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Queen Elizabeth II

The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast once again tops Christmas TV ratings

The Queen’s Christmas Day Broadcast has once again topped off the TV ratings as almost 8 million viewers tuned in to watch in the UK alone.

The traditional speech was watched by a combined 7.6 million people on the BBC, ITV and Sky. The true figure is probably much higher, however, as it does not include the people watching online.

The figures are slightly down on last year when 8 million UK viewers tuned in to hear Her Majesty speak.

In second place during the Christmas Day ratings was BBC One’s Mrs Brown’s Boys, which drew in a festive audience of 6.8 million people.

A further 6.5 million tuned in to see the future Queen, the Duchess of Cornwall, take to the dancefloor at Buckingham Palace in a Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special.

In this year’s broadcast, the 90-year-old monarch spoke about the London and Manchester terror attacks, paying tribute to the victims, their families and the emergency services.

She also praised Prince Philip on the year of his retirement from public duties.

You can watch the speech in full by clicking here

The 2017 Christmas message was produced by Sky News and was broadcast on Christmas Day at 15:00 GMT on BBC One ITV, Sky 1 and Sky News, as well as BBC Radio 4 and Classic FM.

Top 10 watched shows on Christmas Day:

  1. The Queen’s Speech (BBC, ITV & Sky) 7.6m
  2. Mrs Brown’s Boys (BBC) 6.8m
  3. Strictly Come Dancing (BBC) 6.5m
  4. Call the Midwife (BBC) 6.3m
  5. EastEnders (BBC) 6.3m
  6. Doctor Who (BBC) 5.7m
  7. Coronation Street (ITV & ITV+1) 5.1m
  8. BBC Early Evening News (BBC) 4.2m
  9. The Highway Rat (BBC) 4.0m
  10. Cinderella (BBC) 3.6m