UK TV Discussion (ratings, news, TV shows)

[Wayne]

Has anyone seen Ackley Bridge? Discovered by accident on Netflix and I absolutely love it - it's a British comedy/drama and it has an all-star cast (Paul Nicholls, Jo Joyner, Sunetra Sarker, Rita May, Arsher Ali and more).

Sunetra plays a brilliant part, I love her in everything I've seen her in.

[Wayne]

Has anyone been watching Masterchef the Professionals this year? It’s been really outstanding - superb tv and great quality chefs.

I was really rooting for Santosh, but he unfortunately missed out.

[Thriller]

Bill just won Strictly! Definitely a curveball winner from when the line-up was announced but fully deserved!

I did love HRVY’s favourite dance though, proper showstopper.

[RayRay]

Bill just won Strictly! Definitely a curveball winner from when the line-up was announced but fully deserved!

I did love HRVY’s favourite dance though, proper showstopper.

My favorite was Maisie, but HRVY was brilliant too. I'm fine with Bill winning though. The Janet Jackson tribute was really great and I love how he was considered to be just there to add some fun but really went for it.

[Wayne]

The Queen's Christmas message - which focused on hope amid the pandemic - topped TV ratings on Christmas Day, overnight viewing figures have shown.

An audience of 8.14 million watched her festive address on BBC One, ITV and Sky News.

BBC One's Call The Midwife had the second highest number of viewers, with an average audience of 5.43 million, and 5.26m tuned in for Blankety Blank.

Last year, the return of sitcom Gavin and Stacey topped the ratings.

According to ratings body Barb, Strictly Come Dancing, which featured the show's 25 most memorable dances, and Michael McIntyre's The Wheel were in fourth and fifth place with 4.86 million viewers and 4.66 million respectively.

ITV's highest rated programme was Coronation Street with 4.55 million viewers, making it number six on the ratings list.

The popular soap beat BBC One rival EastEnders - which was in ninth place with 3.54 million viewers, meaning it was beaten by another soap rival, Emmerdale.

That is a far cry from festive episodes gone by for EastEnders, which was once the powerhouse of the BBC's Christmas offering - including famously in 1986 when more than 30 million tuned in to see Den Watts, played by Leslie Grantham, hand divorce papers to wife Angie, played by Anita Dobson.

TV star Bradley Walsh, who hosted the Blankety Blank Christmas special, made a second appearance on the list with his quiz show The Chase, in at 10th place with 3.02m viewers.

In recent years, The Queen's annual broadcast has regularly been the most-watched TV show, based on the overnight figures - which do not include viewers who watch Christmas specials on catch-up services during the rest of the festive period.

This year, the 94-year-old, who like many was spending Christmas Day apart from her family, used her message to reassure anyone struggling without friends and family that they "are not alone".

She said what many people want "for Christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand" - but "even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn".

She also praised acts of kindness, saying the pandemic "brought us closer" despite causing hardship.

Top 10 programmes on Christmas Day

1. The Queen - 8.14m (BBC One, ITV 1, Sky One, Sky News, BBC News)

2. Call The Midwife - 5.43m (BBC One)

3. Blankety Blank - 5.26m (BBC One)

4. Strictly Come Dancing - 4.86m (BBC One)

5. Michael McIntyre - 4.66m (BBC One)

6. Coronation Street - 4.55m (ITV)

7. Mrs Brown's Boys - 3.81m (BBC One)

8. Emmerdale - 3.57m (ITV)

9. EastEnders - 3.54m (BBC One)

10. The Chase - 3.02m (ITV)

BBC Analysis

Christmas Day was an excellent day for Bradley Walsh.

He helped ITV to a stronger top 10 presence than they've enjoyed in over five years, with The Chase joining Coronation Street and Emmerdale in the day's most watched shows.

The last time the broadcaster had three top 10 programmes was back in 2014 with Downton Abbey alongside the two soaps.

(But they'll have been disappointed that Britain's Got Talent couldn't break the three million mark and also scrape into the top 10).

And Walsh also "switched channels" during the day to help BBC One's reboot of Blankety Blank into third place. A rare strong Christmas Day showing for a game show, and one which could well persuade the BBC to commission a full series return.

Overall, the 2020 Christmas Day figures do seem to reflect the gradual decline in viewing that we've seen in recent years. While it's undoubtedly true that the explosion of streaming services and other non-TV related activities has drawn away much of the traditional 25 December audience, it's also worth noting a few other factors.

This year there wasn't anything like the return of a much-loved show like Gavin and Stacey, which last year performed exceptionally, with 11.6m "overnight" viewers. A massive figure by any standards.

Also, Christmas Day is thought of as being a time when families gather to watch TV. But this year, the pandemic means that many families haven't been allowed to or have chosen not to be together, something that is likely to have had an impact on that traditional part of the audience.

But the Queen's broadcast remains a unifying moment for many, and is unsurprisingly comfortably at the top of this year's viewing chart.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55452186

What dismal ratings all round - then again, I was gobsmacked at how crap the BBC schedule was when I first saw it a couple of weeks ago. A Christmas to forget for many - I think this year, the focus was very much away from the television and was instead on getting merry, listening to music, playing games and reminiscing with family (it certainly was in my family’s case anyway).

At least the Queen did well in the ratings.

[Thriller]

I was gonna mention the ratings these year - Christmas TV as we knew it is just dead. This year especially, when most of us have not had a lot more to do than watch TV. Also the likes of Netflix and Disney+ won’t help. The ratings for that BGT festive special are dismal. I think the show fell out of favour a bit this year with criticism of its political content.

[Spartan]

The ratings reflect 2020 as a year - dismal.

[SholasBoy]

Wow less than 4m for Eastenders...

[Thriller]

Wow less than 4m for Eastenders...

All the soap live ratings have plummeted over the last few years, but I believe EE adds at least a million per episode on iPlayer.

[SholasBoy]

All the soap live ratings have plummeted over the last few years, but I believe EE adds at least a million per episode on iPlayer.

I'm sure at least, I only ever watch it on catch up.

[Thriller]

The 10pm BBC Three repeat used to be handy, I think that usually did around a million too.

[Wayne]

RATINGS: #MaskedSingerUK got off to a bad start last night, with its lowest rating to date..

4.16 million viewers (19.6%)

Meanwhile...
#TheRepairShop - 5.98m (27%)
#SewingBee - 4.68m (23%)

https://twitter.com/superTV247/statu...571435520?s=20

It launched with 5.5m last time...

[menime123]

What terrible ratings but I’m really not surprised. The TV schedule has been really bad this year but I accept it has been very difficult to get new things made.

The fact only three broadcasts managed to exceed five million viewers is a blow for broadcast TV - I don’t think people weren’t watching, they just watched streaming alternatives instead.

I’m not surprised at the soaps - I’ve watched them for over 25 years and gave up during the pandemic and I suspect others dropped off too. The ITV ones only exist now as a cash grab and they all seem to share the same producers, that push issues rather than focusing on strong character development - when was the last time any of them created an iconic character?

Not to mention how much of a mission it is staying up to date - across the three main soaps you’re looking at roughly 8 hours of your life a week. I was also watching Neighbours and listening to The Archers so all in all was spending the best part of 12 hours a week on soaps. Madness.

[menime123]

RATINGS: #MaskedSingerUK got off to a bad start last night, with its lowest rating to date..

4.16 million viewers (19.6%)

Meanwhile...
#TheRepairShop - 5.98m (27%)
#SewingBee - 4.68m (23%)

https://twitter.com/superTV247/statu...571435520?s=20

It launched with 5.5m last time...

It was a real mistake to launch Boxing Day IMO. It’s like ITV were pushing it as one of their biggest properties and it really isn’t. Should have left it a few weeks and I think it’s perfect January viewing actually.

However 4.16m is still more than Emmerdale and Eastenders on Xmas day...

[Wayne]

It was a real mistake to launch Boxing Day IMO. It’s like ITV were pushing it as one of their biggest properties and it really isn’t. Should have left it a few weeks and I think it’s perfect January viewing actually.

However 4.16m is still more than Emmerdale and Eastenders on Xmas day...

The soap comparison is an interesting one, as soaps often do very well on catch up (adding between 1-3m additional viewers to their totals) - I wonder if The Masked Singer will be the same. Interestingly, you've got the YouTube views as an additional metric to measure with The Masked Singer as all the performances are uploaded there. So far:

Episode 1

Alien - 49k
Robin - 39k
Sausage - 37k
Badger - 30k
Dragon - 28k
Swan - 27k

We'll have to wait a couple of weeks to find out what the show adds on Catch Up.

[Wayne]

The most watched shows yesterday (Sunday 28th December)...

• Antiques Roadshow - 5.3m viewers.
• Countryfile - 5.3m viewers.
• Black Narcissus - 4.9m viewers.

I'm going to give Black Narcissus a go I think.

[Thriller]

I watched it, storyline was OK but the main draw was the stunning scenes of the Himalayas.

[Wayne]

Ratings for the New Year fireworks show...

An average of 10.75 million viewers watched the 2021 New Year fireworks/celebrations on BBC One (10.71m between 0000 - 0005, 10.79m 0005 - 0010)

The figure for what's traditionally one of the bigger viewing peaks of the year is slightly down on the 11.18m from the start of 2020 https://t.co/l4axihU4pa

+ other shows...

[Wayne]

The rating for The Chase is unreal - some over at DS are saying it's probably ITV's highest tea time rating since the 90s?

Seven day ratings for the soaps over Christmas...

Monday 21st December

Coronation Street - 6,842,657 and 6,223,828

Emmerdale - 5,765,916

EastEnders - 4,530,000*

Hollyoaks - 775,798

Neighbours - 909,000*


Tuesday 22nd December

Emmerdale - 5,498,427

EastEnders - 4,847,000*

Hollyoaks - 768,666

Neighbours - 902,000*


Wednesday 23rd December

Coronation Street - 6,313,073 and 6,047,318

Emmerdale - 5,694,464

Hollyoaks - 707,829

Neighbours - 864,000*


Thursday 24th December

Coronation Street - 6,653,666

Emmerdale - 5,371,034

EastEnders - 4,521,000*


Friday 25th December

Coronation Street - 6,601,975

Emmerdale - 4,908,949

EastEnders - 4,923,000*


Saturday 26th December

EastEnders - 4,800,000*

https://www.tvzoneuk.com/post/rating...-christmas2020

[Wayne]

Netflix to increase some of their UK prices:

• Standard Monthly Package: £9.99 (+£1.00).
• Premium Monthly Package: £13.99 (+£2.00).
• Basic Monthly Package: £5.99 (--).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55563970

[Wayne]

Britain's Got Talent postponed due to Covid

https://www.itv.com/britainsgottalen...s-15-postponed

[Thriller]

Not too bad re: Netflix, I mean there’s so much content.

BGT should take a year off tbh.

[Wayne]

Death In Paradise did 6.2m viewers in the overnight ratings.

I need to give this a go, I'm told it's really easy to watch TV.

[menime123]

BGT should take a year off tbh.

They should do a celebrity version. You know, prove some of them actually have a talent.

[RayRay]

The Serpent... best new series.