I know Sat night Telly had problem but this is pushing it.

Is this what has happened "Escape to the Country" Really for Saturday evening, Have things gotten so bad for BBC One it has dire pres and now it's just not caring about its schedule. Even ITV has managed to try and keep some fun show around this time period.

This just make me wrong if BBC One has hit rock bottom. It's like the BBC just don't want have a film at 9pm? to bridge the gap.

Is the money really just no longer around? for anything any more?

Escape To The Country was on at 5:25, which is only just outside traditional Saturday peaktime.

Obviously the BBC feel there is no need at the moment for something like the House Party in this day and age regardless of money or otherwise. Pointless and Casualty must be doing the dues for them easily, that and that Greatest Dancer show which I haven't seen but sounds like Strictly in new packaging.

Special Circumstances today. Six Nations on ITV, therefore little incentive to push slot.

I disagree with that.

Six Nations was on ITV last week as well, which was an England match (which wasn't the case today), and BBC 1 showed The Time it Takes and Celebrity Mastermind (both new episodes) in the same slot.

But that's the reason to push out counter programming?

I do worry about the BBC at the moment. It's like they're deliberately watering everything down to justify the upcoming license fee hike, when the reality is with some creative thinking and some red tape and serious duplication of roles removed they could still be delivering a quality service.

The BBC haven't had a massive Saturday night hit since Noel's House Party. Yes there's Strictly but it doesn't have a mass appeal. Unless you like watching ballroom dancing you won't like it. At least on House Party if you didn't like Blobby you liked NTV, or Grab a Grand, or someone coming on to sing their new song.

I guess they ran out of episodes. I do agree though - it's bad enough that daytime fodder has creeped into the old Grandstand slots, never mind being on the edge of Saturday night primetime, which for both the BBC and ITV used to begin before 6pm.

The BBC haven't aired films on Saturday nights regularly for a long time but I do think there is other content that could get an airing there. For example I think it's a real shame that Peaky Blinders picked up many fans on a second airing through Netflix rather than the BBC, when actually I think the pre-MOTD slot is ideal to give shows such as that, and the likes of Line of Duty and Luther, a repeat run - dramas that have really picked up an audience over later years but viewers didn't necessarily watch from the start.

Arguably too as repetitive and unimaginative as they were the BBC needed the lottery shows as much as the lottery needed the BBC.

How many tens of millions of viewers would it need to get (in this day and age) to constitute "mass appeal"?



I'm sure a reasonable number of people wouldn't have liked any part of NHP.

Below is an example of a typical Saturday night schedule for BBC One 25 years a go on Saturday 12th February 1994:

5.45pm - The New Adventures of Superman

6.30pm - Noel's House Party

7.30pm - Big Break

8.00pm - Birds of a Feather

8.30pm - Casualty

9.20pm - BBC News and Sport

9.40pm - Tunnel Vision: Mike Smith reports on the charity walk through the Channel Tunnel

9.55pm - That's Life!

10.35pm - Match of the Day

11.35pm to 1.45am - Snooker: Masters highlights

So, how better was 25 years a go to the Saturday night schedules in February 2019?

There is more variety and covers a bigger time period. Casualty been moved to post 9pm slot to fill a void, and the news is now on at 10pm even night now.

Nonsense. Strictly is one of the most watched entertainment shows in the UK, the format is one of the most exported in the world. Mass appeal is exactly what it has. I don't even think Noel's ratings were that much higher than what Strictly currently achieves, and that was long before digital took off and SVOD was a challenger.

Although 5:30 is hardly the heart of peak, it was still a hour long slot that ran to 6:30.

Escape to the Country wasn’t acceptable for this sort of slot, who wants to start Saturday prime time with this. I’d expect something more entertaining even if it’s a repeat.

If Strictly isn't "mass appeal" I don't know what is. "This does not appeal to *ME* therefore it's wrong and should not exist."



Noel's House Party was the Mrs Brown Boys of 90's shiny floor light entertainment shows. It was loved and loathed in equal mesures. People seem to forget that when they're forever whining about the state of tv "THESE DAYS" Same goes for The Big Breakfast and pretty much everything else TV Forum regularly reminisces about with rose tinted glasses