Good point and it may not be that good for the 9pm slot, but this weeks showing went on till nearly 11pm so for the 10pm hour 3.5m is excellent for ITV looking at everything else in the 10pm slot over the week!

I think part of ITV's trouble with Heartbeat is that they should air something which attracts the same demograhic after it, because when the BBC are airing feature length dramas people don't want to tune in half way through after Heartbeat, so they decide to watch the drama instead all the way through.

So it's a bad time to put Heartbeat back in the schedule and they should wait till Summer/Autumn when they can run a brand new series and all the episodes that haven't aired from the previous can just be added to the new series so it makes it longer and with extensive advertising the show could be getting 7+ million again.

More people are going to watch shows like Ultimate Force, Afterlife and Pushing Daisies in the 10pm slot because that is where it suits. And if I'm honest, I think Sunday nights at 10pm is where these shows should go, or perhaps Saturday, or one night during the week.

Now, my idea was that Britain's Got Talent should have had two shows over the weekend, one for the final audition and the other for the big decision. Both would've got very healthy figures.

Sunday:

6:30pm Beat the Star
8:15pm Britain's Got Talent: The Decision
9:30pm Ultimate Force
10:30pm The Late News
10:45pm The South Bank Show

A nice varied schedule which would have earned a nice all-day share/peaktime share for ITV.

Editing Ultimate Force down to a 60-minute slot?

Oops. Sorry. I forgot. So. 15 minutes longer. Does it make much difference to the schedule. I can't edit it now.

Actually it makes it sound more sense as the Late News will be on at 11.

Why Heartbeat actually needs series defeats me. It is stuck in a time loop where they got to the end of 1969 years back, seemingly dare not go to 1 Jan 1970 and so have moved back a few months into 1969 (episodes are being shown as if they are all set in 1969 rather haphazardly when it is all seasons of the year on screen!)

So continuity is non existent to start with and cliffhangers rare. They really could just run batches of episodes as and when. But the key is to do this consistently as with two episodes on, weeks off, the audience for the show are clearly getting bamboozled. These tend to be older people less used to things like PVRs and less able to keep track of the crazy scheduling that seems to be going on.

This is without doubt going to cost viewers from one of their few reliable rating shows.

They seem to be thinking that you can do this with Midsomer and Foyle's War, etc, so why not Heartbeat? But the crucial difference is that the latter are 90 minute one offs that always have run in short batches. Heartbeat is a 60 minute drama series that has always run in (by UK standards) quite lengthy series.

ITV are playing a dangerous game of mix and match given their struggles in other areas this year.

The decision over Wild at Heart is odd as it was only a short run and with the lengthy filming schedule in Africa there is the best part of a year before they can show any more. So it was not something they had to air when they did.

Heartbeat used to be so popular back in the day.

Highest rated Heatbeat episodes (BARB)

8.51m - 2008
8.53m - 2007
9.63m - 2006
9.58m - 2005
10.21m - 2004
12.84m - 2003
12.08m - 2002
13.82m - 2001
15.16m - 2000
17.01m - 1999
16.45m - 1998
18.35m - 1997
17.55m - 1996
18.68m - 1995
17.76m - 1994
17.77m - 1993

By the look of things there, it really started to decline between 1999 and 2002.

Still doing well in comparison to many dramas on TV. Will be interesting to see how the Royal performs when that returns next month. It hasn't been on for ages so should be something fresh for the audience.

Heartbeat just cant attract the same numbers anymore due to new technology.

I dare say that if you used similar comparisons with shows that were on air a decade ago you would find similar declines in viewing figures due to multi channel explosions and the like.

7 million these days probably equates to 14 million a decade ago.

I was closely involved in an ITV series a decade back that ran for 4 years and it was getting viewing figures up to 13 million. An equivalent series today would be regarded as a big success with half that figure. Indeed we got cancelled when our figures fell to a level that would easily beat every new show ITV have launched in 2008 - including those being renewed, such as The Fixer.

surely people are bored of Heartbeat by now?

its always the same! minor crime gets commited, slow car chase with 60music, stick an attempt at comedy in, bad guys get caught..roll end credits

surely its time they moved it to the 70s? a chance for at least newer music and cars, and a chance for them to do some new spin-off CD's etc

Heartbeat has never been about plot and is character driven much like Coronation Street. I expect that it appeals to a similar audience.

I am surprised that they have this phobia about getting into 1970 but it looks as if they feel this is a psychological barrier that the audience will not cross.

The show has lasted far beyond the time they had expected it to do or they would not have run into this problem and spaced out the sixties more slowly.

Yes, every episode is much the same but I know many who still watch it as cosy Sunday night telly that you watch because you are so familiar with the characters.

This is why messing about with it will cost. Imagine taking Coronation Street off for three months, then putting it on for three weeks, them taking it off again. The audience will drain away.

Maybe someone at ITV actually wants this - to let Heartbeat go so they can 'move on' but they need to justify that via reducing its popularity.

The ratings equivalent of putting up train fares because too many people want to travel.

How did Gladiators do?

I don't suppose there are any ratings for "Greek" on BBC3 last night. Must say, despite (or maybe because of?) low expectations, I quite enjoyed it...

K

So relatively poor ratings for Lyndley - maybe the BBC know what they are doing by axing this afterall.

Sorry, don't have these figures. But they might be reported tomorrow.

I know - less than 10 million people watching BBC ONE or ITV1 on a rainy Sunday night in May - I don't know what went wrong last night. Perhaps The Inspector Lynley Mysteries have run their course. In fact, haven't both channels axed Lynley/Ultimate Force and are now just playing the last remaining episodes before they disappear for good? Perhaps the audience realised what was on offer was hardly premium then?

Weather was nice up North & in the west.

Although I actually watched Lynley and thought it was quite good and certainly better than the last Midsummer I saw - although I suppose ratings say different.

Not sure thats the reason - it was very breezy and quite cold - we were all in by eight anyway.

Well the darkness is coming, and the stars are fading out, so I'm not sure tv is people's main priority atm

They must be out watching the ISS pass overhead. Thats what I was doing

Surely it should come as no surprise that ratings have been depressed this weekend, given that people will have been away for the bank holiday weekend, and the schools are on half term this week - so we're in one of the peak holiday weeks of the year and ratings will inevitably be depressed this week whatever the weather's like?

I think that tells us more about the Eurovision 7 year low than the debate about political voting or competition from Britainzzzzz Got Talent? I don't ever recall Eurovision being shown on a bank holiday before. (Someone will no doubt now prove me wrong....)

Does anyone have the overnights for Monday night yet??
I really want to see how the first BGT semi-final fared!!!

Mon: 21.00- Britain's Got Talent: 10.9 million viewers (42%)

That is an amazing rating! 3rd most watched programme of the year. Imagine what the final will get!

More ratings will be posted later