Ghosts of Christmas past haunt BBC listings

Corporation chief defends holiday scheduling, stating that audiences want more of the same programmes

WITH festive specials of Strictly Come Dancing, Call the Midwife and Mrs Brown’s Boys, the BBC One Christmas schedule may seem wearily familiar.

But the corporation’s head of content has defended the line-up, saying research has shown that audiences want more of the same.

Festive specials of popular shows are commissioned year after year because people flock to them in their millions, said Charlotte Moore. “What we give people for Christmas is based on what we know they love.”

Just like last year, Christmas Day on BBC One will feature a Julia Donaldson children’s story followed by

a feature film and

aMichael McIntyre’s Christmas Wheel, Ghosts Christmas special, Call the Midwife, EastEnders and the first of two festive editions of Mrs Brown’s Boys.

The only difference this year is an episode of the first adventure for new doctor Ncuti Gatwa.

Ms Moore said: “They are all new episodes of what we know are the audience’s favourite shows from the year.

“The new and the final ever episode of are a big deal for our audiences, and we know they’re really special. We know that

and are two of our biggest dramas of the year, so we’ve got specials of those.

“They’re tried and tested. We know they’re what audiences want and that’s why we always do so well at Christmas.”

Last year, the most-watched entertainment and drama shows on Christmas Day were all on BBC One, with

and Ghosts beating ITV’s

However, the ratings have declined in recent years. topped the ratings table with 5.4 million viewers last year but a decade earlier it had 7.8 million viewers on Christmas Day.

Similarly, Christmas audience has fallen in a decade from 7.3 million in 2012 to only 4.5 million last year.

These recent ratings are a shadow of

‘They’re tried and tested. We know they’re what audiences want and that’s why we always do so well’

Christmas TV’s heyday, in the pre-streaming age, when

and could draw audiences of more than 20 million.

Channel 4’s Christmas Eve adaptation of the children’s story by Judith Kerr, nods to this with a scene in which the characters walk past a shop selling televisions. One of them is showing

This year’s BBC One Christmas Day film is which was released in 2019 and has already been available on streaming sites.

Ms Moore said it was important to remember that “not everybody can afford subscription services” and the BBC One afternoon film always features high in the day’s top-rated programmes.

She added that the Christmas scheduling is no longer crucially important, because people can watch programmes on catch-up at a time of their choosing.

“Over Christmas now, people choose to watch things together at different times. People have their Christmas dinner at different times. In the old days, people timed things around the schedule,” she said.

“Particularly younger people, but also older people, are watching much more on-demand now.

“But a lot of people still do watch the live schedule so we put a lot of time and thought into that. We have to be mindful of people who are watching live and also people who are watching on iPlayer. It’s a much more complex jigsaw puzzle than it ever used to be.

“There is infinite choice now – it’s not just about what’s on ‘the other side’. My job is to make people feel they get value for the BBC; that whoever you are, and whatever kind of programmes you like, there’s something that only the BBC will have, to make you feel satisfied.”