Gavin and Stacey festive special among most watched shows this century

The Gavin & Stacey 2024 Christmas special is on track to become one of the most-watched scripted TV programmes of the 21st century so far, new figures suggest.

The final episode of the hit sitcom enjoyed huge overnight ratings of 12.3 million when it was shown on BBC One on Christmas Day, but has since been watched by several million more viewers.

Some 19.3 million people had seen the episode in the eight days up to January 2, according to the BBC.

Data due to be published on Monday by the ratings organisation Barb will give an official figure for the episode, which will include all people who recorded and watched the programme up to seven days later – the industry standard for measuring TV audiences.

The Barb figure will also include people who watched on tablets, PCs and smartphones.

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2019 Christmas Day episode

A total of 17.9 million people saw the 2019 Gavin & Stacey Christmas Day episode, according to Barb’s official seven-day ratings.

The show’s creators and writers James Corden and Ruth Jones said: “We are completely overwhelmed by the audience response to our show and to these astonishing viewing figures.

“Gavin & Stacey really does belong to the audience and we are beyond thrilled that so many people enjoyed watching it this Christmas.”

Very few scripted TV programmes this century have achieved viewing figures close to or above 20 million.

An episode of Coronation Street in February 2003 pulled in an average audience of 19.4 million, according to Barb seven-day ratings data, while the 2001 Christmas Day episode of Only Fools & Horses attracted an enormous 21.3 million viewers.