Can Mrs Brown’s Boys rule the Christmas roost again?

While the X Factor has dominated the Christmas charts for the last 10 years a similar pattern is emerging in TV land with Mrs Brown’s Boys topping the festive viewing figures for the past two years.

Brendan O’Carroll’s comedy juggernaut drew in a massive 7.61 million viewers last year to claim top spot, and Ladbrokes have chalked up the adventures of Agnes Brown as the 1/5 favourite  to top the pile once again.

The Queen’s speech drew an even bigger audience last year – with 7.82 million people in total tuning in – but that figure combined of both the BBC and ITV audiences suggests Her Majesty has no chance based on market rules and is therefore deemed a distant outsider at 25/1.

So if Liz can’t stop Agnes, who can?

Well as far as the betting is concerned two groups of people from opposite ends of the class spectrum are the biggest threat with Downtown Abbey and Eastenders both priced at 5/1.

However, if last year’s figures are anything to go by it’s the Walford crew who have a better chance, with 7.55 million watching the action on the square in 2014 and just 5.52 million watching the Abbey drama.

Other viable outsiders include Strictly Come Dancing at 7/1 and Call The Midwife at 12/1, with both shows attracting over six million viewers last week but the other top 10 entrants last year are deemed to be long shots at best.

Coronation Street and Doctor Who are priced up at 33/1 apiece, while Emmerdale looks set to lose out to its soap rivals once again, with the Woolpack regulars priced up at a whopping 100/1.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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