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The ´óÏó´«Ã½ enjoyed a fantastic Christmas Day with a peak audience of almost 12 million people tuning in to see the demise of Archie Mitchell on ´óÏó´«Ã½ One's EastEnders.

Elsewhere huge audiences for The Royle Family, Doctor Who and The Gruffalo showed that comedy and drama remain the firm favourites at Christmas time.

Viewing headlines for the day include:

´óÏó´«Ã½ One had nine of the top 10 shows on Christmas Day for the second year running.

´óÏó´«Ã½ Two had its highest peak-time share (7.7%) since 2005.

´óÏó´«Ã½ One had almost double the share of the nearest terrestrial channel in peak-time viewing (6.00 to 10.30pm).

´óÏó´«Ã½ One had the highest average millions tuning in across all hours since 2002 (4.4m).

´óÏó´«Ã½ One Christmas Day figures

Time	Programme	Average	Share	5 minute peak
2.00pm	Top Of The Pops	3.4m	27.6%	n/a
3.00pm	The Queen	5.6m	36.7%	n/a
3.10pm	The Incredibles	5.1m	32.1%	n/a
4.55pm	Shrek The Halls	5.6m	31.9%	n/a
5.20pm	´óÏó´«Ã½ News	6.8m	36.5%	7.1m
5.30pm	The Gruffalo	8.8m	42.6%	10.1m
6.00pm	Doctor Who	10.0m	42.2%	10.4m
7.00pm	Strictly Come Dancing	6.8m	27.9%	6.9m
8.00pm	EastEnders	10.9m	45.9%	11.9m
9.00pm	The Royle Family	10.2m	42.5%	10.8m
10.00pm	Gavin & Stacey	9.2m	39.2%	9.2m
10.30pm	Catherine Tate: Nan's Christmas Carol	7.1m	36.2%	n/a

In addition to the strong performance on ´óÏó´«Ã½ One, ´óÏó´«Ã½ HD had a huge increase in Christmas Day viewing.

The biggest show this year, Doctor Who, had almost three times the number of viewers compared to last year's screening of Wallace & Gromit which was seen by an audience of 120,000.

´óÏó´«Ã½ HD Christmas Day figures

Doctor Who – 343,000
The Gruffalo – 249,000
The Royle Family – 143,000
Gavin & Stacey – 125,000
The Queen – 117,000

Overall top 10 shows on Christmas Day

EastEnders – 10.9m (45.9%)
The Royle Family – 10.2m (42.5%)
Doctor Who – 10.0m (42.2%)
Gavin & Stacey – 9.2m (39.2%)
The Gruffalo – 8.8m (42.6%)
Coronation Street – 7.9m (32.4%)
Catherine Tate: Nan's Christmas Carol – 7.1m (36.2%)
´óÏó´«Ã½ News – 6.8m (36.5%)
Strictly Come Dancing – 6.8m (27.9%)
The Queen – 5.6m (36.7%)

All hours share across all channels

´óÏó´«Ã½ One – 30.8%
´óÏó´«Ã½ Two – 6.5%
ITV 1 – 17.8%
Channel 4 – 4.2%
Five – 2.9%

Peak share across all channels (6.00-10.30pm)

´óÏó´«Ã½ One – 39.5%
´óÏó´«Ã½ Two – 7.7%
ITV 1 – 20.1%
Channel 4 – 2.3%
Five – 3.0%

Alongside the shows that pull in big audiences the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is also offering a broad range of programming across its four channels during Christmas.

Highlights include ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two programmes such as The Private Life Of A Christmas Masterpiece – The Mystic Nativity, Hamlet starring David Tennant, Victorian Farm Christmas and Delia's Classic Christmas.

On ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three the Balletboyz offer their own unique interpretation of Stravinsky's The Rite Of Spring, and Russell Howard's Good News and Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet of Crisps will return for festive specials.

´óÏó´«Ã½ Four honours the work of Orson Welles with a season of films and documentaries and gets into the seasonal spirit with a musical extravaganza celebrating the best of British balladry. Ruth Jones stars in A Child's Christmases In Wales, a deeply nostalgic, funny adaptation of Dylan Thomas's classic portrayal of how the routine of Christmas brings out the best and worst in a family.

And for children there's also plenty of festive fun with all-new Tracy Beaker, Dreamland, Ingenious – a one-off drama for C´óÏó´«Ã½ – and a Christmas special from Dani's House.

´óÏó´«Ã½ One Controller Jay Hunt said: "I am thrilled that ´óÏó´«Ã½ One continues to be the channel of choice for Christmas day viewing.

"The range and variety of our line-up this year offered something for all audiences to enjoy."

´óÏó´«Ã½ Director of Vision Jana Bennett added: "The ´óÏó´«Ã½'s commitment to providing the best possible viewing can be seen in these audience figures.

"Alongside great performances from ´óÏó´«Ã½ One and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two I am particularly delighted that ´óÏó´«Ã½ HD's performance continues to go from strength to strength."

JP3/´óÏó´«Ã½ Press Office