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Wallace & Gromit top UK Christmas

A Matter of Loaf and Death was the most-watched programme on Christmas Day in the UK, pipping Doctor Who.

Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death was the most-watched programme on Christmas Day in the UK, with over 14m viewers. It passed the 11m viewers for the Doctor Who Christmas special, which the ABC will air in late January in Australia.

Christams Day viewing is a big deal in the UK where families traditionally watch evening television in the chilly weather. BBC One had 13 of the top 20 shows on the day, while ITV1 had six and BBC Two had one. In 2007 Eastenders and Doctor Who both managed 13.9m and 12.2m viewers respectively.

1. Wallace & Gromit: A Matter Of Loaf And Death – BBC One, 8.30pm – 14.25 million, 53.3%
2. Doctor Who: ‘The Next Doctor’ – BBC One, 6pm – 11.71 million, 50.5%
3. EastEnders – BBC One, 9pm – 11.47 million, 44.9%
4. The Royle Family – BBC One, 9.30pm – 9.98 million, 41.7%
5. EastEnders – BBC One, 8pm – 9.89 million, 40.6%
6. Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special – BBC One, 7pm – 8.57 million, 35%
7. Coronation Street – ITV1, 7pm – 7.36 million, 30% 19:00 Coronation Street (7356, 30.0%)
8. Wallace & Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit – BBC One, 4.30pm – 7.22 million, 39.8%
9. The Queen – BBC One, 3pm – 6.45 million, 42.6%
10. Blackadder Rides Again – BBC One, 10.30pm – 5.58 million, 30.9%
11. Dancing On Ice At Christmas – ITV1, 8pm – 5.2 million, 20.4%
12. Emmerdale – ITV1, 6pm – 4.76 million, 20.5%
13. Shark Tale – BBC One, 3.10pm – 4.69 million, 31.1%
14. It’ll Be Alright On The Night – ITV1, 9.30pm – 3.8 million, 15.9%
15. Top Of The Pops Christmas Special – BBC One, 2pm – 3.74 million, 30.6%
16. Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban – ITV1, 3pm – 3.32 million, 20%
17. Dad’s Army – BBC Two, 8pm – 2.7 million, 11.1%
18. The Two Ronnies – BBC One, 1.05pm – 2.52 million, 22.5%
19. The Santa Clause 2 – BBC One, 11.25am – 2.37 million, 22.2%
20. Stanley Baxter: Now & Then – ITV1, 10.30pm – 2.16 million, 11.8%

Source: Digital Spy

9 Responses

  1. Winter and Christmas time is the highest rated time for UK TV.

    Although these ratings aren’t that brillient! Emmerdale for instance would usualy get 7 mill and its only got 4.

    Corrie only got 7, and Corrie usually would get 9 mill.

    And Eastenders got over 18 million on Christmas day 1998 but only just over 11 million for 2008.

    Maybe people have got fed up of watching Soapies on Christmas day!

    Considering I dont really like the British soapies, I have to say I thourght Eastenders was quite good on Christmas day.

  2. The Royle Family xmas 08 ep was new and continued the variation in shooting format from real time and different locations aside form the couch and living room, which was embarced in the last xmas ep Caroline did – “The Queen of Sheba”.

  3. Love that Wallace & Gromit did so well despite the “leaking” of the show from the ABC airing.

    And Doctor Who getting it’s 2nd best ratings every for a xMas special, local networks would kill for that kind of market share!

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