AUGUST And ITV Win Xmas Ratings War

I have previously written the following on the "Christmas Telly" thread but obviously discussing Christmas telly in august is not at the top of everyones interests. However, in these very early stages of festive scheduling and planning it was interesting to read on Teletext yesterday (Saturday 14th) that ITV1 were to show a brand new festive episode of Midsomer Murders at 9pm on Christmas Day. The BBC must be messing their pants as they traditionally win the ratings war, but it is hard to see what they could possibly show at 9pm on Christmas Day that would do well against such a much watched programme. Apparently ITV want to promote it as the "Only Fools" must see event of Christmas Day. With no top comedy shows to air the BBC are in my opinion going to struggle this year.

A big effort must be made by Ms Heggessey and co. otherwise it'll be the loser this year. Harry Potter is apparently pencilled in for Christmas Day aswell as the launch of Dr Who. Also "Bend It Like Beckham" is also likely to be shown. But is this schedule strong enough to fight off John Nettles and his gruesome killings? We'll have to wait and see wont we?

Hmmmmm.....

Midsomer Murders.

Harry P, Dr Who, Beckham.

Right. How you come to the conclusion ITV has won Xmas Day with this tripe is beyond me. Midsomer Murders isn't that huge in the ratings. It's most certainly NEVER going to be an Only Fools and Horses. And it will probably have to inherit the ratings from Who Wants to Be A Millionaire which won't really strike fear into schedulers at the Beeb.

Besides which, it might be interesting the schedulers in August, but I'm not sure Joe Public is really going to care at this time of year.

New episodes do tend to get around the 8-10m mark. Even the repeats often do better on a Friday evening than what is one BBC One.

I can see a festive episode doing rather well, especially if it's cast with lots of familiar faces.

They still have two episodes of Agatha Christie's Poirot that they shot over a year ago and haven't shown yet.

So potentially it could be a merry murderous christmas from ITV.

To be fair, they have been doing a bit better in recent years, but only due to "Coronation Street".

I would still fancy BBC One to get the highest single ratings on the big day - watching BBC One just somehow seems the thing to do, though I imagine for many of us it's just on in the corner. I don't imagine as many are glued to the box on that day any more as some people seem to think.

The fact is that ITV don't bother once the shops close on Christmas Eve. Their peak period is up to Christmas Day because that's when everyone wants to advertise.

The BBC will always be top at Christmas because ITV have put on all their top programmes in November and December

A bit of murder and drama at christmas is just right for those (like me) who get very tired of all the singing and smiling at christmas. A couple of years ago the Hound of the Baskervilles was on and I thought it was fantastic. More Poirot would be most welcome.