This is a repeat of an In The Picture feature first "broadcast" several years ago. An updated repeat in fact, as the TV people say when they want to pass off a re-run as a new programme.

Viewers, as well as this column, have been moaning about the poor state of Saturday night television for some time. Nothing much has happened to change the situation.

Now, even the broadcasters are adding their voices. Channel 4, displaying a sense of humour usually lacking in TV executives, is devoting two hours of primetime Saturday viewing investigating why Saturday night TV is such rubbish these days in a programme called Who Killed Saturday Night TV? Presumably that show doesn't want to be included among the tat.

There's also been a backlash against those criticising the current line-up, as some question whether it really was that good, or is the past being viewed nostalgically through the eyes of those whose recollection is influenced by the passing of time?

The memory can play funny tricks. Were we really so enamoured of Seaside Special when it was screened as the centrepiece of the BBC's Saturday schedules? Surely, a weekly dose of well-produced hospital drama in Casualty is a more than adequate replacement for old comedians and sad variety acts.

The death of light entertainment means that acts like Little and Large and Cannon and Ball, once Saturday night big hitters, were given their cards. Viewers also tired of Noel Edmonds and Jeremy Beadle playing pranks on the public. Formats like Blind Date and The Generation Game showed their age, as did old-style performers such as Cilla Black and Bruce Forsyth.

The problem has been that their replacements haven't drawn as many viewers, the ultimate sin in these ratings-hungry times. Once programmes could attract audiences of 20 million. Nowadays it's cause for celebration if they get half that. Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, one of today's few genuine hits, averages around nine million.

The good old days of the 1970s and 1980s are no more. Satellite and cable have drained viewers from terrestrial channels. Video, DVD and computer games are other distractions that have fragmented audiences. TV audiences in general have declined, with Saturday's dipping deeper than other nights.

Who Killed Saturday Night TV? talks to the guilty parties - a rogues gallery of faces from yesteryear - to try to understand why Saturday has gone from being the most watched night of the week to the least.

The obvious missing factor is soap. Tonight is the only night of the week when audience-pulling soaps aren't showing in an evening slot. Addicts must make do with daytime omnibus editions of Coronation Street and Home and Away.

It can't be much longer before schedulers give in and EastEnders, the Street or Emmerdale makes a Saturday appearance. Soaps provide the hook for the rest of the evening's programmes, getting viewers to switch on and, hopefully, stay with the same channel for the rest of the night.

Casualty apart, drama too is missing from Saturday night as schedulers are loathe to "waste" such an expensive products when few people are watching. The BBC rewards its viewers with the occasional episode of Jonathan Creek or Dalziel and Pascoe, but these are the exceptions rather than the rule.

What we get on the main channels, BBC1 and ITV1, is a line-up of entertainment shows that are virtually indistinguishable from one another. ITV's foolhardy attempt to put football at the core of its Saturday peaktime schedules ended abruptly after poor ratings, with their much-vaunted snatching of presenter Des Lynam from the BBC proving the equivalent of an own goal.

His departure after Euro 2004 signals a new phase in the battle to revive that Saturday night fever. Match Of The Day returns to BBC1 with Premiership highlights next month. And who will ITV1 line up against the football? None other than BBC refugee Michael Parkinson, who spectacularly quit the Beeb and switched to ITV after clashing over the timing of his chat show once Match Of The Day occupies his old slot.

This week Parkie was paraded as ITV launched its autumn schedule to those all-important advertisers. Whether his transfer will bring them any more luck than Lynam's remains to be seen. Ratings for his last BBC series of chat shows were down on the previous one.

Bringing back old timers isn't necessarily the answer. Bruce Forsyth's return to the Saturday schedules with Strictly Come Dancing guaranteed plenty of publicity. Not only was he wasted as the presenter but ratings were around a third of the 15 million he commanded hosting The Generation Game a couple of decades ago.

Forsyth himself has suggested that Saturday ratings have declined because schedulers have forgotten the family audience and fail to provide shows that appeal across the generations. He might be right - the Ant and Dec show does reach out to all ages.

Repeating the format isn't easy. Just look at the latest BBC attempt, Johnny and Denise - Passport To Paradise, which began last week. It's a blatant attempt to repeat the successful formula of the Geordie duo's show. That, of course, was derived from Noel Edmond's old Saturday show. So perhaps nothing much has changed after all.

* Who Killed Saturday Night TV? C4 9.50p

Published: ??/??/2004