The finale of the situation comedy Gavin & Stacey was the most watched television programme on Christmas Day in the United Kingdom. It beat the record established by the last episode of the same show five years before. The viewing figures suggests that there is still an audience for a shared television experience at Christmas, although many people watched it at their own convenience. That’s well lush.
The overnight ratings for the finale of Gavin & Stacey estimated 12.3 million viewers, beating the last special in 2019 and making it the most watched programme on Christmas Day since 2008.
It added at least 6 million viewers online, with 19.11 million consolidated over 7 days, with the total audience expected to reach over 20 million when the 28-day figures are published. So far, it looks like the highest audience among those aged 16-34 since 2002.
Created by James Corden and Ruth Jones, who also star in the show, Gavin & Stacey, is the story of the eponymous characters played by Matthew Horne and Joanna Page and is mainly set in the Welsh seaside town Barry.
The show was first seen in 2007 on BBC Three by fewer than a million viewers. It returned after nine years with a Christmas Day special in 2019 that was watched by a total audience of 17.92 million. That was topped by the finale on Christmas Day 2024.
It suggests that the show had a unique capability to attract a large audience, despite a general decline in Christmas Day viewing over the last decade. The standout success was in part due to the long gaps between the Christmas specials, with strong promotion creating a sense of anticipation and desire to find out what happens to the characters.
Although it seems that about a third of the audience watched on iPlayer in the days after transmission, over 12 million in a country of 68 million chose to watch on Christmas Day.
However, the animated movie Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, also shown on Christmas Day, achieved an impressive 16.29 million viewers in the consolidated 7-day figures.
The drama Call the Midwife, which has become a feature of Christmas Day, was watched by an estimated 7.61 million.
The Christmas message from The King was watched by 5.66 million on BBC 1 alone.
The Christmas Day edition of the continuing drama serial EastEnders had a 7-day audience of 5.78 million.
That is still less than the massive audiences once seen for EastEnders, which at its peak was watched by 30.15 million viewers, aggregated over a double edition on 25 and 28 December 1986.
The BBC had the top 14 programmes over the week. Coronation Street was the top programme on ITV on Christmas Day, with 4.41 million viewers.