Sadly the only way that would come about is if they return to regional broadcasting where the regions had to actively compete with each other for a national place. I also believe that if they reverted to this, it would als create a lot more stars and give newer writers etc. an opportunity to develop their talents... which, again, can only drive up quality.

ITV PLC is a shambles at the moment, and it is disheartening because of the quality of the drama's and light entertainment they used to produce.

If they did what Channel 4 do, and allow independent programme makers to create programmes I think they would do a lot better.

BBC have actively pointed out on a number of occasions that they aren't really into chasing ratings, and in a way, that is because of the way they are funded... they know that if a programme is a flop, no-one has really lost anything. But on the other hand, they do strike gold (Life On Mars, Doctor Who etc...)

I'm gonna have to look out for that now... Laurel talking to Ashley with a mouth full of shortbread... or Shadrach commenting on the quality of biscuits. (In Spanish again hopefully)

Just checked, the brand's called "Tunnock's". They've already had a branded van appear, and they are on sale in Viv's shop...so I suppose this deal has gone on for a while.

Apparently it was only legal though because no money changed hands...just free wafers?! lol

If they made a deal with a brewery to produce Ephraim Monk ales, they'd clean up!

So, alot of people think because Emmerdale starts 30mins before EE it will automatically beat it!!!

Well, on Tuesday 1st March 2005, both Emmerdale and EE went head-to-head with 1-hour specials and the result...

Emmerdale: 10.08m
EE: 7.21m

NOTE: Official BARB figures!

And if we are been really picky! According to BARB, EE started 1 min before Emmerdale. EE started at 18.59 and Emmerdale at 19.00.

Further note:

The Emmerdale episode was Charity's Exit and the EE episode was the aftermath of Den's demise! So did EE really have an excuse for Emmerdale beating it by 2.87m??
Last edited by Roscoe Barnes : 17-02-2006 at 22:03

Yep. EE started at 7pm

Emmerdale was in its usual time slot.

EastEnders isn't established in the 7pm time slot like Emmerdale is.

But this shouldn't be a problem for the UK's No.2 show, should it?

Thanks for that - I understand EastEnders didnt start at 7.30pm but 7pm for a hour - but Emmerdale still won it regardless of what time it was on (if people use that EE lost becuase of the timeslot isnt really a excuse because then I will argue back that not as many people watch Emmerdale on a normal episode because it's on at 7pm.)

Anyway - Im no EastEnders hater or Emmerdale hater - I love both so the ratings mean nothing to me on how good a show is becuase at times my favourite soap was Family Affairs which only got around one million viewers at 6.30pm!

-IntoSoap

This was also when EastEnders was still having problems.

It should for people who don't buy TV guides or posess psychic abilities though.