Strictly Come Dancing 2008

I'd love to know what was going on ? The Radio Times had the results show as running from 21:00 hrs to 21:45. However when I looked at both the Sky and Freeview EPG data yesterday afternoon, it had changed to 21:00 to 22:20.

I set my Topfield PVR to make a continuous recording from 21:00 to 22:38 to capture both SCD and Outnumbered.

However, I also set my SkyHD box for the main show, with a 5 min end pad. The main show was supposed to run 18:40 to 19:55, but it seems the show started on time but finished way past 20:00hrs. The results show didn't start until 21:07, I've not played back the Outnumbered part of my recording, because I suspect the end will be missing ?

Allegedly it's repeated on BBC 2 tomorrow at 23:45, but who knows these days !

BBC1 extended the main show so everything ran 20 minutes later than billed and then they extended the results show to an hour. So unless you watched it live you wouldn't have known about it. I feel sorry for people that set their recorders according to what the Radio Times said.

I'm amazed by the people who, every year, complain about the inaccuracies in the Christmas edition of the Radio Times.

They are frequently the same people (many posting on here) who start complaining in the middle of November that it hasn't been published yet.

You can't have it both ways, folks.

Either it comes out very early, in which case there'll be plenty of time for the broadcasters to make changes after it goes to print; or it comes out much closer to the date, in which case it'll be far more accurate.

Kindly decide which is your preference, then stop complaining about whichever downside it is which goes with that preference.

That's fair enough, but BBC 1's evening schedule didn't even follow the EPG data as seen at 17:00hrs. That's not on I'm afraid

Is there much need tor a Christmas Radio Times, or any other TV Mag for that matter? EPG's are now everywhere and are included for free with digital TV - and mostly are kept completely up to date by most broadcasters.

To be fair any schedule changes last night were due to the "unforeseen" circumstances of having three in the final, rather than the show over running, but the schedule wasn't really flexible enough to accommodate it easily as the only programme they could really drop was Outtake TV, but they couldn't have got away with starting the show 30 minutes earlier than billed.

Perhaps then they should have just dropped Outnumbered - sounds like those taping it will have missed most of it anyway, and although I'm sure people would be annoyed, they could run a double bill next week and it would have caused the least disruption to the schedule.


And yes, there is still a need for a physical guide IMO - EPGs are great when you know the programme you're looking for or just want to see what's on now, but for a general browse through the week the old fashioned way is much easier.

I'm glad they didn't drop Outnumbered because it got its highest rating ever last night with around 7 million so I hope new viewers liked what they saw.

Of course, with the schedule already running late at the end of Casualty, what do they do ? Compound the problem by inserting 1.25 mins worth of trailers in between that and SCD Pt-2, as well as 1 minute's worth before Outnumbered. I don't know what came before Casualty, but it's a safe bet yet more floss. So in fact if they'd just got on after SCD Pt 1, and left a simple five second CA between all subsequent programmes, Outnumbered stood a least half a chance of being captured by those (like me) that had used the 22:00 to 22:30 billing.

However common sense does appear to be in short supply in W12 at the moment ?

Does anyone know what the viewers ratings were for both the main show and the results show?

http://www.waveguide.co.uk/news081221.htm#Strictly%20Come%20Dancing%20Viewers

Last week's Grand Final
As you may rember, the final two couples were Tom & Camilla and Rachel & Vincent. They made it to the final two rounds: the group dance (Viennese Waltz) and the show dance (aka freestyle).

I'm so glad Tom & Camilla won. That's the couple I most wanted to win. Are you lot just as glad? Did any other TV Forumers want Rachel & Vincent to win instead?

Xmas Special
Who saw the Xmas Special on Xmas Day? I missed it at the time, but videoed it and saw it yesterday afternoon. Champions Tom & Camilla were the first couple to be announced as "definite losers" in the Xmas Special. Jill & Darren won the Xmas special. Wouldn't it have been lovely for Tom & Camilla to have won the 2008 series and 2008 Xmas special, but sadly that wasn't to be.

Next Year's Contenders
So who do you want to see next year? Here's my list. If you remember, this is the list I posted here last year as ones I wanted to see in the 2008 series. Since none of them appeared, here they are again. Hopefully I'll be second time lucky in seeing some of these in the 2009 series. We shall have too wait till September / October 2009 to see.

Jon Bentley , Jason Bradbury , Suzi Perry and/or Dallas Campbell from Five's The Gadget Show .
Pete Hillier from Boogie Beebies (if he can be instructor for a pre-schoolers' dance show, he's definitely got the talent to dance)
Chris Jarvis
Terry Wogan
Fearne Cotton
Huw Edwards (BBC newsreader)
Jessica Garlick (she sang for UK in the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest, the UK's last entry to finish in the top five)
Chris Tarrant from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
Cliff Richard
Vernon Kay
Gary Wilmot (that's one I didn't have on my list last year, but he should be a good contender too).

For heaven's sake, no more GMTV celebrities please. After Kate Garraway was eliminated week 7 last year (2007) and Andrew Castle was eliminated week 7 this year (2008), it seems GMTV celbs can, at best, make it as far as week 7, and have no hope of reaching the quarter or semi-finals, let alone win.