Events | 2009.12.26
BBC shows dominate festive ratings
EastEnders is viewers\' choice on Christmas Day as Coronation Street gives ITV only top 10 place
The BBC delivered nine of the top 10 shows in the Christmas Day ratings, after a mixed batch of festive fare saw millions fewer tune in to watch festive specials such as Doctor Who , featuring the first half of David Tennant\'s last outing as the 10th Time Lord, and Strictly Come Dancing .
The 10.9 million viewers who watched EastEnders on BBC1 proved to be the largest audience of the day, with a 45.9% viewer share. However, that was significantly less than the 14.3 million who watched the top-rated Wallace & Gromit adventure last year.
Doctor Who – featuring a cast including John Simm and Catherine Tate – was the third most popular show, with an audience of 10 million. Again, this was down on the 11.7 million who watched the show last year, and the 12.2 million who watched 2007\'s Christmas special, featuring Kylie Minogue as a waitress on the Titanic. The BBC said that 343,000 watched part one of Doctor Who – the finale of which will be shown on New Year\'s Day – on its high-definition channel, BBC HD. The Royle Family , BBC1\'s other ratings banker, managed 10.2 million, a slight increase on 2008\'s Christmas episode.
However, it was the poor performance of Strictly Come Dancing that proved the biggest shock. The Bruce Forsyth-hosted special was only the eighth biggest Christmas Day show, attracting 6.79 million viewers, a 27.9% audience share. This was down almost two million on the 8.6 million last year.
Strictly\'s loss was, to an extent, Coronation Street\'s gain, with its Christmas special attracting 7.9 million viewers and a 32% share, the only non-BBC show to make it into the top 10.
BBC1 had a 31.3% audience share throughout the day, compared with 34.2% last year, though this was still significantly higher than that of ITV1, with 18.8%. In peak time, from 6pm to 10.30pm, BBC1 fared even worse year on year, with a 39.5% share, compared with 43.7% last year, though this still easily outstripped ITV1\'s 20.1%.
The average peak-time audience of BBC1 shows fell from 10.7 million last year to 9.4 million this year. Last year, four BBC TV shows attracted audiences of 10 million or more – this year there were just three. In 2008, Christmas Day audiences gave the BBC the biggest rating show of the year in Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf or Death , with just over 14 million viewers.
This year, Simon Cowell has perhaps played the role of the Grinch who stole Christmas from Auntie, with the finals of The X Factor and Britain\'s Got Talent easily taking the top two slots, with audiences of 15.5 million and 18.3 million respectively. Still, it was the BBC that brought home the biggest hits, with Gavin & Stacey the fourth-biggest show at 9.2 million, children\'s classic The Gruffalo managing 8.8 million in fifth place and Catherine Tate: Nan\'s Christmas Carol watched by 7.1 million taking the seventh slot. "The BBC\'s commitment to providing the best possible viewing can be seen in these audience figures," said Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision. "Alongside great performances from BBC1 and BBC2, I am particularly delighted that BBC HD\'s performance continues to go from strength to strength."
The Queen\'s speech at 3pm, the 10th most viewed programme, was seen by 5.6 million on BBC1, down from 6.4 million last year. However, this was balanced by a rise in numbers watching the speech on ITV1, from 1.8 million to 2.5 million year on year. A replay on BBC2 at 6.50pm added a further 900,000 viewers.
Channel 4\'s alternative Christmas message, delivered by former model and presenter Katie Piper who was disfigured in a sulphuric acid attack, attracted 500,000 viewers. The replay, at 8.50pm, which followed a documentary on Piper, was watched by 400,000.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/dec/26/bbc-wins-christmas-ratings-war
