Christmas TV Ratings

[Pip Madeley]

I thought that with Christmas approaching, it might be interesting to look at the TV ratings over the last ten years or so on the BARB website, to see which programmes do well during the festive period and if audiences really have been declining due to increasing competition from the Internet and multi-channel viewing…so here’s the Top Ten shows from 1998 to 2008…

1998

Eastenders / BBC1 / 22.14m
Coronation Street / ITV / 18.46m
Men Behaving Badly / BBC1 / 14.91m
They Think It’s All Over / BBC1 / 12.31m
Emmerdale / ITV / 12.2m
Casualty / BBC1 / 12.08m
Before They Were Famous / BBC1 / 11.93m
Mrs Brown / BBC1 / 11.53m
You’ve Been Framed / ITV / 11.19m
Airport At Christmas / BBC1 / 11.12m

The top two soaps battle it out for the top spot, with Eastenders coming top by a good few million. The final episodes of Men Behaving Badly drew big audiences with the top rated episode getting nearly 15 million – we’ll see that special editions of sitcoms are ratings gold. Strange to see They Think It’s All Over right up there in 4th place when you consider the show was eventually axed due to poor ratings. Angus Deayton’s celeb-packed clips show Before They Were Famous was a big hit for the Beeb and it repeated the success in 1999. And finally, the Great British Public’s new fascination with reality television is evident here with Airport At Christmas getting over 11 million viewers – strange times!

1999

Eastenders / BBC1 / 17.54m
Coronation Street / ITV / 17.25m
The Vicar of Dibley / BBC1 / 14.17m
Mission Impossible (film) / BBC1 / 12.8m
Emmerdale ITV / 12.45m
Millionaire / ITV / 12.43m
Before They Were Famous / BBC1 / 12.25m
A Touch Of Frost / ITV / 12.1m
Jingle All The Way (film) / ITV / 11.3m
Neighbours / BBC1 / 10.78m

Eastenders comes top again but by a much smaller margin and with nearly five million fewer watching. This is the only year that four soaps reached the top 10 programmes, with Emmerdale slightly improving over its performance in 1998 and Australian import Neighbours edging in with 10.78m – those were the days when the show was a big draw for the BBC, whereas now it can only pull in a million for Five. The Vicar of Dibley repeats the success of Men Behaving Badly for the BBC, while ITV’s flavour of the month Who Wants To Be A Millionaire secured a healthy 12.2m and David Jason’s A Touch Of Frost also proved a success with 12.1m.

2000

Eastenders / BBC1 / 20.89m
Coronation Street / ITV / 15.95m
Emmerdale / ITV / 11.41m
Casualty / BBC1 / 10.4m
101 Dalmations (film) / BBC1 / 10.09m
Millionaire / ITV / 10.06m
Titanic (film) / BBC1 / 10.04m
The Royle Family / BBC1 / 9.78m
A Question Of Sport / BBC1 / 9.77m
The Bill / ITV / 9.72m

Once again Eastenders was at the top of the television tree with nearly twenty one million of us tuning in – a figure it has never matched since – but on the whole viewing figures were down, with only seven programmes over the 10 million mark during Christmas week, and two of those were films shown by the BBC!

2001

Only Fools And Horses / BBC1 / 21.34m
Eastenders / BBC1 / 18.98m
Coronation Street / ITV / 12.98m
Heartbeat / ITV / 11.0m
Emmerdale / ITV / 10.91m
Millionaire / ITV / 10.34m
The Mask Of Zorro (film) / BBC1 / 9.6m
Casualty / BBC1 / 9.57m
Stars In Your Eyes Xmas / ITV / 8.92m
Rush Hour (film) / BBC1 / 8.88m

Unsurprisingly the much anticipated return of Del Boy and Rodney was the success story of Christmas 2001, beating Eastenders by a good couple of million and Coronation Street by almost nine million! Once again, ITV’s main weapons in the ratings war were its two soaps, while gentle Sunday night drama Heartbeat managed to outdo Casualty. Two films secured big audiences for BBC1, the same as last year

2002

Only Fools And Horses / BBC1 / 17.4m
Eastenders / BBC1 / 16.97m
Coronation Street / ITV / 14.18m
Emmerdale / ITV / 11.79m
The Mummy (film) / BBC1 / 11.1m
Outtake TV / BBC1 10.11m
Heartbeat / ITV / 9.86m
Chicken Run (film) / BBC1 / 9.61m
Casualty / BBC1 / 9.14m
Absolutely Fabulous / BBC1 / 8.68m

Only Fools returned for a second Christmas special but it was four million down on the previous year – Eastenders also suffered from a significant drop in ratings, but they both managed to bear Coronation Street, which had actually improved on its 2001 performance. Once again the BBC’s big movie premieres were ratings gold, while the return of Ab Fab capped off a successful year for the channel.

2003

Only Fools And Horses / BBC1 / 16.37m
Eastenders / BBC1 / 15.22m
Coronation Street / ITV1 / 12.7m
Emmerdale / ITV1 / 10.25m
My Family / BBC1 / 8.66m
Millionaire / ITV1 / 8.54m
Casualty / BBC1 / 8.5m
The Royal / ITV1 / 8.41m
Holby City / BBC1 / 8.22m
Denis Norden’s Laughter File / ITV1 / 8.1m

For the third year in succession Only Fools and Horses and Eastenders ruled the roost of Christmas television, but once again the audiences were down on the previous year. ITV soaps Corrie and Emmerdale occupied 3rd and 4th once more, while new BBC comedy My Family drew 8.66m – it wouldn’t have made the top ten in any of the previous year’s charts.

2004

Coronation Street / ITV1 / 13.13m
Eastenders / BBC1 / 12.82m
The Vicar of Dibley / BBC1 / 12.52m
Christmas Lights / ITV1 / 11.21m
Emmerdale / ITV1 / 9.75m
Shrek (film) / BBC1 / 9.51m
Strictly Come Dancing / BBC1 / 9.23m
Casualty @ Holby City / BBC1 / 8.91m
My Family / BBC1 / 8.91m
Harry Potter (film) / BBC1 / 8.38m

ITV1 must have been jumping for joy in 2004, as Corrie finally beat Eastenders to the top of the Christmas charts with 13.13m. Eastenders had really lost its way, having shed nearly ten million viewers since Christmas 1998. ITV might have won the battle, but the war was lost to the BBC as The Vicar of Dibley returned for the first time since 1999 to secure third position once again, while Shrek and Harry Potter drew in big audiences and Strictly Come Dancing made its first Christmas appearance with over nine million viewers.

2005

Coronation Street / ITV / 11.8m
Eastenders / BBC1 / 11.41m
Doctor Who / BBC1 / 9.84m
Emmerdale /ITV / 9.4m
Strictly Come Dancing / BBC1 / 9.33m
Little Britain / BBC1 / 8.45m
Doc Martin / ITV / 8.11m
Casualty @ Holby City / BBC1 / 8.0m
Two Ronnies Sketchbook / BBC1 / 7.87m
Bridget Jones’s Diary (film) / BBC1 / 6.99m

The very first Doctor Who Christmas special introduced David Tennant as the new Doctor and secured a big victory for BBC1, despite having lost the battle of the soaps by a few hundred thousand viewers. A compilation of sketches featuring Messrs Barker and Corbett drew 7.87m, while Lucas and Walliams fared even better with 8.45m.

2006

The Vicar of Dibley / BBC1 / 12.39m
Eastenders / BBC1 / 11.56m
Coronation Street / ITV / 10.2m
Pirates Caribbean 2 (film) / BBC1 / 9.48m
Doctor Who / BBC1 / 9.35m
Emmerdale / ITV / 9.23m
Little Britain Abroad / BBC1 / 8.87m
Casualty / BBC1 / 8.29m
Strictly Come Dancing / BBC1 / 7.83m
The Funny Side of the Street / ITV / 7.26m

2006 was a year for comedy it seemed, with The Vicar of Dibley beating all opposition to the top spot, while Little Britain Abroad and The Funny Side of the Street both proved popular with viewers. ITV really struggled in the ratings this year, as Eastenders resumed its dominance over Coronation Street and Saturday night favourites Strictly Come Dancing and Doctor Who trounced their opposition.

2007

Eastenders / BBC1 / 14.38m
Doctor Who / BBC1 / 13.31m
To The Manor Born / BBC1 / 10.25m
Coronation Street / ITV / 9.91m
Shrek 2 (film) / BBC1 /9.36m
Strictly Come Dancing / BBC1 / 8.62m
Shrek The Halls (film) / BBC1 / 7.90m
Emmerdale / ITV / 7.47m
Finding Nemo (film) / BBC1 / 7.29m
Casualty / BBC1 / 7.14m

How’s this for sweet revenge: Doctor Who, once shown directly opposite Coronation Street and subsequently axed due to poor viewing figures, beating Corrie by almost four and a half million. Kylie + Tennant = WIN. ITV struggled once again, as the BBC stuck to their winning formula of big movie premieres and old comedy comebacks.

2008

Wallace And Gromit / BBC1 / 16.15m
Doctor Who / BBC1 / 13.1m
Eastenders / BBC1 / 11.34m
The Royle Family / BBC1 / / 10.6m
Coronation Street / ITV / 9.9m
BBC News / BBC1 / 9.34m
Strictly Come Dancing / BBC1 / 9.46m
The Thirty-Nine Steps (film) / BBC1 / 7.73m
Have I Got News For You / BBC1 / 7.65m
Antiques Roadshow / BBC1 / 7.57m

Now this is interesting – with more channels than ever before, the BBC scored their highest Christmas audience since 2003 with Wallace & Gromit’s A Matter of Loaf and Death. Doctor Who also performed very strongly by beating Emmerdale, which disappeared from the top 10 for the first time in over a decade. Eastenders could only manage third place with nearly half the audience it secured ten years previously. Once again, Coronation Street failed to reach the ten million mark…

[Pip Madeley]

It’s pretty clear from the above that the BBC dominates the ratings at Christmas and that’s mainly due to the scheduling of long-running shows with the latest movie terrestrial premieres. Eastenders is the most popular programme on British television at Christmas with an average of 15.78m viewers over the last eleven Christmas, whilst ITV rival Coronation Street only garners 12.24m. However, it’s worth pointing out both of these soaps are watched by a significantly smaller audience these days; last year’s top-rated edition of Coronation Street (9.9m) received almost half the audience of the 1998 edition which attracted over 18.46m viewers. And it’s not just the soaps that have suffered from ever decreasing viewing figures. While over 21 million tuned in for the return of Del Boy and Rodney in 2001, five million fewer watched their final appearance two years later.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens this year – could these very special episodes of Doctor Who beat all opposition? Let’s hope so…

[Darren]

The BBC also have specials from Catherine Tate and Victoria Wood this year and apparantly, premieres of Ratatouie and Pirates 3. I wouldn't be surprised to see Mamma Mia aswell, and Strictly Christmas Dancing.
I expect ITV will churn out extra long Corrie and Emmerdale, Millionaire, YBF etc. Though there are still a new Poirot and Marple due, so maybe they'll put those out.

[Pip Madeley]

I didn't know there was a new Catherine Tate special, excellent

[Darren]

Instead of a sketch show she's doing a A Christmas Carol with Nan as Scrooge.

"You'll be wanting Christmas Day off...what a f****** liberty!"