60 Minute Trials for One Show

BBC One’s evening magazine show, The One Show, will trial 60 minute episodes which could radically shake up the show’s format and BBC One’s evening schedules.

Towards the end of April the BBC will trial out one hour versions of The One Show on Wednesday evenings. The magazine show currently runs for 30 minutes on weekday evenings at 7pm but the corporation will trial 60 minute versions to test audience reaction. The trials could lead to the biggest change in the show’s format since its launch and would also radically shake up BBC One’s evening schedules.

The magazine show is fronted by Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley and has proved popular with evening audiences. In recent months the ratings for the show have topped six million, thanks in part to the publicity surrounding it following the dismissal of Carol Thatcher. However, ratings for the show have neared the six million mark on several occasions and on one of these it came very close to beating ITV’s soap Emmerdale.

If the trials on Wednesday evenings prove successful its likely The One Show will run for 60 minutes all week meaning on Tuesday nights the clash between EastEnders and Emmerdale would no longer happen. On Tuesday evenings ITV started to regularly air hour-long editions of the Yorkshire soap meaning it clashed with the BBC soap and forcing viewers to choose between the two. However, if The One Show moved to 60 minute editions EastEnders would air at 8pm, thus avoiding the clash. It would also mean that medical drama Holby City would move back to an 8.30pm slot. Such a move would radically shape up the BBC’s evening schedules as other programmes would be affected.