TV Overnights: Bumper ratings weekend for BBC One
BBC One enjoyed a bumper pre-Christmas ratings weekend, with the final Strictly Come Dancing boasting a peak audience of more than 13 million viewers.
It did not quite manage to beat last weekend’s X Factor final (which peaked with 13.8 million viewers) but the show attracted more than 12.1 million average viewers in the 7pm to 8.10pm slot and 11.7 million average viewers in the 9.05pm to 10.15pm slot on Saturday night.
BBC One also dominated the majority of the Saturday daytime ratings – with ITV1 claiming just three 15 minute slots during the whole day.
Breakfast and Saturday Kitchen started off the Beeb’s peak run, followed by the channel’s sports coverage (Football Focus, British Olympic Dreams and Equestrian), with Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Final Score and Winter Wipeout holding on to viewers in the lead up to Strictly.
Merlin aired between the two Strictly Come Dancing shows with an average audience of 7.1 million viewers.
ITV1’s Saturday schedule was unable to compete. Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix pulled in just 2.8 million viewers between 6.35pm and 9.05pm; the new Westlife: For the Last Time picked up 1.6 million average viewers between 9.05pm and 10.05pm; and the film premiere of The Boat That Rocked banked a low one million average viewers in the post-10pm slot.
On Sunday, ITV1 managed to secure the peak ratings during two afternoon films – A Cinderella Story and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
However, BBC One enjoyed the majority of the peak ratings once again with its usual Sunday morning line-up – The Andrew Marr Show and Country Tracks – and its Match of the Day Live coverage of the Portsmouth v Southampton game (which attracted over 2.1 million peak viewers between 12.45pm and 3.05pm).
The channel also banked the peak audience from 5pm onwards with Lost Christmas (3.8 million average viewers); Countryfile (5.7 million); Antiques Roadshow (5.9 million) and the new three-part drama Young James Herriot (5.9 million).
In the late-night slot, the new programme Take That: Progress Live – highlights from the group’s concerts at the City of Manchester Stadium in June 2011 – peaked with 2.5 million viewers at 11pm.
Elsewhere, BBC Two’s new Brian Cox’s Night with the Stars pulled in 2.3 million average viewers between 9pm and 10pm, while Match of the Day 2 peaked with 2.9 million viewers in the post-10pm slot.
On ITV1, the new Odd One In attracted 2.9 million peak viewers between 6.15pm and 7pm; the one-off drama Just Henry, with Sheila Hancock and Josh Bolt, settled on 3.9 million viewers between 7pm and 9pm; and the one-off Michael Buble Home for Christmas won a high of 4.4 million viewers betwene 9pm and 10.30pm (not including ITV1 HD).
Also on Sunday, the Channel 4 Christmas film Fred Claus enjoyed a peak viewing figure of 2.4 million, while Channel 5’s Hancock hit a high of 1.9 million viewers.
Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks and key multi-channel stations.