IT’S A RARE FAMILY which hasn’t endured the occasional festive misery of fighting over the remote control on Christmas Day – so if you’re preparing for a squabble this Sunday, you won’t be the only one.
A poll commissioned by cable TV provider UPC has revealed that revealed that although a quarter of Irish people are preparing to spend at least three hours watching TV this Christmas Day, two-thirds of people say they won’t get to watch their preferred programming.
Almost half of respondents to the poll said there weren’t enough movies on this year’s Christmas Day TV schedules.
The survey names Home Alone as Ireland’s favourite Christmas film, with 25 per cent of the vote, ahead of Will Ferrell’s Elf (17 per cent) and Billy Bob Thornton’s Bad Santa (13 per cent).
A third of festive TV viewers said they would watch at least one soap opera; 35 per cent of those said they would watch Coronation Street, precisely the same amount as those intending to catch up with Eastenders.
The poll also provides further evidence that The X Factor’s grip on the public is loosening – finding that this year’s series of the ITV singing contest was the most disappointing TV series of 2011.
31 per cent of respondents believed this year’s series of the talent show – won for the first time by a group, Little Mix – was the year’s biggest TV letdown.
TV3′s The Apprentice came second in the poll of TV turn-offs, with 20 per cent. 7 per cent of respondents said RTÉ Two’s new airline drama Pan Am was their biggest disappointment.
By comparison, RTÉ’s acclaimed drama series Love/Hate was the favourite show of 2011, taking 20 per cent of public support, narrowly ahead of BBC One’s nature documentary series Frozen Planet.
American courtroom drama The Good Wife was third, scoring 13 per cent of the public vote, while the second series of ITV’s popular drama Downton Abbey came fourth.
TV viewers said the return of Mad Men – whose fifth series will be broadcast in 2012 after 18 months off air – was the show they were most looking forward to, with 32 per cent, while another 12 per cent said they were most excited by the third series of Downton Abbey.
