Sunday 25th May 2008

BBC1’s Inspector Lynley looks set to join ITV1’s Christopher Foyle in the list of recently-retired TV detectives as the Beeb decided to cancel The Inspector Lynley Mysteries last year. Some fans have petitioned the BBC to keep Lynley in work, but last night’s episode was the first half of the detective’s final two-part adventure. Foyle may yet be saved by the viewing figures as ITV1 is rethinking its decision after the final episode attracted 7.3m. However, it seems unlikely that Lynley will have much chance of a reprieve as the penultimate episode of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries could only attract 4.6m (19.9%) between 8:15 – 9:45pm to give a TI™ score of 80.

Saturday 24th May 2008


It was Eurovision Song Contest night on BBC1, and this year the contest came to us live from Belgrade with Terry Wogan once again adding his infamously acerbic brand of commentary. Political voting was of course top of the agenda, and Russia stormed to first place with Eastern European neighbours Ukraine scooping second place. Britain (represented by The X Factor runner-up Andy Abraham) came last despite Wogan’s enthusiasm for the song, prompting the host to suggest that Britain should follow Italy’s example and refuse to participate. However, that idea may not sit well with Wogan’s employers as The Eurovision Song Contest averaged 7.1m (34.6%) to give a TI™ score of 136.



Wednesday 21st May 2008




Live coverage on ITV1 and Sky Sports 1 of the all-British Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea in Moscow dominated viewing on Wednesday evening. The match went into extra time after a 1-1 score line at the end of 90 minutes, and was eventually settled by a penalty shootout. This was all good news for ITV1 as the coverage rolled on until 11:15pm – well past the scheduled end time of 10pm. The match averaged 9.6m (43.3%) on ITV1 between 7pm – 11:15pm, giving a TI™ score of 189. This made it the highest-rating football match since England lost their crucial Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia in November 2007. The highest quarter-hour audience of 12.7m actually occurred at 10pm when the match went into extra time, and ITV1 had a 51% share at this point. Manchester United went on to win by the narrowest of margins on penalties, but ITV1’s winning margin was much clearer as it averaged a peaktime share of 43.8% compared to BBC1’s 14.6%. The match helped ITV to its highest weekday peaktime performance since 20th June 2006, when live coverage of England’s World Cup 2006 game against Sweden gave it a peaktime share of 52.1%





For a more detailed summary of the week’s television, please visit http://www.attentional.com/blog.php