‘Strictly Come Dancing’ wins Christmas ratings battle; ‘Call the Midwife,’ ‘Doctor Who’ solid

It remains remarkable in many ways the sheer number of people who end up watching Christmas specials in the UK, especially when you consider the country’s total population. They have made this into a real tradition, and something that the majority of people enjoy watching together as a family or with friends.

So who was the victor this time around? The real winner here seemed to be BBC One, who cleaned house with the vast majority of their shows led by “Strictly Come Dancing.” The very popular celebrity dance competition ended up drawing in a grand total of 7.2 million viewers, a substantial lead over everything else on the air. “The Great Christmas Bake Off” (6.3 million) was in second place, while the specials for “Call the Midwife” (6.06 million) and “Doctor Who” (5.7 million) also performed very well. “Mrs. Brown’s Boys,” a show that has won the Christmas ratings before, ended up with just over 6.1 million viewers.

We’re not sure how many huge takeaways there are after looking at these numbers other than that maybe “Doctor Who” is currently faring so much better than it did for the vast majority of its past season, but a part of that could simply be due to how long we’ve waited to see more of the show. Have you heard the expression that “distance makes the heart grow fonder”? That may be something that held true for the audience of this particular show.

Ultimately, we’ll get a better sense of where some of the aforementioned scripted series fare when they premiere in the new year. “Call the Midwife” should be back within the first month, while at the same time “Doctor Who” will return in the spring based on current reports.

For more on the “Strictly Come Dancing” special, including the announcement of the winner, be sure to visit the link here. Also, be sure to leave us a comment below and tell us if you watched these shows over Christmas and what you thought of the programming. (Photo: BBC.)