BBC One’s Christmas Day ratings should destroy the myth that linear television is dead once and for all.
The viewing figures for Wallace and Gromit and the finale of Gavin and Stacey were astounding.
Gavin and Stacey got more than 12m viewers while Wallace and Gromit got more than 9m.
Even EastEnders got a festive boost.
Across the day as a whole, BBC One had three times as many viewers as ITV 1 which seemed, once again, to have accepted that there was no point in wasting good money in slots it was never going to win.
But the BBC’s ratings should be used to change the narrative.
They are a reminder of the power of popular television to pull diverse groups of people together in a shared collective experience.
No download can ever do that.
It has become too easy to simply accept that only live events can still win massive audiences.
I had a lot of sympathy with Russell T. Davies’ recent prediction that streaming services could be the next South Sea Bubble.
Frankly, where is the money coming from to make good original online content? Sooner or later investors will pull out unless they are getting a good return on their cash.
Meanwhile the worries of major commercial broadcasters and many independent production companies are well known – fewer viewers mean less advertising and in turn fewer commissions and less risk-taking. It is lose lose.
This is why the BBC needs to have the confidence to reassert the primary importance of BBC One.
A major linear channel able to take creative risks and a great on demand service can comfortably co-exist. There is no contradiction.
As a general rule, significant content for mainstream audiences should always premiere on BBC One again.
The iPlayer should be the catch-up service. Programmes should be judged by how they perform over the course of 28 days.
Watching television must never become a solitary experience – the beauty of popular linear television is that you can share a moment with millions of people you don’t know.
It is what places a quality mainstream channel in its own part of the forest. Well away from the squalor of dodgy websites offering questionable content.
The BBC needs to have the confidence to play by its own rules again. It needs to say unashamedly that BBC One linear is a special place we all share, part of the fabric of society.
I have questioned the future of EastEnders in its current form before. On some occasions, the audience actually falls at the end of The One Show.
However last night’s ratings of 4m plus are a welcome reminder that it still has power.
It’s true that ITV’s wall of soap has not helped EastEnders in the regular overnights. But how about this for a radical thought? Premiere the show at 7.30pm on weekday evenings – make the BBC One screening the principle appointment to view again?
The last few Christmas TV schedules have seemed formulaic – the same shows every year with the 3pm speech from the late Queen or King taking the top spot in the ratings.
This Christmas showed that linear TV can still be magical.
That can be the case all year round.
BBC One isn’t just for Christmas.
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: BBC One ident. COPYRIGHT: BBC.