ITV Unveils Christmas Schedule To Rival BBC
ITV has unveiled its Christmas schedule, banking on a string of original dramas, entertainment specials, classic movies and premieres across its three channels to outdo the BBC over the festive period.
ITV1 traditionally loses out to BBC One’s yuletide line-up, but will this year hope to turn the tables, with a Christmas Day line-up including a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Special, the the first ever Christmas instalment of popular crime drama Midsomer Murders, movie premieres of Finding Forrester and A Simple Wish as well as an appearance by recently acquired chatshow king, Parkinson.
Soap fans will not be disappointed with ITV’s line-up, with special instalments of Coronation Street and Emmerdale, as well as a Christmas episode of Heartbeat. The broadcaster has also commissioned new dramas to premiere over Christmas, with Roman Road, The Final Quest, Tom Brown’s School Days and two instalments of Agatha Christie’s Marple.
The festive offerings will go head to head with the BBC for supremacy in homes across the nation, with BBC One announcing a hard hitting seasonal schedule based around blockbuster family movies and time honoured festive favourites last month (see BBC Brings Out Big Guns For Christmas Ratings War).
The Christmas line-up follows ITV’s autumn schedule in which it revealed a greater reliance on soaps and spin-off programmes to capitalise on programme loyalty amongst viewers. The broadcaster is understood to be planning a raft of early-evening spin-off programmes to boost its flagging tea-time ratings, extending the appeal of long-running favourites such as The Bill and Coronation Street (see ITV Planning Soap Spin-Offs To Boost Autumn Schedule).
Elsewhere, Sky One recently announced its winter schedule, concentrating on American imports and drama programmes to pull in audiences and help boost BSkyB’s slowing subscriber rates (see Sky One Unveils Dramatic Winter Schedule).
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com
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