Channel 4 tipped to bag 'least-watched' Christmas special for festive edition of 'confusing' game show

Channel 4 tipped to bag 'least-watched' Christmas special for festive edition of 'confusing' game show

WATCH NOW: Channel 4 unveils The Piano at Christmas trailer

CHANNEL 4
Alex Davies

By Alex Davies


Published: 22/12/2023

- 06:00

The network has unveiled what it has lined up this festive season

Channel 4 is set to bag the unwanted accolade of least-watched Christmas special this year, according to exclusive data obtained by GB News.

Along with the likes of the BBC, ITV and Channel 5, Channel 4 bosses have lined up several festive editions of its regular programming.


Among Channel 4's offerings this holiday season are festive specials of Late Night Lycett (December 21), The Last Leg (December 22), The Great British Bake Off (December 24), The Piano (December 25), and The Great Pottery Throw Down (December 25) among others.

Its primetime schedule on Christmas Day kicks off with classic blockbuster The Italian Job at 3:10pm before Channel 4 News and The Alternative Christmas Message start at 5:05pm and 5:10pm respectively.

Christmas movie Home Alone then starts at 5:15pm followed by The Great Pottery Throwdown at 7:30pm and The Piano at 8:45pm before Tom Hanks classic Forrest Gump closes the evening at 9:45pm.

However, it's the channel's festive offering of Jimmy Carr's I Literally Just Told You on December 22 which has been backed to flop with viewers this festive season.

Channel 4

Channel 4 could be set for some unwelcome accolades this festive period

GETTY

According to exclusive odds obtained by GB News, the festive edition of the game show is odds-on at 8/11 to be the least-viewed Christmas special of the year.

Another Channel 4 show is close behind it in the market, however, with The Piano set to hit a bum note at odds of 5/2.

BBC Two's Only Connect Christmas special is next up at 6/1 to have viewers tuning out while ITV's Britain Get Singing could also flop if its odds of 8/1 to be the least-viewed are anything to go by.

Explaining the thinking behind the odds to GB News, Lee Astley, Head of News for BettingSites.co.uk, said: "Jimmy Carr's confusing game show 'Celebrity I Literally Just Told You with Jimmy Carr' has not curried favour with the British public.

"Its celeb special is forecasted to bring in the lowest ratings for a festive special across the main terrestrial channels."

The game show fronted by 8 Out of 10 Cats frontman Jimmy Carr has been running since 2021 on Channel 4 and has recently entered its third series.

The festive edition will see Carr return with a celebrity panel of guests who have to put their short-term memory to the test in the hopes of bagging cash for charity.

Joining Carr for the one-off special are AJ Odudu, Billy Bailey, Ben Shephard and Sarah Millican.

Jimmy Carr

Jimmy Carr's I Literally Just Told You is odds-on to be this year's least-watched festive special

CHANNEL 4

The episode kicks off at 10pm on Friday and is going head-to-head with ITV's Parkinson: The Final Conversation, the BBC Two premiere of House of Gucci and Channel 5's broadcast of the 1992 classic The Bodyguard.

Last year's special edition of the game show featured Dermot O'Leary, Judi Love, David Walliams and Kerry Katona.

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