Erm... a couple of things

1) The sales chart is not a system, it's a count of the singles or albums sold during the week. The situation regarding Sex Pistols was pretty upfront at the time, the Chart Company deliberately chose to ignore some sales for record stores (I think maybe independent one or something like that). This meant that God Save the Queen missed out of the top spot, despite being the single that was purchased the most that week.

The government don't run the sales chart.

2) The BARB ratings system is based on the viewing habits of a panel of households that represent the make up of the UK. The panel is constantly updated each month to reflect the population.

The government doesn't run BARB

3) Just because you may not have come across people talking about the Olympics on the way to work, doesn't mean others haven't. On the flip side of your argument I can say that I have heard people mention what's going on in Rio over the last 2 weeks.

The perfect slot for most of there sitcoms would have been Sunday at 7.30pm like Still Open All Hours. The numbers would have been really good and there are 4 I believe, so it would have taken them through September nicely until Strictly starts.

I'm sure they'll all do well where they are but they do feel slightly wasted all crammed in at 9pm and 9.30pm.

As for Victoria, I'm surprised at the 2 night launch. The Monday episode should do quite well, but will potential timeshifted be put off by having to watch 2 episodes rather than 1? I think the launch would have done better on the Monday but it would look a little odd going from a Monday launch to a weekly Sunday slot.

This means there will be 4 Sundays left between Victoria and IAC. The only 4 part drama they have is Tutankhamun which looks to me like an expensive flop. But it might well go there.

It leaves 10 Mondays before IAC. Perfect for Cold Feet and the two parter Dark Angel (Dark Angel would then start on Halloween). Looks to me like Paranoid will therefore get Thursdays, just like Unforgotten last year, as I can't see it going on either Tuesday or Friday.

Apologies if this has already been confirmed, but is Victoria definitely sticking to Sundays?

History made here then with Channel 5 only the 3rd most watched Viacom-owned channel in the 10pm hour.

I had presumed so, although I guess there is the possibility that it could run on Mondays now they're doing a 2 night launch. Or even that it'll run twice every week and be done with in 4 weeks (that'd be weird though).

It very much feels like a typical Sunday drama though, and if Monday was going to be its permenant home then surely they'd have bumped the launch to Monday too having seen BBC1's big sitcom Sunday (perhaps doing a 2 night finale if they're short on weeks). So my guess is it'll be sticking to Sundays.

Cool, I'll we'll have to wait and see.

You're right it does seem like typical Sunday night fare.

DigiGuide has belatedly updated with presumably final schedules. Looks like a strong start to the new season for the big two.

BBC One's Goodnight Sweetheart and Young Hyacinth are paired together on Friday 2nd September from 9pm (opposite Lady C and the Castle on ITV).

Seems to be a lot of negativity regarding the beeb swapping of the channels during this Olympic coverage, it hasn't helped that with the Rio timing coming into 10pm has been quite a key time unlike London 2012 where things calmed down at 10pm.

Likewise it was a silly decision not to put eastenders on bbc2 for a fortnight it's not the powerhouse it once was

Here's hoping Cold feet is on a Sunday il scream if they put it on a Friday as some kind of feel good welcome to the weekend show

You'd think that'll be a walkover for the sitcoms. The Lady C thing probably won't do much, it's probably a few months too late. It's only a one off though.

The most bizarre thing for me is them putting Bourne Ultimatum out after X Factor on the Saturday. They normally launch their Saturday schedule in one go so I thought Through The Keyhole would be back there but it isn't. Not sure where that'll go now, if it'll just start the following week or go in a different slot. My only assumption for the poor filler is that they want to boost the launch of Xtra Factor, which struggled last year and has a completely new format this year.

Fantastic Olympic ratings.


It's not the powerhouse it once was which is why EastEnders needs the support. It's good from a ratings perspective as we get a better breakdown of the ratings.

One newspaper said Cold Feet would be on Mondays or Fridays. If Paranoid is good, I'd stick it on Mondays. Unforgotten deserved to do better last year. Cold Feet already has a following and I've read that the new series is a dead cert to be recommissioned. Gogglebox and Have I Got News For You show that people want something light hearted to watch following a long week at work.

Low and behold I have that week on DSRPG. I think Goodnight Sweetheart and Young Hyacinth will beat Lady C but it could be close. My week will be hard to predict.

That Sunday schedule will be TXF surrounded by flops again. Sub 2m at 7pm and sub 2m after 9.30pm.

Go For It will bomb - undoubtably. I would have launched that weekend with:

7pm Ninja Warrior UK
8pm The X Factor
9.30pm Joanna Lumley in Japan

Therefore the factual appeals to the older floating viewers and leaves The Xtra Factor to take the younger viewers. Personally I think The Xtra Factor will struggle again. I do not think Rylan is popular enough to pull in a decent audience.

The revived comedies should get a decent audience then. Up against ITV's offering. Although you never know. The curiousuty factor if Lady C thing could bring in a decent audience, though I doubt it.

One wonders whether BBC1's comedy season is going to be less impressive, than more Are You Being Served Rubbish?

11.1m at 10pm is incredibly good, but 11.1m at 11pm also it just crazy. What a result!

You can see why BBC1 moved EastEnders from Tuesday to Wednesday this week. They're a bit short of big Olympic action tonight. They're fortunate to have the GB woman in the hockey semi-final at 9pm.

I wouldn't put Joanna Lumley on a Saturday night, it would be a weird fit and wouldn't work. I reckon she'll get Tuesdays this time. Ninja Warrior into XF would work but I presume it'll be January for that (no idea where it'll fit).

I'm not sold on Go For It either, although surely it can't do worse than Bang on The Money? What happened to The Next Great Magician? Mulhern filmed it before he did Go For It and I thought it was meant to air late Summer but it doesn't seem to be on the horizon. Perhaps it'll take over from Go For It once that's done, unless Meet The Parents goes there. Also not sure where this leaves Through The Keyhole which normally starts on the same night as X Factor.

Keith Lemon confirmed on twitter that through the keyhole wont start until the christmas special.

Mini Strictly come Dancing promo between Olympic coverage and EastEnders today.

Indeed, the line up is a bit thin tonight, a big come down from yesterday.

We had football on the main channel earlier on.

Also I wish they'd have got Clare Balding a studio to host from instead of having her stood about like a spare part.

I've read the blurb for Lady C And The Castle and this is so not an ITV programme and it is so not a Friday night programme and if this gets more than 3m in the overnights, including +1, I will present Match Of the Day in my underpants. And I wouldn't be surprised to see it below 2m.

Looking back, I see that the first episode of Still Open All Hours had a consolidated audience of 12.25m. Whilst I don't see the new four do that well (because it's not Christmas), I predict the Sunday pair will rate better than the recent Mrs Brown Live. The performance of the Friday pair may hinge on how positive or negative the reaction is to the Sunday pair, but the Friday pair have MUCH weaker ITV competition than the Sunday pair,

Ah, cheers. I guess as there's no Jonathan Ross early next year it'll go in his usual January slot. A longer break won't do it any harm, the numbers weren't very good last year.

Not sure what will go after X Factor until Jonathan Ross returns. The only thing that springs to mind is Newzoids which is due back in September. It would certainly have a better lead-in than last time, but is it a Saturday show? Worth a go I guess, it can't be a bigger waste of a lead-in than Play To The Whistle if nothing else.

I wonder how well the Hockey will rate tonight? 5-6m? I'd be amazed if it's anything higher.

Some dire scheduling from Channel 5 w/c 29th August with a brand new series of The Hotel Inspector Returns going out 10.30pm-11.30pm on the Tuesday, Impractical Jokers UK ditched from the schedule and the finale of Suspects: The Enemy Within going out 11pm-12am on the Wednesday.

I do wonder how much temptation there might have been to do:

19:00 - Olympics 2016
20:00 - The Great British Bake Off
21:00 - Olympics 2016

I can't imagine tonight's numbers being much above a ~4/5m average however at the same point can see why perhaps BBC did not want to take the risk or take that approach.

In the Newzoids thread one of the posters has said this will be back on the 3rd September following The X Factor. I don't know how true this is.