James Martin

Yes, the switch to HD hit British screens in early 2004. Although it wasn't broadcast as such here, it did come with a switch from 50i to 25p, so suddenly episodes ha# "filmic effect." Believe it coincided with the last iteration of the underwater credits where the stop-frames of the characters came towards you then defocussed. The new ITV X is only 25p not 50p, so watch something like Emmerdale and the effect is there too. 7+ episodes are international credits.

Are the 2003 onwards eps HD? They weren't originally in the UK but were filmed and broadcast as such in Australia. 7+ seem to have the original masters with international credits.

I don't think Australia or NZ get opening titles either

I believe we have a break for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to factor in, for which the Seven Network had Australian rights, so there's a two week break we need to factor in to stop a catchup. Furthermore, now Seven are actually writing to accommodate the British break it means both networks will have mapped out TX dates well in advance - Five need to guarantee Seven they'll stay a certain distance behind in order for them to be able to write a British cliffhanger into canon.

I'm on Virgin. Haven't done the pilot as I've seen that on this site, back in 2012 and more recently on Amazon. But 1989 is playing fine. Hope it's OK @Dan F but I felt the series was worthy of its own thread, which I've parked in here instead of the Diner. EDIT - Virgin 360 users will find the present-day C5/5* run, the 1988/9 episodes on Amazon and the 35th Anniversary My5 classic episodes all aggregated into one grouping. One thing I've accidentally discovered is that Series 1 and Series 2 are properly split between 1988 and 1989 via Virgin, whereas the "split" is in a random place on Amazon. Series 35 are obviously the present day episodes, but from Series 3 on you'll find the current classic run.

Some are re-runs from the Summer 2012 throwback season on 5 Star. They rated fairly well I recall, and not far short of what 5 Star picked up for first look at the time. A decade on, though, and streaming is much more of a thing. I agree these don't need to go out on linear although I do believe the long-term plan is to move the show to streaming, possibly with the 6:30pm linear airing on 5 Star remaining. The hill I'll die on is that the way the show was taken off the main channel altogether when the Queen died was not an accident, especially the episode scheduled for the day of the funeral which only got a First Look showing - nothing else. It's not something I personally have much of a beef with, and since My5 serves the episodes up in HD now (they do on Virgin, at least) that's generally the way I'm consuming the show. To be honest, Sky Glass and Sky Stream are going to start to make inroads in the next few years and I don't believe we are all that far off seeing Freeview itself offer IP delivery, probably by an app on existing Rokus/Firesticks etc rather than via their own hardware. As someone else said, I think ITVX is going to be the big game changer. None of the commercial PSB apps even come close to rivalling BBC iPlayer at the moment but I reckon ITVX could change that. I know two mates in "real life" who admit to watching the show, and when the changes happened last year both said "doesn't bother me as I watch on My5 anyway."

But the first look isn't available on demand, you can only watch it when it's had the normal showing. The exception being the Queen's funeral when only the First Look showing went out, but they didn't drop the episode until Monday.

They can't be making that much for 400k viewers, even with two internal ad breaks. I would imagine the spot rate at lunchtime is significantly more.

Some interesting developments there. Firstly, it looks like there's been some joined-up thinking between C5 and Seven once more. Also, no 5 Star first look at the end, which leads me to wonder if they're going to do the obvious thing and have the blocks in-sync on the 6:30pm broadcast? Or will they do away with First Look entirely? I know Hollyoaks still do it (which is why I imagine 5 Star are not too fussed about being up against the Channel 4 outing) but I wonder if it's a relic of a bygone age? On the face of it, there seems little sense in showing an episode at 6:30pm on Monday, which if you miss it, you can't watch - streaming or linear - until Tuesday lunchtime. Personally, I'd dump the 6pm showing entirely - evening viewers are either going to record the lunchtime showing, watch the 6:30pm or stream it. That 6pm broadcast for me has no obvious USP. Much better to make 6:30pm the premiere but have it on My5 by 7pm.

Just need out the contract. ITV would take it back tomorrow, actually it would even be perfect for 7pm on ITV2 with first looks dropping on the new ITVX. I don't think it would go back on the main channel though. Also it would work well for either BBC Two or Three at 7pm. Probably the latter as Two's 7pm slot is reserved to take The One Show on extended news nights. The problem remains though, it's the oldies who watch linear television.

I can only speak from a British perspective but it's one of the reasons Neighbours got cancelled and Home & Away has had a semi-demotion in the UK - Channel 5 are deliberately trying to aim older. It's also why Strictly Come Dancing, the UK version of Dancing With The Stars, rates as well as it does on the BBC. The older audiences are the ones who will sit down and watch television. The youth audience stream, but so do most soap audiences generally. EastEnders on the BBC and Emmerdale on H&A's former UK network ITV now air up against one-another, something which would be unthinkable back in the 90's. Then you've got the advertisers to consider and if the financial situation Down Under is anything like it is here, it's the older folk who tend to have more money and will buy stuff, so the advertisers want to buy in older-skewing shows. I think it's just a cyclical thing, and hot guys and girls is less of a draw in the age of #MeToo - if the youngsters want that, there's always Love Island.

Luke Cunningham will not get Nil Points. Now I've used a Eurovision reference can the Aussies please make sure SBS sends something decent to Liverpool? Give Dami a second go, idk ?

So I've just had a play around and hooked my laptop up to the telly hotel I'm staying in this week - turns out if you launch 5 Star via My5, it's HD! This is a revelation! I've been living in a cave!

Monday's episode has dropped on My5 if you missed it on Friday night, although I have to say the picture quality is so bad I'm just gonna miss it. Not sure if it's this PC, my broadband or what but I didn't realise in 2022 you could make video look like VHS from the 80's. Why do I get the impression Ben Frow is using recent events as a way to kill H&A off?

Thought that might be the case for Seven - when I've dipped in to their broadcasts they've been using ITV News' feed quite regularly.

Quick update on how the Queen's funeral will affect British transmissions. Main issue is Episode 7856 will only be shown once, on 5* at 18:30 TONIGHT (Friday.) 7855 - Thu: 18:30 5*, Fri: 13:45 C5, 18:00 C5 7856 - Fri: 18:30 5* ONE SHOWING ONLY - NO C5 BROADCAST OR 5* REPEAT! 7857 - Mon 18:30 5*, Tue: 13:45 C5 & 18:00 5*

MONDAY - Channel 5 are not broadcasting the funeral, and are instead providing an alternative diet of programmes for younger viewers. There is no Home and Away on C5, only the 5* first look at 18:30. 7855 - Normal screenings 7856 - Friday 18:30 5* (NO BROADCAST ON CHANNEL 5.) 7857 - Monday 18:30 5*, tuesday normal screenings. This means those without 5* or My5 will sadly lose out again Unsure how Australian transmission will be affected as the procession will start around 7pm Sydney time.

Can someone explain what a Boxset Bomb is in The King's English? As a Pom that one's lost on me!

Shocking communication though. I'm pretty sure My5 is still only SD outside of Sky & Virgin though. I assume they'll handle the episode on Monday in the same way. They clearly want the audience to use 5 Star. Get it in HD then you flamin' galahs. Although it's a good time to try and lose something you want shot of. The BBC are throwing EastEnders out at all sorts of times this week. Last night a key episode was originally 19:30 BBC One, then 20:30 BBC One, then 21:00 BBC Two. If you want people not to watch a show, that's the way to go about it!

They could certainly run a week behind Australia, or even run on the intended airdates as 7:30pm Australian time has more than passed by 1:45pm UK. If Seven want to then go rogue, well, their choice. But if you watch via C5 at lunchtime and don't have or know about 5 Star or My 5, it's all very odd.

It's all very confusing if you watch at C5 pace - no explanation of why the story has moved on, nothing.

I'll have to check my IPTV box to see if they've got it in HD - it certainly wasn't anywhere near HD on Friday night! My beef with 5* is it's just so badly encoded so there's a lot of MPEG "noise" in the picture.

I assume Sky Glass uses the same feed My5 does and can therefore service the channel in HD. Very odd it's not available on Sky and Virgin given ITV2, E4 etc. are. I'm surprised they just haven't stopped until after the funeral. They have to take a pretty long break at Christmas so they might as well pause for ten days and cushion that blow.

That sets a worrying precedent. So the Commonwealth Games cliffhanger won't get an airing in HD. I still don't watch on 5* for that reason.

Funeral is on Monday next week, so I assume at least the C5 broadcast is a goner - do we know if they're going to show Friday's episode or are they carrying on?