The Christmas and holiday season always has holiday TV specials like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman." In the U.K., Christmas time is what TV viewers anticipate. This time around, "Doctor Who" slammed "Downton Abbey" in the ratings, and a BBC sitcom, "Mrs. Brown's Boys," came out on top once again.

After Dec. 25, the ratings were counted with care to reveal that the BBC sitcom "Mrs. Brown's Boys" was the No. 1 watched Christmas TV special. The Time Lord series "Doctor Who" followed in seventh place, but it still was able to beat the Crawley aristocratic family of "Downton Abbey."

In the United States, Dr. Seuss' animated version and the Jim Carrey live-action film of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" stole viewers' gazes and ratings, as well as a rerun of CBS' "The Big Bang Theory."

BBC One's "Doctor Who" Christmas episode titled "Last Christmas" featured Nick Frost, the comedic partner of Simon Pegg, playing Santa Claus. And, this was the special that viewers would find out if Clara Oswald, played by Jenna Coleman, would be coming back; Coleman is staying on. The episode was a hit.

Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor garnered 6.34 million viewers, which had a ratings share of about 27.5 percent, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed.

Lord Robert Crawley, the matriarch of the Crawley family in ITV's "Downton Abbey" did not do so well. The show about the people living upstairs and the people living downstairs attracted 5.84 million viewers, with a 24.5 ratings share.

So the alien beat the royals, but the overall winner, on Christmas 2014 and 2013 , was "Mrs. Brown's Boys" a comedy sitcom on BBC One. Christmas 2003 saw "Mrs. Brown's Boys" at 7.61 million viewers with a 32.2 percent share. This year's Christmas had an average audience of 9.4 million viewers, making the comedy the most watched TV show on Christmas day.

Not to be outdone were the real royals. The Queen's annual Christmas speech, which was broadcast on BBC One and ITV, saw 5.71 million viewers and 2.11 million viewers respectively. The combined figures of 7.82 million people watching makes it the most watched broadcast as well, The Independent reported.

Britain's fictitious agent James Bond also saw some love on Christmas Eve. At least more than 6 million people tuned in to watch Daniel Craig play 007 in "Skyfall," The Independent reported.

Meanwhile back in the U.S., the Grinch stole the hearts of Americans on Christmas day. The animated Dr. Seuss's "How the Grinch stole Christmas," which aired on ABC, drew in nearly 6 million viewers, with 1.9 in the 18-49 age group, TVLine reported.

After the animated film, on the same network, the live-action version with the same title, starring Jim Carrey, drew 5 million viewers, and 1.8 within the 18-49 demo age group. On CBS, "The Big Bang Theory" drew 6.8 million viewers; and on The CW, "The 12 Dogs of Christmas" had 920,000 viewers, TVLine reported.

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