To The Manor Born a Christmas Day ratings triumph
The return of Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles as Audrey and Richard DeVere in the new one-off episode of To The Manor Born was a ratings hit. The Christmas Day episode was watched by over 10 million viewers.
Although the episode could not match the staggering 24 million viewers who saw Audrey and Richard finally get married in 1981, the 10.1 million who tuned in 9:30pm made the comedy the joint fourth most watched programme on a busy day for TV viewing.
The episode helped BBC1 record its highest Christmas Day figures for four years. The channel dominated the list of most watched programmes with EastEnders, Doctor Who and Shrek also recording high viewing figures. The bleak and depressing 8pm edition of EastEnders did particularly well, it was watched by 13.9 million people thus making it the most watched programme of the year.
The Catherine Tate Christmas Show also picked up great ratings at 10.30pm on Christmas Day - 6.4 million (a 32.7% share) watched the 'final' episode of the comedienne's popular sketch show in which gobby teenager character Lauren Cooper was killed off in a canoeing accident.
The healthy figures suggested that despite the competing attractions of video games, DVDs and the internet communal television viewing still plays a central role in the Christmas routine of many. BBC1's Roly Keating said: "it's heartening to see that the great tradition of Christmas family viewing seems to be alive and well, we were delighted that audiences found so much to enjoy in our line-up of programmes; this was a Christmas when some of the nation's favourite performers and writers did us all proud."
The top 10 Christmas Day shows can be seen below. As these initial figures do not include viewers who recorded the programmes to watch at a later date, the actual audiences are likely to rise even higher when the final totals are released.
The festive TV season isn't over yet though - there's still tonight's final episode of Extras (which is expected to do well in the ratings) and also specials from the likes of Still Game, The Green Green Grass and Jam and Jerusalem to follow. See our Christmas TV Guide for full details on all the comedy to come over the next nine days.
Christmas Day 2007's Top 10
1. EastEnders (8pm, BBC1): 13.9m / 55.3% share
2. Doctor Who (6.50pm, BBC1): 13.8m / 50%
3. EastEnders (6.20pm, BBC1): 11.8m / 53.7%
4= News (6.05pm, BBC1): 10.1m / 51.4%
4= Shrek 2 (4.40pm, BBC1): 9.1m / 50.8%
4= To the Manor Born (9.30pm, BBC1): 10.1m / 41.7%
7. Strictly Come Dancing Special (8.30pm, BBC1): 9.9m / 32.9%
8. Coronation Street (8.30pm, ITV): 9.6m / 55.4%
9. Finding Nemo (3.10pm, BBC1): 7.1m / 47.6%
10. The Queen (3pm, BBC1/ITV1): 7.5m
Source: BARB