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Broadcaster’s most watched programme pulls in two thirds fewer than last year



The BBC has suffered what is thought to be its worst ever Christmas TV ratings after a huge slump in viewer numbers.

The public service broadcaster’s most watched programme pulled in almost two thirds fewer viewers than its top show on Christmas Day 2024.

Audiences for long-running hits such as EastEnders and Call The Midwife also dropped substantially compared with last year.

The slump came as audiences spurned what was dubbed an “underwhelming” offering of festive TV on BBC One and Two, its main channels.

The King’s Speech, which was broadcast from Westminster Abbey’s Lady Chapel for the first time, was the broadcaster’s most-viewed programme this Christmas with just 4.6 million viewers.

That marked a huge decrease from last year, when the final episode of Gavin and Stacey became the biggest Christmas Day hit since 2008 after attracting 12.3 million viewers. The finale of the much-loved sitcom subsequently topped 20 million viewers in 28 days as audiences tuned in on iPlayer.

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, meanwhile, last year attracted 10 million viewers on BBC One and also rose above 20 million on catch-up.

By contrast, none of this year’s Christmas Day offering came close to reaching the 10 million mark. The Scarecrows’ Wedding, an animated adaptation of the children’s book by Julia Donaldson, was the second most-viewed programme with an audience of just 4.3 million.

Scott Bryan, the TV critic and broadcaster, described this year’s line-up as “underwhelming”.

He added: “Last year was truly something special. Gavin & Stacey: The Finale was the culmination of a near two-decade will-they, won’t-they love story, whilst a new Wallace & Gromit only comes out every few years.

“Given how both were much talked about and made linear television once again destination TV, you would have thought the BBC and other broadcasters would have tried to make other genuine event TV this year too. I guess not.”

One of the BBC’s main attractions this year was a Christmas special of Amandaland, which reunited Absolutely Fabulous stars Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders.

However, the special drew an audience of just 3.1 million, which would have seen it only just scrape in to last year’s Christmas Day top 10.

Viewership of The Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, which marked the final outing for presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, peaked at 4.2 million, according to ratings agency Barb.

Other programmes on the BBC’s festive schedule included Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel, Call the Midwife, EastEnders and The Weakest Link.

However, almost two million fewer viewers tuned into EastEnders this year compared with last year, with the second of the soap opera’s two Christmas Day episodes not even making it into the top 10.

It is thought to be the broadcaster’s worst ever festive performance. In 2006, the BBC was reported as having its worst ever Christmas Day ratings when its overall share of viewers fell to 30.5pc.

However, even then its most-viewed programme, The Vicar of Dibley, pulled in an audience of 11.4m. Christmas Day 2025 was the worst for total overnight viewing numbers for at least the last decade.

As well as an underwhelming line-up of specials, the broadcaster was also lacking terrestrial film premieres, which have long been a mainstay of the festive line-up and a major appeal to audiences.

The corporation instead aired a repeat of last year’s Wallace and Gromit on BBC One, while on BBC Two it showed White Christmas, the 1954 musical starring Bing Crosby, and Jaws.

Festive viewing reached its zenith in 1986, when more than 30 million people tuned in to watch the Christmas Day episode of EastEnders that saw Den Watts serve Angie divorce papers.

However, the BBC and other traditional broadcasters have been battling a decline in audience numbers in recent years as viewers increasingly tune into streaming services such as Netflix, Disney and Amazon Prime.

Despite the slump in viewing numbers, the BBC pointed out that it attracted nine of the top 10 most viewed shows on Christmas Day. The broadcaster added that its total share of viewing was bigger than the entire streaming market combined.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/12/26/bbc-suffers-worst-ever-christmas-as-ratings-slump/