More than 26 million British viewers watched last night’s Olympics closing ceremony on television, a record number for a closing ceremony.
The BBC said the audience peaked at 26.3 million at 9.35pm, as thousands of Olympic athletes from around the world streamed into the stadium while Elbow performed live.
An average British audience of 22.9 million tuned in during the evening to see acts such as the Spice Girls, George Michael and Annie Lennox perform at the arena.
This represented an audience share of 81% and topped the previous highest number of UK viewers of an Olympics closing ceremony, which was Barcelona’s in 1992.
The ceremony that closed the Barcelona Games attracted an average British audience of 11 million.
Roger Mosey, director of London 2012 at the BBC, wrote on Twitter today: “Early indications are another stunning #BBC2012 ceremonies audience.”
But the audience figures were slightly lower than those for Danny Boyle’s highly praised opening ceremony on July 27, which was watched by almost 27 million British television viewers.
Highlights of the closing ceremony last night included Eric Idle’s rendition of the Monty Python song Always Look on the Bright Side, a Spice Girls reunion that opened with their debut hit, Wannabe, and footage of the late Freddie Mercury performing on a giant screen.
The three-hour show, which started at 9pm, also featured the official handover to the Brazilian city of Rio, who will be hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.
David Cameron, the Prime Minister, and Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, were seen enjoying the musical spectacular from the stands before Mr Johnson took part in the handover.
Danny Cohen, BBC One controller, said: "It has been an absolute privilege to broadcast the London 2012 Olympics on BBC One.
“It's been a phenomenal Games and Team GB's amazing achievements have helped draw huge audiences to BBC One and put the channel right at the heart of the action. “We've had fantastic feedback about the quality of the BBC's coverage and all the teams involved deserve huge thanks and praise."
