Friday 11th July 2008 Superstars was one of the classic entertainment series of the 70’s and 80’s, first airing on BBC1 in 1973 and running until 1985. The programme pitted professional sports stars against each other in a variety of disciplines, and many viewers will have seen the classic clip of footballer Kevin Keegan falling off his bicycle while taking part in the series. TWI has revived the concept for a brand new eight-part show for Five. The format has been changed to pit four teams against each other (the original series was an individual competition), with Sir Steve Redgrave, Dame Kelly Homes, Roger Black and Mike Catt as team captains. The series opener was quick out of the blocks with 1.3m (6.2%) between 8-9pm, giving an excellent TI™ score of 165.

Thursday 10th July 2008
BBC2 took a gamble last night by launching a brand-new sitcom in a 9:30pm slot without the safety blanket of a BBC3 premiere (or even a broadcast pilot for that matter). Lab Rats is most probably the first sitcom ever to be set in a university science lab, and the humour leans toward absurdity. It’s a BBC production starring Chris Addison (who co-wrote the series with Carl Cooper), with Armando Iannucci as exec producer. The first episode attracted 1.7m (7.9%) between 9:30 – 10pm, giving an above-average TI™ score of 128. Lab Rats was preceded by the start of a brand new sixth series of Angst Productions’ comedy quiz Mock the Week, which averaged 2.6m (12.4%) between 9 – 9:30pm to give a TI™ score of 125. This compares favourably against a series five average of 2.1m (9.7%).

Tuesday 08th July 2008
BBC1 launched a major new six-part drama series last night that mixes elements of The Da Vinci Code, CSI, and Time Team. Bonekickers is certainly one of the most original dramas we have seen this year, focusing as it does on a team of West Country archaeologists whose exploration of the past tends to lead to trouble in the present. It is written by Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah (the pair behind Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes), and is a co-production between their new company Monastic Productions and Mammoth Screen. The series opener got off to a strong start with a slot-winning 6.8m (30.5%) between 9-10pm, giving an above-average TI™ score of 142. This is comparable to the 7m that tuned in for the first episode of Ashes to Ashes earlier this year and the 7.1m achieved by the premiere of Life On Mars back in 2006.



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