Manchester City wanted to play Saturday because they have four away games in 10 days and fly out to the Ukraine tomorrow for Champions League, a cup final next weekend and a lot of injuries so a small squad.

But the police refused to let Chelsea play Saturday because Fulham had a home league game and they would not move their kick off time.

As a result Manchester City have told their own supporters not to turn up tonight as they will leave their first team at home to prepare for the flight and play a team of kids who have hardly ever or never played for the first team before.

So the BBC might get more (or less) than they wanted tonight if it proves to be a massacre.

I think the ABC will be pretty pleased with that

BBC1 are still losing a show that gets 5/6m. Will they find a replacement that can do that?

Probably not! But if it does 4/5m on ITV, they might manage to match that.

Probably not, but for Creative reasons, I think five seasons of TVUK is enough, its served its purpose it being a second big light entertainment show for BBC One, but its really running out of steam now (although the last couple of episodes have been better) and its probably good for them to have a go at replacing it considering how much flak it got them.

ITV may be able to sort out the surface problems with personel and get it to launch well, but there's an inherent one in the format thats always been there and its never been able to overcome, plus it seems to really struggle with any form of competition as last night showed. Still not terrible and if it holds here then its not too bad, but it always drops like a stone following the blinds and it hasn't got the height to fall from this year

Wonder what Dickensian will get tonight. Those of us that have stuck with it have been rewarded with some good drama. It'll be a shame if it doesn't get renewed but I fear the signs aren't good.

Could of moved that to BBC Three online and most people will not notice.

Don't Scare the Hare is coming back

Yes some of these classic Disney films have done rather well.

Speaking of which Dumbo is on this evening on Channel 4.
It will be interesting to see how well that rates compared to Despicable Me 2.

7.37 milion is excellent and SNT helped TMO to pass the 4 million mark. Meanwhile TV seems to be stagnating on BBC One.

Superb return for Ant & Dec's SNT. Did not see that coming! Great average and peak and should consolidate well.

It seems nicely refreshed this year and it was a great show last night. Exactly the sort of thing I want to see on a Saturday night. It should hold up well and has got the upper hand on The Voice too which hit a series low and it's worst rating for a Blind Audition show ever! I think the cruise ship finale episode is going to be great too. Very nice idea.

Well if there is any truth in the press reports that Gary Barlow has submitted a format and its amongst "other options" being considered I would guess that the BBC aren't just going to lose The Voice and make another 4 million viewer max lottery format. A while ago there was a drive for ideas for Saturday night which would be in addition to TVUK and SCD. Obviously TVUK has now gone and maybe this has heightened the need for something a bit more substantial a project than is usual.

The papers are painting Gary Barlow as wanting to muscle in on Cowells territory in music and television- which clearly will need a substantial presence on tv- again not sure about any of this but if it has any truth he isn't going to find that on ITV.

Yes. Just put Pointless Celebrities on against The Voice.

Or they might have done in with Dr Who, back in the earlier 7pm slot that suits it more than the post-8pm slot it had last year.

You say that jokingly but I expect Pointless Celebrities to face The Voice. Doctor Who will be back in Spring rather than Winter next year I think.

A chance to see how accurate the talk is in here about a "BBC1 default audience", though it might pick up a high peak for the last 15 minutes at 7pm when viewers tune in expecting to see Countryfile.

I think the luvvie acting community will be up in arms if the BBC axe Dickensian on the grounds of ratings. And such a decision wouldn't sit well close to charter renewal. I predict that the BBC will commission a second series but it will be a much smaller commission. Perhaps 8 half-hour episodes that they could schedule weekly, opposite Corrie on a Friday or maybe in a 6pm slot on a Sunday.

The BBC definitely want to create a new LE format to replace (and possibly compete against) The Voice. But creating one that can attract a healthy-sized audience is easier said than done.

I find it disappointing that BBC1 can't come up with a Generation Game / Noel's House Party / Saturday Night Takeaway format for someone like Miranda Hart or Michael McIntyre. They've tried formats for Rob Brydon and Lee Mack and they bombed because they were so weak. ("Thank you, Mr/Ms LE department management, I'll have your resignations on my desk first thing tomorrow, you incompetents.")

You have to wonder how rubbish the Miranda Hart pilot programme was if weak formats like The Getaway Car, I Love My Country and Britain's Brightest make it to series.

Does anyone have any figures on how much Football League Tonight usually timeshifts in the officials please?

Thanks

I'd forgotten about that Miranda pilot. Did anyone see it?!

I wouldn't be surprised if they ran it again on April 9th to fill that gap between the end of Takeaway and the start of Britain's Got Talent.


Well, no different to what used to happen with Total Wipeout, which also used to be on at this time of year and was consistently taken off for the Six Nations and used to take about six months to complete a series, and that did alright for itself. All the episodes are self-contained anyway. They always knew it would need to take breaks when they put it there, and as mentioned if they were that concerned they'd have not started Win Your Wish List and carried on with it instead.


I am looking forward to the cruise ship episode as well because it reminds me of the episode of Going Live from 1990 they did live from a cross-channel ferry, starting in Dover and ending in Calais, which at the time I thought was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen on television. I couldn't believe they could do it.

Anyway, I do enjoy this show although you'd have to say it shouldn't neccessarily be big news it's beating The Voice because it's clearly got an enormous budget - the opening game featured things filmed in Vietnam, New Zealand and Malaysia, plus they were also in LA of course, while at the end there was about a hundred people on stage, plus it's all introduced by two of the highest paid people on television. I wouldn't be surprised if its budget was much bigger than The Voice.


It may have been worth a recommission if it had been a short-run series, but they've already done twenty episodes of it, so it's not like it hasn't had time to establish itself and they've only scratched the surface, it's been a very long series. Also as well I think it's a bit lowbrow to have any impact on charter renewal. The Beeb can point at War And Peace and And Then There Were None which have had much higher ratings, and have also been more ostensibly "classic" BBC dramas. Otherwise you're just recommissioning a period drama for being a period drama.

PC would be a cheap and fairly successful alternative to TV, and PC has attracted 5 million viewers at times. I'd think with DW, Auntie would schedule it in a slot that avoids BGT and SNT, maybe against something like YBF. Also moving DW back to the spring would halt the ratings decline as it has weaker competition.

These fixture logjams happen to the big clubs sometimes, although it's still a relatively new experience for Manchester City.

It's a bleak day for football when an FA Cup tie is deliberately devalued by a club in this way.

If they fail to win their CL tie and/or lose the League Cup final, they're going to look very silly.

Yes I think when there is a look back at the worth of this contract to the BBC then they should skip this weekend. Its been a poor round. Too many competing interests to showcase the competition at its best. City's team choice rather proves this today.

The BBC filmed a pilot with Brendan O'Caroll as Mrs Brown for a gameshow, but Brendan pulled out because he didn't want to exploit the brand.

Surely a show like Saturday Night Live would suit the BBC? Each episode would be hosted by a different celebrity; Miranda Hart, Paul O' Grady, etc. Celebrity guests, performances, sketches and stand up segments could all feature. I would move Casualty to 8.10 and show this at 9.00, for 75 minutes. If they could get the high profile hosts and guests, I think it could do pretty well.

I agree. Today particularly for the standout tie of the round, its a total nonsense and cant do anything whatsoever for status of the F A Cup. As I say the BBC have gained nothing from this weekend and neither has the FA.

They have given Michael McIntyre a new show. Michael McIntyre's Big Show is airing in the Spring, I believe they're filming the first one next week. I presume it's for Saturdays but not sure if it's for a 7pm-ish slot or for after 9pm.

Isn't the reason the Miranda thing hasn't moved forwards more because of her busy schedule than anything else?

It'll certainly be interesting to see what BBC1 does next year. A talent show with Gary Barlow produced by the in-house entertainment team is hardly the most inspiring offering. They should look to do something different than another singing show and Gary Barlow was a pretty woeful X Factor judge. Although it'd be amusing if he stuffed it with former X Factor judges.

But I think they'll go for something else. It is definitely easier said than done. Pointless Celebrities is already on the schedule so that isn't a solution and whilst it's a good show they need to be more ambitious. Doctor Who might be in there somewhere, I suspect where it goes depends on how this Spring's offerings (Can't Touch This and McIntyre) go down.