EastEnders' Cindy Beale chaos beats Coronation Street and Emmerdale in Christmas Day 2024 ratings

At 7.30 pm, 3.98 million tuned in to watch the first episode on BBC One which ended with Cindy Beale's (Michelle Collins) affair with former step-son Junior Knight (Micah Balfour) being exposed to the Queen Vic.

Later, following the ratings-smashing finale of Gavin & Stacey, 4.39 million viewers watched the drama continue in EastEnders before it concluded with an all-new whodunnit - Who attacked Cindy Beale? - which has now been revealed will be resolved during the 40th anniversary episodes in February.

Meanwhile, outside the top 10 shows of the day, it was an emotional episode on the cobbles of Weatherfield as the long-running character Gail Rodwell (Helen Worthy) left Coronation Street after 50 years.

The instalment saw the 0ft-married Gail marry one final time to Jesse Chadwick (John Thomson) and bid a fond farewell to the rest of the Platt clan and her pals on the street.

2.47 million watched Gail's final episode at 7 pm on ITV1, but the instalment had been released early at 6 am on ITVX so it remains to be seen how much this impacted the overnight viewing figures. Coronation Street had been competing with Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and the first episode of EastEnders.

Similarly, Emmerdale also did not break into the top 10 most-viewed shows on Christmas Day 2024 but did garner 2.1 million for its 6.30 pm viewing on ITV1.

As with Corrie, Emmerdale was also released early on ITVX at 6 am so it remains to be seen how much of an impact this had, but the soap had similarly been competing against Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl - which garnered 9.38 million viewers overnight.

The episode of the Yorkshire set soap saw continued drama for Kim Tate (Claire King) at Home Farm as husband Will Taylor (Dean Andrews) suffered a fatal heart attack, Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) reunited with her presumed-dead dog Piper, and April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) go missing in a new hard-hitting story.

Ultimately, we will have to wait and see how all of these episodes performed once the consolidated ratings come in to account for catch-up and on-demand services.

Read More:

• 6 EastEnders spoilers: The Panesars struggle after New Year and killer Reiss plots to save Sonia
• 7 Coronation Street spoilers: Mason Radcliffe stabbed and Rob Donovan is back
• 5 Emmerdale spoilers: Marlon Dingle takes action and Dawn clashes with Kim

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