Christmas TV 2018

2.9m (16.6%) - Source: Broadcast.

One thing I noticed is that only 300,000 tuned away from BBC One after EastEnders for Mrs Brown's Boys. 500k turned off after Call the Midwife for EastEnders. While Call the Midwife isn't what forumnites like on Christmas Day, it's a solid performer.

The big gaping hole was Doctor Who - no matter what you say, the Christmas Day episode usually gave a good feel to BBC One, bit of energy and anticipation in my opinion. This year without it, the whole energy of Christmas Day on BBC One was very low.

The BBC for 2019 should order Chris Chibnall to write a Christmas Day episode once again. We now know the reason he decided to push it to New Year's Day was that there would be at least one new Doctor Who episode in 2019, with the next series not due to air until early 2020.

Mrs Brown's Boys as a sitcom has well and truly been drained dry of all new material. It is now in the process of going through the motions. Brendan thankfully decided not to do anymore series, and just as well, sticking to Christmas specials helps to keep what new material he has. The new material he does have does not amount to much.

The show is still hugely popular, but the All Round to Mrs Browns is much better, as there does not have to be much written material, and the near live feel of the show makes it enjoyable to watch.

Does anyone know how his "For Facts Sake" did? I never watched it, but heard from people it was poor.

Running Torvill and Dean against Eastenders was broadcast suicide. ITV should have retained it to run tonight. The production I gather (I am yet to view) was excellent. I wonder if the execs really were confident about the subject and it's interpretation.

No, Torvill and Dean was the annual ITV Christmas Day show that makes the schedule look slightly special and like they’ve made an effort.

Even when Downton Abbey aired in this slot it would rate many millions lower than a regular episode.

It really was the worst thing Brendan's done for the BBC. Shoehorning MBB cast members into it didn't help either.

Yes, ITV have worked on a formula for Christmas night since at least 2009. 1) Two one hour specials of the soaps. 2) Family friendly show, usually now Paul O'Grady For the Love of Dogs and 3) a big drama which chews up two hours, they have tried everything - Poirot, Maigret, Downton Abbey, Victoria etc.

I caught a clip of it and just never bothered watching the rest. Looked awful. But does anyone know how it did in the ratings?

It did very poorly, below 2m towards the end I believe.

It was also on after the news, not a good slot?

At my sister's and her fiancee's last night we watched Die Hard 2 (that and the original are both Christmas movies get over it 😉😂) followed by Bad Santa. Only linear telly was The Queen, and my sister's in-laws possibly watched Strictly whilst I took a nap (having worked during the morning then took a 2 hour drive to meet up with the others, so 2 drinks and I was fairly knackered!)

Problem with the streaming services is you don't have the big Christmas Day anchor. If High Castle was on linear telly then Christmas Day would be ideal for a big season finale, or a major plot twist such as the one in Season 3 where



But I can watch Man in the High Castle whenever I want. At 11am on an otherwise normal Wednesday if I feel like it.

Amazon have really missed a trick however by not at least getting a one-off Grand Tour Christmas special together, given how much the Specials were a part of Top Gear under the same team. (There was one in the first season, granted.)

Now that we know Season 3 of GT will be the last, where do Amazon go from here? Netflix seems to have the edge on them content wise. Grand Tour is their biggest show, with Man in the High Castle second. It can't survive on High Castle alone, as great as the series is.

I'll be interested to see where we are in another decade with linear TV. I'm disappointed ITV haven't tried to stage another live musical as I loved Sound of Music in 2015. There's more than a few they could turn their hand to.

A full card's worth of Premier League games on Boxing Day will probably be their focus for the next three years, I'd imagine.