Stop showing everything at 9pm on Sunday night!

You wait all week for a great show, and then five come along at once…

RadioTimes

by Tim Glanfield, 24 February 2014

Doctor, I have a problem. Every week at five to nine on Sunday night my blood pressure rises to boiling point as I look at my television. There is nothing I can do to control this anger – not unless you can prescribe some sensible scheduling.

I think it must be my diet? After a light entrée of Top Gear versus Call the Midwife vs Scandimania (yes it’s OK to like fast cars, smorgasbords and nuns), the main course becomes stodgier each and every week. 

As if Dragons’ Den vs The Musketeers vs Mr Selfridge is not enough of an ongoing battle for my attention at 9pm – Channel 4 is always throwing something tantalising into the mix too. This week it was the excellent indie Comedy Bridesmaids – but in previous weeks it’s been Bain and Armstrong’s cop comic drama Babylon… and the celebrity ski-athon, The Jump. 

With Channel 5 also chucking in the occasional average (but eminently watchable) film like Daybreakers and 10,000BC into the mix, and BBC3’s Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents raging on in digital-shire at 9pm – even two Sky+ boxes connected to a Virgin Tivo couldn’t suck up all that Sunday night goodness in one fell swoop. 

Yeah, there’s catch-up, and yeah we have PVRs – but there seem to be plenty of nights when the TV schedules on the major channels have a little more room for manoeuvre.  What is SO special about Sunday?

Well done BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 – it’s great that you’re producing TV that we want to watch. It’d just be nice if you didn’t put it all on at the same time. 

If you promise to change, I promise to give up on the medical metaphors in my writing.

Deal or... No Deal? I hope that hasn't given you the idea to put Edmonds on at 9pm too now...