EastEnders, Vigil, Rick Astley Rocks New Year’s Eve, Call the Midwife & Doctor Who hit Xmas top ten

Viewers flocked to BBC iPlayer during the Christmas week (25-31 Dec 2023) setting a new all-time iPlayer record.

That week saw programmes streamed a record-breaking 177m times, up +7% on the same time the year before – and beating the previous record (2-8 Jan 23) when 173m streams of programmes in a week.

More broadly, throughout the ‘festive fortnight’ (19 Dec 23 – 1 Jan 24), the dramatic reveal of EastEnders ‘The Six’ storyline on Christmas Day topped the chart as the most popular episode on iPlayer (2.96m) – followed by the climax to the second series of Vigil (2.19m), Rick Astley bringing in the New Year (2.02m)- and Call the Midwife (2.01m) and Doctor Who’s Christmas specials (1.79m).

EastEnders was also the top title on iPlayer (26.28m streams) for the ‘festive fortnight’. Vigil (10.96m), Doctor Who (from 2005 onwards) (10.01m), Mrs Brown’s Boys (4.64m), Death in Paradise (3.98m), Gavin & Stacey (3.96m), Call the Midwife (3.85m) and Ghosts (3.82m) also made the top ten – along with children’s favourites Bluey (10.42m) and Hey Duggee (10.12m).

The BBC also revealed:

New Year’s Day had its best day (during a ‘festive fortnight’) ever – with programmes streamed a record 29.8m times on iPlayer

Christmas week saw a massive 16.5m BBC accounts signed into to watch programmes on BBC iPlayer – up +5% on the same time the year before

4.9m of those accounts were from people under 35 – up +7% on last year, making it the best week ever seen within a ‘festive fortnight’ as well as being the highest week of 2023

Dan McGolpin, Director of BBC iPlayer and Channels says: “It’s wonderful to see that viewers came to BBC iPlayer in record numbers over the festive period. Nowhere else would they have found the same range of high-quality British programming to keep them gripped, make them laugh or to provide companionship and news at that special time. And with a whole host of compelling drama, comedy, factual programming, entertainment and sport landing on iPlayer in 2024, viewers can look forward to a great year ahead.”

The top 20 episodes per series throughout the ‘festive fortnight’ on BBC iPlayer were:

1. EastEnders – 25/12/2023
   2.96m

2. Vigil – Series 2 – Episode 6
   2.19m

3. Rick Astley Rocks New Year’s Eve – Part 1
   2.02m

4.Call the Midwife – Christmas Special 2023
2.01m

1. Doctor Who 2023 Christmas Special: The Church on Ruby Road
   1.79m

2. Murder Is Easy – Series 1 – Episode 1
   1.52m

3. Death in Paradise – Christmas Special 2023
   1.45m

4. Match of the Day – 23/12/2023
   1.36m

5. Mrs Brown’s Boys – 2023 Specials – Mammy’s Mare
   1.34m

6. Strictly Come Dancing – Series 21 – Christmas Special
   1.16m

7. Tabby McTat – The Animated Adventure
   1.15m

8. Beyond Paradise – Christmas Special
   1.12m

9. Ghosts – A Christmas Gift
   1.11m

10. New Year’s Eve Fireworks – 2023/2024
    1.01m

11. The King – 2023
    0.88m

12. Charles III: The Coronation Year
    0.87m

13. Toy Story 4
    0.76m

14. Not Going Out – Wilfred
    0.76m

15. Jools’ Annual Hootenanny – 2023/24
    0.74m

16. The Graham Norton Show – Series 31 – New Year’s Eve Show
    0.73m