How Christmas Day TV ratings have dipped over the years - as 2024 figures show Gavin and Stacey's success

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The BBC can be forgiven for thinking that its Christmas TV ratings were - to use a phrase much in evidence this year - tidy.

The finale of Gavin And Stacey secured the highest Christmas Day ratings since 2008, the BBC has said, drawing in an average audience of 12.3m on the day - and that’s before streaming figures are added.

The return of Gavin, Stacey, Smith, Nessa and the rest of the Barry and Billericay gang was watched by 12.3m peopleThe return of Gavin, Stacey, Smith, Nessa and the rest of the Barry and Billericay gang was watched by 12.3m people
The return of Gavin, Stacey, Smith, Nessa and the rest of the Barry and Billericay gang was watched by 12.3m people | BBC/Toffee International Ltd./Tom Jackson

The sitcom, which ran between 2007 and 2010 before returning for a Christmas one-off in 2019, saw this year’s festive edition beat the one from five years ago, which drew in 11.6m on the day. Given the trend towards atomised viewing and social media rivalling television for people’s eyes, the BBC will be justifiably pleased with those figures - and indeed the BBC’s chief content officer, Charlotte Moore, said: “Christmas Day on the BBC brought people together in their millions and saw Gavin And Stacey triumph. Ruth Jones and James Corden created a magical finale that fans will treasure forever. Their exquisitely written comedy creation is a show all about family, love and joy and it proved to be the unmissable TV event of the year.”

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The new Wallace and Gromit film, Vengeance Most Fowl, came in second place with an average overnight audience of 9.4m, while the King’s speech attracted an average of 5m viewers on the BBC and 6.82m overall.

But these figures are dwarfed by the numbers from years gone by, when gathering around the telly to watch that year’s specials was second only to settling down to turkey as a Christmas custom - with all due respect to churchgoers.

Queen Elizabeth II in the Long Library at Sandringham, after making the first televised Christmas day broadcast to the nation in 1957Queen Elizabeth II in the Long Library at Sandringham, after making the first televised Christmas day broadcast to the nation in 1957
Queen Elizabeth II in the Long Library at Sandringham, after making the first televised Christmas day broadcast to the nation in 1957

In the 1950s, the Queen's Christmas Message in 1957 - the first to be televised - was the top-rated programme of the decade as it attracted in 15.1 million viewers.

The 1960s saw Ken Dodd at the top with 22m viewers in 1967. And then, in the 1970s, Morecambe and Wise secured the all-time high Christmas rating of 28.8m in 1977. As a quick comparison, that’s more than twice the number who watched Gavin and Stacey and six times the number who tuned in for this year’s Doctor Who.

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For a while, film premieres were the widely-anticipated programmes at Christmas, with channels holding back that year’s - or the previous year’s - big releases until Christmas Day. Some 21.8million saw the premiere of Crocodile Dundee in 1989 and Indiana Jones films were also big hitters.

Then comedy took centre stage again. Only Fools and Horses saw an audience of 21.31 million on Christmas Day 1996, while the EastEnders' Christmas special in 2000 had 20.89m people watching.

However, Gavin and Stacey may yet climb towards those heights as streaming figures from the 2019 special saw another 5.5m viewers added to the 11.6m initial figure, giving a combined audience of 17.1m, according to figures reported on January 2 2020.

The 2019 Gavin Stacey special was the biggest scripted show of the decade, the most popular Christmas Day programme of the decade, and the ninth biggest transmission of the decade, the BBC said at the time.

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2024’s Christmas Day TV viewing figures

  • Gavin and Stacey 12.32m
  • Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl 9.38m
  • The King (BBC, ITV, BBC News and Sky News) 6.82m (not including other channels)
  • Call the Midwife 4.42m
  • EastEnders 4.39m
  • Doctor Who 4.11m
  • Strictly Come Dancing 4.05m
  • EastEnders 3.98m
  • Tiddler 3.23m
  • The Weakest Link 3.05m

2023’s Christmas Day TV viewing figures

  • The King’s Christmas Broadcast - BBC One - 5.9m
  • Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special - BBC One - 5.3m
  • Doctor Who - BBC One - 4.7m
  • Ghosts Christmas Special - BBC One - 4.4m
  • Call the Midwife - BBC One - 4.4m
  • Michael McIntyre's Christmas Wheel - BBC One - 4.2m
  • EastEnders - BBC One - 3.6m
  • Toy Story 4 - BBC One - 3.5m
  • The 1% Club - ITV - 3.4m
  • Tabby McTat - BBC One - 3.3m

This is the first year that BBC One shows made up the entirety of the top 10. Number 11 was Coronation Street, as 2.47m people watched Helen Worth, who played Gail Platt, leave Weatherfield after 50 years on the soap.

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