King’s Message Beats Ncuti Gatwa’s ‘Doctor Who’ Debut To Top UK Christmas Day Ratings; Watch The Address

Jesse Whittock

27 December 2023 at 7:00 am·2-min read

King Charles III’s Christmas Day message topped Ncuti Gatwa’s debut in Doctor Who, dominating the UK ratings charts on December 25.

The King’s Christmas Broadcast, which is the monarch’s annual address to the British people, took over 6.5 million viewers, according to official data from overnights.tv. The bulk of viewing (5.2 million) was on BBC1, with BBC2 (572,000), ITV (685,000), ITV3 (89,000), Sky News and GB News and ITV1’s +1 channel also contributing to the total. Including viewing across the day, the total was around 7.5 million, with BBC1 pulling in 5.9 million.

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Combined, the live viewing total was more than a Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special, which was second with 5.4 million on BBC1 and the heavily-anticipated Doctor Who special, which took 4.5 million as The Doctor regenerated as Sex Education and Barbie star Gatwa. The 14th season of Doctor Who was this week confirmed to launch on BBC1 in the UK and on Disney+ around the world in May.

A new Julia Donaldson animation, Tabby McTat, and a Ghosts Christmas special, the final ever episode of the sitcom, rounded out the top five.

As is usually the case, BBC1 dominated Christmas Day, scoring nine out of the top ten shows. Only ITV quiz The 1% Club punctured the list, in tenth place.

The broadcaster took no time in touting its success, noting BBC1’s 27% share was more than double its next competitor, its best since 2019 and “was also bigger than the whole SVOD market combined on Christmas Day on TV.”

It also said BBC1’s Christmas Eve performance was its best broadcast share since 2013.

“Bringing people together at Christmas matters to audiences and securing nine of the top ten shows demonstrates how much they value the BBC’s Christmas Day line-up. We entertained viewers in their millions on Christmas Day with a range of quality programmes you really can’t find anywhere else to wrap up an outstanding year of creative content on the BBC.”

King Charles used his address to urge compassion for others and said his heart had “been warmed by countless examples of the imaginative ways in which people are caring for one another.”

And it wouldn’t be a Charles speech if the monarch didn’t address his most passionate subject: Environmentalism.

“I’ve been so pleased to see a growing awareness of how we must protect the Earth and our natural world as the one home we all share,” he said.

You can watch the full address here

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