corrie and Emmerdale. It's like a nightmare!

Maybe I'll be proved wrong but I can't help thinking a Kat & Alfie spin off will be like Kathy's return. Something the EastEnders production team thinks is a bigger deal than the general public.

I will NEVER watch that programme! It doesn't excite me.