Wallace and Gromit top TV ratings

Two of Wallace and Gromit's shows made it into the festive top 10

Cracking viewing figures, Gromit! Animated duo Wallace and Gromit have topped the Christmas Day TV ratings with their latest adventure.

The 30-minute show, A Matter of Loaf and Death, attracted a peak audience of 14.4m - ahead of the concluding episode of an EastEnders double bill on 12.6m.

The BBC had an emphatic ratings victory as it screened all the top nine shows.

Doctor Who, The Royle Family and the first episode of EastEnders completed the top five, based on peak figures.

Coronation Street was ITV1's top-rated show, drawing a peak audience of 7.6m.

Rival soap Emmerdale pulled in a peak of 5.4m viewers, while the channels other big draw was the Dancing on Ice Christmas special, which attracted a peak audience of 5.5m.

CHRISTMAS DAY PEAK RATINGS 1. Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death 14.4m (Average: 14.3m)2. EastEnders part two 12.6m (11.5m)3. Doctor Who 12m (11.7m)4. The Royle Family 11m (10m)5. EastEnders part one 10.2m (9.9m)6. BBC News 9.5m (9.5m)7. Strictly Come Dancing Special 9.3m (8.6m)8. Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit 8.6m (7.2m)9. Blackadder Rides Again 7.9m (5.6m)10. The Queen's Christmas Message (BBC1 and ITV1 combined) 7.8m (8.2m)11. Coronation Street 7.6m (7.4m)Key: The first figure relates to peak viewing figures, measured at 15-minute intervals. The figure in brackets is the average audience throughout. Short programmes tend to record high averages.Source: BARB

These initial figures do not include viewers who recorded the programme to watch at a later date, meaning the actual audience figures are likely to be higher than when the final totals are released.

A Matter of Loaf and Death, screened at 2030 GMT, saw inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit open a bakery.

The pair, making their first appearance since 2005, enjoyed a festive double success as their last film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - shown on BBC1 at 1630GMT - also made it into the Christmas Day top 10.

EastEnders featured the return of "Nasty" Nick Cotton and Sean Slater discovering he is not the father of wife Roxy's daughter, Amy.

The double bill was spread across the evening, with the first part at 2000 GMT and the concluding half-hour from 2100 GMT.

As with last year, the Christmas specials of Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing were hits with viewers.

And returning comedy favourites The Royle Family and Blackadder also pulled in impressive ratings.