Why? Thursday at 9 is rubbish at the minute. There is drama everyday now except for Friday.

Monday - Cold Feet
Tuesday - Holby City & One Of Us/Ordinary Lies/The Missing
Wednesday - Our Girl & DCI Banks
Thursday - Paranoid
Friday - Nothing
Saturday - Casualty
Sunday - Victoria

I'm reasonably happy with it. Unfortunate that it might end up clashing with The Fall but even if it does Paranoid will have a week's headstart so it could be worse. I think it's probably a safer bet than Wednesdays where BBC1 are airing drama and Sundays and Mondays are already taken. There's not really anywhere else for it to go. Tuesdays would be worse and there aren't enough Fridays before I'm a Celebrity starts. The competition is weak and last Autumn's crime serial drama Unforgotten aired there to reasonable enough numbers (and critical acclaim).

It looks like The Level (a new 6 part drama) will be getting the Friday slot once Joanna Lumley is done. That means ITV will be airing 9pm drama on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday which is great to see, particularly in the Autumn which should be where they make most effort.

Very good point re: Unforgotten airing Thursday at 9pm. Speaking of Unforgotten, it was meant to be back in "late 2016"... presumably won't be now til next year?

Overall though, I really am just not sure about this.

On one hand I think it's fantastic ITV are airing so much drama at once - 5 nights of drama a week is really competitive. But I'd love to see the long range schedules and see what's going out from January through May 2017 on ITV and see if they're staggering things as best possible.

Are we going to see a deluge now and then a really horrible dry spell later? I'd love to see all these dramas do well and I'm happy so many are coming up. It's going to be a very packed autumn - let's just hope the scheduling doesn't result in lacklustre numbers and cause headaches.

I'm stunned to see something like The Level go on Friday at 9pm, considering the cast is almost ridiculously star-studded (Amanda Burton, Philip Glenister, Noel Clarke, Robert James Collier, Lindsey Coulson, Jo Absolom). Seems a very bold move... on one hand I think it's great on the other I think it's potentially reckless.

I wonder if TV ratings will be affected tomorrow by the hour-long episode of The Archers (R4 7-8 pm) which sees the culmination of the domestic violence case. The BBC did - famously - spoil ITV's opening night in 1955 with an episode featuring the dramatic death in a fire of a major character. Radio still enjoyed massive audiences in those days.

Unforgotten's coming back early next year, I believe they're filming it now.

ITV aired at least 3 dramas every week (and often more) throughout January to May of this year and looking at what's coming I suspect it'll be similar in 2017. Stuff we know is set for the first half of next year includes:

Returning
Broadchurch x8
Unforgotten x6
Grantchester x6
The Durrells x6
Safe House x4
Midsomer Murders x6 (2 hour eps)
Vera x4 (2 hour eps)
Endeavour x4 (2 hour eps)
Maigret x2 (2 hour eps)
Benidorm x9

New
Loch Ness x6
Fearless x6
Tina & Bobby x3
Muncie x3
Tennison x6
Innocent x4
The Halcyon x8
The Good Karma Hospital x6

There's also the second series of Marcella, but I'm not sure whether that'll be later in the year so didn't include it.

So there's quite a lot as you can see, certainly more than enough for 3 a week (at least) from January until May (with there being no Euros I guess they might run something in June, but even then they might not have announced that show yet). They're doing a lot of drama at the moment and I guess the one downside is that it can't all get the best slots (Sunday/Monday). But even drama outside of those nights tends to rate better than factual would and so pulls up the audience share. I think it looks like a pretty good slate though and hopefully they can get a couple of new hits out of it.

EDIT: Just saw your addition about The Level. I agree it's surprising although reading the synopsis I'm not sure how well it'll actually rate. They aired The Secret on Fridays earlier this year to pretty decent numbers so all isn't lost for it. Stuff like Lewis and Law & Order UK has played well on Fridays in the past although I guess those were fairly typical 'heartland' shows in a way this might not be. We'll see!

I am more interested in watching drama on those nights than factual from ITV.

Paranoid will most likely face Who Do You Think You Are. Drama has a better chance against factual than other drama.

Lots like Who Do You Think You Are? though. Paranoid should rate higher though. Younger audiences are more likely to watch drama.

Thanks for the list, with this in mind I think ITV should reinstate the soap block between 7-8pm on Sunday, then do:

Sunday
19:00 - Emmerdale
19:30 - Corrie
20:00 - The Durrells / The Halcyon / Good Karma Hospital (20 weeks)
21:00 Grantchester / Tennison / Tina & Bobby / Innocent / Loch Ness (25 weeks)
22:00 News at Ten

Monday
21:00 Broadchurch / Unforgotten / Fearless / Muncie (23 weeks)

Wednesday
20:00 Midsomer Murders / Vera / Endeavour / Maigret (18 weeks, all 2hr til 10pm)
21:00 Safe House (4 weeks, when above 4 have finished)

Tuesday/Thursday
20:00 Factual / Light (Mr & Mrs, Long Lost Family, Surprise Surprise)
21:00 Factual (Joanna Lumley, Trevor McDonald, etc)

Friday
20:30 - Benidorm (9 weeks), other, flexible
21:30/21:00 post-Benidorm onwards - film premieres, other stuff, no NAT

Sorts Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays out for around 20-25 weeks of drama in all available slots. Leaves Tuesdays and Thursdays for factual and light entertainment like Mr & Mrs.

This would bed Corrie back in to Sunday ahead of the 6th episode (which would be added in to 8.30pm Friday again), reinstate the Sunday cozy feel from 7-10pm which worked so well, give Wednesdays the 2 hour dramas following the Corrie lead-in.

Obviously BGT will need to take the week stripped in May, but they could just pause the dramas for one week and resume the week after.

Thoughts?

There will be a Christmas Outnumbered according to Andy Hamilton on BBC Breakfast this morning and occasional specials are planned for the future.

Who Do You Think You Are isn't as big as it was and is very guest dependent. Put factual against that and it would be tough, drama against that is better. Unforgotten played on Thursdays last year and did okay there. The Level could be okay on Friday, the big hurdle will be facing Gogglebox and Have I Got News For You. But it's a drama alternative.

Outnumbered lost its reason for existing once the kids grew up. A shame Hamilton and Co can't see that.

One thing I disagree with is Vera and Endeavour on a Wednesday. Those have established themselves as Sunday night dramas and cover 8 weeks of the year. The Halycon, The Good Karma Hospital and Wild At Heart at x8 each thats 32 weeks of the year covered on a Sunday at 8. X Factor would cover the rest.

Can some of the schedules go in spoiler tags please? Nothing against them they just take up a lot of space when you're scrolling down a page.

Outnumbered doesn't work as well with grown kids that are more aware of the camera. Leave it alone.

I've heard good things about Paranoid from somebody that has seen it. Arguably the best slot for it although it will likely face The Fall.

Maybe we should start a fantasy schedule thread?.

Shame it couldn't have taken Wednesday.

Never seen DCI Banks is it too violent/dark to go out at 8pm?

If you schedule it, they will come. The Bill at 9pm on a Thursday.
Tues 8pm - Take Your Pick followed by Wheel of Fortune. Light hearted drama at 9. Or Survival.
Friday after 9 used to be a time for detectives fighting crime.

It doesn't take a lot of energy to scroll past a post you don't find interesting (I appreciate a lot of people here find my thoughts on ITV boring, but you can just ignore them with a simple flick of your trackpad).

It's the same thing as saying the old ratings should be banned from the thread. We're an open community and provided we're on topic about the broadcasters and their ratings performance (which ideas are, in my opinion) it should be okay.

I'll spoiler tag from now though on so posters like cylon don't have to see my shit ideas.

"Ugh James is off on one again with more silly ideas for schedules, scroll scroll scroll"


Don't recall The Bill ever being at 9pm on Thursday, certainly not when it was successful. Wasn't that where it went to die?

I don't find the ideas you post shit at all. I have been posting the same kind of things here and just enjoying the discussion with you, Cyclon, Sunbeam and others. The Bill was at 8 on Tuesdays and Thursdays sometimes Wednesdays IIRC.

It did. In the nineties and noughties ITV could put drama on any night and if it was good people watched. Soldier Soldier and Peak Practice on Tuesday, Wexford on Friday.

Peak Practice could have easily gone against Holby City. Such a shame they axed it.

I've never heard of those two new shows. Shall Google them. Davina? Eesh. Try a comedian.

Starting any new show v SCD is an act of sacrifice. On Sundays I'd look for a magazine shoe, something itv fails to make. Try a property show. C4 can make it for you!

Ninja v SCD is risky too. You could kill a successful show. I'd put Tipping Point at 6pm. Dump You've Been Framed. The Chase at 7pm. But not celebrity versions and for triple the jackpot with half to go to charidee.

The advantage of TP and Chase is that the shows aren't going to be harmed by SCD.

Back then there were 4 or 5 channels, no internet TV like Netflix, Sky on Demand, YouTube, etc, and it was much harder to record stuff, or catch up with it later.

It's a different world now, hence why the comparison is probably only telling half the story. What worked then is less likely to work now, given the changes in society, how we consume media, and certain nights being lower for TV audiences, who haven't got as much time to give to linear viewing anymore.

That's why I think lessen the scope and focus much more on a few areas, to make it more concentrated and maximise the chance of success in the overnights. Granted there are exceptions to nearly every rule and I completely accept that.

People would have tuned in any day of the week to watch good stuff then, but now if "good stuff" is on an inconvenient day or a day that's not normally suited to drama, they'll either give it a miss or watch it via another means when it suits them - on the whole, obviously... sure it varies more depending on demographics.