ITV And BBC Gear Up For Christmas With Old Favourites

ITV1 and the BBC are preparing themselves for the annual Christmas ratings battle and both appear to be depending on the pulling power of long-established programmes.

ITV1 is hoping that Celebrity Big Brother hasn’t drained the public’s obsession with celebrities and is offering up Celebrity Blind Date, a Stars In Their Eyes Celebrity Special and Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

The Network will also screen a number of original dramas, which may act as a substitute for the lack of big-budget blockbuster movies on either channel this Christmas. Five specially commissioned dramas including Goodbye Mr Chips, Simon Nye, Birthday Girl, Pollyanna and Bait will be screened on ITV1 over the Christmas period, in an attempt to continue the recent success of high profile offerings such as Andrew Davis’ adaptation of Dr Zhivago (see Corset Wars Kick Off On ITV and BBC).

ITV1 will also screen the climax of Pop Stars: The Rivals, which will reveal if either of the two bands has won the race for the Christmas number one.

Over at BBC1 Only Fools and Horses will be revived once more, alongside the traditional double-episode of EastEnders. The Corporation will also be hoping that special episodes of My Family, French and Saunders, Alistair McGowan’s Big Impressions, Ground Force and Bargain Hunt will draw the Christmas audience.

Lorraine Heggessey, controller of BBC1, commented: “BBC1 is the place where friends and family can enjoy programmes together during the festive season. We have a fantastic line-up of comedy specials that will delight young and old this Christmas.”

Angus Deayton, will make a return to BBC1, after his much publicised-ousting from Have I Got News For You and will present another edition of Before They Were Famous.

Last year the BBC claimed victory over ITV in the Christmas Day ratings battle with overnight figures from BARB showing that BBC1 had a 40.2% all hours share of viewing compared with 26% for ITV1 (see Interactive Top Of The Pops Is A Hit).

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com

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