Downton Abbey - ITV1

Whitechapel performed better than DA. So, I think, did Unforgiven. Yes, 7.6m is good for new drama (miraculous for ITV drama) but TXF's peak audience - for the last part of the show (not averaged across the hour) - was 14.24m (source: Broadcast website). George Gently isn't a huge ratings banker at all - it didn't rate much higher last night than it normally rates. So I'm still surprised it was as resilient as it was and unaffected by DA's heavily hyped presence.

It's been suggested that DA was aimed at a different audience therefore should not be expected to draw in massive ratings. I'd take issue with this: ITV1 is a mass market channel designed to get as many bums on seats as possible. So as many programmes as possible should be designed to fulfil that function, especially DA, in a prime position of Sunday at 9pm. It wasn't scheduled to play directly after TXF for no reason - they aimed to keep as many of that audience with them as possible.

I'm sure ITV will claim delight at 7.6m. Then again, they claimed they were delighted wth Identity. :eek::rolleyes:

chuffnobbler, it will take more than DA to return ITV Drama to form. It still has a long, long way to go.

And the new version of Bouquet Of Barbed Wire was indeed on at 9pm ... and was utterly atrocious. :eek::eek::eek: (And beaten by Spooks :D).
 
I am finding myself enjoying it more cos I'm one of those killjoys who spots things like TV aerials and character dialogue that wouldn't necessarily exist in 1912!

I wondered about some of the servants language. Selective deafness was one of them!
 
I've always loved Elizabethe McG and she still looks as beautiful as she used to. She used to get huge movies. Does anyone know why she came to live here?
 
They do have electricity in some parts of the house but not all areas. Maggie Smith as the Dowager Lady Grantham was complaining about it being 'too glaring'.
 
I think the plan with Mary is that 'something' pretty dire is going to happen to her and make her a bit less, ahem, frosty. I think they'd probs make a good match. I can imagine he'd tame her a bit and she'd challenged him. Anyway I think while we all get excited about who will end up with who. The reality is the war is 18 months away and all the youngish men will probs be off and a lot will die.
 
Was this thread worth loosing your virginity for ? Or do you regret the launch like Lady Mary ?

But Lady Mary didnt lose her virginity, did she? She allowed her Turkish lover to access all other areas.
 
I wouldn't have the DM in the house. I bought it twice last year, when they had an unpublished Agatha Christie story, but I tore out the pages I wanted and put the rest straight in the recycling bin.

It does say it's aimed at women. As you say, Servalan, self-hating women obviously ...

The Grand was great fun. Atleast, series one was great fun. Series two wrote out a lot of the best characters, and gave head transplants to the remainder. Series one is on DVD and is worth seeing: http://www.find-dvd.co.uk/dvd/The-Grand/1072260.htm Series two is vastly inferior, and is not out on DVD. Susan Hampshire starred in a story of life in a Manchester hotel in the 1920s. Written by Russell T Davies, some of it was really excellent. The genius of RTD's writing was clearly displayed:
Susan Hampshire played a retired prostitute, resident in the hotel. Any other writer would have had her trying to cover her secret, being blackmailed, etc ... but RTD's writing blew all of that away and had her background an open secret from ep.2 onwarRAB

ITV drama used to do so much. Widows. Cracker. Darling BuRAB (I always hated it, but no denying it was an immense success). Ongoing series like Soldier Soldier and London's Burning. A shame it's got pigeonholed into crime stuuf lately.
 
Agreed, I think theres still a bit more milage in the storyline as well, esp as one of the maiRAB (cant recall who?) saw the 3 of them removing the body..
 
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