That's unusually low for Heartbeat. I suppose the lack of the soaps lead-in didn't help.

Some very surprising ratings for ITV1 there!

I thought Heartbeat and He Kills Coppers would do much better-at least 1 million added to both those figures! I would suspect Heartbeat's figure was so low because 1.Easter Weekend-many figures seem very low. 2. Strong competition from LRTC-could it actually have beaten ITV's ratings banker?! 3. Lack of promotion 4. No lead in from Corrie. ITV may soon regret the decision to move Coronation St and Emmerdale.

If Heartbeat's current run continues to attract low figures, it's another nail in the coffin for ITV, if one of it's only strong ratings bankers can't even pull in the figures.

I guess people were put off He Kills Coppers because of ITV's recent drama reputation. Shame, because it was a fantastic programme.

The Fixer continues to drop which is more bad new for ITV-still 3 episodes left of that aswell. What is actually left for them to show?

MediaGuardian is reporting 1.5 and 1.0 million respectively for the Sunday and Monday showings of the 'Colour of Magic'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/25/tvratings

ITV1 always has a poor Easter Sunday. For example last year even with the soaps, the figures were poor.


Last year they "wasted" an episode of each soap getting about 25% less than what they would get on a regular weeknight.

Maybe it was the wrong day to start a drama like He Kills Coppers? Maybe Midsummer Murders or Foyles War would have worked better?

A bit hysterical perhaps. So are you saying they should make good programmes (The Fixer & He Kills Coppers) or support old fashioned programmes through even more soaps? I never seem to figure out exactly what you do want to happen apart from maybe ITV to close?

Good point. I think maybe a one-off drama would have worked much better.

I really enjoyed He Kills Coppers and I love The Fixer so I'm hoping if the figures don't drop off to much more, The Fixer at least may get a recommisson.

To lose one third of your viewers isn't good for such an expensive show. I didn't watch because I just can't understand what is going on (I'm not dim, just can't connect with the characters). Maybe some are waiting for the repeats.

Perhaps Heartbeat is getting past it's sell by date now. It has been going for some years and perhaps the traditional Heartbeat viewer is either fed up with the cast changes (inevitable in a long running show), or perhaps have moved on to other things as ITV have "soaped" it up. Or have possibly died off in the intervening years.

If the figures quoted for The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency are correct then that is a good result and hopefully will augur well for a series.

I would suspect The Fixer may level off by next week, people probably wanted something more light hearted to watch at the end of the Easter Holiday.

I thought that He Kills Coppers might increase next weekend but I've just read that the show dropped over a million during the hour from 4.5-3.4 million which isn't good, because it shows it attracted the interest, but once people actually saw the show they weren't impressed.

Seems like ITV's daytime problem was F1


When Hamilton doesnt win, only hardcore fans watch

That will cheer up Grade after deciding to let it go to the Beeb.

What I'm saying is that ITV seem to have had many drama failures since the relaunch, and any new dramas they keep bringing out are failing for them.

It now seems that dramas like Heartbeat & Trial & Retribution cannot even pull in the strong figures they are used to. Some of this could be to do with the growing number of programmes to watch, but it seems people are losing faith in ITV dramas.

Though, saying this Heartbeat will no doubt increase next week, with less competition and the fact that it isn't Easter Weekend.

On another note Sky Sports 1's all hours share yesterday was 6.7% which is amazing for a multichannel. It beat FIVE's 5% share. This is the main reason why BBC1 & ITV1's shares are down, as their daytime schedules didn't perform at all:

ITV1-Grand Prix (R)-1.9 million(12%)
BBC1- The Passion (R)-1.1 million (8%)
FIVE- The Wizard Of Oz-1.4 million (9%)

During this time Sky Sports 1 was attracting shares of 20-25%!!

Where as they could have shown Midsommer Murders for the 100th time and achieve about 1 million, just like a weekday afternoon. Midsommer Murders really hits the 16-34 age range they are trying to aim at.

What is says to me is that if you want a big audience, you have to appeal to the over 45's who watch by far the most tv.

What is difficult though is then pulling in enough commercially attractive younger viewers to keep advertisers happy. New Tricks, Casualty, Midsomer Murders, Doc Martin all get high total figures but the average age of the audience for each of these shows is approx. 60 years old. Being an average that means that some are a lot older.

Indeed. Maybe the can rerun American Idol instead of Midsommer

Are there any 'Lark Rise' figures?

I think last week must have been one of the best weeks ever for multichannel with numerous programmes breaking the 1 million mark:

Tuesday-Bionic Woman-ITV2-1.5 million
Tuesday-Eastenders-BBC3-???
Wednesday-The Curse Of Steptoe-BBC4-1.4 million
Easter Sunday-Colour Of Magic-SKY1-1.5 million
-FILM:Indiana Jones-BBC3-1.4 million
-Gavin & Stacey-BBC3-1.2 million
-Chelsea V Arsenal-SKYSPORTS1-2.3 million
-Manchester United V Liverpool-SKYSPORTS1-2.2 million

Would this repeat deprive ITV 2 of its 4th repeat of American Idol?

How did the Soaps do?

That could very well be down to the day though - Easter Sunday, when families visit each other, Easter Sunday dinner, easter egg hunts and the like. And no shops open, so normal Sunday routines are totally thrown out of the window.

The problem with ITV's relaunch is that they've tried to appeal to the 16-34 category too much, but what they need is a balance.

The Palace
Honest
Echo Beach
Moving Wallpaper
Rock Rivals
...all obviously designed to appeal to the 16-34 market & all fail to pull in the viewers.

EastEnders
11.4m (42.4%)
*peaked at 11.6m (42.7%) in the last 15 mins

Coronation Street
10.9m (41%)
9.9m (36.5%)

And it's also true that while a lot of high-rating shows do profile old, the BBC also has some high profile dramas which get a young audience - Hustle, Spooks, Hotel Babylon, Ashes to Ashes, and of course Doctor Who. Not to mention the fact that EastEnders is much younger than Coronation Street.

Primeval is about the only "young" drama that I can think of on ITV1. Honest and Rock Rivals were both well below the similarly glossy Hotel Babylon in terms of 16-34 profile, and the same holds for The Fixer compared to Ashes to Ashes.

This is, largely, a failing with ITV's brand - young people don't expect ITV1 to have drama for them, because they've grown up with the channel showing Heartbeat, Morse, and Midsomer Murders. I agree with you, ITV suddenly turning round and saying "Look at all this great young drama" hasn't worked because they're still talking mainly to the 55+ audience. They should have invested in one really strong broad drama, made sure it worked, and then launched everything else off the back of that, rather than just expecting 16-34s to come over en masse for a slate of drama that was, let's face it, quite weak anyway.

Fantastic what about the others?

Saturday 22nd March
BBC1
19:05 - I'd Do Anything - 5.5m (25%)
20:15 - Casualty - 6.6m (29%)
21:05 - Love Soup - 3.6m (16%)

BBC2
20:00 - Dads Army - 2m (9%)
20:30 - Shroud of Turin - 2m (9%)
21:30 - Have I Got Old News For You - 1.9m (9%)
22:00 - Richard the Lionheart - 1m (5%)

ITV1
19:05 - Ant & Dec Saturday Night Takeway - 6.8m (30%)
21:25 - FILM: Pride and Prejudice - 2.3m (13%)

Channel 4
20:15 - FILM: The Day after Tomorrow - 2.7m (12%) [272k +1]

five
21:05 - CSI: NY - 2.6m (12%)

BBC3
21:05 - A Journey Throught Time and Space - 260k (1.4%)
22:05 - Mighty Bosh - 326k (1.9%)

Sunday 23rd March
BBC1
14:15 - The Passion - 1.1m (8%)
19:30 - The Passion - 4.9m (21%)
20:00 - Lark Rise to Candleford - 5.7m (23%)
21:00 - The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - 6.3m (27%)

BBC2
20:00 - Top Gear - 2.6m

ITV1
14:45 - F1: Malaysian Grand Prix Re-Run - 1.9m (12%)
20:00 - Heartbeat - 6m (24%)
21:00 - He Kills Coppers - 3.8m (15%)

Channel 4
20:00 - Celebrity Wife Swap - 2.4m

five
15:25 - FILM: The Wizard of Oz - 1.4m (9%)

Sky Sports 1
13:00 - Man Utd vs Liverpool - 2.2m (20%) [2.5m from 13:30 - Peak: 2.9m at 15:00]
15:30 - Arsenal vs Chelsea - 2.3m (15%) [2.8m from 16:00 - Peak: 2.9m at 17:15]

Monday 24th March
BBC1
20:30 - FILM: Catch Me If You Can - 4.4m (18%)
22:45 - BBC News - 2.8m (18%)

BBC2
19:30 - Mastermind - 2.5m (9%)
20:30 - Delia - 3.2m (12%)

ITV1
21:00 - The Fixer - 4.4m (18%)
22:00 - News at Ten - 3.8m (17%)

Channel 4
21:00 - Bear Grylls: Mission Everest - 1.9m (8%)

Sky One
18:00 - The Colour of Magic - 967k (4.7%) [Peak: 1.1m at 19:15]

BBC4
21:00 - The Frost Report is Back! - 544k (2.8%)