UK TV Chart - w/e 25th October 2009

Here's the rundown of the Top 20 most popular UK TV programmes or series for the week ending Sunday 25th October 2009 collated from information compiled and presented by BARB. Note that figures for multi-episode TV broadcasts (ie soaps or other shows with more than one episode per week) are rounded up into an average figure for the series and are denoted in the chart by * News broadcasts are excluded from the figures. 'Rpt' denotes repeated broadcast or film

1) The X Factor (ITV1).......................13.41 *
2) Coronation Street (ITV1)...................9.88 *
3) EastEnders (BBC1)..........................9.45 *
4) Doc Martin (ITV1)..........................9.23
5) Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1)...............8.88
6) Question Time (BBC1).......................8.35
7) All-Star Family Fortunes (ITV1)............7.41
8) Murderland (ITV1)..........................7.32
9) Harry Hill's TV Burp (Sat. ITV1)...........7.05
10) Emmerdale (ITV1)...........................6.98 *
11) Benidorm (ITV1)............................6.68
12) Countryfile (BBC1).........................5.90
13) Jimmy's Food Factory (BBC1)................5.70
14) New You've Been Framed (ITV1)..............5.57
15) Merlin (BBC1)..............................5.53
16) Holby City (BBC1)..........................5.48 *
17) Casualty (BBC1)............................5.45
18) Have I Got News For You (BBC1).............5.43
19) Harry Hill's TV Burp (Sun, ITV1)...........5.39 (rpt)
20) Antiques Roadshow (BBC1)...................5.06

BBC: 10 ITV: 10

Chart commentary: Another level-pegging week with BBC and ITV both managing ten entries in the 20...but most of the BBC's are in the lower half of the chart. Say what you like about ITV (and I frequently do) they do at least make an effort now in the Autumn and throw their 'big guns' at the screen to great effect. Their ratings and share performance is on the increase because they're carpet-bombing the schedule with the sorts of shows their audience likes to watch. The BBC schedule has been poor at best this autumn with barely any new dramas or comedies and just the tired old warhorses like Holby City and Casualty staggering across the week like wounded animals on their last legs and Merlin -a reliable Saturday night performer - shunted around the night at the whim of the horribly-overlong dancing extravanganza. Come on, BBC, where are the new dramas? The comedies? The only real new impact they've made this week is with a huge edition of 'Question Time' (which usually manages 2 - 3 million) ballooning to over 8 million thanks to the controversial appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin - and some cheap daytime cooking filler promoted to the evening schedule. This isn't good enough. Still, the new series of 'Waterloo Road' and 'Spooks' have made strong starts in the last week or show and should boost BBC1's presence and of course the forthcoming new Dr Who special should make a strong top 5 showing in a few weeks.

Dr Who: here's to the future...

The 21st century reboot of Dr Who is, I think all right-thinking people would agree, a pretty remarkable thing. One of the most consistemntly remarkable things about it is the way that, after nearly five years back on our screens, it hasn't started to wear out its welcome yet. The audience isn't getting bored, they aren't drifting away, they're as enraptured and engaged by the series as they were when it exploded back onto BBC Tv in March 2005. Series three and four, in particular, have seen average viewing figures climbing steadily and the most recent Christmas episodes have pulled in an astonishing 13 million viewers. Much of this is down to the show's brilliant publicity machine and the way it's been (and is being) stage-managed by Russell T Davies and his crew. 2009 has been a prime exmaple of how the show has kept a bubbling presence in the nation's consciousness even when it's only aired one episode so far this year.

The Dr Who internet fan community (largely represented by self-important little fan forums which take themselves a bit too seriously) has spouted a lot of old rubbish about 2009 being a 'gap' year. Of course it's not a gap year - Dr Who has been on the telly and will be on the telly again this year. No, the show's been on reduced duties in 2009 for all sorts of reasons - one of which is precisely so the audience doesn't get sick of the series rolling around year after year like The X Factor or the dancing thing. But Dr Who is never far away from the nation's hearts even when it isn't broadcasting; all year we've had little teasers of what's to come, photos and features in the press about the new cast, the filming of Tennant's last few stories, photos from the set of the new series. The public knows the show is out there even if it isn't on screen regularly at the moment.

Which brings me to the events of the last seven days when Dr Who has found its profile at its heighest since last Christmas and the is-he/isn't-he furore over 'The Next Doctor'. This week has seen David Tennant making his much-awaited guest appearance in two glorious episodes of 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' (more of which later this week on Stuff), cleverly timed to coincide with the Press launch for the next of this year's special Who episodes 'The Waters of Mars' (now confirmed for broadcast at 7pm on BBC1 on Sunday 15th November) and the resulting Press coverage both in print on-line (all of it effusive and extravagenty-positive) along with reports of Steven Moffat's address to the Cheltenham Screenwriters' Festival where be 'bigged-up' 11th Doctor Matt Smith and gave some tantalisingly-vague hints about what audiences can expect next year has made everyone sit up[ and takle notice and realise theyv'e actualkly missed the Doctor this year. Which, I suspect, has rather been the point of the 'reduced duties' year and all this sudden rush of publicity.

It's all clever stuff, beautifully-orchestrated and meticulously planned; hard not to wish the BBC could take these or similar techniques and deploy them for more of its output - these days new dramas and comedies slip into the schedule unannoucned and with little fanfare and are left to sink or swim on their own merits, the audience expected to seek them out rather than being constantly reminded of their existence. Sadly at this time of year the BBC is pretty much fixated on its Saturday night dance-a-thon and anything else takes its own chances. But meanwhile, as we anxiously await the end of an era for Dr Who - and having seen Tennant light up the screen again in 'Sarah Jane' this week, it's fair to say I'm dreading his departure more than ever, frankly - it won't do any harm to look over the horizon, into 2010 and wodner what the fickle finger of fate (and a potentially-fickle Tennant-loyal audience) might have in store for Dr Who series 5.

If it's not too inane a question to ask of a series about a time travller, what does the future hold for Dr Who? Are the glory days about to end? Will Tennant's fans - and that's pretty much everyone - turn awayu from the series when he leaves? Will they boycott the new boy before he's even met his new companion? I have no idea but at least we can look at what we know about what's to come and, ultimastely,. let's hope that Dr Whho's audience (who must be pretty smart to be watching this show in the first place) are smart enough not to let the exit of the most popular star the show's ever had sour them against the series for the future.

We've been here before, of course. In a sense this is a dilemma the show has faced ever since William Hartnell morphed into Patrick Troughton back in 1966. The idea of recasting the Doctor was forced on the show's then-production team by the fact that the ailing Hartnell had to bow out due to the poressures of the show's near year-long filming schedule. Recasting the star of a high profile TV show is pretty small beer these days but back in 1966 it was pretty much unheard of. But by casting the hugerly-=talented actor to portray a vastly-different sort of Doctor, the show pulled it off and forged on triumphantly for three more years. In 1970, teetering on the edge of cancellation in the face of declining viewer interest, the show did it again and surged into the 1970s in colour with Jon Pertwee dandifying the role for five successful years. In 1974 Tom Baker took over, becoming the lognest-running and, until recently, the most successful Doctor in the show's history. So successful was he that his successors - Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester Mccoy - never really stood a chance and the series finally slid off screen with a whiumper and tiny audiences in 1989. More recently we've seen the series relaunched in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as a dour, tougher version of the Time lord, all leather-jackets and big boots. The series was a massive hit all voer again from the outset - but the week after transmission of 'Rose', the first episode - news leaked that Eccelston had already quit the series and would be replaced for the already commissioned second and third series. Davies and his team maintained that this was always the plan, that Eccleston was always a one-year deal and the idea was to totally surprise the audience by killing him off and regenerating him at the end of the series. Other rumours suggest that Eccleston wasn't happy with some of the material and people he was working with and found the schedule too gruelling so unexpectedly quite - the truth is we'll very probably never know the real truth. However, before long relatively-unkown Scottish actor David Tennant was announced as Eccleston's replacement - amidst mumuring that there was no way this bloke could be as good, it was all voer, the show was finished before it had really had a chance to find its stride.


Watching Eccleston's episodes now it's easier to sit and wodner what might have been. How might he have developed the role in a second batch of episodes, basking in the glow of the success of the first run and extra rush of confidence it would have given him? We'll never know, of course, and fortunately, when tennant came on board iat Christmas 2005 we all stropped really caring. Thsi enw guy was good - he looked as if he was born to play this role. Lighter and efecter and more at home with the wackier side of Dr Who, tennant took the fledgling success and dragged the series to new heights across his three full series. More than that, in his geek-chic crumpled suit, overcoat and red Converse trainers get-up, he seemed to typify and embody an 'everyman' quality about the Doctor. Here's a man like you and me, a man on the street - but what things he can do, what secrets he has, what places he's seen.
Open, likable,w arm and witty - and even a bit dark on occasion - Tennant's Doctor was more welcoming than Eccleston's and as a result he enticed a bigger and, it seems, more passionmate audience. There's an element of rock star in Tennant's public personna too, evidenced by the hysterial screaming when he attends awards ceremonies and public events. I don't think that ever happened to Jon Pertwee, bless him.

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So Tennant has imbedded himself into the nation's Dr Who psyche. He is Dr Who. There's no-one else. This is the biggest hurdle Matt Smith has to face as he prepares to take over and make his (brief) screen debut on New Year's Day (when Tennant's finale is expected to screen). For a part of Dr Who's audience now sppears to be there because of Tennant as much as for Dr Who itself; hhow many of them will honestly wealk away when he's gone, no longer interested in the series and its new direction? How many of them just won't give Matt Smith a chance and won't want to?

Matt Smith has to hit the ground running. I suspect many viewers will tune in to his first episode just to see what he's like and satisfy themselves that they were right, that no-one can follow Tennant. So Matt has to do it all in his first episode, to grab the new audience with his new characterisationm, his new energy, his new style. Where Tennant captivated his audience - certainly a large female audience, too - by his style and sex appeal - Smith, twelve years younger and undeniably more awkward and angular-looking - will have a tougher job keeping the ladies on board. Moffat, not unexpectedly, says Smith's the best Doctor so far (well he would, wouldn't he?) and has, encouragingly, spoken of the fact that there's an 'ancient' quality in his performance which belies his youthfulness and, hopefully, will ward off some of the fan accusations that, with young, elfin-faced Karen Gillen on board as a younger companion figure, the series is being more deliberately skewed towards a younger audience than before. But in that all-important first episode, regeneration tramua aside, Smith needs to make the audience like him and want to spend time withn him fr thirteen or fourteen weeks every year. And to an extent, of coruse, that's also the job of the stories...

So the stories? What do we get? What do we know? Not a great deal. There's internet scuttlebutt a plenty out there and there have been some high profile location shoots in and around Cardiff (most recently in Llandaff village where Smith and Gillen were working on the first episode of the series) as well as some more remote ones (the usual factories, industrial units and graveyards). Thgere are cosmetic changes to the series - the new logo's been released, the TARDIS exterior has had a bit of a facelift and so, apparently, has the interior. Those hoping for a clean break from the rpoevious era may be vexed to learn that several old elements of previous shows are back - a Dalek episode set in World War 2 has already been filmed (and a leaked piece of recorded dialogue of Smith pronouncing the word "Daaaaaleks" caused much hand-wringing and hair-tearing amongst the hardcore crowd) and Alex Kingston is back as River Song from Moffat's series four two-parter in episodes 4 and five of the new series. Familiar characters and monsters always help smoothe the transition from the old to the new and waverers may be tempted to stick around if there's a promise of some unresolved old mystery (who exactly is River Song?) being explained and the Daleks are always worth a look, even if the new series hasn't always served them all that well. Beyond this we don't really know a great deal; there's rumour a-plenty out there but much of it is unsubstantiated and unsubstantiable. Moffat, like Davies before him, is writing the lion's share of the first series episodes and it'll be interesting to see what sort of stories he tells when he's not just contruting a high-concept one-off, as he has done in the past. How will he handle your fairly bog-standard Dr Who runaround? Will the series keep the sense of fun it often had in some of Davies' more joyous episodes? But certainly the new production tema are keeping their secrets close to their chests at the moment - which is really as it should be with so much still to look forward to from the Tennant era.

Interesting times ahead then for Dr Who. This is undoubtedly the trickiest 'transition' it's ever faced as it loses its biggest-ever star and replaces him with a (fine) actor most of the audience have never seen before. So while none of us know what's ahead I think we know the show's in good creative hands with Moffat (and fellow writers like returnees Gareth Roberts, Mark Gatiss, Chris Chibnall) so the end product has the potential, I'm quite sure, be as good as anything we've had these last four or five years. The only imponderable is how the audience will react, whether they'll be willing to give Matt Smith a chance or whether their devotion to David T is just too great. It would be such a tragedy is the series, quite right a British institution again the way it was in the 1960s and 1970s, sees its future threatened - as it was in 1981, in retrospect - by the spectre of the success of the man who gave it its greatest success of all.

Stay tuned, as someone used to say...

UK TV Chart - w/e 18th October 2009

Here's the rundown of the Top 20 most popular UK TV programmes or series for the week ending Sunday 18th October 2009 collated from information compiled and presented by BARB. Note that figures for multi-episode TV broadcasts (ie soaps or other shows with more than one episode per week) are rounded up into an average figure for the series and are denoted in the chart by * News broadcasts are excluded from the figures. 'Rpt' denotes repeated broadcast or film

1) The X Factor (ITV1)....................12.98 *
2) Doc Martin (ITV1).......................9.49
3) Coronation Street (ITV1)................9.10 *
4) EastEnders (BBC1).......................8.85 *
5) Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1)............8.44
6) Harry Hill's TV Burp (ITV1,Sat).........7.35
7) Football World Cup Qualified (ITV1, Wed)7.65
8) Emmerdale (ITV1)........................6.89 *
9) Life (BBC1, Mon)........................6.84
10) All Star Family Fortunes (ITV1).........6.64
11) Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix (BBC1,Sun)
6.63
12) New You've Been Framed! (ITV1)..........6.56
13) Benidorm (ITV1).........................6.38
14) Countryfile (BBc1)......................5.79
15) (Holby City (BBC1).......................5.73
15) (Have I Got News For You (BBC1)..........5.73
17) Blue Murder (ITV1)......................5.15
18) Casualty (BBC1).........................5.04
19) National Lottery draws (BBC1, Sat)......4.98
20) The Armstrong and Miller Show (BBC1)....4.68

BBC: 10 ITV: 10

Chart commentary: With the upper reaches of the chart still dominated by the powerhouse of The X Factor and with ITV1's Doc Martin growing in popularity and now overtaking the soaps, not much to see in the Top 10. In the lower reaches it's notable how trusty old Saturday night warhorse Casualty is losing support, slipping to the edge of the chart. This may because of the fact that X Factor and Strictly dominate Saturday nights (and indeed all TV coverage, it seems) to the exclusion of anything else or maybe that the show is a bit tired now and needs a long break. Elsewhere good to see the first episode of the second series of Armstrong of Miller edge into the Top 20 and a decent figure for the umpteenth series of Have I Got News For You. ITV's Family Fortunes and New You've Been Framed remain bafflingly popular and,as we'll see next week, BBC1's clever plan of resting Merlin for a week may have had a devastating effect on its future prospects as the episode screened most recently had the series' lowest ever figure, a number which will see it down at the lower end of the Top 20. Frustrating that BBC1 makes far and away the best shows but remains clueless as to how to schedule them properly. Way to go, BBC1!!

UK TV Chart - w/e 11th October 2009

Here's the rundown of the Top 20 most popular UK TV programmes or series for the week ending Sunday 11th October 2009 collated from information compiled and presented by BARB. Note that figures for multi-episode TV broadcasts (ie soaps or other shows with more than one episode per week) are rounded up into an average figure for the series and are denoted in the chart by * News broadcasts are excluded from the figures. 'Rpt' denotes repeated broadcast or film.

1) The X Factor (ITV1)..................13.23 *
2) Coronation Street (ITV1)..............9.26 *
3) Doc Martin (ITV1).....................9.21
4) EastEnders (BBC1).....................9.01 *
5) Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1)..........8.82
6) (Emmerdale (ITV1)......................7.13
6) (Harry Hill's TV Burp (ITV1, Sat)......7.13
8) All Star Family Fortunes (ITV1).......6.37
9) Mirror Pride of Britain Awards (ITV1).6.35
10) Benidorm (ITV1).......................6.17
11) New You've Been Framed (ITV1).........5.90
12) Merlin (BBC1).........................5.69
13) Holby City (BBC1).....................5.64
14) Antiques Roadshow (BBC1)..............5.62
15) Casualty (BBC1).......................5.52
16) Countryfile (BBC1)....................5.51
17) Blue Murder (ITV1)....................5.07
18) Criminal Justice (BBC1)...............4.97 *
19) National Lottery Draws (BBC1, Sat)....4.85
20) Harry Hill's TV Burp (ITV1, Sun)......4.57 (rpt)

BBC: 9 ITV: 11

UK TV Chart - w/e 4th October 2009

Here's the rundown of the Top 20 most popular UK TV programmes or series for the week ending Sunday 4th October 2009 collated from information compiled and presented by BARB. Note that figures for multi-episode TV broadcasts (ie soaps or other shows with more than one episode per week) are rounded up into an average figure for the series and are denoted in the chart by * News broadcasts are excluded from the figures. 'Rpt' denotes repeated broadcast or film.


1) The X Factor (ITV1)......................12.40 *
2) Coronation Street (ITV1)..................9.14 *
3) Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1)..............9.06
4) EastEnders (BBC1).........................8.72 *
5) Doc Martin (ITV1).........................8.71
6) Waking The Dead (BBC1)....................7.09
7) Emmerdale (ITV1)..........................6.96 *
8) Benidorm (ITV1)...........................6.50
9) Casualty (BBC1)...........................6.37
10) Merlin (BBC1).............................6.09
11) All Star Family Fortunes (ITV1)...........5.60
12) Holby City (BBC1).........................5.52
13) UEFA Champions League Football (ITV Wed)..5.28
14) Antiques Roadshow (BBC1)..................5.26
15) Countryfile (BBC1)........................5.08
16) Blue Murder (ITV1)........................4.96
17) Emma (BBC1)...............................4.84
18) National Lottery Draws (BBC1, Sat)........4.79
19) The Cube (ITV1)...........................4.71
20) New You've Been Framed (ITV1).............4.70

BBC: 10 ITV: 10

TV Review: Sarah Jane Adventures - Prisoner of the Judoon

Business as usual (or should that be unusual?) at Bannerman Road as kid-friendly Dr Who spin-off ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ returns for its third full series on CBBC, airing this year twice-weekly on Thursday and Fridays. The format remains as it has been for the past two years – former Dr Who companion Sarah Jane Smith (the ageless Elisabeth Sladen) and her alien construct son Luke (Thomas Knight) and his schoolfriends Clyde (Daniel Anthony) and Rani (Anji Mohindra) battle alien threats to Earth (well, mainly Ealing where Sarah Jane and co live it which seems extraordinarily prone to alien and/or supernatural incursions) with the help of the super-computer in Sarah Jane’s attic and, from time to time,robot dog K9. After a cracking and surprisingly-sophisticated first series in 2007last year’s second run saw a bit of a dip in quality. The show looked cheaper, the stories were derivative and too many characters and costumes were reused either from the show itself or from Dr Who, as the Sontarans from the then-recent Dr Who season reappeared in much the same way as the Slitheen from the first series of Dr Who appears in SJ’s first outing. The quality slide was disappointing because ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ has so much potential and, when it’s on form, can tell intelligent and mature stories for its juvenile audience which don’t patronise or talk down to them and still have enough meat and drama to appeal to those…ahem…older viewers who are watching because of its obvious connection to the parent show. But when the show goes off-mission – or at least sails too close to the panto winds of traditional contemporary children’s drama – it resorts to running around, shouting, prat-falling and over-acting. Which brings me, sadly, to series three opener ‘Prisoner of the Judoon’. Oh dear…

There’s actually some good stuff dotted throughout these two episodes. There’s no denying the energy and commitment on display here as everyone gives their all to make sure this is a pacey, rattling yarn with loads of incident and some pretty good special FX – the rampaging nanobots, the reconstructed spaceship, the prosthetic make-up for renegede alien Androvax.. But the problem lies both with Phil Ford’s script and some rather iffy acting – astonishingly from the otherwise-reliable Lis Sladen herself. Here’s a story which really throws away the show’s sometimes-tentative foothold in the real world, often resembling a better-financed episode of 1970s ITV kid’s adventure ‘The Tomorrow People’. ‘Prisoner of the Judoon’ is a story which aims itself too squarely at its children’s audience and, in doing so, seems to be assuming, alarmingly, that its children’s audience isn’t quite as bright as it once thought. For this is pretty simple stuff indeed as an alien ship crashes in London and a planet-destroying reptile escapes, its Judoon captor (the integalactic space police rhinos introduced in Dr Who series three opener ‘Smith and Jones’) on its case. Sarah Jane and co arrive on the scene, team up with the slightly-bewildered but official Judoon Captain Tybo (cue much comic misunderstanding as the Judoon confronts human officiousness) and spend two episodes being boggle-eyed, running around and shouting, getting locked up and escaping and ultimately returning home in time for tea with another of Sladen’s now slightly-overplayed “the Universe is wonderful tra la la” homilies.


Dr Who has, to be fair, set up the precedent that series openers should be relatively straight-forward, great big romps which reintroduce the concept and characters of the series before challenging the audience with meatier fare. ‘Prisoner of the Judoon’, though, takes this to an extreme. Ford’s script is witty enough but the one-note gags and general lack of real tension or sense of danger in the story gets a bit wearisome after a while. Similarly an extraneous and farcical subplot which sees Rani’s mother (a florist) and father (a school headmaster) ingratiate their way into a Top Secret research institute – on a Sunday! – to persuade them to display some flowers on the premises! When they get there they indulge in repeated and increasingly-laboured comedy set-pieces as they boggle at aliens, confront witless security guard anbd joiun in the general running around and hiding. Where Rani's predecessor Maria had a dysfunctional family who worked as real people struggling with real emotions, Rani's folks have, at a stroke, become bumbling comedy oafs gurning and, having survived an encounter with big gun-wielding rhinos from outer space, decide to forget all about it and wander home at the end of it all as if it';s all in a day's work..

If this doesn't leave you shaking your head in despair and wodnering where the quality cvontrol's gone for this series, your jaw will be on the floor as the villainous Androvax, a creature who hides himself in human bodies, decide to yake over Sarah Jane. Now I'm quite a fan of Elisabeth Sladen, a fine and monstrously-underrated actress who, after her initial stint on 'Dr Who' in the 1970s really should have goine on to become a major TV star. She's a great, instinctive actress and over the years she's turned Sarah Jane from a running and screaming cypher into a fully-rounded, well-observed and rather melancholy older woman. But what the Hell was she thinking when she decided to play the possessed Sarah Jane as if she was auditioning for (and failing to get) a role in some shoddy provinical Pantomime? Playing the baddy may have been a lovely opportunity for Sladen and at our most generous we can probably say that she certainly threw herself into the performance. I can't really be sure though because I watched much of it from behind the hands flung over my eyes in embarrassment. This was over-acting at its most astonishing. Initially coming over as rather sexy; her confrontation with the super-computer Mr Smith - "Mr Smith, I need you" was pretty smouldering. but it all goes horribly wrong in part two when she prowls around hissing and growling like Christian Bale with tonsilitis (imagine that!), her eyeballs rolling in her sockets as she not only chews up the scenery but pretty much spits it all out in our faces. I blame the director; Joss Agnew should have had a quiet word and got her to reign it in a bit. But then in a fairly light and farcical story, maybe something darker and subtler would have flown in the face of the knockabout style of the story and left the whole thing a bit unbalanced.

It's always nice to see 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' back on screen because it's generally such a confident and competent series and, with the other Who family of series on reduced duties this year, it's good to be back in one of Russell T Davies's worlds again. But 'Prisoner of the Judoon' is really a pretty clumsy and dim-witted affair, exposing the show's inherent weaknesses rather than playing to its strength. It's a kid's show, of course, and that's the audience it needs to be aimed at no matter how much grizzly old fans like me think it belongs to us because we knew Sarah Jane when she was a fresh-faced young twenty-something. But with so little kid's drama on TV these days it's hard not to think that 'Prisoner of the Judoon' sells them short a bit with its rehashed old monsters and lazy hackneyed storyline and trite comedy stylings. 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' has done much better than this so let's hope that the best is yet to come in this third series. Don't be too down-hearted by 'Prisoner of the Judoon'; it's not a disaster by any means but it's just a bit of a misfire from a series which, when it's on top form, can scintillate almost as much as the show which spawned it. 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' works best when its stories are about its characters and how they react and inter-act with the astonishing things which happen to them, woven into clever, thoughtful adventure stories. Stuff is glad to report that the just-screened first episode of the second story, 'The Mad Woman In The Attic' is a marked improvement, playing as if it's from an entirely different series altogther. And then, of course, a certain Time Lord pitches up to join the fun next week...

UK TV Chart - w/e 27th September 2009

Here's the rundown of the Top 20 most popular UK TV programmes or series for the week ending Sunday 27th September 2009 collated from information compiled and presented by BARB. Note that figures for multi-episode TV broadcasts (ie soaps or other shows with more than one episode per week) are rounded up into an average figure for the series and are denoted in the chart by * News broadcasts are excluded from the figures. 'Rpt' denotes repeated broadcast or film.

1) The X Factor (ITV1)......................11.13 *
2) EastEnders (BBC1).........................8.72 *
3) Coronation Street (ITV1)..................8.70 *
4) Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1)..............8.39 *
5) Doc Martin (ITV1).........................8.03
6) Waking The Dead (BBC1)....................7.22 *
7) Emmerdale (ITV1)..........................6.56 *
8) Midsomer Murders (ITV1)...................6.34
9) National Lottery Saturday Draws (BBC1)....6.33
10) Casualty (BBC1)...........................6.06
11) Merlin (BBC1).............................5.94
12) All Star Family Fortunes (ITV1)...........5.45
13) (Blue Murder (ITV1)........................5.35
13) (Antiques Roadshow (BBC1)..................5.35
15) New Tricks (BBC1).........................5.32 (rpt)
16) Holby City (BBC1).........................5.28
17) When P**** Met Sir Cliff (ITV1)...........5.09
18) Countryfile (BBC1)........................4.96
19) The Cube (ITV1)...........................4.81
20) Formula One: Spanish Grand Prix (BBC1)....4.41

BBC: 11 ITV: 9