ITV caused a problem for themselves by being known more for soap and reality shows than anything else.

ITV's most successful day sums up ITV. Mostly soap. I think ITV can re-establish drama in slots by putting drama in slots. I think they can do it with all new stuff.

Then I'll probably end up watching The Bill anyway.

Sorry for being rude.

That's sad really, series 1 was far superior to series 2 however.

I didn't know about The Halcyon before you posted this, however I just looked it up and it seems more like an updated version of The Grand rather than The Royal to me.

And speaking of returnables, does anyone know how Stage School has been doing on E4? I know it's structured reality, but it's more structured than reality, if you see what I mean. Paired with Hollyoaks it could do pretty well and would stop Channel 4 relying on The Simpsons.

And now ITV want to bring it back? How will they make it cheaper if they do? They pulled the trigger on that one too early.

I love this show and would also like to know how it's doing ratings wise. The bitchiness is so funny and the random bursts into song

Yes of course. The Royal was a hospital not a hotel. Still.in the spirit of those successful Sunday ITV dramas.

I think Neighbours is fine where it is but ultilise it for a major storyline in primetime like they've done in the past. I wonder with the contract coming up for renewal in the next year, I could see 5 try and get Neighbours at a lower cost to free up money for original drama and comedy,

The scheduled film was Lethal Weapon 3.

The Bob Monkhouse Opportunity Knocks revival got 18-20m didn't it?

The Simpsons is a reliable 6pm show and TBH it's cheaper for Channel 4 to keep it there and find something to replace the hundred of hours it provides.

I think there is room for new Sunday ITV dramas and revivals of old ones to. The Durells was brilliant this year and I'm so glad it's been renewed. I would still like to see some of the old series back though.

New series #StageSchool launched with 400k last night (Monday), making @E4Tweets the most popular digital channel for 16-34s & 11-14s from 7.30-8pm
Channel 4 Press@C4Press

Thanks, that's not bad do you know what Coach Trip was getting before this started?.

It's fine, you weren't rude at all.

I think the reason Monday is so successful at 9pm is not to do with soap (look how badly 9pm Friday does) but because it's been a long-established drama slot which ITV haven't tampered with on the whole. Other slots have been tampered with (e.g. 8pm Sunday or 8pm Wednesday) and turned previously successful evenings into wasteland or poundshop versions for a large proportion of the year.

I only want The Bill and Wild at Heart back, and only for 16 and 8 episodes respectively. I want them to headline a return to 8pm pre-watershed drama on Sunday and Wednesday.

Sunday would target scheduling The Halcyon and obviously The Durrells there; Wednesday would be for shows in the ilk of Waterloo Road, and possibly a new firefighting drama series I think would be great there.

Just returnable drama series hits at 8pm on Wed/Sun would perfectly compliment the bigger, glossier dramas at 9pm on Sun/Mon/Wed in my opinion. Soaps will always exist and be good anchors for the evenings.

By restoring Sunday 7pm block it opens up 8pm Thursday for more factual like POG, Lumley, David Suchet, Love Your Garden, Trevor McDonald, etc, which would also air Tuesday. A similar format to the 8pm lighter/cheaper and 9pm heavier/expensive drama blocks on Sun/Wed would be docs on Tues/Thurs - cheaper Love Your Garden/Dogs at 8pm, more expensive pieces like Lumley/Trevor at 9pm.

It's just schedule shape, structure I'm on about. Identifying a strategy and commissioning around it. I firmly think Sun/Mon/Wed for drama, Sat/Fri post-9pm for entertainment and factual formats for Tue/Thu is the way to go and would be most achievable given budgets. Viewers would make sense of this and know where to go on which days for the sort of programmes they want.

I'd love nothing more than new 8pm dramas that perform well and what better way to show viewers where to find them than to start off with two revivals on Sun/Wed in Wild at Heart and The Bill, with newer high quality commissions following like The Halcyon or a mid-week firefighting serial.

Also it's worth saying reviving The Bill and Wild at Heart would make the gap seem more of a 'rest' or 'break' than reviving some decades-old show that died years ago. They'd be a part of the schedule strategy for a small portion of the year, not the whole part.

I just want to see Sunday 8pm drama in that slot that's new rather than what we had in the exact same slot 20 years ago.

I like new series as much as you I've really enjoyed The Durrells this year which was on at 8pm. I'm sure that's the only 8pm Sunday drama that we have had on ITV this year though.

If Wild At Heart was to come back of course I doubt it would be exactly the same anyway. A well known series with new stories would be good for ITV. People like nostalgia.

Only for a few weeks of the year. A mix of old/new (with a heavier skew to new) would be good for Sun and Wed at 8pm. It'd let viewers know ITV is returning to its 'glory days' on these evenings, whilst still commissioning brand new, modern dramas to go in these slots for much of the year.

The hybrid approach would be more successful in terms of viewer receptivity. Or rather it would fast-track the success of the strategy rather than earlier shows floundering due to the unfamiliarity of the strategy - if that makes sense.

Critically though - and I know this is unpopular on here - Sunday soap block needs to return, again to help shape this evening. The overlap in audience between Coro and the 8pm commissions would be strong and it would provide a weekly inheritance to the newer commissions we're talking of that need to be established after the initial run of a revived Wild at Heart.

It's all very well The X Factor bringing viewers to Sundays on ITV for some months of the year, arguably helping out establishing shows like Victoria/Downton, but there is a very large portion of the year where core ITV viewers (the sort that watch the soaps live) won't turn it on on Sunday. Solution - bring back the soaps at 7pm. That at least will help new shows build - casual viewers (or viewers who use this thread) will come for a good show, it's the core audience that doesn't have a signpost at the moment, and as a result the schedule is only strong(ish) for part of the year. Previously, it had potential all year round.

Good example of this is The Durrells - with a Corrie lead in I reckon it could have done a million more. Further, even X Factor I think would pull a higher audience on Sunday with a Corrie lead in.

The folk who watch Corrie live can really help form the foundations of a show's audience on a Sunday night at 8pm - much more than they can for, say, Friday 9pm.

I know I've created a monster here but getting rid of Downton Abbey was another stupid move by ITV. I'm sure Julian Fellowes and the cast wanted to do more and it sold well to other countries.
Victoria is a very good series but it could have been on after Downton Abbey in the run up to Christmas.
I know we have Grantchester this year but Christmas won't be the same without Downton Abbey.

Downton wasn't axed, it was Julian Fellowes' decision to end it and ITV cannot force someone to do more if they've decided to not do it anymore

Really? I must have got it wrong again. I'm sure I've read or seen interviews with him saying he wants to bring it back though.

It'll be interesting to see what gets the Downton slot at Christmas this year. They really need to put something strong there so that they don't lose an entire audience to Call the Midwife which has the benefit of a Doctor Who lead in on Christmas Day.

The Durrells would've been perfect in a Christmas slot but don't think they had enough time to get one made in time.

Agree about The Durrells, I believe a Christmas special of Grantchester is being shown in the Downton slot this year.

I think it's almost a certainty ITV will run something very similar to:

15:10 Who Cares
16:45 News
17:00 The Chase
18:00 Paul O'Grady's Dogs
19:00 Emmerdale
20:00 Corrie
21:00 Grantchester
22:30 Blah

against the BBC's usual

15:10 Film (probably Frozen)
17:00 News
17:15 Animated Short
17:45 Doctor Who
18:45 Strictly
19:45 Call The Midwife
21:00 EastEnders
22:00 Comedy
23:00 McIntyre

The days of Christmas excitement are a bit past now I think

This is how ITV should be....

4:00 - The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song
5:30 - POG Dogs
6:00 - Emmerdale
7:00 - Coronation Street
8:00 - Heartbeat Christmas Special
10:00 - ITV News
10:30 - Vicous Christmas Special

A 2 hour revival of Heartbeat to tie up the loose ends.. see what happened after Oscar Blaketon was impaled. If successful bring it back for series if not leave it to rest at least the loose ends will be tied up.
Grantchester would work better on Christmas Eve in my opinion.