Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Who topped ratings? Was it a) ITV or b)...

Jane Robins Media Correspondent
Monday 27 December 1999 00:02 GMT
Comments

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.

ITV HAS beaten the BBC in the battle for Christmas viewers for the first time in 15 years.

BBC domination of the schedules had become almost a Christmas tradition. EastEnders, Men Behaving Badly or, in the old days, Morecambe and Wise were regarded by BBC executives as Christmas Exocets to blast commercial television out of the water.

But this year was different. ITV drew 46 per cent of viewers between six o'clock and 10.30, while the BBC managed only 39.7 per cent.

ITV's Coronation Street drew the highest ratings with 14.7 million viewers, while the BBC's rival soap EastEnders, which made second last year, dropped to sixth place with 11.2 million.

But ITV's real success was put down to the quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The 8.30pm edition, in third position, drew 12 million while the 10.30pm show came in tenth and attracted 11 million. Touch of Frost, the drama with David Jason and the soap Emmerdale came joint seventh with 11.1 million viewers. Both programmes did well for ITV, which in other years has managed to get only Coronation Street into the top ten.

The BBC, however, still won the ratings war over the day as a whole, achieving 40.7 per cent of the audience, down 2 percentage points from last year, while ITV's share stood at 33.7 per cent, up 3 points.

The BBC's big drama David Copperfield did not make the top ten, with only 7.8 million viewers. But the BBC won the night on comedy - The Vicar of Dibley, starring Dawn French, came in second with 12.4 million, and, unlike ITV, the BBC drew a mass audience to news; 11.7 million watched the 5.40pm bulletin, which ranked fifth.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in