Michael McIntyre has been revealed as the new king of Christmas telly, after topping the ratings over the festive period.

The Christmas Day special of the comedian’s BBC variety show was the most-watched show of the day, toppling ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’, which pulled in the most viewers in 2017.

‘Michael McIntyre’s Big Christmas Show’ pulled in 6.1 million viewers on Christmas Day, ahead of the ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ and ‘Call The Midwife’ special, which were watched by 5.8 million and 5.5 million people respectively.

In fact, ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ fell from 6.8 million to 4.7 million viewers in the space of a year, even falling behind the news in terms of how many tuned in, although ratings were down across the board compared to 2017.

Only the Queen’s speech brought in more viewers than Michael McIntyre, ranking as the most-watched event of Christmas Day on 6.4 million.

The top shows of Christmas Day are as follows…

1. The Queen’s speech (BBC One, Sky News, ITV, Sky One) – 6.4 million

2. ‘Michael McIntyre’s Big Christmas Show’ (BBC One) – 6.1 million

3. ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (BBC One) – 5.8 million

4. ‘Call The Midwife’ (BBC One) – 5.5 million

5. ‘The Jungle Book’ (BBC One) – 5.2 million

6. ‘EastEnders’ (BBC One) – 5 million

7. BBC News (BBC One) – 4.7 million

8. ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ (BBC One) – 4.7 million

9. ‘Coronation Street’ (ITV, ITV +1) – 4.6 million

10. ‘Zog’ (BBC One) – 4.5 million

‘Michael McIntyre’s Big Christmas Show’ featured football pundit Chris Kamara playing the infamous ‘Send To All’ game, while Katherine Jenkins performed a cover of ‘Never Enough’ from ‘The Greatest Showman’.

A second ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ special will air at 10pm on New Year’s Day.