Gavin and Stacey finale tops Christmas television ratings
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Last episode of long-running BBC sitcom had an average of 12.3m live viewers. Gavin and Stacey has won the festive TV ratings battle, with the show’s final farewell becoming the most watched Christmas Day programme in 16 years. The final episode of the long-running BBC sitcom drew in an average of 12.3 million viewers on Wednesday, according to overnight viewing figures. These figures do not include views racked up on catch-up services during the rest of the festive period.
The previous Gavin and Stacey special, broadcast in 2019, drew in 11.6 million viewers on Christmas Day. The new Wallace & Gromit film, Vengeance Most Fowl, drew in 9.38 million viewers. After Gavin and Stacey, it was the most-watched broadcast since King Charles’s speech in 2022, his first address to the nation as monarch.
The previous Wallace & Gromit special, A Matter of Loaf and Death, drew in 14.3 million viewers in 2008. Commenting on Gavin and Stacey’s huge viewership, the BBC’s chief content officer, Charlotte Moore, said: “Christmas Day on the BBC brought people together in their millions and saw Gavin and Stacey triumph.
“Ruth Jones and James Corden created a magical finale that fans will treasure for ever. Their exquisitely written comedy creation is a show all about family, love and joy and it proved to be the unmissable TV event of the year.”. Nearly 7 million people watched the king’s Christmas message on the BBC, ITV and Sky News, about 1 million more than the audience who tuned in to the monarch’s speech in 2023.
