'EastEnders' tops Christmas Day ratings

A festive visit to Albert Square helped the BBC win the Christmas Day ratings war yesterday, according to overnight figures.

BBC One took seven of the day's top ten spots, led by 10.12 million viewers - a 44% share of the TV audience - for a 60-minute EastEnders in the 9pm hour.

ITV1's peak came for Coronation Street, which pulled in 9.41 million (41.2%) from 8pm. A celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? featuring Terry Wogan in the hotseat also fared well, drawing 6.31 million (28.7%) from 7pm to finish seventh place overall. The Booze Cruise 2: The Treasure Hunt averaged just 4.13 million (18.6%) between 9pm and 10.50pm.

The BBC's other successes included David Tennant's first outing as Doctor Who at 7pm (9.4 million, 42.7%), Ronnie Barker's final TV appearance in The Two Ronnies Christmas Sketchbook at 10pm (7.93 million, 38.3%) and the movie presentations of Shrek (6.69 million, 47.5%) and Toy Story 2 (6.48 million, 40.4%).

The Queen's speech managed a total audience of almost 8 million viewers at 3pm, including 6.18 million (45.6%) on BBC One and 1.7 million (12.6%) on ITV1.

BBC Two put up a strong showing in primetime, averaging 2.85 million (12.4%) for a new, all-star adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest between 8pm and 9.30pm. Channel 4 had just 489,000 (2.1%) for the two-hour doco Tsunami: Where Was God? from 7.50pm but rose to 1.31 million (8.5%) for Tom Cruise's Jerry Maguire at 10pm. Five also had a good night, starting with 1.46 million (6.4%) for a repeat of the two-hour Greatest TV Comedy Moments at 8pm before dopping slightly to 1.37 million (7.6%) for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

A Little Britain-themed night helped BBC Three to victory in multichannel homes with an average of 547,000 (3.8%) between 9pm and midnight. Sky One's four-hour Simpsons marathon averaged 408,000 (2.7%) from 5pm.

Other strong performers included the premiere of Shrek 2 on Sky Movies, with a total of 1.12 million viewers across the day, and E4's Lost premiere (378,000, 2.2%).

Click here to view Christmas Day's twenty top-rated programmes in full