Christmas Ratings

It's always a chicken and the egg situation with ITV1 at Christmas.


They don't get the ratings, so why should they bother?

But if they don't bother, they'll never get the ratings!


If you're looking at the soaps alone there is a strong argument for pulling them from the Christmas Day schedule - but unfortunately ITV1 need them as their only weapons guaranteed to pull in a reliable audience, and if they're lucky, hook a few more in for later.


I think though ITV's biggest mistake this year was not getting in earlier with something against EastEnders at 6.20pm. They gave the BBC an open playing field and left them an audience unlikely to switchover for the rest of the night.


ITV though definately needed something else in their Christmas night line up - something like an Ant and Dec or Dancing on Ice special would have been most effective in pulling the audience from EastEnders.

I was looking at that thinking that maybe ITV would have had more impact if they'd have put things like Ant & Dec at 9.30 to capture audience from BBC One after Eastenders and Strictly rather than just airing Love Actually, as nice as the film is.

Did we ever get to the bottom of the mystery of the Takeaway Christmas Special, and what happened to it?

It still wouldn't get the audience. Last year they put on a Christmas special of Doc Martin and it ended up with less than half the ratings compared with the normal series

The last time Ant & Dec went out at Christmas they were spanked by Strictly Come Dancing and that would have happened again this year.

Thursday 27th December Top 10

1. EastEnders: 10.6 (BBC1)
2. Emmerdale: 7.2 (ITV1)
3. Holby City: 6.7 (BBC1)
4. Regional News Programmes: 6.6 (BBC1)
5. BBC News and Weather: 6.1 (BBC1)
6. Extras: 5.3 (BBC1)
7. ITV News and Weather: 5.2 (ITV1)
8. DIY SOS: 5.0 (BBC1)
9. ITV Regional News: 4.8 (ITV1)
10. BBC News; Regional News; Weather: 4.6 (BBC1)
11. The Bill: Assault on Sun Hill: 4.5 (ITV1)

Oh dear, The Bill didnt do too well then. I guess thats down to it being up against Holby. I wonder how tonights episode has done at it was shown at 7.30pm with Corrie straight afterwards. Tonights episode of The Bill was excellent.

It sounds like some people have sour grapes in this thread because of EastEnders ratings,I remember a time when people we're writing off EastEnders only a few months back saying it would never reach 10 million yet alone nearly 15.

Then on the day of tvs most important day in the year it looks set to get just over 15 million,When was the last time any soap got such an amount?

LOL, I know what you mean.

Most people on here HATE EastEnders, saying its a crap what ever it does. Whereas corrie is perfect.

But 13.9 million makes EastEnders the most watched show of the year (you got 3 days left to beat this record for those who hope it doesnt take the number one stop), this is a first since 1988 and this is EastEnders highest overnight rated episode since early 2004.

Corrie has not got 14 million since the late 2004.

It wouldn't have got 15m without Doctor Who before it - and in fact I've seen it suggested that they've actually nicked some of Doctor Who's audience as the show over ran a few minutes!


This Corrie v EastEnders thing is in banks' head though - there are very few people (and by that I mean just Jez) defending Corrie at the moment, but still a bad few months is nothing compared to the last 5 years of EastEnders.


The trouble with EE is though it may have improved, the damage already done is irreversible and it's lost a sizeable audience that just won't return. The only chance it has of half decent ratings is by airing on a day when by 8pm everyone is far too pissed to change the channel - and nobody is really watching it anyway!


And EE may claim the number 1 spot, but in the top 100 posted here a few weeks ago contains only a handful of other episodes, compared to dozens for Corrie.



Really though overall the Christmas ratings are a sad reflection of the current state of TV as a whole.

I'd agree with Brekkie. Yes, I know it sounds easy for me to do so having not seen EastEnders in the apparently improved state it is now but as he has said, the damage has already been done.

Lets just say that EE and Corrie are top rated shows for BBC One and ITV 1, the only way we would know which is more popular is if they went head to head. Speaking to my friends and others i know that it was EE people were talking about this Christmas, but i wouldnt use that as propaganda, as that only reflects what, a handful of people.

The reason people watch Eastenders surely is not because it's good drama but because they want to see people whose lives are sh*ttier than theirs? It makes you feel all nice and warm at Christmas.