A third of Brits don't turn off their TV during Christmas dinner

Forget carols around the Christmas tree, presents, cracker jokes or catching up with family and friends, it seems for us Brits Christmas Day is more about what's on the TV.

In fact, 35% of us are so attached to our screens that we always or sometimes fail to switch off the box during our Christmas dinners, keeping our eyes firmly fixed on the TV while tucking into turkey with all the trimmings.

But don't go thinking that's because we're all so patriotic even a flaming pud couldn't keep us away from the Queen's speech. Nearly half of us (46%) don't even tune in to see what our Monarch has to say about the past year and just 5% name her annual address as the Christmas TV they couldn't miss.

There is some good news for our Queen though. Last year, 64% of us said we didn't watch or listen to it so the royals are clearly doing something right.

Our love affair with the TV doesn't end there. 40% of us say we couldn't live without our telly on December 25th, with a further 11% naming a PVR or set-top recorder as our must-have piece of festive tech. Wifi access (24%) and a smart phone (16%) were also yuletide essentials, but it's clear nothing will stand in our way of our festive TV fix.

When it comes to the amount of telly we watch, 35% sit down to between three and five hours while 34% watch a modest one to three. 15% spend five to eight hours in front of the box while 9% do more than an eight hour stint. That's the equivalent of a full day's work. If that's not dedication, we don't know what is.

We are a little divided when asked about the quality of Christmas telly though, with 50% saying there are more repeats on Christmas Day than there were in the past. When it came to whether TV has improved over time, we couldn't quite make our minds up either: 36% said it was no different, 32% said it was worse and 32% reckoned it was better.

Over 1,100 RadioTimes.com readers took part in our survey.