In terms of primetime share (%), they were:

18:00-22:30 Definition
BBC1: 39.2% (Xmas Day 2009: 39.6%)
ITV1: 23.2% (20.2%)

19:00-23:00 Definition
BBC1: 37.1% (38.1%)
ITV1: 21.4% (19.2%)

Don't have the All Day shares. I suspect BBC1 was similar to last year in that respect as Shrek 3 performed better than last year's movie.

More people were watching TV yesterday compared to last year's Christmas Day by about 2-3m more.

Was '07 a fluke or are the last three christmases the start of a downward trend christmas ratings wise? Christmas 07, Enders and Who managed 12-14 million with the shows around them getting around 11, two years later, only Wallace and Gromit managed more than 12 million, despite Doctor Who's much publicised regeneration, this year nothing did.

ITV were owned on Christmas Day, Strictly beat Corrie in a head to head, Come Fly with Me got over 10 million, Doctor Who got great ratings. Can't wait to see what Robbie Sykes and George S say about that one!

I think Corrie did fantastically in the heaily contested slot. Last year SCD (6.8) and Corrie (7.2) "fought" over 14 million viewers, now they divided 18.5 million viewers between them. For them both to pull much more viewers is fantastic IMO.

Yes the 9 million is down from recent form but I think it is certainly a very respectable figure. EE up on last years murder is also very good. Yes, it only managed 0.5 more than last year but the storyline this year was far less anticipated (but a better episode in my book)

Fun with figures. Or you could say BBC1 was down on 2009 and ITV1 were up 15%

Really though, apart from the mystifying popularity of the dreadful Walliams and Lucas, there's nothing there that's too surprising.

Glad to see The Royle Family continue to do well. Shame Poirot couldn't muster a few more.

07 was the last year EE split up in two episodes and shorter episodes do them the world of good ratingswise. I just think the slots between 6-9 pm are very heavily contested ever since so it, combined with hourlong soap episodes, makes it harder to get the bigger numbers.

2010 v 2009 comparison

BBC One

18:00- Doctor Who: 10.3m (UP 0.3m)
19:00- Strictly Come Dancing: 9.4m (UP 2.6m)
20:00- EastEnders: 11.4m (UP 0.5m)
21:00- The Royle Family: 9.9m (DOWN 0.3m)
22:00- Come Fly with Me: 10.3m (UP 1.1m)

ITV1

18:00- Emmerdale: 7.2m (UP 2.0m)
19:00- Coronation Street: 9.0m (UP 1.1m)
20:00- All Star Family Fortunes: 4.7m (UP 1.8m)
21:00- Agatha Christie’s Poirot: 4.2m (UP 0.5m)

Good night all round except for The Royle Family, which was actually a stronger episode than usual

Come Fly with Me is way up on Gavin & Stacey last year

ITV1 have posted some impressive increases also, with no embarrasments. Emmerdale is 2m up on last year, and ASFF is almost 2m upon Mr & Mrs last year

So you think if EE had two half hour installments as in 07 the ratings would be higher? Plus the hour long soaps on the other side aired in '07 aswell, didn't have much effect on BBC 1 then?

Such an excellent night for BBC1
As for ITV and Channel 4 it must have been their worse ever xmass ratings.

After the soaps.

I'd prefer it if both EastEnders and Coronation Street were 2 x 30 to be honest.

As already noted, ITV's are better than 2009 and probably 2008 although I haven't checked '08.

Excellent day for BBC1 overall - compared to last year they performed much better in the late-morning/afternoon period where basically everything was up compared to last year, especially the animation movie. Solid results for the primetime shows, especially EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing - apart from 2007 that's going to be EE's highest Xmas Day rating in the officials since at least 2004, and SCD bounced back extremely well compared to last year's poor result after which many said it should be demoted from its Xmas Day slot! And what a fantastic rating for Come Fly with Me. With all the promotion, I had a feeling it would rate really well but this did at least 1.5m better than I expected. Its retention over the course of the series will be very interesting. It's started at such a high level that even if it drops a lot of viewers across its 6 episodes, I think it'll remain at a level good enough for a recommission.

ITV1 had a pretty weak morning/afternoon yesterday compared to previous years but primetime held up very well against the tough competition. Emmerdale's usually in the 5's so that's a good boost for them (best since '04) and Corrie got its highest Xmas Day rating since 2006. Very surprised that All Star Family Fortunes performed that well against EE - nearly 2m better than last year's programme in that slot, better than TV Burp in 2007 and nearly as well as Dancing on Ice in 2008! Poirot did okay - an improvement over last year but given the pretty good lead-in (relatively speaking), maybe it should've hit the 4.5m mark.


Doctor Who was 0.1m down from last year as End of Time Part 1 had 10.4m (inc. HD) in the overnights.

Eastenders split into two episodes last year. The first was an hour long, and ended with Archie getting whacked on the head.

The second then was the immediate aftermath, and ended with Ronnie being carted off with the police..

Stunning performance by BBC1 all day; an impressive one by ITV too it has to be said - like I said last night, they went for ratings with the two soaps.

I am both delighted and dismayed by Come Fly With Me. That's a sensational figure, well above expectations. But it was utter garbage, and wholly undeserving of its 10.3m overnight figure - and to have beaten The Royle Family.

I am disappointed to see a sub 10m (just) overnight for a better episode than last year. That said, it was more observational/living room based than laugh a minute slegehammer sitcomedy so I can see why viewers may have drifted away.

Perhaps CFWM benefitted from inheriting the Royle audience, plus viewers getting bored of Poirot? Would be good to see a full breakdown - did the Royles start low as a sizeable number of people went for Poirot instead, only to build over the hour and then hold on through CFWM?

Also, CFWM is the most-heavily promoted show this Xmas (whereas the Royles had very little), so no surprise that viewers tuned in for it. Perhaps I should re-watch it without being "under the influence" to see if it was as bad as I first thought.


Or testament to them deciding to have a big wedding episode on Christmas Day in order to get ratings?


Hooray - GeorgeS, crack open the champagne! At least ITV1 won one slot during the whole of Christmas Day!




Well, they were beaten in every single slot. The big Poirot remake was heavily walloped, and was outrated by its own promo documentary last Sunday - .

And Corrie lost out to Strictly.

The episode with Ronnie aired on Boxing Day.

Breakdown (for Robbie)


Because of BBC1 overrunning, the peaks for both EastEnders and Royle Family are in the first 15 minutes.

07 had EE at 5.30 and 8 IIRC with the second ep having the high rating. I think it probably would have been higher this year had it aired in two installments just because the running time is shorter. That said this years episode felt more like a proper hour long episode.

I think competition between the big 2 is bigger now than a couple of years back with shows having the possibility to dent each others ratings success. Last night's ratings prove that even though there is competition, it is healthy competition as almost all shows posted gains compared to last year.

Excellent for BBC One and a strong line up, in fact a decent line up from 1720 to 2230 and nothing I could fault. The One Ronnie, which I was a bit cynical about when I saw the promo, was actually a lot better than I imagined. Doctor Who went for a festive story that seemed to work and Strictly was a valid alternative to you know who. EE was watchable, as you know it's never going to be light entertainment, and a deserved winner of the night. Royles, still very amusing after all these years. Come Fly With Me, not as hilarious as Little Britain but still watchable and more family friendly than LB.
ITV1- two big hitters in the form of Coronation St and Emmerdale( did far better this year), but placing Poirot on a Christmas night is a big mistake as a two hour detective drama is a bit out of place on the big day and ITV won't be too happy that it was outrated over 2 to 1 by the Royles. As ever, All Star Family Fortunes and You've Been Framed were going to be slaughtered by the opposition so these were just filler.

I think that shows that if the ratings were tape checked, SCD & Corrie may actually have tied. The 8.7m in the middle of Corrie is probably due to that bit having 2 ad breaks.

Was Barrowman on Strictly? Is that giving the new host a taster of the show?

So only 100 k decided to switch off come fly with me!

Interesting to see from the breakdowns how steady the big shows were all night on both channels - only The One Ronnie seems to have had its overall average boosted by a big lift in viewing towards the end. The Royles were remarkably consistent in holding 9.8m throughout the whole hour. Just a shame so many switched off straight after EE.

I don't think the Beeb promoted The Royle Family enough this year - no so much through trailers, but just publicity for it generally. But it will post a strong 10m+ overnight figure, and if they timeshift decently we could well see both The Royle Family and Come Fly With Me (more likely) forcing their way into the Top 10 of 2010.

No, because you'd have to include the 20:00 to 20:05 segment which would almost certainly be the highest peak of the evening. And Strictly beat Coronation Street in 3 of the 4 quarters last night.

Here's the Top 20 Programmes of 2010 so far based on overnight ratings:

01 - 17.2m (55%) - THE X FACTOR (12/12/10) - ITV1/HD
02 - 15.6m (58%) - EASTENDERS (19/02/10) - BBC1
03 - 14.3m (61%) - WORLD CUP 2010: ENG V ALG (18/06/10) - ITV1/HD
04 - 14.0m (52%) - CORONATION STREET (09/12/10) - ITV1/HD
05 - 13.6m (71%) - WORLD CUP 2010: ENG V GER (27/06/10) - BBC1/HD
06 - 13.1m (48%) - STRICTLY COME DANCING (18/12/10) - BBC1/HD
07 - 12.4m (47%) - I’M A CELEBRITY, GET ME OUT OF HERE! (05/12/10) - ITV1/HD
08 - 12.3m (55%) - BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT (05/06/10) - ITV1/HD
09 - 10.8m (37%) - DOCTOR WHO (01/01/10) - BBC1/HD
10 - 10.3m (41%) - COME FLY WITH ME (25/12/10) - BBC1/HD

11 - 10.1m (38%) - DOWNTON ABBEY (07/11/10) - ITV1/HD
12 - 9.9m (39%) - THE ROYLE FAMILY (25/12/10) - BBC1/HD
13 - 9.4m (38%) - BBC NEWS (18/12/10) - BBC1/HD
14 - 9.4m (37%) - THE FIRST ELECTION DEBATE (15/04/10) - ITV1
15 - 9.3m (37%) - EMMERDALE (14/01/10) - ITV1
16 - 9.1m (37%) - CHILDREN IN NEED (19/11/10) - BBC1/HD
17 - 9.0m (31%) - GAVIN AND STACEY (01/01/10) - BBC1/HD
18 - 8.9m (30%) - DANCING ON ICE (10/01/10) - ITV1
19 - 8.6m (33%) - THE APPRENTICE (19/12/10) - BBC1/HD
20 - 8.3m (34%) - A TOUCH OF FROST (05/04/10) - ITV1
------------------------
Remarkably, Come Fly with Me has made the Top 10. In the officials it'll have to timeshift 0.5m to overtake Downton Abbey which I suspect will happen. I think before the end of the year, only Upstairs Downstairs has a chance of getting into the Top 20 - (after yesterday's rating for Come Fly with Me, a programme like UD which has been plugged loads, anything's possible!).

Honours even in the Top 10 and Top 20 with equal number of shows shared between BBC1 and ITV1.

DS have updated... http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s2/ea...y-ratings.html (ratings only to 1.d.p.)

However, as I noted yesterday, Attentional do not tape check on holidays, so no tape checked ratings from DS.