I had a feeling that it would be closer between the two main channels this year as ITV put on one of the most popular programmes of the year, and I think people are tiring of the predictability of BBC1 on Christmas day..the glory days are now on the wane, from a personal point of view Christmas has become predictable for many channels, we have some idea what will be on, and at one time months before December. I didn't have the TV on at all last night and I recorded only two shows..can't say this has happened for years. Oh well I hope people on the Ratings forum are having a great Christmas..!!

The Queen's Speech reached a total audience of 8.6m (8.4m exc +1) this year, with 6.29m (37.3%) watching the 3pm broadcast on BBC One, and a further 2.15m (12.8%) tuning in on ITV1 (+1: 196k/1.2%).

Source: DS

I'm sure for many it's far from the biggest night of the year, as they don't put the TV on. In our household it must be the only day of the year when the TV is not on in the evening.

We Sky plussed Doctor Who (for wife not me) and Downton.

Looks to me like BBC1's big mistake was putting Ratatouille in the mix at 4.50pm. A four year old film, there should have been one afternoon animation only following The Queen, then some "live action" programming, with The Gruffalo Child either airing head to head with Em Fm at 6pm or getting the jump at 5.30pm.

For me, airing a film that was never going to have the mass appeal of say Shrek in an early evening slot effectively handed "switching on around 6pm" viewers to Emmerdale and ITV on a plate - and some stayed on that channel all night.

Strictly Come Dancing
Christmas ratings (overnights)
2011: 7.52m (27.35%)
2010: 9.5m (34.85%)
2009: 6.79m (27.88%)
2008: 8.45m (34.44%)
2007: 8.01m (31.88%)
2006: 7.46m (30.57%)

Perhaps it's in crisis???? Maybe BBC are worried about the series being shown at all in 2012!!!

No, wait, they said this about X-Factor, and it still ended up being the most watched programme of 2011... Perhaps there's nothing to worry about???

And here we PVR'd DA (watched EE live) and SCD (but might not even bother watching the SCD recording).

1.9% for Channel 5 in primetime - a new record low.

Oh dear. Hardly unsurprising when they played two made-for-TV films back-to-back.

It would have been very easy for them to avert disaster last night. All they had to do was show a decent family movie at 6pm and a decent action movie at 9pm much like they do on a typical Sunday and they'd have done fine. But instead they threw in the towel and fell to a horrific low.

obviously not a crisis but the special is lazy and pointless but probably fills the same role for BBC1 as ASFF does for ITV1 on Christmas Day so might stay put if BBC1 are happy to eek out 1% wins over ITV1 goingt forward

Remember also that SCD is repeated this afternoon, and that the lineup of celebs for the short programme will have some effect.

Having said that, if the public don't immediately buy into the celebs when announced, there is little reason for them to watch the Christmas show, so perhaps that single show is the one in danger?

That's the same here, i think soaps tend to be something you have to watch 'live' for some reason rather than a drama.

The Daily Mail jam-makers don't seem very pleased with me breaking the news of their show's trouncing at the hands of EastEnders to them this morning. I've got 25 thumbs downs so far and no thumbs up...



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz....html#comments

Not being funny, but I seriously do not understand what people do this???

I would never watch Emmerdale or Corrie as I don't like them, but I found ITV1 for Downton as I do like it.

I would no more stick around to watch Ab Fab just because I like EastEnders and chose to watch it.

People are funny creatures though, but I could not choose to watch TV by defaulting to a channel just because I like something on it. Content is the deciding factor for me personally.

Wonder how The King's Speech did on Sky Movies.

And maybe with DA going on for two hours and finishing just after 11pm, some felt that recording it was a better option.

27 now

Anyone who saw the EE trailer for Christmas...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7FmQ_5OEao

...would understandably have got the impression that the big explosion would be on Christmas Day, rather than Boxing Day, although it does say "Christmas 2011". I would expect a stellar rating for EE tonight (last night finished with Yusef holding a lighted match next to a petrol can), and another big rating on New Year's Day (SPOILER attached for the reason...).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16304692

Decent rating which is good to see . There would have been a few thousand more as well when viewers on BBC News, Sky 1 and Sky News at 3pm, plus the BBC News, Sky News and BBC2 repeat(s) are included

They need to bring back the Champion of Champions format. I mean, Su Pollard ffs!

To get 7.5m (more to follow on timeshift) is pretty good on paper against a big heavily trailed "Corrie fire" episode.

It looks like Coro St was the major factor for ITV yesterday, the channel's audience peaked not for DA but for the flame-filled finale to Corrie with 9.9m (not sure if that includes +1) - and then gradually drifted away when Downton came on.

Seems DA lost viewers throughout its 2 hours, with EE building? A full breakdown will be fascinating reading...

But they did own it. You look George but you never see!

They are only renting it this year - and only the 7pm and 9pm hours too!

I like the way you rounded down 8.6 million to 8 million to make the gap look larger.

Since when has 9.9m over 8.6m been a trouncing? These are just overnights - that gap could narrow.

The continuous 12 minutes of programme, four minutes of ads cycle is enough to put a two hour drama on the PVR for an increasing number of viewers. Especially when the main competition is ad free.

If it was classified as a 'single drama' like Just Henry, there would only be four breaks instead of six.

But surely it is now DA which has become the soap?

I suspect the big ratings battle, having been built up so much this year, will be reported widely by the media today - indeed, the Spooks vs Downton battle got some coverage in itself.

I imagine ITV News will ignore the story completely, but the BBC will hopefully be all over it, online and on bulletins, as will the papers.

Not exactly going to be great PR for ITV or for Downton - having been on a "sweep all before it" roll so far.

Of course ITV only seperated their soap block to try and encourage BBC1 to put Eastenders on at 7pm and stay away from Downton so that didn't work. Plus Emmerdale rated half a million lower than last year even including +1 so not really a "great move" unless you are a big Family Fortunes fan. (I don't mean "you" per se, I mean "you" as in anybody).

ASFF's good performance against Dr Who and The Cube's good performance agains TLTWATW on Xmas Eve are examples of very good complementary scheduling. Not all families have kids, you know.

Corrie managed 9m off the back of some weak overnights, but Eastenders managed 10m off the back of even weaker overnights and against the tougher competition. Plus both soaps has exactly the same heavily-hyped trailer with a big explosion. Possibly Corrie lost because their trailer showed the outcome of the explosion with Nick Tilsey rescuing Becky from the fire. Memories of Al Murray's chat show question "Tell us what happens so we don't have to watch it".

Cannot comprehend the Christams day attraction of Eastenders. 2 million more than Strictly, 2 million more than Xmas Eve. People are actually switching over to watch this depressing tripe. But hats off to the producers. Genius to save their big "Christmas Day explosion" until Boxing Day. With weaker ITV1 opposition, will Eastenders cracked 10m tonight?