Odds on a Who Christmas (2011)

Christmas has always been a traditional time for betting companies, with the odds of snow on Christmas Day a perennial favourite, the Christmas Number One (the X-Factor winner again? never!), and of course which programme will be most popular on television for the turkey-fuelled captive audience!

Doctor Who has been a feature of the Christmas line-up for the last six years and has always performed well: The Christmas Invasion (2005, 9.84m, 2nd); The Runaway Bride (2006, 9.35m, 5th); Voyage of the Damned (2007, 13.31m, 2nd); The Next Doctor (2008, 13.1m, 2nd); The End of Time (pt 1) (2009, 11.57m, 3rd) [arguably, it actually won the ratings battle with a combined BBC1/BBCHD audience of 12.04m, but this doesn't count for the bookies!]; and A Christmas Carol (2010, 12.11m, 3rd).

But what are the odds for this year ...

The Top Television Show for Christmas Day

With all the recent debate over what constitutes real ratings with current television viewing patterns, the bookies are stating that their payouts are based on the BARB overnight viewing figures and not the consolidated ones that come out in the new year.

As can be seen below, at this stage the top five shows are pretty much the same throughout, with just the likelihood of which will win out of Doctor Who, Eastenders, Downton Abbey, Coronation Street and The Gruffalo's Child.

                                           William Hill   Betfair   Oddsbet
comb  3:00 The Queens Speech                 100/1                   100/1
ITV1  6:00 Emmerdale                          66/1                   100/1
BBC1  6:30 The Gruffalo's Child               16/1          12/1      20/1
BBC1  7:00 Doctor Who                         11/8           2/1       7/4
ITV1  7:00 All Stars Family Fortunes          80/1                   150/1
BBC1  8:00 Strictly Come Dancing              25/1                    28/1
ITV1  8:00 Coronation Street                  25/1          12/1      20/1
BBC1  9:00 Eastenders                         evens         11/5      11/10
ITV1  9:00 Downton Abbey                       9/2          11/2      11/4
BBC1 10:00 Absolutely Fabulous                25/1                    25/1

OLBG have also provided a Top Christmas Day TV page which indicates the best odds given for a particular programme, and also what their tipsters think is most likely.

The Top DVD at Christmas

Paddy Power have provided odds on which DVD is likely to be the best seller for Christmas week, which sees Doctor Who: The Complete Series Six at joint second favourite alongside Cars 2 at 7/2. The current favourite for Christmas is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part two).

Competition Time!

Doctor Who News is pleased to once again invite our readers to guess the final consolidated rating for Doctor Who this Christmas - visit our Competitions Page for full details!