Confirmed schedules for Christmas 2021

[HEW2343]

Is this the first year in some time there isn't an Only Fools and Horses rerun in the BBC1 schedules?

I can’t remember one for several years?

Last Only Fools repeat BBC wise was this September on BBC One.

[tellyblues]

So The Masked Singalong turned out to be cheap filler then. Didn't watch it myself but apparently The Larkins was disappointing as usual. Haven't seen anything positive about Mrs Brown's Boys. No ratings yet but if Xmas Eve is anything to go by they will be underwhelming.

[CameronYoung]

Haven't seen anything positive about Mrs Brown's Boys.

No one says anything positive because if someone does they pretty much get lynched. It seems to be cool to hate on it for some reason.

[Steve Williams]

Last Only Fools repeat BBC wise was this September on BBC One.

Which was the first repeat of any episode, Christmas aside, on BBC1 for at least five years.

[Andrew]

So The Masked Singalong turned out to be cheap filler then. Didn't watch it myself but apparently The Larkins was disappointing as usual. Haven't seen anything positive about Mrs Brown's Boys. No ratings yet but if Xmas Eve is anything to go by they will be underwhelming.

The ratings are out as is the usual article about how the BBC ‘brought the nation together’ which I’m sure is the same quote with the numbers changed every year

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2021/s...ay-ratings

[Brekkie]

I actually really enjoyed The Larkins which surprised me considering the series left me luke warm. And to be fair Mrs Brown's Boys was I thought the best in a few years - a bit more heart to it than usual.

[tellyblues]

The Larkins only managed 1.9m. After the two soaps and how the series has performed, I'm not surprised it did poorly. Perhaps something light would have worked better.

[Andrew]

The Larkins only managed 1.9m. After the two soaps and how the series has performed, I'm not surprised it did poorly. Perhaps something light would have worked better.

The Larkins is so light I’m surprised it doesn’t float away

[Brekkie]

The soaps just aren't the hook they were but do wonder if ITV had tweaked things to have The Larkins begin as Call the Midwife ended whether it may have benefitted slightly. Just nice to have a 50s drama which doesn't centre on someone having a baby every bloody Christmas.

[XIII]

Just nice to have a 50s drama which doesn't centre on someone having a baby every bloody Christmas.

It might be Christmas but you can take a break from being Scrooge!

[thebigdog2020]

So The Masked Singalong turned out to be cheap filler then. Didn't watch it myself but apparently The Larkins was disappointing as usual. Haven't seen anything positive about Mrs Brown's Boys. No ratings yet but if Xmas Eve is anything to go by they will be underwhelming.

Christmas Day Ratings 2021 (From Lizo Mzimba's Twitter)
1) The Queen - 8.96m (7.40m BBC One, 1.49m ITV, 0.07m Sky)
2) Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One) - 5.78m
3) Call The Midwife (BBC One) 4.72m
4) The Wheel (BBC One) - 4.64m
5) Blankety Blank (BBC One) - 4.24m
6) Mary Poppins Returns (BBC One) - 3.66m
7) Superworm (BBC One) - 3.34m
8) Coronation Street (ITV) - 3.25m
9) Emmerdale (ITV) - 3.00m
10) EastEnders (BBC One) - 2.92m
11) Mrs Brown’s Boys (BBC One) - 2.78m
12) Great British Bake Off (Channel 4) - 2.40m
13) Morecambe & Wise Lost Episode (BBC Two) - 2.39m
14) The Vicar of Dibley (BBC One) - 2.18m
15) Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (Channel 4) - 2.03m

Some other ratings from overnights twitter
The Masked Singalong (ITV) - 1.3m
The Larkins (ITV) - 1.9m
Alternative Christmas Message (Channel 4) - 700k
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Channel 5) - 900k

Solid day for BBC One, bad day for all the soaps, not the draw on Christmas Day they once were but EastEnders seems a lot closer to the other 2 (although that may be because they debuted on ITV Hub earlier in the day).

Is this the first year in some time there isn't an Only Fools and Horses rerun in the BBC1 schedules?

I can’t remember one for several years?

Last Only Fools repeat BBC wise was this September on BBC One.

Amazingly last time Only Fools was repeated on BBC One was Christmas Day 2014, could of sworn it was on in the last few years

[London Lite]

Mrs Brown's deserved a slightly higher rating than it got as that episode was one of the strongest for at least 5 years, but once viewers see a bulk of episodes that were poor, they switch off. There was also the anti-vaxxer movement of which there are quite a few that would watch MBB because of the lack of "PC" featured would have turned off for all the pro-vaccine lines and Brendan's pro-jab speech. However the references to the two characters who left after a pay row were funny.

The Queen isn't a surprise as viewers tuned in to hear her thoughts on becoming a widow and how she felt about Prince Philip and there's clearly still leverage in Strictly and Call the Midwife.

EastEnders wasn't exactly the best episode of the year being based on long overrunning plots around a serial murderer and another character pretending to be Sonia's Dad in a financial scam. They really need to up their game in 2022 or just become an iPlayer series.

[Brekkie]

Agree on both counts regarding Mrs Brown and a show that doesn't make the top 10 shouldn't be renewed for 5 years with a guaranteed Christmas Day slot. Indeed if they want to give it a chance to rebuild it's ratings it may fair better elsewhere.


Post 9pm is clearly where both channels lose viewers and Netflix will get the blame - though when you look at their offerings ultimately they've offered less new content especially for Christmas over the entire period than the BBC or even ITV do in a single night.

[tellyblues]

When the deal was made (before Xmas 2020) to take the show up until 2026, ratings were good. The contract was too long but at the time the BBC probably thought about what else they had that would rate as well at 10pm, which was nothing.

[Score]

The rating last night isn’t terrible for 10.20pm. Obviously nothing like what it used to get but the share was over 20% and it will no doubt consolidate a fair bit.

As others have said, they’ve got nothing else to go there. If they didn’t do MBB they’d probably just show the Vicar of Dibley repeat half an hour earlier, so they might as well carry on for as long as the numbers are passable.