Analysis: Popularity is always the driving force

Published on Sunday 19 December 2010 15:01

IT IS traditional at this time of year for the whining ghosts of Christmases past to remind us that nothing on television these days can compete with the record-breaking ratings of the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Specials of the 1970s.

While this is undoubtedly true, it's an argument that foolishly - some might say wilfully - ignores the hugely significant changes in the way we watch television now compared to then.

In this fragmented digital/multi-platform age, it's impossible for a programme, no matter how popular, to attract the kind of festive ratings annually afforded to the likes of Eric and Ernie, or for that matter Mike Yarwood, who contrary to widespread belief actually holds the record for the single most watched light entertainment show in UK television history.

These days, the major terrestrial channels are more than happy with ratings around the seven or eight million mark, and positively cockahoop when glitzy Saturday night juggernauts such as Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor regularly wade into double figures.

The success of the Strictly final at the weekend may have been abetted by the dreadful weather, but given the consistent popularity of the series, it would've done well anyway.

Naysayers like to point to the success of such programmes as indicative of a decline in quality viewing, while conveniently ignoring the mainstream success of dramas such as Doctor Who, New Tricks and most recently Downton Abbey, to say nothing of the rock-solid popularity of soap titans Coronation Street and EastEnders.

Whether these programmes represent British broadcasting at its best is a matter for conjecture, but it can't be denied that they don't conform to the supposed reality TV/phone-in-vote orthodoxy.

Put simply, programmes of this nature have always been popular.