Most popular shows 2024: The Traitors and I’m A Celeb favourites to be most viewed UK TV series of the year

The Traitors is back for season two and the series is already favourite to be the most popular British TV show of 2023. 

The last series, which aired in 2022, saw an average viewership of 5.9 million across all audiences per episode, with 34 million watching the series on BBC iPlayer.

The season two premiere was watched by 3.1 million, up from 2.9 million for the first episode of series one, suggesting that the reality series will be even bigger this year. But, The Traitors faces stiff competition from other reality series for the number one British TV show of 2024.

Which UK shows are favourites to be the most popular of 2024?

Reality TV is expected to continue to maintain its stranglehold on British viewers, with the seven shows tipped to be the most watched in the UK this year come under that genre. Betting website William Hill has given The Traitors and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! the best odds of being the most popular shows of 2024, at 4/1 (20%) each 

I’m A Celebrity saw viewing figures shrink in 2023 to its lowest in years, but it still managed to become the second most watched TV series in the country that year, so it offers serious competition to The Traitors if the show avoids further viewer losses this year.

Three more reality shows are in joint third place, with the bookmaker putting Celebrity Big Brother, Strictly Come Dancing, and The Great British Bake Off at 6/1 (14.3%) odds.

Celebrity Big Brother is somewhat of a wild card, as the new series in March will be the first since 2018, when the ailing show brought in around 2 million viewers per episode. Strictly is expected to pick up average viewership of 8-10 million when it returns in September, and Bake Off, which will return later this year for series 15 is expected to get similar ratings.

Dancing on Ice and Doctor Who are trailing behind with odds of just 16/1 (5.9%) of bagging the most viewers this year. Dancing on Ice’s viewership has more than halved from its first season peak of 9 million in 2006 to 3.8 million last year, and series 16 is not expected to see much of a change when it begins in January. The recent Doctor Who specials performed fairly well, attracting between 4 and 7 million viewers each but the new season in May is unlikely to top that.

What were the most popular TV shows of 2023?

Last year the special broadcast of the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla came top of the telly pile, with 18.9 million viewers, although as it was broadcast simultaneously across several terrestrial channels, that’s to be expected.

The most watched TV series of 2023 was BBC crime drama Happy Valley, which saw 10.6 million viewers tune in for its final season last January.