Am guessing its because like most people have said, there where a lot of big shows clashing with each other which could have only had a negative effect on al the shows.

Now you're being very selective, Jake. I dunno why Strictly rated so poorly last Xmas Day, but that isn't normally the case.

In 2010 for example Strictly managed 9.4m (34.4%) against Corrie's 9m (33.1%).

Perhaps DA need to let one character, let's say Maggie Smith's, utter the F word every time she's wheeled in and get an inane studio audience to go wild on each occasion.

I'm fairly sure that BBC one is up year on year across the day.

Yes ITV was poor as well. I am massivly disapointed with everything.

DA and CTM are not Christmas shows DW was to early Strictly should have been earlier TRF need's to be rested and EE needed to the split to capitalise on the fact that it is the biggest Christmas show on the night.

Based on this years performance BBC One don't need to worry about downton on Christmas day. its not a threat.

BBC One could do with some more LE strictly has a good show but the fact it was so close to the final it felt pointless. But the fact that strictly is more of a Christmas show than CTM and DA it deserves to stay.

Corrie was dented but strong Em looks low and the dog show was steady but very unspectacular.

In short Christmas should be LE plus comedy plus a bit of soaps.

Gritty Period drama however brilliant it is does not fit the bill.

I am worried Christmas ratings are just going to keep falling now actually because there is very little new and exciting things happening.

Ken

Well, you can't blame the broadcaster for something that the audience in question seems to like.

Perhaps the DA audience is not the same as that for MBB?

A lot of people on here did say this was an awfully elderly skewed schedule across the channels.

Too drama heavy and nothing for the family or to relax with after the big day.

Games, Ipads, conversation and family the rating winner

Ratings are no less than either side deserved.

Xmas Day TV was rubbish yesterday apart from EE. I thought the Xmas Eve schedule was actually better with EE, Outnumbered and MBB.

Next Xmas, I think EE needs a split - when they've done splits in the past, they've done 1 ep at 8pm and 9pm, but some years, they've had an episode at around 5.40pm or 5.50pm and another at 8pm.

All in all, quite underwhelming. Only ratings I'm not surprised about is EE, Doctor Who and SCD.

Yet again, EE pulls it out of the bag again. Dan was right.

For those who are interested in the Shrek Vs. Tangeled battle. I think some of you are more clued up than I am. Is Shrek likely to still beat it when the officials come out?

What, because ITV was weaker you mean? Oh, Jake. I'm not going to keep arguing with you about this. Clearly the BBC has not produced any standout ratings for its first Xmas in a long time and clearly that should mean big changes next year. There really is no need for you to go into ultra-defensive mode as we both want the same thing.

Yeah the year Vince Cable was on! I see you didn't bother to post the 2009 figure! BTW how is it selective to compare year on year

You haven't bothered to respond to my main point about how having Midwife in the slot allowed BBC ONE to shift SCD and DW earlier which allowed the 5-7pm slot to make big year on year increases.

I doubt it'd be the last after the ratings of Christmas Eve, not many sitcoms these days can get 8m.


The Queen had a total of 8.30m (48.6%) across ITV1 and BBC One.

Tangled has got an awfully big gap to close, bearing in mind that Shrek will also benefit from timeshift viewing being added. All bets on Shrek to win should be winners.

It has nothing to do with ITV. BBC ONE managed to increase the 5-7pm slot by nearly 2m by having CTM in the schedule. Ctm posted an underwhelming figure but it wasn't a disaster and was only slightly down on what SCD did against Corrie last year. It didn't drag the schedule down.

Thanks man, Merry Christmas!

Well done, EastEnders... though some people in my family intentionally avoided watching it, which wasn't the case in years gone by. It will have a challenge keeping the momentum going. Tonight's figures will be interesting.

The Royle Family... feels very tired these days; a "safe" option but I personally don't rate it and switched off. As others have suggested, Mrs Brown's Boys could have excelled after EastEnders last night. Good to see a show not taking itself seriously... and still being very amusing. Call the Midwife did not feel right on Christmas Day and, as others have pointed out, too long at 75 minutes.

Lessons to be learned for next year: period drama doesn't really belong on Christmas Day, TRF should be pensioned off, DW should be put in a 6.00 slot, ITV should look to a comedy drama like Benidorm to follow CS.

BBC1 need to remember which two of their past programmes were Christmas - Morecambe And Wise and Only Fools And Horses, two upbeat, feel-good, happy comedy shows. Under that criteria, the one programme that has Christmas Day written all over it is Miranda (with Mrs Brown for late night).

But it's easy to be wise after the event. CTM was an established ratings smash whilst Miranda is untried for new episodes on BBC1. Although they were quite happy to premiere Come Fly With Me on Christmas Day and to 12m viewers in the finals.

Hopefully Danny Cohen will learn lessons from this Christmas Day to come up with a better schedule next year.

+1 on all points.

So we can expect Call the Midwife to feature in the same slot next Xmas then? Is that your prediction?

I'll stick to my shout of wholesale changes and we'll see who's right.

Pretty sure they recorded 3 Christmas specials, so there's one already there for next year. They won't have another series for next year though because they have an arena tour then a film to do.

Brendan has previously said there's enough material for loads of episodes as he's been writing for the character for years so I think there will be another series.

As for Downton time shifting, it doesn't really matter to ITV as all their ad revenue is based on overnights. Mind you, Xmas day doesn't really matter to ITV either - ad revenue drops off a cliff after last week.

Have we had a list from highest to lowest? Top 20 perhaps?

Apologies if we have, just woken up and not gone through the whole thread...

Fairly disinterested in the overnights. I watched the following yesterday on Sky+ in this order:

Top of the Pops (around 6pm)
Outnumbered (from Xmas Eve, 7pm)
Doctor Who (around 8pm)
Coronation Street (around 9pm)
EastEnders (around 10pm)
The Royle Family (around 11pm)

Overnights are irrelevant for last night IMO.

That would be a shame because I feel that ITV are making more of an effort this year.

Impressive that from Eastenders.

Just had a look and including BBC News, BBC HD (3D) and Sky News the total is boosted to 8.7m.