Mrs Brown's Boys wins festive ratings battle as EastEnders loses top spot
Mrs Brown's Boys wins festive ratings battle as EastEnders loses top spot
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Brendan O’Carroll’s extraordinary family sitcom Mrs Brown’s Boys has eclipsed the big soap operas as the showcase television event of the Christmas Day schedules.
A Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special delivered an audience of 9.4m to BBC1, a better rating than any other Christmas Day show.
The much-hyped Doctor Who special The Time of the Doctor had 10.2m viewers for the five-minute sequence during which Matt Smith was “regenerated” into Peter Capaldi as the new Time Lord. This was the most watched moment on Christmas Day television but – in a possible sign of the declining attention spans of viewers - the show’s overall average audience fell away to 8.3m (still 700,000 more than it managed last year).
The success of potty-mouthed Irish matriarch Agnes Brown (played by the series writer and creator Mr O’Carroll) and her brood highlights the decline of the big soaps in delivering blockbuster “specials” for Christmas Day. The sitcom originated on radio in Ireland in 1992 and first appeared on BBC television almost three years ago.
EastEnders was dislodged from the top slot in this year’s 25 December ratings, despite its script-writers having peppered the edition with big storylines including the introduction of Cockney film actor Danny Dyer as Mick Carter, the new landlord of the Queen Vic, and the arrest for murder of longstanding character Janine Butcher.
The BBC1 soap saw its audience fall by 1.6m (17 per cent) from 9.4m to 7.8m. The London-based soap was beaten by its ITV rival Coronation Street for the first time in ten years. Coronation Street matched the Doctor Who audience of 8.3m.
But with the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special also performing well (7.3m viewers), BBC1’s controller Charlotte Moore was able to say “Nothing brings the country together at Christmas quite like BBC1.”
Top 10
1. Mrs Brown's Boys (BBC1, 9.30pm) - 9.4m
2= Doctor Who ( BBC1, 7.30pm) - 8.3m
2= Coronation Street ( ITV, 7.30pm) - 8.3m
4. EastEnders (BBC1, 8.30pm) - 7.8m
5. Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1, 5pm) - 7.3m
6= Call the Midwife (BBC1, 6.15pm) - 7.1m
6= Downton Abbey (ITV, 8.30 pm) - 7m
8. Toy Story 3 (BBC1, 3pm) - 6.3m
9. ITV News (ITV, 10.30pm) - 5.9m
10. Emmerdale (ITV, 6.15pm) - 5.8m
Additional reporting by Press Association
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments