BBC1 Wins Battle Of Christmas Day Viewing
BBC1 easily won the battle for Christmas day viewing with nine of the ten most watched programmes. The second episode of EastEnders featuring the fallout from Max and Stacey’s affair proved to be the most enticing programme of the day with 13.9 million viewers and a viewing share of 55.3%.
Second place went to the festive edition of Doctor Who, featuring a guest appearance by Aussie goddess Kylie Minogue, which had 12.2 million viewers and a viewing share of 50%.
ITV’s sole entrant in the top ten Christmas day viewing came from the dependable source of Coronation Street. The hour-long special, featuring Rosie Webster’s relationship with her teacher being discovered by her parents, held sway with 8.9 million viewers. This was enough to narrowly beat Strictly Come Dancing Special, which was on at the same time on BBC1 and had 8.1 million viewers.
The return of classic comedy To The Manor Born after 26 years proved to be successful for BBC, with a respectable audience of 9.8 million tuning in to find how Audrey fforbes-Hamilton and Richard DeVere had settled into married life.
| Position | Programme | Channel | Viewers (millions) | Share % |
| 1 | EastEnders (8pm) | BBC1 | 13.9 | 55.3 |
| 2 | Doctor Who (6.50pm) | BBC1 | 12.2 | 50.0 |
| 3 | EastEnders (6.20pm) | BBC1 | 11.6 | 53.7 |
| 4 | News (6.05pm) | BBC1 | 10.4 | 51.4 |
| 5 | To the Manor Born (9.30pm) | BBC1 | 9.8 | 41.7 |
| 6 | Shrek 2 (4.40pm) | BBC1 | 9.1 | 50.8 |
| 7 | Coronation Street (8.30pm) | ITV1 | 8.9 | 55.4 |
| 8 | Strictly Come Dancing Special (8.30pm) | BBC1 | 8.1 | 32.9 |
| 9 | Finding Nemo (3.10pm) | BBC1 | 7.1 | 47.6 |
| 10 | The Catherine Tate Christmas Show (10.30pm) | BBC1 | 6.4 | 32.7 |
Source:BARB/Media Guardian