Here is few possible schedules all have Sherlock and Doctor Who split up

1. With Call the Midwife and 1hr strictly

15:00 The Queen
15:10 Brave
16:45 BBC News
17:00 Strictly Come Dancing
18:00 Doctor Who
19:00 Call the Midwife
20:15 Eastenders
21:15 Sherlock
22:45 News

2. Without Call the Midwife and 1hr 15 strictly

15:00 The Queen
15:10 Brave
16:45 BBC News
17:05 Strictly Come Dancing
18:20 Animated special
18:50 Doctor Who
19:50 Eastenders
20:55 Sherlock
22:25 Mrs brown's Boys
23:00 news

3. both Brave and wreck it ralph airing

15:00 The Queen
15:10 Brave
16:45 News
17:00 Wreck it Ralph
18:45 Strictly Come Dancing
19:45 Doctor Who
20:45 Eastenders
21:45 Sherlock
23:15 news

We can be sure that
Eastenders
Doctor who
Sherlock
Strictly Come Dancing
1 film
will air on xmas day

but Call the Midwife
Mrs Brown
Animated special
could be in doubt and may be moved to Boxing Day.

By the way I love Mrs Brown and would hate to not have it on xmas day so I prefer schedule 2

I might be the first and last with the following prediction but I do not think Sherlock will air on Christmas Day. My Guess is that it will first air on New Years Day 2016, if not, then possibly Sunday 27th Dec '15 at 9:00pm with following episodes airing on Sundays 9;00pm
Oh, and as mentioned early in 2014 - he's already nailed on to the Christmas Cover

Overnight Christmas Eve ratings

Skyfall 7.13
Corrie 6.79
EastEnders 6.57
Emmerdale 5.26
Prof Branestawm 3.60
Not Going Out 3.20
Mrs Browns Boys 4.26
Toy Story 3 4.73

Haven't you guys heard? The intervention of North Korea in response to the release of 'The Interview' will mean Christmas 2015 being cancelled!

Top 5 wtached programmes overnight were

Mrs Browns Boys 7.6
Strictly 7.4
Call The Midwife 6.8
Miranda 6.7
Dr Who 6.3

so the winner of the ratings comp is

Only You with 13pts
Claires Dad 10pts
Wizzywick 9pts
Marke09 8 pts
Callum Precious 8 pts

if any of you want a detailed pts breakdown pm

Here's my BBC prediction for Christmas day 2015.

2pm Top of the Pops
3pm The Queen
3:10pm Wreck-It Ralph
4:45pm News
5:00pm Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special
6:15pm Miranda Hart's Generation Game Christmas Special/Call the Midwife
7:30pm Doctor Who
8:30pm Eastenders
9:30pm Mrs Brown's Boys

I can't see Sherlock airing on Christmas day, Christmas eve at 9pm seems like a good idea.

What will be film premieres for 2015?

Brave
Rise of the Guardians
Dark Shadows
Flight
Les Miserables
The Amazing Spider-Man

Sherlock Holmes (2009) might premiere on itv or five
Get Smart (2008) on five
Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America on Channel 4 or BBC

So as the Radio Times goes to the bin or the collection box the post-mortem of 2014 begins - low ratings across the board

What worked what did not work what should the schedulers be looking at this year (we also have an extra holiday with Monday 28th being a bank holiday as Boxing Day is on Saturday)

I wonder what the comedy special will be this year

Are we overdue for a Royale Family Christmas Special??

I see the last time Christmas Day fell on a Friday, BBC1 and ITV had near-normal schedules including daytime, right up until Wed 23rd Dec!

Do you think this year the holiday schedules will begin Mon 21 Dec ? as they did previous years . Most schools finish Fri 18th Dec.

And i think RT is going in the wrong direction- at £4.00 for next Christmas Double will mean even less casual buyers

I believe the writers have said they don't want to write any more Royle Family

According to the Sun Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas Specials are confirmed until 2020

i cant stand that programme or MIranda or Dr Who.

well you wont be seeing Miranda again except for endless repeats but over 9 million like MBB

I guess the big question is - Sherlock - Christmas Day or not

Similarly I can't stand soaps but all the time they're getting top 10 ratings they'll be on at Christmas.

Just have to accept people like different things!

Good question!

BBC have had pretty much the same schedule for the last few years and top the ratings, be interesting to see how they would fit Sherlock into a Christmas Day schedule.

Wouldn't be surprised if Sherlock is kept for New Year's Day.

when the overnight ratings came in and were pretty bad I thought Sherlock a definite but now that the time shifted ratings are out and they look a bit better im not so sure but can BBC One get away with the same old schedule for a third year (excluding Miranda)

These are the time shifted ratings for Christmas Day

1. Mrs Brown's Boys - 9.69m
* up 2.08m on overnight
2. Call the Midwife - 9.41m
* up 2.78m
3. Strictly Come Dancing - 8.98m
* up 2.00m
4. Miranda - 8.65m
* up 1.98m
5. EastEnders - 8.60m
* up 1.05m
6. Doctor Who - 8.28m
* up 1.94m
7. Coronation Street - 8.01m (7.77m excl. +1)
* up 1.39m
8. Downton Abbey - 7.66m (7.24m excl. +1)
* up 1.82m
9. Emmerdale - 6.71m (6.52m excl. +1)
* up 1.00m
10. The Queen's Christmas Message - 5.97m
* up 0.26m

Ratings have been down all year, not just at Christmas. BBC will be quite happy that they still had the top 6 highest rated Christmas Day programmes

possible schedule with Sherlock in

5.00 Strictly
6.15 Call The Midwife
7.30 EastEnders
8.30 Sherlock
10.00 Mrs Brown's Boys

or
4.50 Striclty
6.00 Dr Who
7.00 Call The Midwife
8.00 Sherlock
9.30 EastEnders
10.30 Mrs Brown's Boys

Can't see BBC dropping Doctor Who on Christmas Day so I like the look of the 2nd schedule, gives me an hour to do the washing up at 9.30pm as well

I think if Sherlock is on Christmas day then Downton wont be