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What's Occurin' This Christmas on BBC One

Onenessa (May 2019)

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JO
Jon
I disagree. Gavin & Stacey is still immensely popular and has retained that goodwill largely through its Netflix listing. It is prime for a revival special.


Why does everything need to be revived? Don't we have any original ideas left?

I was never really into the show but it’s Christmas, revisiting our favourite sitcom characters is a long standing tradition. I think late on Christmas evening people just want something that’s a safe bet and they’re comfortable with.
FU
fusionlad Founding member
Yes it without question will be the big ratings winner on Christmas Day.
Whataday and DeMarkay gave kudos
GL
Gluben
Jon posted:
I disagree. Gavin & Stacey is still immensely popular and has retained that goodwill largely through its Netflix listing. It is prime for a revival special.


Why does everything need to be revived? Don't we have any original ideas left?

I was never really into the show but it’s Christmas, revisiting our favourite sitcom characters is a long standing tradition. I think late on Christmas evening people just want something that’s a safe bet and they’re comfortable with.


No it isn't. It's a long-standing tradition to visit sitcoms which are still airing series every year, or every couple of years, but it's only since 2001 that sitcoms have been explicitly revived for a so-called one-off.

I don't mind something safe and funny, but it should be something current, not something that ended years ago. Why not a Christmas special of Ghosts for example?
WH
Whataday Founding member
No it isn't. It's a long-standing tradition to visit sitcoms which are still airing series every year, or every couple of years, but it's only since 2001 that sitcoms have been explicitly revived for a so-called one-off.


18 years isn't considered a long standing tradition?

Even before that the schedules were full of repeats of Christmas specials from yesteryear. There is a lot of nostalgia at Christmas, and Gavin & Stacey is absolutely perfect family fodder for Christmas day.

I don't mind something safe and funny, but it should be something current, not something that ended years ago. Why not a Christmas special of Ghosts for example?


Never heard of it, but having just done a quick search it doesn't seem to have set the world alight.
JO
Jon
Yes, Ghosts seems to have done alright. But I can’t imagine as many seeing it as a must watch on Christmas Night, as catching up with what many regard as a classic will be.
GL
Gluben
No it isn't. It's a long-standing tradition to visit sitcoms which are still airing series every year, or every couple of years, but it's only since 2001 that sitcoms have been explicitly revived for a so-called one-off.


18 years isn't considered a long standing tradition?

Even before that the schedules were full of repeats of Christmas specials from yesteryear. There is a lot of nostalgia at Christmas, and Gavin & Stacey is absolutely perfect family fodder for Christmas day.

I don't mind something safe and funny, but it should be something current, not something that ended years ago. Why not a Christmas special of Ghosts for example?


Never heard of it, but having just done a quick search it doesn't seem to have set the world alight.


It has on social media and it was very good.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. I just find it to be lazy. Maybe it's also because James Corden irritates me as well.
JO
Jon
Surely it would be more lazy to commission an extra episode of something that’s already in production, than to reunite the cast and return to the setting of an old production.

I think by lazy you mean it’s a no brainer, that they believe stands the best chance of getting a high audience on Christmas night.

Whether you like James Corden or is irrelevant, just because you don’t like him doesn’t mean it shouldn't be shown. I’ve never been a massive fan of Corden, but from the few times I’ve seen the programme apart from the fact he co-writes it, it’s not just a vehicle for James Corden’s personality, he just happens to play one of the roles.

A family based sitcom is ideal for Christmas night, but this has added advantage of people already knowing the characters and intrigue in how they’ve developed. Also a lot of people will watch it for first time who’ve never seen it before by virtue of the fact it’s on Christmas night.
Last edited by Jon on 6 June 2019 12:59am
JC
JCB
They're guaranteed ratings bankers....but they are always shi!t. Hopefully Gavin and Stacey will succeed where Only Fools and The Royal Family failed.
IS
Inspector Sands
Jon posted:
Yes, Ghosts seems to have done alright. But I can’t imagine as many seeing it as a must watch on Christmas Night, as catching up with what many regard as a classic will be.

Ghopsts would make a great Christmas special, especially as it was the most successful new comedy this year. But seeing as the second series has only recently been commissioned I imagine it's too late for doing one now... just getting teh maxxive cast booked could be problematic
JCB posted:
They're guaranteed ratings bankers....but they are always shi!t. Hopefully Gavin and Stacey will succeed where Only Fools and The Royal Family failed.

I'm not sure Gavin and Stacey will be a ratings banker, it wasn't that popular in it's day was it? I know it was very good and has a following but it didn't pull in massive numbers IIRC
AA
Amber Avenger
I'm not sure Gavin and Stacey will be a ratings banker, it wasn't that popular in it's day was it? I know it was very good and has a following but it didn't pull in massive numbers IIRC


The final episode had 10 million+ viewers, as per the link in the first post in this thread.

It was a very slow burn, which might be why you think it never pulled in the numbers. It's never "headlined" Christmas Day, the original Christmas special going out on Christmas Eve, I believe the first time a new episode went out on One, with Series 1 and 2 debuting on BBC Three then BBC Two.

It was on Christmas Day the following year, but at 10pm after a Royle Family special. It wasn't Christmas themed, just the penultimate regular episode.
SW
Steve Williams
The final episode had 10 million+ viewers, as per the link in the first post in this thread.

It was a very slow burn, which might be why you think it never pulled in the numbers. It's never "headlined" Christmas Day, the original Christmas special going out on Christmas Eve, I believe the first time a new episode went out on One, with Series 1 and 2 debuting on BBC Three then BBC Two.

It was on Christmas Day the following year, but at 10pm after a Royle Family special. It wasn't Christmas themed, just the penultimate regular episode.


Yes, and it got 9.2 million on Christmas Day - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8430815.stm - and earlier in that series it had 5.8 million, comfortably winning its slot - https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/dec/11/tv-ratings-gavin-stacey

As you say, the first two series were on BBC3 (with BBC2 repeats) so they were never going to get huge audiences, but it was a show that caught on via repeats and word of mouth, indeed very much like The Royle Family ten years earlier, it was selling truckloads of DVDs at the time as well. And I see it's in the Netflix Top 10 this month as well, for what it's worth.

18 years isn't considered a long standing tradition?

Even before that the schedules were full of repeats of Christmas specials from yesteryear. There is a lot of nostalgia at Christmas, and Gavin & Stacey is absolutely perfect family fodder for Christmas day.


There have been absolutely loads of revivals of old comedies, more or less since telly began. Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads is the obvious example, and even in the seventies series like Steptoe and Son and Till Death Us Do Part returned after extended breaks.

And the Beeb's big Christmas attraction in 1972 was a Goons reunion!
https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1972-12-26#at-20.20
BR
Brekkie
It's earned it's place and always been a question of when, not if.

Yes ideally the BBC would have a crop of current shows to choose from but they haven't. Finally though they seem to have realised you need to throw a few on screen for one to stick and Ghosts seems to have done OK, but still not a huge breakout hit. Most classic comedies weren't a hit from series 1 though - they need the time to grow.

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