Mrs Brown’s Boys was the most watched Christmas programme

The Christmas special of Mrs Brown’s Boys, Mammy’s Christmas Punch, was the most popular festive programme on Irish television this year, with just under 700,000 viewers tuning in.

The episode, which was broadcast on RTÉ One on Christmas Eve, was a ratings winner, with a further 72,700 viewers watching it on RTÉ One +1 later that night.

Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie was the most watched programme on Irish television on Christmas Day, with 591,300 viewers watching it live and a further 45,500 viewers watching it on RTÉ One +1.

Nearly half a million people watched Well Holy God, It’s Glenroe, a nostalgic look back at the Irish soap, on RTÉ One on Christmas Day.

The most watched soap on Irish television on Christmas Day was Fair City, with an average of 351,800 viewers .

Father Ted

On RTÉ2, the Father Ted Christmas special proved as big a draw as ever on Christmas Eve, bringing in an average audience of 188,700.

Daniel O’Donnell’s festive special Daniel O’Donnell and Friends was the most watched entertainment show of the evening, with 397,200 viewers.

The Al Porter Show, a variety special filmed live at the Olympia Theatre and broadcast on the channel on Christmas Eve, brought in 95,900 viewers.

The Hozier: Other Voices Special and the U2: Innocence + Experience Live in Paris concert, both broadcast on Christmas Day, had average audiences of 97,000 and 89,300 respectively.

The most watched news broadcast over the bank holiday weekend was Monday, December 27th’s Nine O’Clock News on RTÉ One, which had an average audience of 562,200.

The average person watched 4 hours and 39 minutes of television on Christmas Day alone, according to the Nielsen figures.