BBC wins Xmas ratings war

The broadcaster dominated the viewer ratings over Christmas...

14:37 29 December 2009

BBC One has been revealed as the Christmas ratings war victor, according to official figures.

The broadcaster dominated most of the Christmas Eve scheduling, doubling rival ITV's ratings for the same day, despite a brief peak for ITV in the morning and later with Coronation Street in the prime time slot.

BBC One's afternoon showings of 'The Chronicles of Narnia', 'Over the Hedge' and 'Shrek 2' averaged 3.8m (31.5%), 4.8m (29.8%) and 6.1m (31.3%) respectively, according to official ratings figures from Attentional, taking over Britain's TV screens.

Overall, BBC One took an average all-day share on Christmas Eve of 26.1%, compared to ITV1's 13.5%, BBC Two's 7.8%, Channel 4's 6.5% and Five's 4.3%.

The BBC was also the proud bearer of nine out of 10 of the best performing shows over the festive period.

The Christmas Day special of UK sitcom 'Gavin and Stacey' proved popular, with 9.2m viewers, while ITV's Emmerdale only took 5.2m on Christmas Day and 5.2m the night before.

But it was BBC One's 'Doctor Who' and 'EastEnders' festive episodes which won out on Christmas Day. A strong 10m tuned in to see the first instalment of the Time Lord's grand exit, but the winner was EastEnders which had 10.9m soap lovers watch villain Archie bumped off with the bust from the Queen Vic, taking 45.9% of the viewer share.

However, the top ratings were still a significant decline on last year's winner 'Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death', which pulled an audience of 14.3m.

BBC's Strictly Christmas special also lost viewers compared to last year, falling by 1.8m, from 8.6m to 6.8m.

Seemingly, the only programmes to increase their audience figures were the 'Royle Family' – from 10m to 10.2m – and Coronation Street, with a slight increase from 7.4m to 7.9m.