It would have been hypocritical if he made the decision for the show to leave the BBC. But it was not up to him. He had a preference but that was taken away from him/them.

Now it is a decision between staying on the show or choosing to work on other projects. What if he leaves for ITV or C5?

They (or he as the quote only seems to be from Paul) said they'd rather it stayed on the BBC. That's fair enough, but it's quite different from saying that they'd quit if it moved. Given the choice between Bake Off on the BBC and Bake Off on Channel 4 I'm sure they'd all pick Bake Off on the BBC. However, when the choice is (as it seems to be) between Bake Off on Channel 4 and an assortment of other shows on the BBC which may or may not be any good and could be quite similar to stuff they already do, I can see why they'd pick Bake Off on C4.

As for putting Paul on Top Gear, I'm not quite sure why he'd want that. Evans drove it into the ground and it's a poisoned chalice (nearly as much as replacing Mary & Paul will be on Bake Off if they do leave!). I'd sooner stay on Bake Off than do that if I were him.

Cheers. I do think we should expect more from C5 now. Clearly they don't have C4 money but i don't think it's unrealistic to expect a few dramas a year. A year.

Can't even have that at the moment as next week's schedules have been confirmed with no overlap! There normally is an overlap on Strictly's first Saturday so I'm quite surprised.

I don't expect it to last though as both shows will be longer in a week or two.

We need a second album!
I suppose it's just a safety valve for him, in case the opportunity of a new American series arises at some point.

Only if I'm on it!

Yes, possibly. His arrival on America's Got Talent this year has gone very well (highest rating series in 5 years, up double digits year on year) so that could be the case, although he does seem to be enjoying the UK shows right now. BGT isn't much of a time commitment anyway and I'm not sure he'd want to risk X Factor without him on it again.

The reasons why you should not watch the X Factor is now posted on my blog: http://wp.me/p7CZB3-2E

Drama is very expensive to make and it can be costly if it fails so 5 are dipping their toe in the water with their new drama next year. They're taking risks with comedy with LSB UK and Borderline so they're getting back into the scripted business

It will suffer again tonight, no help from SCD.

From rzt:

Joanna Lumley's Japan - 3.23m (16.2%) inc. +1

Eat Well for Less - 2.91m (14.6%)

Since I was pretty perfect in my ratings predictions last week I'll predict again. Actually I'll pretty much prefict the same again.

XF should get 7.5m and all of itv will be very similar to last week.
Not much change on the BBC except Casualty should improve to 4.4m and the lottery be around 3.7m.

I watched Sunday's XF last night after the soccer and it was again a fun show. I don't think 90 minutes is enough for Boot Camp and starting at 19:30 is a mistake.
However, itv are right to try the Chase at 18:30 and see if it can do better versus Countryfile.

Blimey who needs BARB when we've got you

Eat Well for Less was particularly poor scheduling as a Friday night offering. I expect they are treading water until Strictly starts.

Same goes for the late night New Tricks repeats until Norton comes back.

BBC1
EastEnders: 5.38m (26.9%)
BBC News (10pm): 3.55m (20.6%)
The One Show: 3.24m (19.1%)

BBC2
Gardeners' World: 1.98m (9.7%)
Mastermind: 1.77m (8.9%)
The Great British Bake Off: an Extra Slice: 1.67m (8.3%)

BBC4
The Sound of Fury (R): 0.52m (3.8%)
The Everly Brothers: Harmonies from Heaven (R): 0.48m (2.4%)
Top of the Pops 1982 (7.30pm) (R): 0.33m (1.8%)

Channel 4 (exc. +1)
The Last Leg: Live from Rio: 1.63m (7.9%)
Paralympics 2016 (8.59pm-1.08am): 1.38m (11.4%)
Paralympics Highlights (7.30pm): 0.88m (4.8%)

Channel 5 (exc. +1)
The Cars That Made Britain Great: 0.76m (3.7%)
Carry On Caravanning: 0.68m (3.4%)
Building the Panama Canal (R): 0.54m (3.1%)

Excluding +1:

Hollyoaks (E4): 0.62m (3.6%)
Hooten and the Lady (Sky 1): 0.42m (2.1%)
Celebs Go Dating (E4): 0.32m (2.1%)

Most Watched Programmes of 1994

1. Olympic Ice Dance Championship (Feb 21) (BBC1): 23.95m (9pm: Torvill and Dean) / 20.65m (8pm-9.40pm) *
2. The National Lottery Live (Nov 19) (BBC1): 20.17m
3. Coronation Street (Feb 14) (ITV): 19.68m (excluding repeat)
4. EastEnders (Oct 27) (BBC1): 19.31m (excluding repeat)
5. Heartbeat (Nov 20) (ITV): 17.76m
6. Casualty (Nov 19) (BBC1): 17.24m
7. You've Been Framed! (Sept 4) (ITV): 16.96m
8. Emmerdale (Jan 6) (ITV): 16.84m
9. London's Burning (Nov 20) (ITV): 16.80m
10. The Grand National (Apr 9) (BBC1): 16.72m
11. The Bill (Mar 18) (ITV): 16.45m
12. Soldier Soldier (Dec 13) (ITV): 16.30m
13. The Utterly Worst of Alright on the Night (Apr 10) (ITV): 16.16m
14. A Touch of Frost (Jan 30) (ITV): 15.77m
15. Do It Yourself, Mr Bean (Jan 10) (ITV): 15.60m
16. It'll Be Alright on the Night 7 (R) (Jan 2) (ITV): 15.44m
17. Film: Licence to Kill (Premiere) (Jan 3) (ITV): 15.31m
18. Cracker (Dec 5) (ITV): 15.24m
19. One Foot in the Grave (Dec 25) (BBC1): 15.14m
20. Barrymore (Jan 8) (ITV): 15.12m
21. Strike It Lucky (Dec 29) (ITV): 14.85m
22. Peak Practice (May 10) (ITV): 14.74m
23. Big Break (Jan 8) (BBC1): 14.73m
24. This Is Your Life: Jill Summers (Feb 2) (ITV): 14.46m
25. Back to School, Mr Bean (Oct 26) (ITV): 14.45m
26. Gladiators: The Grand Final (Jan 1) (ITV): 14.35m
27. Film: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Premiere) (Dec 25) (BBC1): 14.32m
28. Film: Three Men and a Little Lady (Premiere) (Feb 6) (ITV): 14.11m
29. Film: Twins (R) (Mar 6) (BBC1): 13.95m
30. Film: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (Premiere) (Jan 9) (ITV): 13.85m
31. Birds of a Feather (Dec 24) (BBC1): 13.79m
32. It'll Be Alright on the Night 8 (Dec 10) (ITV): 13.74m
33. Keeping Up Appearances (Dec 25) (BBC1): 13.69m
34. Catherine Cookson's The Cinder Path (Apr 17) (ITV): 13.60m
35. Bruce Forsyth's Play Your Cards Right (Apr 8) (ITV): 13.52m
36. Police Stop! (Sept 7) (ITV): 13.49m
37. Charles: the Private Man, the Public Role (Jun 29) (ITV): 13.45m
38. Film: Turner & Hooch (R) (Jan 16) (ITV): 13.43m
39.= Blind Date Wedding and the Best of the Rest (Feb 12) (ITV): 13.42m
39.= 2 Point 4 Children (Sept 5) (BBC1): 13.42m
41. World Cup Final: Italy v Brazil (Jul 17) (BBC1): 13.40m

* Broadcast's William Phillips wrote:
"Yes, the Olympic ice dancing set an all-comers' record for a sports audience. It was the 22nd most-watched programme of any sort, but on any commonsense definition it wasn't the '23.95 million' leaked to a gullible press. As with World Snooker in 1985 and the Grand National 'actual race' two years ago, the BBC has been cherrypicking. The most-watched 19 minutes within a 97-minute relay - Torvill and Dean's turn - has been extracted and retrospectively declared a separate programme. The Broadcast Book of Golden Deeds has no more regard for such chicanery than for another absurdity invented by the BBC: the 'composite audience' obtained by adding a repeat. This week's number one audience covers BBC1's whole skating show. Torvill and Dean were most popular in the South West, least so in Central Scotland and Ulster. They were seen by four-fifths of housewives and children watching television. So rare a lily needs no gilding, but ITV's Monday mid-peak frailty helped. There were 4.6m viewers for Law and Disorder (115th); 2.9m, one of its lowest scores, for World in Action ; and 3.2m for the final Under the Hammer, showing the public cannot imagine Victor Meldrew as a skirt-chasing aesthete."

I Don't know why eat well for less has just been stuck anywhere in the schedules for the last two episodes it has been quite a hit for bbc1, i know it took a break for the olympics why didnt they just show the last two episodes in its usual thursday slot ?

Did it get any trailers and its not really a friday night show i do wonder at schedulers sometimes

It wouldnt look out of place at 9.00 am,certainly not 9.00 pm show.

Thought Eat Well For Less would beat Joanna Lumley as it has done a lot better than that before, although it was a weird choice for a Friday. Joanna Lumley's Japan could probably be doing a bit better elsewhere although at least it won the slot and for Firday factual it isn't too bad. Very good retention from last week too.

Last night was one of the worst Fridays in ages.

The BBC should be fined for putting that programme on a Friday night. Be adventurous ffs. Kudos to Johanna though - she is always a hit.

I know Strictly starts next week, but we do pay a licence. I'm sick of the dependence on crap and the endless Mrs Brown repeats. We are not Georgia or Bosnia ffs.

Nit a terrible start for Hooten there but I expect as it was their big hope for the autumn and they clearly spent quite a bit on it they might have been hoping for more- Hopefully it consolidates well as it really was rather good

I see that Still Game is back on 7th October at 9.30 on BBC 1. Take it is the network showing unless BBC Scotland are getting to air it first.

I'm only giving you the numbers for the lottery tv ratings. I'm happy to PM other numbers though in return for a small donation.

Cheers,
LagosBeam

Return of the Apprentice is not going down too well on twitter with some saying its boring its past its sell by date same thing year in year out why cant it go to Channel 4 too