Emmerdale's New Year’s Day baby beats Dracula in the ratings battle

Victoria has given birth in Emmerdale

Baby Harry proved to be a ratings winner

Emmerdale was the most watched show on New Year’s Day, seeing off fierce competition from Doctor Who and Dracula.

The return of Jodie Whittaker’s Time Lord and the opening episode of a new version of Dracula were hugely hyped.

However, it was trusty old Emmerdale that took the New Year’s Day ratings war glory as a massive five million fans tuned in to the New Year’s Day episode.

And Emmerdale viewers were treated to a New Year’s Day baby as Victoria (Isabel Hodgins) gave birth to a boy - who she named Harry John Sugden - after being rushed into hospital on New Year’s Eve. With support from her stepmum Diane (Elizabeth Estensen), a thrilled Vic welcomed Harry into the world and she will be hoping that 2020 is a much better year for her after an awful 2019.

Victoria has given birth in Emmerdale

Bless! Victoria proudly cradles little Harry as Diane looks on lovingly in the New Year's Day Emmerdale

Doctor Who wasn’t far behind Emmerdale, chalking up decent figures of 4.96 million viewers, according to BARB figures from overnights.tv.

However, that was a long way off Jodie’s first appearance as the Doctor back in 2017, which was watched by over eight million fans.

Doctor Who

Jodie's Time Lord very narrowly lost out in the ratings battle to top the New Year's Day viewing figures (Image credit: BBC)

The BBC no doubt would have hoped that either or perhaps even both Doctor Who and Dracula could have beaten Emmerdale, however Dracula also couldn’t match the ITV soap.

Dracula managed 3.6 million viewers, although it’s likely this number will rise significantly when catch-up figures are taken into account.

Dracula first look

Claes Bang as Transylvania's famous bloodsucker vampire Count Dracula (Image credit: BBC/Hartswood Films/Robert Vigla)

It will be interesting to see how many people tune in to see the second episode of Dracula tonight at 9pm and Sunday’s next episode of Doctor Who.

Emmerdale continues tonight on ITV with episodes at 7pm and 8pm.

David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!