Yes, the BBC schedulers are quite dumb really, they dont half waste some slots. This should be put out Sunday / Monday - Tuesday will suffer in the weeks to come with Champions League.

Its like Ashes To Ashes & Life On Mars all over again.

BBC Drama should put its best shows out on Mondays, with two-parts on Sundays if necessary. Put lightweight drama output (Hotel Babylon, Hustle, etc) out on a Thursday.

Last year, the series opener got a whooping 9.3m (around 35% share) - this was on a Sunday and early January and of course January ratings are always higher than April, but the share is key for comparison between months, tonight was 27%, some way down from the 35%....

ITV's 2008 new Drama averages (Some of them )

The Fixer - 4.5 (19.4%) - Started with 6.2M finished with 3.3M
Moving Wallpaper - 3.1 (13.2%) - Started with 5.0M finished with 2.7M
Echo Beach - 2.8 (11.7%) - Started with 5.0M finished with 2.3M
Rock Rivals - 2.7 (11.0%) - Started with 3.9M last episode 2.2M

I've edited it I forgot to add in the last episode

I find it very convienent you choose to single out these 4 ITV programmes. You could easily say the same for some BBC Dramas (Hobly Blue and Casualty 1907) spring to mind.

I really think people should give ITV a chance : in my opinion they are trying and no broadcaster is capable of making every programme a ratings winner.

Some people are even worse and consider themsleves far too superior to even dream of watching a "common-like" ITV programme and would far rather watch a Traffic Cops repeat or a Holby something spin-off.

Thanks for those. Do you have the averages for The Palace and Honest?

Based on those figures, I would recomission The Fixer and Moving Wallpaper. I don't know where I would schedule The Fixer- maybe keep it on Mondays. I would definitely move MW from Fridays. I can't decide whether it's a 9pm show or a weekend 10pm show.


I dont think they were having a dig at ITV. They were just pointing out the averages for ITV's new dramas, that's all.

BBC1 vs. ITV1 Monday 14th April 2008:

7pm
The One Show 4.8m
Emmerdale 7.5m

7.30pm
Watchdog 4.5m
Coronation Street 10.0m

8pm
EastEnders 10.0m
Flat Broke: Tonight 3.7m

8.30pm
Panorama 3.5m
Coronation Street 9.7m

9pm
Waking the Dead 6.8m
The Fixer 3.3m

10pm
BBC News; Regional News 5.2m
News at Ten and Weather 2.1m

Monday 14th April 2008 Terrestrial Overnights

BBC1
16.35- Grange Hill: 427,000 (4.1%) * slot average: 948,000 (8.5%).
19.00- The One Show: 4.8m (26%)
19.30- Watchdog: 4.5m (20%)
20.00- EastEnders: 10.0m (41.1%)
20.30- Panorama: 3.5m
21.00- Waking the Dead: 6.8m (27.3%) *peak: 6.9m for final 30 mins.
22.00- BBC News; Regional News: 5.2m (24.3%)

BBC2
20.30- Delia: 2.4m (9.7%) * 56.7% of the audience were ABC1 viewers
21.00- Am I Normal?: 1.1m (4.3%)
22.00- The Grumpy Guide to…: 1.2m (6%).

ITV1
19.00- Emmerdale 7.5m
19.30- Coronation Street 10.0m (44%)
20.00- Flat Broke: Tonight 3.7m (15%)
20.30- Coronation Street 9.7m (38.9%).
21.00- The Fixer 3.3m (13.4%)
22.00- News at Ten and Weather 2.1m (10%)

Channel4
20.00- Immigration: the Inconvenient: 1.3m
21.00- Quest for the Lost Ark: 2m (8.6%) * slot average: 1.7m

Five
20.00- Gadget Show: 1.1m
21.00- Extraordinary People: 3.1m (12.6%) * slot average: 1.2m (5.1%).
22.00- The Complainers: 1.3m (7.4%) *peak: 1.6m in last 30 mins
* slot average: 1.1m (6.2%).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All hours shares for Monday 14 April 2008: BBC1 – 22.3%, ITV1 – 20.1%, C4 - 8%,BBC2 – 7.2%, Five – 5.9%, multichannel – 35.8%.

Peaktime (6pm to 10.30pm) shares: BBC1 – 25.7%, ITV1 – 23.5%, BBC2 – 7.7%, C4 – 7.1%, Five – 6.3%, multichannel – 29.2%.

Ermm I've got nothing against ITV, these were just the four shows I kept track of the ratings for. It's not my fault three of them flopped.

BTW I actually watch Rock Rivals (well until the Apprentice started) and I think it's great and it would be a shame if it was cancelled. My parents watch the other three and say they are really good.

Sorry I don't, I could find them probably

Thankyou for defending me

And I agree that MW/EB shouldn't be aired on a Friday, Thursday would suit it more. I don't think they should cancel these programmes (maybe Rock Rivals) but give them another chance.

Yes, I agree. Even if figures aren't brilliant, ITV needs to show it has faith in its programming. This will, in the longish term, lead to more inventive, worthwhile programming.

The Palace and Rock Rivals should be rightly axed however.

But, The Fixer, Honest and Moving Wallpaper could turn into ratings winners for ITV, like Benidorm did after being re-commissioned.

Just wondering, where would you schedule these 3 shows?

I know you weren't asking me, but my two-penneth:

The Fixer - 10 episode season, premieres with 2-part special over Monday/Tuesday at 9pm, continuing for 8 weeks at 9pm on Monday.

Honest - Fridays at 9pm

Moving Wallpaper - Thursdays at 9pm

I agree with moving MW. But why would Honest do better on a Friday compared to a Wednesday?

Not sure to be honest. It almost seems like it needs a 10pm slot, really, Shameless style, but obviously that's not possible on ITV.

I just thought with it being a comedy it would fit on ITV1's comedy Friday night. MW, however, cannot work there as it's for an audience who IMO are out when it's on.

ITV's schedule will need shaking up soon when the football comes to Wednesdays as The Bill and Corrie will need to be relocated. Interestingly, according to the press listings, Corrie's only on once on Friday 2nd May. I'd love it to drop back down to four a week.

Moving Wallpaper: Thursday: 9pm [Or 10pm on Monday if they axe News at Ten] (10 part series)

Honest: Thursday: 9pm (8 part series)

The Fixer: Tuesday: 9pm (4 part series)

Why only 4 episodes for The Fixer PJ?

I've already got an idea for that.

AUTUMN SCHEDULE
Monday:-

7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm Tonight
8:30pm The Fixer / Trial & Retribution (feature length 4 part series for Fixer and 6 two part specials of T&R)
10:00pm News at Ten
10:15pm Tarrant on TV

Tuesday:-

7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Marco's Kitchen (new 20 part series)
8:00pm Coronation Street
8:30pm The Fixer / Trial & Retribution
10:00pm News at Ten
10:15pm Piers Morgan on ... (three part special)

Wednesday:-

7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm The Bill
9:00pm "a cutting edge documentary"
10:00pm News at Ten
10:15pm Piers Morgan on...

OR Champions League coverage (with Corrie now on Tuesday as well)

Thursday:-

7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm On The Ball (new football analysis show presented by Adrian Chiles)
8:00pm Billy Connolly's B-Road Britain / factual series
9:00pm Moving Wallpaper
9:30pm Headcases
10:00pm News at Ten
10:15pm Piers Morgan on...

Friday:-

7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm 2 hour drama (Frost, Midsomer, Rosemary & Thyme)
10:00pm News at Ten
10:15pm Big Fight Live (or other)

Corrie returns to Sunday as well.

Because The Fixer is that kind of drama and I think, because of the relatively low figures it received for the first series, it works better as a short, sharp serial.

So, it would be best to have around 8 episodes per year in two seasons, around 90 minutes per episode.

It would work very well in the autumn seeing Champions League is coming to Wednesday.

It could work well also with Trial & Retribution so it would be perfect to have both dramas occupying the all important Monday + Tuesday slot.

Do you not think it's essentially like Spooks though? With regard to the ITV schedule, they could do something like this:

17:30 ITV News
18:00 Quiz
18:30 Regional News
19:00 Emmerdale
19:30 Coronation Street
20:00 ITV News
20:30 The Bill
21:00 Lost in Austen
22:00 Pushing Daisies
23:00 FILM: Open Water

That's not happening till the 2009/2010 season.

Excellent ratings for Five. The Extraordinary People strand of programming is really striking a chord with viewers, The Gadget Show is continuing to do well in its slot, and The Complainers has got off to a very strong start indeed.

I must say I do think Five had the best schedule of the main 5 broadcasters last night and I'm glad it performed well.

well done channel 5

I think if ITV changed its schedule to make two news bulletins at 5pm and 8pm, they could really improve their all-hours shares.

I did this in Excel to show how the schedule would look with ITV Five and Eight O'Clock News bulletins:

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/6...chedulenj2.png

9pm would stay as now, for drama, but with the option of extending to 11pm. The 10pm slot would be used for a mix of US imports like Dexter and Springtown, homegrown ITV2 commissions like Secret Diary of a Call Girl, and chat shows for instance The Dara O'Brien show (rumoured).

The Bill would be slimmed down to 30 minutes, but air three times a week, and Corrie would lose its double whammies and air every night, at 7.30 on Mon/Wed/Fri and 8.30 on Tue/Thu.

On nights with football, the 8pm news would simply follow the footie at 10pm.

This schedule would also allow for more variety when shows like I'm a Celebrity/BGT are on, as from 9-10pm, the reality would air, followed by drama/comedy/etc at 10pm, or 10.30pm if it's an eviction.

The problem ITV has at the moment is it seems to be following the BBC around, i.e. the 10pm news. If they really set out a new, confident schedule, it could eat happily at the BBC's. For instance, Holby City wouldn't stand a chance against Corrie at 8.30pm on Tuesday, and the ITV Eight O'Clock News would do well too either preceding or following Corrie every night.

Are they allowed to show the late news so early at 8pm? I thought they had to show it 9pm or after?

How do Five and C4 get away with it?