±«Óãtv

The ±«Óãtv enjoyed a fantastic Christmas Day with a peak audience of almost 12 million people tuning in to see the demise of Archie Mitchell on ±«Óãtv One's EastEnders.

Elsewhere huge audiences for The Royle Family, Doctor Who and The Gruffalo showed that comedy and drama remain the firm favourites at Christmas time.

Viewing headlines for the day include:

±«Óãtv One had nine of the top 10 shows on Christmas Day for the second year running.

±«Óãtv Two had its highest peak-time share (7.7%) since 2005.

±«Óãtv One had almost double the share of the nearest terrestrial channel in peak-time viewing (6.00 to 10.30pm).

±«Óãtv One had the highest average millions tuning in across all hours since 2002 (4.4m).

±«Óãtv One Christmas Day figures

Time	Programme	Average	Share	5 minute peak
2.00pm	Top Of The Pops	3.4m	27.6%	n/a
3.00pm	The Queen	5.6m	36.7%	n/a
3.10pm	The Incredibles	5.1m	32.1%	n/a
4.55pm	Shrek The Halls	5.6m	31.9%	n/a
5.20pm	±«Óãtv News	6.8m	36.5%	7.1m
5.30pm	The Gruffalo	8.8m	42.6%	10.1m
6.00pm	Doctor Who	10.0m	42.2%	10.4m
7.00pm	Strictly Come Dancing	6.8m	27.9%	6.9m
8.00pm	EastEnders	10.9m	45.9%	11.9m
9.00pm	The Royle Family	10.2m	42.5%	10.8m
10.00pm	Gavin & Stacey	9.2m	39.2%	9.2m
10.30pm	Catherine Tate: Nan's Christmas Carol	7.1m	36.2%	n/a

In addition to the strong performance on ±«Óãtv One, ±«Óãtv HD had a huge increase in Christmas Day viewing.

The biggest show this year, Doctor Who, had almost three times the number of viewers compared to last year's screening of Wallace & Gromit which was seen by an audience of 120,000.

±«Óãtv HD Christmas Day figures

Doctor Who – 343,000
The Gruffalo – 249,000
The Royle Family – 143,000
Gavin & Stacey – 125,000
The Queen – 117,000

Overall top 10 shows on Christmas Day

EastEnders – 10.9m (45.9%)
The Royle Family – 10.2m (42.5%)
Doctor Who – 10.0m (42.2%)
Gavin & Stacey – 9.2m (39.2%)
The Gruffalo – 8.8m (42.6%)
Coronation Street – 7.9m (32.4%)
Catherine Tate: Nan's Christmas Carol – 7.1m (36.2%)
±«Óãtv News – 6.8m (36.5%)
Strictly Come Dancing – 6.8m (27.9%)
The Queen – 5.6m (36.7%)

All hours share across all channels

±«Óãtv One – 30.8%
±«Óãtv Two – 6.5%
ITV 1 – 17.8%
Channel 4 – 4.2%
Five – 2.9%

Peak share across all channels (6.00-10.30pm)

±«Óãtv One – 39.5%
±«Óãtv Two – 7.7%
ITV 1 – 20.1%
Channel 4 – 2.3%
Five – 3.0%

Alongside the shows that pull in big audiences the ±«Óãtv is also offering a broad range of programming across its four channels during Christmas.

Highlights include ±«Óãtv Two programmes such as The Private Life Of A Christmas Masterpiece – The Mystic Nativity, Hamlet starring David Tennant, Victorian Farm Christmas and Delia's Classic Christmas.

On ±«Óãtv Three the Balletboyz offer their own unique interpretation of Stravinsky's The Rite Of Spring, and Russell Howard's Good News and Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet of Crisps will return for festive specials.

±«Óãtv Four honours the work of Orson Welles with a season of films and documentaries and gets into the seasonal spirit with a musical extravaganza celebrating the best of British balladry. Ruth Jones stars in A Child's Christmases In Wales, a deeply nostalgic, funny adaptation of Dylan Thomas's classic portrayal of how the routine of Christmas brings out the best and worst in a family.

And for children there's also plenty of festive fun with all-new Tracy Beaker, Dreamland, Ingenious – a one-off drama for C±«Óãtv – and a Christmas special from Dani's House.

±«Óãtv One Controller Jay Hunt said: "I am thrilled that ±«Óãtv One continues to be the channel of choice for Christmas day viewing.

"The range and variety of our line-up this year offered something for all audiences to enjoy."

±«Óãtv Director of Vision Jana Bennett added: "The ±«Óãtv's commitment to providing the best possible viewing can be seen in these audience figures.

"Alongside great performances from ±«Óãtv One and ±«Óãtv Two I am particularly delighted that ±«Óãtv HD's performance continues to go from strength to strength."

JP3/±«Óãtv Press Office