The Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio, had an official rating of 7.83 million viewers, according to data released by BARB.

The rating is over 2 million higher than the initial overnight figure and includes all those who recorded the programme and watched it within 7 days. The figure is slightly higher than the 2015 Special, The Husbands of River Song, which has 7.69 million watching.

Doctor Who finished 9th for the week.

Viewing across the board was slightly down on last year, with Call the Midwife topping the list with 9.21 million watching. Mrs Brown’s Boys, Strictly Come Dancing and The Christmas Bake Off all rated highly. BBC One dominated the top of the chart meaning ITV only managed to get Coronation Street into the Top Ten. The annual Christmas message from The Queen was shown simultaneously on BBC One and ITV 1, giving it a total rating of 8.67 million.

Against Doctor Who, Emmerdale had 6.21 million watching, while on Channel 4, the film Home Alone had 3.19 million. BBC Two was showing a repeat of The Morecambe and Wise Show which had 2 million watching and on Sky1 The Last Dragonslayer had 0.72 million.

Since the series returned in 2005 there have been twelve Christmas day episodes, the most successful being the 2007 episode starring Kylie Minogue, Voyage of the Damned.