Christmas TV Classics

I mentioned Christmas traditions yesterday, and deliberately left one out. Every year, from my childhood I waited for the arrival of the Radio Times in the house. Armed with pens or highlighters I would go through the 2 weeks of television goodies – and baddies! – and decide what I wanted to watch. One year, I decided it wasn’t worth buying it and it was a decision I regretted throughout Christmas week! It is the cornerstone of our viewing plans as it goes from one person in the family to another to highlight in different colours. Now, the method was not exactly fool proof as you had to remember to look at the Radio Times every morning to plan your day ahead, but generally it worked. So, what programmes were likely to be highlighted? Well, I have chosen five of my all-time favourite Christmas programmes that will, undoubtedly, be available on some channel or package somewhere – or YouTube if you are really desperate!

The Good Life (1977)

This is a programme that I thoroughly enjoyed anyway, but the Christmas episode is an absolute classic. In this Boxing Day treat from 45 years ago, Margo is unhappy because her Christmas, which she has delivered in a van, does not measure up. After an argument with the delivery man, Margo sends the whole lot back but finds out that re-delivery before Christmas Day is impossible. Faced without Christmas, the Leadbeatters accept Tom and Barbara’s invite to their own, very different, Christmas. The four regulars are on top form, clearly enjoying themselves enormously, and the frisson of sexual tension between Barbara and Jerry always there as an undercurrent was brought to the surface extremely cleverly. It is also the funniest episode of the entire run in my opinion, with the self-sufficient Christmas of the Goods taking Margo well out of her comfort zone. The Christmas crackers – homemade by Barbara and filled by Tom – are revealed to have some jokes that are not entirely clean. Margo takes exception to a party hat for a very Margo reason, and Tom gives her a good talking to that leaves her open-mouthed!

Morecambe and Wise (1977)

Eric and Ernie were Christmas gold at this time of the year, but for many people watching in 1977, and for those who have discovered it since, this was perhaps their absolute pinnacle. Two musical numbers that have stood the test of time, and gone down in the annals of television history, were first seen in this show. First of all, Angela Rippon, then a newsreader, got out from behind her desk in a way that left viewers astonished. Then, the assembled cast of newsreaders, presenters and commentators gave Eric and Ernie sterling support in a rendition of There Is Nothing Like a Dame from South Pacific. Both songs were the subject of discussions in homes and pubs for days afterwards. With nearly half the UK population tuning in, you could guarantee that in any setting there would be others who had watched it. The rest of the show, since overshadowed, was also superb with Penelope Keith being an excellent comic foil in Cyrano De Bergerac, a play wot Ernie wrote! For those of us of a certain age Eric and Ernie will never be matched, and there’s no answer to that!

The Snowman (1982)

OK, I admit that this was not a programme I watched at the time. I was 17, and the idea of watching a cartoon on Boxing Day was the furthest thing from my teenage mind! I didn’t settle down to watch it until many years later when I had children of my own. They, and I, were immediately captivated by the story with its hand drawn animation and lack of dialogue. It was those two elements that gave it an indefinable magic that no-one has ever been able to replicate. When my younger son discovered it, he became obsessed with it. We had the video, the original book, the Ladybird book version and a much-loved Snowman soft toy. I spotted something new every time I watched it, and it has become a family favourite. 40 years on it still casts its spell on everyone who sees it, young or old.

One Foot in the Grave (1990)

The Christmas special of this increasingly well-regarded programme was tucked away on December 27 in 1990, in a clear indication of its place in the comedy pecking order, with Only Fools and Horses in the Christmas Day slot as befitted a ratings juggernaut. Boxing Day saw Back to the Future precede the ever-popular Bergerac. None of these shows or films contained a moment to compare with the hysterical scene where Victor Meldrew finds out that he has a problem with a delivery due to a mistake when he filled out the form. I won’t spoil it but suffice to say I could barely breathe for about 5 minutes as I laughed as hard as I’ve ever done at any comedy moment. The genius of David Renwick’s writing was his ability to switch from comedy to tragedy to philosophy in one programme. Who’s Listening is the best example of this writing genius and remains one of my favourite shows of any series in any genre. If you haven’t seen it before, do yourself a favour and seek it out. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Top of the Pops Christmas Special (Annual)

For decades, the Christmas Top of the Pops has been one of the two mainstays of BBC1’s Christmas Day afternoon. Usually shown at 2pm with the Queen’s Speech at 3pm (more about that on Christmas Eve in my Blogmas post that day) it meant that I always scheduled lunch for about 1.15pm so that we had finished in time. The appeal was simple. It had acts in the studio who were responsible for the biggest hits of the year, and it gave us song after song that we knew. Even if we didn’t like one or two of the songs, we knew that there were others on their way that we loved. Despite the parent programme being axed, the Christmas TOTP has survived, but this year I see it has been moved to BBC2. I fear that spells the beginning of the end as streaming makes the charts ever more remote from many people and makes the Number 1 at Christmas ever more unimportant, especially when it has been ruined by 4 of the worst songs to ever take the Christmas top spot in the last four years. Sadly, I doubt I will watch it this year, but at least the repeats are still around to remind me of the days when I loved it!