ITV screens lucrative Saturday night bill

ITV screened its big-money Saturday evening prime-time schedule last night – just two days after the death of the Queen.

By contrast, the BBC cleared the decks to cover landmark royal events – and even the broadcast of next week’s Strictly Come Dancing launch is in doubt.

The Masked Dancer, The Voice UK and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? were all still shown on ITV as planned.

Explaining their decision, ITV bosses insisted that ‘all programmes were recorded before the sad news of Her Majesty The Queen’s passing’, and therefore were on the channel from 6.50pm when the second episode of The Masked Dancer went on air. Last week’s launch show was watched by more than three million viewers.

It was followed by the first episode of The Voice at 8pm, and Jeremy Clarkson’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? at 9.10pm.

The BBC has held crisis meetings over whether the much-anticipated first episode of Strictly would air next Saturday. The recorded show will reveal which celebrities are to be paired with the professional dancers, and usually attracts about eight million viewers.

Bosses have yet to make a decision about the show, which is due to be screened just two days before the Queen’s funeral.

A BBC source said: ‘It will bring immense joy to the nation, but it could be deemed in bad taste. It is something bosses know the country loves to see and that is very much looked forward to by its fans. They genuinely don’t know what to do.’

Yesterday, a special edition of ITV’s Good Morning Britain was presented by Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard from 6am to 9.30am, followed by a special programme – ITV News: The Proclamation of the King – with continuous news coverage until 12.30pm, followed by documentaries and tributes.