BBC One Christmas 2019

Yes, 1993 was dire and most years ITV struggle to compete, but there have certainly been years over the last decade or so where the effort has gone beyond the hour long episodes of the soaps, something which in itself is no longer remarkable in the schedules. Even a feature length Corrie might provide a better schedule.

I know we always complain about the same things being on year after year but notably no POGDOGs on Christmas Day for ITV this year.

They famously beat the BBC in the ratings in 1999, which was quite a story at the time - before then you’d have to go back to 1984, mostly due to ITV showing ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ which was a huge premiere.

I can’t remember many recent really huge Christmas Day broadcasts after Wallace & Gromit in 2008, barring the odd Doctor Who episode such as the last two regenerations.

40 years a go, Christmas Day looked slightly better on the two main channels available.

Yes I know, rose tinted glasses, but put these schedules up against BBC and ITV now in 2019 and compare.

BBC One:

2.00pm Top of the Pops
3.00pm The Queen
3.20pm Larry Grayson's Christmas Generation Game
4.20pm The network television premiere of Gnome Mobile
5.45pm News
5.50pm Blankety Blank Christmas Special
6.30pm All Creatures Great and Small
7.20pm The Mike Yarwood Christmas Show
8.00pm To The Manor Born Christmas Special
8.30pm The network television premiere of The Sting
10.35pm News
10.45pm until 12.05am Parkinson at Christmas.

ITV:

3.00pm - The Queen
3.15pm - James Bond in Goldfinger
5.10pm - ITN News
5.15pm - 3, 2, 1 Christmas Special
6.15pm - George and Mildred Christmas Special
6.45pm - Film: The Three Musketeers (1973)
8.45pm - Christmas with Eric and Ernie
9.45pm - This Is Your Life Christmas Special
10.30pm - ITN News
10.40pm - Cleo's Christmas
11.40pm until 1.00am - TV Film: Death at Love House (1976)

ITV listings courtesy of UK Christmas TV website - http://ukchristmastv.weebly.com/itv-1979.html

Clearly budget and streaming is having an impact on both BBC and ITV. I know there is a lot of negative towards BBC One for being similar to last year but I will point out that in prime time there are no repeats. All new content. That’s something we should not take for granted.

I feel over the last few years there been a move towards making New Year’s Day especially the evening the main event of the festive season. This is to help launch new series that run in January. Doctor Who and Dracula are examples of this. ITV also advertise programs for the new year rather than Christmas. They see the set up for the new year more important than one day which is understandable. I think Christmas Day will become more about classics rather than originals in years to come.

The quizzes and the soaps. Almost a normal Wednesday!

Since when did TOTP move to a late morning start? I've not seen it for many many years, but always associated it with being on immediately pre-Queenypoo (i.e. 2pm).

I'm surprised that the one festive episode each year is even still a thing, given that TOTP as a weekly series must've ended well over a decade ago.

The last time it was on just before The Queen was 2015. It's been getting gradually earlier, usually around 12-1pm. This year is the earliest it's been moving into late morning.

As they keep shifting it earlier and earlier, and the New Year version gets scheduled more and more randomly (middle of the afternoon on any old day approximately near to new year), I wonder why they keep making it, as they’ve already broken the tradition by not airing it at 2pm.

I'd add Britbox into the mix. I'm going to start binge watching classic Doctor Who on Boxing Day.

Itv seems to have just stuck the same old daytime programmes for Xmas day...chase/tipping point/Emmerdale/Corrie. Schedulers have no imagination now

I think the argument for not doing that anymore is the prevalence of onscreen EPGs. Why do you need somebody to run down the evening schedule at some random junction when you can just press EPG and > (or whatever) to see it for yourself?

Anyway these days its pretty much the same any weekday - One Show, EastEnders, Panorama or something factual, a drama production or some comedy, some news, the regional insert and some blatant fillers up to the News simulcast. On ITV its even easier - soap, soap, soap, Ant & Dec, News at When, regions, random filler up to until the shopping simulcast. Speaks volumes actually when BBC Two and BBC Four are the more varied channels schedule wise.



It wasn't "relegated to BBC Four", the lectures went off to other networks in the mean time, primarily Channel 4, Channel 5 and for some reason More4 in 2009 before it came back to the BBC and BBC Four in 2010. Up until 1987 they had six lectures, and 2004 only had three. It's only been three lectures since it came back to the BBC, and that was because (it says here) the Royal Institution was heavily in debt at the time.