The Top 10 TV shows of 2023 includes Happy Valley season 3

The top 10 TV shows of the year have been revealed in the UK.

We’re not quite at the end of the year just yet — check out our Christmas TV Guide for the big shows still to come in December 2023 — but the ratings for the year are out (across all broadcasters and streamers), and the BBC was behind the big hitters across all genres.

Coverage of the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla was the most-watched event overall; it brought in an average audience of 12.8 million viewers. Happy Valley season 3 came in second (11.9 million viewers) and the BBC coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 claimed the third-place spot, with an average audience of 10.7 million viewers.

Unsurprisingly, this also made Happy Valley the most-watched drama of the year. Death in Paradise was the second-biggest, with 8.3 million viewers. Impressively, the BBC was home to eight of the top ten dramas of the year.

Ghosts season 5, our final set of laughs from Button House was the biggest comedy of the year (4.9 million), and the BBC was keen to highlight that they were home to nine of the top 10 comedies of the year.

Ghosts season 5 cast

Ghosts was the top comedy of the year. (Image credit: BBC/Monumental/Guido Mandozzi)

The Coronation was also the most-watched factual programming of the year, with Planet Earth III (11.9 million) and Wild Isles (8.2 million) completing the top three in the genre.

And on the sporting front, the Women’s World Cup final between England’s Lionesses and Spain delivered a peak of 12 million viewers, too.

Talking about the ratings, BBC Chief Content Officer said: “Only the BBC can offer such scale, distinctiveness and ambition. Our range of world-class programmes is unrivalled, we’ve delivered value to audiences and they’ve chosen the BBC in every genre.

“We are facing tough financial challenges, and while we are not unique in this, what’s impressive is that despite all the millions being spent on global platforms, we’ve had an extraordinary year creatively.”

The only three shows in the top 10 that were not made by the BBC on the list were I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! 2023, Unforgotten season 5, and The Great British Bake-Off 2023. You can find the full list of most-watched shows below:

The Top 10 most-watched shows in 2023, by average audience

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The Top 10 most-watched shows of 2023	Network	Average audience (millions)
The Coronation of The King and Queen Camilla	BBC	12.8
Happy Valley	BBC	11.9
Eurovision Song Contest	BBC	10.7
The Great British Bake Off	Channel 4	9.7
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!	ITV	9
Planet Earth II	BBC	8.9
Strictly Come Dancing	BBC	8.5
Death in Paradise	BBC	8.3
Unforgotten	ITV	8.2
Wild Isles	BBC	8.2