TV viewers face weekend of prime-time repeats as over 60% of programmes have been shown before

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Television addicts will be forgiven for having several deja vu moments this Saturday when repeats dominate the prime time schedule.

Some 60 per cent of the evening programmes on ITV1, Channel 4, BBC2 and Five are to be reruns. Only BBC1 is running completely original material.

Between 7.30 and midnight, ITV is showing three-and-a-half-hours of previously seen shows, while Channel Four and Five have four hours each.

Critics say the failure to show new material will lead viewers to desert the TV in droves

Rerun: Mock The Week is one of many programmes being repeated this weekend as TV bosses come under fire for the schedules

Rerun: Mock The Week is one of many programmes being repeated this weekend as TV bosses come under fire for the schedules

John Beyer of Mediawatch, formerly the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association said yesterday: 'People do have expectations there will be original programming on TV.

'For the general public repeats on TV are bad news, people have expectations of seeing original material.

'When people see that it's all repeats, they'll think, I'd rather go down the pub, or go for a walk instead, because there's nothing much on television.'

'The drop in advertising revenue means channels can't afford lots of new programmes.'

Repeats on BBC2 include Have I Got Old News For You, Mock the Week, Comics Britannia, and a re-run of Golf highlights from The Open championships, which will have been shown all day.

ITV 1 is equally bad - with repeats of You've Been Framed, Foyle's War and Benidorm, a comedy set in Spain featuring comic Johnny Vegas.

Old favourite: 1970's comedy Dad's Army is being aired again on BBC as it is revealed that 60 per cent of programmes this weekend are repeats

Old favourite: 1970's comedy Dad's Army is being aired again on BBC as it is revealed that 60 per cent of programmes this weekend are repeats

Channel 4 is showing repeats of the documentary Who Downed Douglas Bader, and a rerun of Jackass: The Movie.

Channel 5's offering is an old episode of Superstars, then three crime shows - NCIS, CSI NY and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Only BBC1 plans to be free of old shows, with its roster including Casualty, Last Choir Standing, and two films - the thriller Derailed, starring Jennifer Aniston and a horror film, The Relic.

The avalanche of old television shows came in for recent criticism from Ian Lavender, star of perennial favourite Dad's Army.

A 1975 episode of the series, featuring the capture of a German airman, is being screened on BBC2 at 7.30 on Saturday night.

Mr Lavender, 62, famous for playing Private Pike in the sitcom, criticised the BBC and other broadcasters for failing to make entertaining shows.

He said: 'It's rather sad Dad's Army has to be repeated, although I'm delighted to see it of course.

'But there's a need for it because they're not making programmes for the whole family to watch.'

Dad's Army ran for 80 episodes between 1968 and 1977 - attracting at its peak 18 million viewers.

A spokesman for Channel 4 defended its schedule. He said: 'Channel 4 has a very low level of repeats in peak time with 80 per cent of our programmes original first runs.

'The popularity of our repeats shows the audience values the chance to see certain programmes again'

A BBC spokesman said: 'Selected repeats are valued by viewers,' while ITV said: 'We have fewer repeats than last year.'

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