King’s speech pulls in fewer Christmas viewers

Monarch’s address a step ahead of the Strictly Come Dancing special but both see drop-off in ratings

THE King’s speech topped Christmas Day TV ratings but drew less viewers than last year, figures show.

Around 7.48 million people watched the monarch’s address to the nation, with 5.9 million tuning into BBC One as the King reflected on the “increasingly tragic conflict around the world”, according to overnight ratings. His Majesty spoke of the “universal” values of Christians, Jews and Muslims “at a time of increasingly tragic conflict around the world”.

Amid the war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Gaza, he also suggested one of the central tenets of Christianity – treating others as you want to be treated – was more apt than ever and emphasised universal values.

But his overall audience was lower than the 8.1 million viewers across the BBC and ITV who tuned in to see his first Christmas message as King in 2022.

Instead the monarch drew a similar audience to Strictly Come Dancing, which came second in the ratings on Christmas Day, with 5.3 million viewers on the BBC. Around 100,000 fewer peo- ple this year watched this year’s Christmas special, in which Jamie Borthwick, the actor, and his professional dance partner Nancy Xu lifted the Silver Star.

Nine of the top 10 programmes watched on Christmas Day were on the BBC, ratings showed.

Charlotte Moore, the BBC’S chief content officer, said: “Bringing people together at Christmas matters to audiences and securing nine of the top 10 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.” Other top BBC One shows included Doctor Who, which had its first Christmas Day special since 2017.

The episode, in which Ncuti Gatwa, star of the hit series Sex Education, made his first full appearance as the 15th Time Lord, came third in the ratings with 4.7 million viewers.

The finale of the comedy series

Ghosts, which follows a young couple who inherit an abandoned country house inhabited by spirits, and Christmas staple Call The Midwife, each had 4.4 million viewers on BBC One.

Michael Mcintyre’s Christmas Wheel game show had an audience of 4.2 million and came sixth before the longawaited conclusion of Eastenders with 3.6 million viewers. Figures show 3.5 million viewers watched Toy Story 4 on BBC One and Tabby Mctat was viewed by 3.3 million.

ITV overnight ratings showed Lee Mack-presented game show The 1% Club

Christmas Special as its most popular programme with 3.4 million viewers.

Last year, ITV’S most popular programme in the ratings was Doc Martin, followed by soap Coronation Street, which drew in an average of 2.8 million viewers. In 2021 the show secured 3.25 million viewers, but this year the British soap, set in the fictional town of Weatherfield in Greater Manchester, did not make it into the top 10.