Derek's death clinches it for BBC

Evil Derek Branning’s last gasp helped EastEnders retain its traditional spot at the top of the Christmas Day ratings in the UK as the BBC dominated festive viewing once again.

The main channels’ period ratings hits Call The Midwife and Downton Abbey tied with an average audience of 7.3m viewers, although ITV1’s Downton was 1.3m down on the previous year.