Sorry I meant storywise it's running out of steam. That's coming from a fan of the show as well, who has watched it since series 1.

I think that's the problem. I didn't realise until too late. Watched it later as have a series link.

It does feel like a series of sketches strung together into an episode.

Excellent night for BBC2. Dads Army picking up a seperb 2.6m. Who said viewers don't like rpts?

When rpt's of comedy and films rate well, whats the point in investing in new programming over Christmas?

Dragon's Den had no promotion, presumably not to damage Sherlock.

I thought it was a compilation program not a new episode.

No I mean it was overhyped on here. When the xmas day/ Boxing Day ratings came in, there was a lot of talk about how NYD was the big hitter now, not xmas. And that was a reasonable claim given previous years' figures.

That's an awful figure for EastEnders, to get below 6m for a massive episode. No excuses, had no competition at all. I was expecting well over 7m as it always used to rally for New Year's Day. Will be interesting to see how tonight's episode rates, surely that should be over 6m? If not, there's one hell of a mountain to climb.

Really poor for EE for a heavily promoted episode and beaten by an out of slot and unadvertised Corrie which faced tougher competition than EE too .

Did the EE trailer specify time slot at all I can't remember?

Oh I see.

I think people get a bit carried away with EE. Given last years boost, Even I expected it to get a general boost. But it hasn't, and there is going to be very fw big days like NYD that EE can get a boost.

January is uually the highest rated month for the soaps, so you'd expect EE to start NYD with a big rating. If it can't get 6m on NYD, does that mean it'll be below 6m in January? Its not like it was against anything to take viewers away.

Perhaps it will consolidate well, and that might boost this weeks episodes? Tonight's rating will be telling whether January will get its usual boost. Otherwise its going to be a painful year of soap ratings.

Be interesting to see if Sherlock can hold those figures, especially after how awful the episode was. Can't see myself tuning in for the remaining ones.

Haassan if possible are you about to post your NYD figures for past years? Many thanks

If I remember corrently 1hr of YBF on NYD in 2013 for 3.15m, so for the Diversity thing to be below 2m is pretty telling.

The last special they did bombed.

Completely agree about the Carters. Danny Dyer should never have been made the face of 'The Vic'. I know he has a cult fan base but that is all they are, his fans. To a lot of people he is just seen as a loud mouth thug. The BBC should be brave and ditch him next.

I stopped watching EastEnders in 2012 when they killed off Pat despite Pam St Clements only asking for a break. I started watching again around 2014 for the Lucy stuff, killing her off is another mistake that should never have happened, but its never been the same show since Bryan Kirkwood put a sword through its heart. I have defended the show on here loads over the years but enough is enough now. The retcons that Dominic Treadwell Collins did was a massive '**** you' to long term viewers. Its basically been one bad EP after another.

I do understand what the new guy is aiming for but a break from sensationalism should have happened in 2011. Its coming five years too late and a lot of lost viewers will simply never return now. The BBC realised what was going wrong too late in the day.

This is why I can't post in the soap forum now because I will be so negative it will put me off the show completely and I don't want to be seen as a moaning minnie.

WOW NO BOOST FOR EE EVEN ON NYD !! possibly people arent that interested anymore for eastenders on Christmas and new years

It just said "New Years Day" I'm sure.

Good rating for Worlds strongest man. Always a must watch on NYD in this household

Corrie - it's like a cockroach - no matter how bad the episode is it always beats Eastenders. Why?

EE - they try and try and try and nobody wants to know. Rigged these ratings are.

If that's the case then the question has to be "Why do the BBC never learn?"

It smacks of complacency and even arrogance imo that they just expect viewers to find programmes airing out of slot, especially earlier than normal. If EE was in a healthy ratings position then maybe so but not now. Big opportunity missed.

The trailer included the day and time. So no complacency in this case.

Add to that the trailer wasn't on even half as much as the one for Sherlock. On NYD at least - they might've shown it more on one of the other days when I was at work.

The BBC are always slow to react/provide weak support when it comes to EastEnders.

EastEnders focus on a select few days to get them through. Mainly Christmas Day & NYD. Now that's failing, what happens now.

Maybe people didn't want to watch EastEnders? People found it out of slot in the past without too many issues. Coronation Street was out of slot and surrounded by duds yet pulled in a bigger audience.

Sherlock did well and the earlier airing of Mrs. Brown's Boys worked out for it. ITV, as expected, had a bit of a disaster.

EastEnders rating no significantly higher than it did on Christmas Day. Losing to an little advertised Corrie (although Corrie's ratings do include a repeat showing). That figure is likely to be the biggest OWCH of 2017.

SOAH makes a gain on Boxing Day with the same lead-in and same competition. It's doing okay for a 21st century sitcom, especially one up against Corrie, but it's such a weedy programme in quality of comedy compared to its parent programme and that's starting to become reflected in the ratings. BBC1 may regret the way they've scheduled Sunday night next week with Endeavour getting a hour-long head-start on Sherlock and a half-hour head-start on Sherlock's lead-in, Still Open All Hours. EDIT: Sherlock's mismatched lead-in. Don't wish to generalize but can't help feeling these two appeal to two entirely different audiences with NOBODY who watches one watching the other.


Once again, as with University Challenge and Christmas University Challenge, BBC2 doing damage to EastEnders. There was also a Dad's Army episode at 6.50 plus an accessible Omnibus programme on the sitcom from the mid 1990s at 6pm. It would be interesting to see the ratings for those.


A 3.2m time-shift so it could still end up above 11m.


World's Strongest Man also eating into EastEnders. Strange how this can get a New Year Day boost but EastEnders can't. How did the extra viewers of WSM find out about it?

Morning all

When will figures for ITV's return to horse racing be available?

EastEnders focus on a select few days to get them through. Mainly Christmas Day & NYD. Now that's failing, what happens now?

Any ratings for Pointless on Thursday and Friday in it s later slot of 5.45pm with no The Chase competition?

For the Bank Holiday with shorter slots for the tea-time news, both quizzes start at 5.45pm with Tipping Point returning for a new series at 4.45pm. Be interesting to see how these three rate. May have to wait until January 14th when I get the first Broadcast of the New Year as all 3 should be in the top 100 they publish. I noticed Tipping Point moving into the top 100 recently.