Well, Bake Off does tend to bring the nation together! It's been an extraordinary week in TV-land, and has restored the Ratings Thread to its former glory. A vintage ratings thread indeed.

Can anyone think of many other medium or big shows that are in the hands of a really quite small independent production company? All the ones I can think of are either in-house or produced by superindies who both know which way their bread is buttered and also how to manage PR situations well.

Isn't Masterchef a Shine/Ziji format? I wouldn't be surprised if Roux left Masterchef because of salaries

I was gonna mention the book and movie The Late Shift yesterday in response to you saying this would make a good book but I thought it was maybe a little left-field to compare to this but I see we do think alike after all. A great book and a pretty decent TV movie as well.

They're already paying to repeat them on other channels. Maybe they aren't good examples. I don't know. Morse could do well. Upstairs Downstairs is period drama so it would not age (sort of). Darling Buds?

Hasn't BBC1 repeated twenty year old sitcoms like Fawlty or OFAH or Porridge or Summer Wine? Dad's Army gets over a million and that's on 2. Allo Allo is another.

I admit it's a left-field idea but I bet Morse could score 2m if not 3m. Like I said, the other option is try an import. Lethal Weapon, MaxGyver, Bull, Conviction or if they're really brave, Emerald City.

After catch-up some of them might out perform - Blue Sirens in London.

It's a shame that Robbie or Samuel haven't turned up though, I feel rather sorry for them at this time!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ng-series.html

Ker-Chingggggggggggggg!! "The male judge" beginning to show his true colours perhaps. Or just some stirring by The Mail....

But, if you're right that Mel and Sue were offered 'derisory offers' whereas Paul and Mary have been offered 10x more money, then Mel and Sue really aren't in the same boat.

They're not even on the same ocean.

The protracted silence / snippets suggest to me that Paul and Mary will go to Channel 4, which means the show is salvageable in my opinion. I'm personally not of the opinion that Mel and Sue are instrumental to the show's success and it will do as well with new presenters along with Paul and Mary but I could be wrong.

23k live iPlayer views for episode one of Poldark. Didn't make the on demand top 50. Something called Poldark: The Story So Far in 18th place with 115k. Was that just a recap?

Victoria came in at 140k and 119k for its first and second episodes in 10th and 15th place respectively in the on demand top 50.

Shine produce it but they don't own the format. The BBC do because it's considered a "derivative" version of the original Masterchef.

It would be interesting to see how the press treated Hollywood going to C4.

Would the headlines be Hooray for Hollywood or Berk Off?

That's true, but Mary has been very very open about Mel and Sue being so integral. Plus, she's at the stage of her career where she might want to slow down and whilst £6m is a lot of money, she doesn't really need it.

What was bigger on here, this GBBO story or last year's Top Gear story?

Love that book and you're right, the TV movie is pretty good. It just goes to show that, again, 90% of people in TV will never learn the lessons of their predecessors.

E.g. Channel 4 should've only signed up if the talent was guaranteed, the BBC should've put in their contracts that they had the rights to first refusal, and Love Productions should learn there are some things you just don't do (i.e. keep secrets from the people involved in the show).

I can't help but think the execs at Love are way out of their depth. Because, let's be honest, before Bake Off they were a fairly middling indie who had never had to deal with anything like this before. You certainly wouldn't have had a situation like this with Syco, Shine or Tiger Aspect, that's for sure.

Sky should really be pushing for executives with a proven track record to be in charge. Although it's probably too late now because I think this whole debacle has tarnished Love as a company.

I think this. There was quite a bit of leadup to the whole Top Gear thing whereas with Bake Off there were just rumours months ago but nothing concrete, and we all assumed it was just such a BBC show that they would never move.

It was all just dropped on us on Monday night, purely because they had to beat the press who had the story leaked to them.

Can anyone acquire this info or doss it cost?

If this is to be believed, £50m+ was on the table!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ng-series.html

Even Love is owned partly by Sky, but it could be considered independent because a lot of other indies are owned by superindies like All3Media or Shine.

I can only think of Hartswood which makes Sherlock and made Men Behaving Badly, Gimme Gimme Gimme and Coupling. They're not a subsidiary of anyone.

Celador was independent for many years as well.

I didn't realise how rich the two were when I talked of grandchildren.

Reading the Mail story (and credit to them for crediting the Sun and Telegraph with links) it sounds like Mary has decided nothing and is open to offers.

Let's be honest, it's a wonderful problem to have really.

Good examples, thanks. I doubt this circus would have gone on had Sky been officially involved.

Yeah, the strike rate hasn't been too good recently which is a shame. One Of Us underperformed too, and Our Girl didn't take advantage of the Bake Off lead in. I watched the first episode of Our Girl and really liked it.


I tried some of Poldark Series 1 but I couldn't get into it. Then again, I'm not really into period dramas that much. My mum loves Poldark though!

Oh I agree, it's a brilliant position to be in. Mary probably is open to offers but I feel she'll be more difficult to nab than Paul.

Gives me time to watch for the first time then. I started The Fall this morning. I was always meaning to watch it but never properly started. I just finished Episode 2 of S1. Short seasons so will be done before the Series 3 premiere. Enjoying it!

I agree, I'm honestly amazed they let the married couple stay in charge of Love. It's baffling really and even though they've secured a huge payday, you've got to think that this press is overwhelmingly negative for them.