Mrs Brown’s Boys triumphs again in the Christmas ratings

Mrs Brown's Boys triumphed once again in the Christmas ratings in Ireland as it had also done in Britain.

The Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas special on RTÉ One was the most watched programme on Irish television this Christmas Day for the fourth year running.

Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas special attracted 703,100 viewers on Christmas Day. In Britain the same programme on BBC One topped the ratings with 7.6 million viewers.

The highest rating movie on Christmas Day was 'Argo' with 336,000 viewers on RTÉ One followed by 'Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted', with 304,000 viewers also on RTÉ One.

Meanwhile the Fair City one-hour special also proved popular with 343,000 tuning into see Claudia Carroll return to Carrigstown and rekindle her romance with Paul.

On RTE2 'Harry Potter and the Philosophers' Stone' was the most popular film of the day with over 200,000 viewers, while 111,000 viewers watched a new series of 'Una's Dream Ticket' which sees Una Foden from The Saturday's make children's dreams come true.

The TV3 Group is reporting a successful Christmas and said it increased its share of the audience during Christmas week by 26 per cent with TV3 showing a gain of 17 per cehnt.

It had the second most watched programme. The Christmas Day 'Coronation Street' special attracted 432,000 viewers. 'Emmerdale', which transfers to UTV Ireland in the New Year, was eighth while their top rated movie was Forrest Gump.

Its top homegrown programme was 'Brendan Grace: Live from Castlebar' which averaged 220,800 viewers on Christmas Eve and reached 565,500 viewers.

‘The Snapper’ on Sunday was TV3’s best performing movie over the Christmas period. It averaged 235,900 viewers and a 16.30 per cent share.