Which is when I thought they premiere it in the first place. Quite possibly though. I do think part of the problem last night was that they've repeated the first one so much that people just thought it was another airing of that. The later Potter premieres suffered similarly (although they also got thrown into very tough slots).


Total Wipeout at least got a good 6 or 7 week uninterrupted run in its first series to establish itself though. It's a shoddy way to launch a show, it'll take them forever to get through the series. Plus I'd have though they'll want Can't Touch This on in the Spring to give it a shot before the nights get too light so it might be a Summer burn off for the last few episodes.

They shouldn't have started Win Your Wish List, which is now also having to go off because of the 2 hour episodes of The Voice. Stupid, stupid scheduling.


It's big news because The Voice beat it every week last year. Also the margin of the win is quite significant. It certainly has a very big budget but so does The Voice and that also comes with a large format licence fee so it'd be difficult to say which show costs more, although you do seem to see the money on screen a lot more with Takeaway. The cruise ship finale will cost a bomb I'd imagine. I remember last year there was a bit of a cheap episode mid-run that felt a bit lacking, hopefully they don't have to do that again, although if they do I bet it's the one that's having to go at 6pm because of the football (which I suspect ITV might desperately be trying to delay by an hour!).

They have 35 lottery quizzes to fit in this year around Voice, a Six Nations match, the FA Cup, Euro 2016, the Olympics and the long Strictly shows.

3 down, 32 to go.

With Doctor Who not returning until early 2017 do you think they might run lottery quizzes in that post-Strictly slot this year? I don't think they can push Strictly later than it is because of the results show recording so something needs to fill that slot and I don't think there's another drama to go there (the His Dark Materials series seems to be a way off yet).

I think they'll have to show the quizzes in the post-Strictly slot, in order to fit them all in before the end of the year. I read they have to show 32 a year to fulfil their lottery contract.

The vacant autumn slot might be why they've ordered 13 episodes of Who Dares Wins, rather than eight. That one has the best chance of hitting 4m against X Factor.

BBC1 is going to order another 20 episodes of Dickensian according to The Sunday Times and Tony Jordan has already started writing them.

Bold move given the overnights-though I don't know how the consolidated figures have fared.
A "BBC" decision maybe

Watching Dickensian before Countryfile has been truly painful. Would have been fine as a four or six part series.

That article is purely speculative though. Yes, it talks about Tony Jordan having multiple ideas for another run but nothing has been commissioned by the BBC yet. If it does get recommissioned, they need to seriously consider the format they want it in and its scheduling.

I've kept a chart of Dickensian's ratings since its first episode. Some of these ratings may not be accurate as they've come from various sources (some of the shares are my own estimates; if anyone can correct them then please do!).

It really shouldn't be recommissioned, it's flopped big time. If it is recommissioned then I think early Sunday nights with a fixed slot would be best.

Thanks for these.

That's pretty bad. Its just not strong enough-certainly shouldn't be recommisioned on the strength of filler style ratings for what is not meant to be filler. Maybe a different approach to scheduling, the soap opera style hasn't worked.

lewie do you have a list of Brit Awards ratings with the upcoming awards on Wednesday this week please?

The power of the Christmas schedules right there. A massive gap between the ratings of the 5 shown over Christmas and the rest of the series.

BBC One really didn't help Dickensian with its erratic scheduling and then settling in slots opposite Emmerdale and Coronation Street. It may have done a bit better in a Sunday teatime / pre-Countryfile slot - though series such as Blandings bombed there.

Having said that, it's exactly the kind of risk-taking drama commission that the BBC ought to be investing in.

Yes I've got a list of previous ceremonies, will post a little later

Previous BRIT Awards overnights:
2015 - 5.25m/5.67m (24.1%/26.0%)
2014 - 4.20m/4.56m (18.4%/20.0%)
2013 - 6.29m/6.52m (26.9%/27.9%)
2012 - 5.92m/6.22m (24.1%/25.3%)
2011 - 4.75m/4.92m (18.4%/19.1%)
2010 - 5.80m (21.9%)
2009 - 5.18m (21.7%)
2008 - 6.07m (24.4%)
2007 - 5.21m (22.0%)
2006 - 4.50m (19.7%)
2005 - 6.30m (27.6%)
2004 - 6.00m (25.5%)
2003 - 7.30m (29.3%)
2002 - 7.60m (32.4%)

Thanks lewie.

I reckon it might be slightly up on last year. Some big names performing and Ant & Dec are back again. Overall though, it's never been particularly big in overnight terms.

It is not just the fixtures but the fact they have only 13 first team players fit with more injuries than any other PL side this season. Many long term. So they would have had to play the same team three times in a week and unsurprisingly they prioritise the final where they can win a trophy and a knock out Champion League where both more money is involved and the future of England getting 4 places is at stake if we have another season where nobody gets past this next round. As they base that on each countries tot up of wins and England is in danger of losing that fourth spot.

So there are reasons why this decision was taken.

Plus City have played strong teams in the previous two rounds in the FA Cup - both away to PL sides and which they won.

So it is not that they are disrespecting the cup. Just this game because of the timing from the BBC and the need to fly out early tomorrow for a long trip to the Ukraine.

So ,my brother says - anyway - as I had an hour of all this yesterday when he visited!

I think last year was boosted by Madonna falling off the stage. I think it will be just below 5 million this year.

But no one knew she was going to fall and that was right at the end anyway. How can a live show be boosted when no one knows what could happen?!

+1? People watching again up to 2am?

Just how do you come to that conclusion? As Roscoe points out above, it was a live event, and the incident happened 2 or 3 minutes before the end of the show. Anybody wanting to see the fall wouldn't watch on +1, they'd watch a seven second vine.

Or You tube

Scheduling Dickensian opposite Coronation Street gives them an excuse to get away with 3m viewers, See Citizen Khan, just commissioned for a fifth series, for proof. (Also Room 101 and Would I Lie To You.)

I never expected Dickensian to do anything in the ratings. Viewers just don't know Dickens characters well enough to be intrigued by the concept. They only know Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. It's a BBC2 project really.

A second series (if it happens) would be for brownie points, charter renewal and to keep the luvvies on side.

Makes sense. I can't think of anything else for that slot so it sounds about right. Out of Strictly I suspect Who Dares Wins would do better than Doctor Who did last year in the overnights.

I'm guessing In It To Win It, the least loved lottery quiz by the BBC, will be burned off against BGT again.

Mike posted a breakdown from last year's BRIT's (I've added up the HD & +1 components).

It didn't increase THAT much really.