BBC’s slot swap fails

It was aimed at me, it was bogglingly multicoloured, it was on Saturday mornings when I was at my most supine, and tantalizingly, it seemed to offer the possibility that I could swap my sister for a train set.

I never did swap my sister, and the train set I eventually got was a grave disappointment.

Still, no such qualms at BBC1 this week as it went swaptastic, with the schedule dodging ITV’s big week.

With ITV screening the live England international on Wednesday, BBC1 moved The Apprentice to Tuesday against a Britain’s Got Talent semi-final, where the audience was probably felt to be more compatible. The Apprentice’s live rating was 5.4 million/21%.

After the series’ second-best recording rate of 1.5 million, it ended on 6.9 million/23% – much better, but the second-lowest performance of its current run. The best so far was 22 May’s 7.7 million/27%.

Since it’s directly linked, BBC2’s The Apprentice: You’re Fired! moved to Tuesday too – 2.1 million/11% at 10pm was the best live rating of the series so far. The highest recording of the run (670,000) ensured that its top-dog status was retained, with 2.8 million/12%.

BBC1 moved Frankie, with its female slant, from Tuesday to Wednesday’s unforgiving opposite- the-footie slot. This third episode achieved 3.3 million/ 14%, by some distance the worst to date.

Despite the highest recording rate (766,000), it remained in last place so far with 4.1 million/ 16%. The best of the series was the launch episode’s figure of 5.3 million/21%.

Sky Living’s Hannibal continues to gobble up ratings after recording. Watched resolutely via PVR more than live, its initial rating of 248,000/1.4% on Tuesday at 10pm was boosted by more than 620,000 through recording and catch-up.

The final rating of the premiere transmission was 868,000/4.2%, while two repeats got that over 1.1 million. The best premiere rating so far is 14 May’s 909,000/5%.

Channel 4’s stalwart series 24 Hours In A&E remains stalwarty to an increasing degree. This week’s live rating of 2.9 million/13% on Wednesday at 9pm was enhanced by another 379,000 to deliver a consolidated rating of 3.3 million/ 13%. The best-performing episode of this series was the 10 April launch with 3.9 million/14%..