Call The Midwife’s Helen George set for Strictly

Fincham confirmed ITV will publish the start time for every episode of The X Factor and asked Cohen to use the information to avoid an overlap.

“All the evidence we have from our audiences is that they don’t want the two to overlap”.

In recent years, Strictly Come Dancing has overtaken The X Factor in the ratings, and when the two shows overlap on Saturday night, the ITV show’s viewing figures tend to take a hit.

The X Factor is set to return to ITV this weekend, and Simon Cowell has admitted that he is nervous about the forthcoming twelfth series.

Mr Fincham laid down the gauntlet to the BBC by saying ITV would now be making its X Factor broadcast times public for the entire series in a bid to force the Corporation to keep Strictly separate.

Speaking to press at the launch of The X Factor in London this evening, the music mogul admitted that he always does get a little nervous before the first show goes out. Which is a pretty happy outcome for everybody.

“That revealed to each broadcaster what we were doing, so the BBC knew what we were doing. We’ve noticed suddenly Emmerdale finds itself up against EastEnders with astonishing regularity”.

Attempting to play down the problem, he added. “These things happen all the time”.

“Look, we are very competitive”, he told RadioTimes.com.

“Who is talking about dismantling the BBC?” he said.

‘The BBC does need to be mindful of its scale. “I’ve never suggested dismantling the BBC”. “Whether the BBC responds to that is up to them”. That’s in the interests of the BBC, ‘ he said.

He also reconfirmed the licence fee as the “least worst” funding option for now, suggesting a subscription model was years away because technology could not yet keep up.