Top 25 programmes of 2006

I'd be inclined to agree with that. Life Begins may not be the most exciting drama on TV, but it's brilliantly written, constructed and nearly all the actors give a great performance. There's a brilliant mix of drama and comedy with the Travel Agents, and if this was the final series, then I for one will miss it. I shed a tear at the end of Monday's episode - the way the loose ends were all tied up and it felt like we were saying goodbye.

Hopefully it does return eventually - one of those dramas that I just loved.

Here are some figures on how the 3 main soaps are rating this year up to 24th September

Coronation Street - average 10.06 million
Highest
1. 12.60m (Monday 13th March 19:34)
2. 12.39m (Monday 6th March 19:34)
3. 12.34m (Friday 7th April 19:33)
Lowest
184. 6.95m (Monday 12th June 20:31)
185. 6.88m (Friday 9th June 19:01)
186. 6.87m (Friday 30th June 19:51)

EastEnders - average 9.19 million
Highest
1. 12.33m (Monday 2nd January 20:01)
2. 12.19m (Monday 9th January 20:01)
3. 12.15m (Monday 16th January 20:00)
Lowest
147. 5.23m (Friday 30th June 18:59)
148. 4.77m (Thursday 21st September 19:29)
149. 4.11m (Thursday 13th July 19:31)

Emmerdale - average 7.50 million
Highest
1. 9.86m (Monday 13th March 19:03)
2. 9.70m (Monday 9th January 19:03)
3. 9.63m (Monday 2nd January 19:02)
Lowest
220. 3.81m (Friday 9th June 22:10)
221. 3.55m (Friday 30th June 22:22)
222. 3.38m (Wednesday 5th July 21:32)

It's a sad indictment of British television that so many episodes of these shows have been shown- 222 Emmerdale episodes by September is an absolute disgrace given they are all primetime episodes.

Well Corrie and EE are miles ahead of Emmerdale in the ratings. 3.38m is pretty bad even if it was summer.

I think 7th April was Mike's death on Corrie so no wonder that was one of the highest.

Just goes to show how many true fans there are who watch the soaps no matter what and how many just tune in for "big" storylines - e.g. Corrie's highest and lowest episode is a gap of about 6 million.

You need to read the dates and times closely for Coronation Street and Emmerdale's lowest episodes. They explain why they got so low ratings

Well, it was all around the World Cup wasn't it when Emmerdale got moved to 10pm in the worst ITV scheduling decision since the last one!


If anyone has got the top 25 (or top 10) programmes so far this year on each terrestrial channel I think they'd be quite interesting to compare.

Also, has anyone got info on the top rated digital channels?

Looking at Coronation Street's lowest episodes, you've got one 8.30pm episode that was up against the football, one that was moved to 7pm and one that was delayed and aired at 7.51pm against the football

EastEnders, two are up against an hour long Emmerdale and the other was an episode that aired at 7pm

All of Emmerdale's are 10pm episodes, two being Friday night ones up against Big Brother and later than billed, and the lowest being a late scheduled hour edition airing at 9.30pm

At least it had a consistent place in the schedule for the duration of the world cup. It may have lost viewers but at least they knew where it was, rather than having to search the schedules when it would have inevitably had to have been moved due to the football.

Well, half of them couldn't find it.

It was talked about at the time too, but the reality was that it would have rarely had to move out of it's 7pm slot if it had remained there.

Half couldnt be bothered to watch it more like. It shows that a lot of the people who watch arent true fans if they wont stick with it. I include myself in that as far as Emmerdale is concerned as ive stopped watching it.

Yes, I think you may have mentioned that once before.

I think the World Cup was used as an excuse but the move was more to do with Big Brother. Anyway, it was an experiment, and Emmerdale is back in it's 7pm home, where it is hugely popular.