Queen’s Christmas message tops TV ratings

Queen’s Christmas Speech 2020: ‘You are not alone’

London – The Queen’s Christmas message – which focused on hope amid the pandemic – topped TV ratings on Christmas Day, overnight viewing figures have shown.

An audience of 8.14 million watched her festive address on BBC One, ITV and Sky News.

BBC One’s Call The Midwife had the second highest number of viewers, with an average audience of 5.43 million, and 5.26m tuned in for Blankety Blank.

Last year, the return of sitcom Gavin and Stacey topped the ratings.

According to ratings body Barb, Strictly Come Dancing, which featured the show’s 25 most memorable dances, and Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel were in fourth and fifth place with 4.86 million viewers and 4.66 million respectively.

In recent years, The Queen’s annual broadcast has regularly been the most-watched TV show, based on the overnight figures – which do not include viewers who watch Christmas specials on catch-up services during the rest of the festive period.

This year, the 94-year-old who, like many was spending Christmas Day apart from her family, used her message to reassure anyone struggling without friends and family that they “are not alone”.

She said what many people want “for Christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand” – but “even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn”.

She also praised acts of kindness, saying the pandemic “brought us closer” despite causing hardship. (BBC)