Channel 4 counts on an old BBC favourite to win in the festive TV ratings battle
Great British Bake Off will challenge Call the Midwife while ITV’S Victoria has Eastenders in its sights
FOR years, the Christmas Day television ratings battle has been more or less a straight contest between the BBC and ITV, with tried-andtested staples from the Queen’s speech to Eastenders and Strictly dominating the schedules.
This year, Channel 4 is to enter the fray, as it pitches The Great British Bake Off against the BBC’S most-watched show last Christmas, Call the Midwife.
GBBO will be aired on Channel 4 for the first time this festive season, after its shock move from the BBC this year.
According to schedules confirmed yesterday, it will be broadcast at 7.45pm to 9pm, bringing back old contestants to compete for Christmasthemed challenges.
Call the Midwife will air on BBC One from 7.40pm to 9pm. A comparison of draft Christmas schedules shows the programme’s run-time has been extended by five minutes at the last-minute from a previous start time of 7.45pm, giving the BBC a small but important head-start in capturing viewers’ attention.
The same time slot on ITV will be filled by Paul O’grady: For The Love Of Dogs At Christmas, followed by Coronation Street.
Last year, Call the Midwife was the most-watched show on Christmas Day according to overnight figures, with 9.2million viewers.
This year’s GBBO final was watched by 7.3 million people, rising to around 11 million once catch-up television was taken into account.
If the figures, considered a notable success for Channel 4, are repeated, GBBO could break into the top 10 most watched shows dominated in previous years by BBC One and ITV. Elsewhere, the Christmas schedules will see a host of familiar shows, with BBC One following the tried-andtested formula of recent years from the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special at 6.30pm to Call the Midwife, Eastenders and Mrs Brown’s Boys. The main slot on December 25, at 9pm, will see ITV’S Victoria go head-to-head with Eastenders in a battle partly rendered irrelevant by catch-up television but still
‘A schedule change saw BBC One drop an Agatha Christie drama over rape allegations made against its star’
close to executives’ hearts. On Boxing Day, BBC One is to screen two period dramas back-to-back, after a last-minute schedule change saw it drop an Agatha Christie drama over rape allegations made against its star. Order By Innocence, starring Ed Westwick, was due to air on Boxing Day, but was removed from schedules after allegations the British actor sexually assaulted women in 2014.
The allegations are strenuously denied by Westwick, but resulted in a hole in the BBC’S prime time Christmas schedules.
The coveted Boxing Day evening schedule will now be filled by Little Women and The Miniaturist, two novel adaptations and period dramas due for broadcast at 8pm and 9pm respectively. The decision will please lovers of a period drama, avoiding a clash with ITV’S flagship drama Victoria.
Boxing Day will see Dame Judi Dench present My Passion for Trees on BBC One, while Mary Berry, Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, formerly of GBBO, will reunite for Mary, Mel and Sue’s Big Christmas Thank You.