Christmas Day 2004 Schedule Ideas

BBC 1

0600 - BREAKFAST with Simon McCoy
0900 - CBBC
1100 - Christmas Service
1200 - BBC NEWS with Simon McCoy
1205 - Film
1400 - Weakest Link Chrismas
1500 - Liz Windsor
1510 - Harry Potter Film
1710 - BBC NEWS with Mishal Hussein
1730 - Keeping Up Appearances ( The QE2 Special )
1830 - My Family Christmas Special
1900 - French and Saunders Chrismas Special
1930 - Absolutely Fabulous Christmas Special
2000 - Vicar of Dibley ( A new Christmas Special one-off )
2100 - Royle Family Christmas Special
2140 - BBC NEWS with Mishal Hussein
2200 - Have I Got News For You Christmas Special
2240 - Jonathan Ross
2340 - BBC NEWS24

The ratings drop for the hour specials! People dont want to sit down for an hour, epecially with Corrie's wishy-washy Christmas Storylines! If they did Richard Hillman's exit a month or two earlier on Xmas Day it would have been brilliant!

And the ratings almost always drop for the 2nd of the double episodes too, maybe ITV should be brave and just schedule 1 half hour episode of Corrie and Emmerdale on Xmas Day and stop relying on soaps so much for their ratings.

But what you have seemed to ignore is that the BBC have already announced that they wish to start the new series of Doctor Who on Christmas day. You have also ignored the fact that it is Christmas tradition for BBC 1 to show a classic Morcambe and Wise episode in the early afternoon. It would also be unlikely for Mishal to do a shift on BBC 1 on Christmas day as this is traditionally read by George, as he is one of the faces of the main news on BBC1, and Mishal has very little expreience in presenting her own news programme on a flagship channel during prime time, and if she does present during the day it would more likely be on Breakfast, however Bill has presented Breakfast for the past two years at Christmas, so he could do it again this year.

That is probably the most likely scehule for Christmas on BBC1 this year.

A question for those who know - how far in advance are issues such as Christmas idents planned? Or more specifically, the question of whether there will be a Christmas ident? And who decides this ultimately?

Several people including myself were none too pleased about the lack of Christmas ident on BBC1, and I'd like to make my feelings known in writing. Yes I know it won't do any good, but at least I'll have said something! So if you do have a contact name...

I definitely think we'll get Breakfast on BBC One rather than the kids programmes - apparently it's been popular in recent years. And with Breakfast now on One 7 days a week people will be used to finding news on BBC One and Children's programmes on BBC Two in the morning.

And I imagine it will almost certainly be presented by Bill rather than Simon - I think it's become a bit of a Christmas legend, almost an immovable piece of furniture for BBC One's Christmas Day. He's definitely the best-equipped to deliver a suitably serious-but-Christmassy edition of the programme.

Would be nice to see Natasha doing the evening bulletins on One, also suitably serious-but-Christmassy.

Well according to the BBC CBBC is only on BBC 2 over the summer, and will transfer back to BBC 1 in September and there are no plans to change this. However if the new schedule is successful then it may last.

I have also thought about a possible schedule for ITV1.

6.00 GMTV
9.25 CITV: The Ministry of Mayhem (Recorded)
11.00 Christmas Carols
11.45 Sponge Bob
12.00 ITV News with Shulie Ghosh
12.05 Film: Muppet Christmas Carol
1.50 CD:UK The Christmas Number 1
3.00 The Queen
3.10 Film: Superman
5.00 ITV News with Shulie Ghosh
5.10 Celebrity Stars in their Eyes
6.10 Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
6.45 Emmerdale
7.45 Coronation Street
8.45 ITV News with Shulie Ghosh
8.55 Creature Comforts at Christmas
9.10 Who Wants to be a Millionire?
10.20 2DTV at Christmas
10.50 Film: Hannibal Followed by Blank Screen
1.20 Entertainment Now
1.45 News Headlines
1.50 CD:UK The Christmas Number 1
2.55 Trisha
3.55 News Headlines
4.00 Today with Des and Mel
4.45 ITV Nightscreen
5.00 CITV
5.55 ITV Morning News