Robbie Williams’ New Year’s Eve Big Ben performance proved to be the Beeb’s most popular music programme over the festive period, drawing a peak average audience of 6.6 million on the night.
The Robbie Rocks Big Ben special trounced the viewing figures of annual New Year’s Eve extravaganza Jools Holland’s Hootenanny, which pulled in an average audience of 2.36 million viewers.
Williams did, however, have the distinct advantage of being broadcast on BBC one either side of the London fireworks coverage, which saw 11.6 million viewers tune in.
Meanwhile, Top Of The Pops returned for both a Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve special. Somewhat surprisingly, the New Year’s Eve edition drew the bigger audience, with an average audience of 2.25 million people tuning in to BBC One at 17.20 to watch performances from Craig David, Dua Lipa, Alan Walker, Nathan Sykes, Anne Marie, Kideko & George Kwali featuring Nadia Rose and Sweetie Irie, Clean Bandit featuring Louisa Johnson, Zara Larsson, Jonas Blue featuring JP Cooper and Blossoms.
The Top of the Pops Christmas Day special (BBC One, 13.50) was watched by an average audience of 1.92 million people and included performances from Clean Bandit featuring Anne Marie, DNCE, Olly Murs, Skepta, Jonas Blue featuring Dakota, Zara Larsson, Calum Scott, Kungs, James Arthur, Craig David and Louisa Johnson.
