Christmas TV 2018

That's such a classic BBC problem - complaints when Tyson Fury is nominated, complaints when he isn't. As for Ronnie O'Sullivan, the first I heard anyone suggesting him as a potential winner was when he won the UK Championships last week and it just so happened SPOTY was coming up. By his standards he could be nominated most years.

That said, the first ever winner was Christopher Chataway despite the fact Roger Bannister had run the four minute mile that year, and I know it's been suggested that the reason for this is that a day or two before they opened the voting, Chataway had won a high profile race that had been on primetime TV, so he was fresh in everyone's minds and they all voted for him.

I also can't fathom why The Apprentice, which airs an entire series at 9pm on a Wednesday and presumably builds up an audience in that slot, then airs its final on a Sunday....

Presumably because it makes up a "Winners Weekend", what with Strictly on the Saturday as well. Its 9pm Wednesday airing (it started on BBC Two before being promoted after two series) has been the case since it first arrived on the scene (though it used to air in the Spring and Summer before shifting to Autumn as it fitted around other commitments and events).

Indeed, you could have SPOTY one hour later on a Sunday meaning Countryfile, MOTD2 etc could still air at the normal time.

And The Apprentice final being a big deal itself on the Wednesday.

It's like Strictly airing Sat/Sun, and then the final being on a Tuesday

And the BBC1 schedule is pretty forgettable tomorrow.

I don't get the Sunday night thing for Apprentice, and like you say since it's moved to Autumn it's ruined by SPOTY overrunning.

Apprentice could have gone on tonight where one expects to find it. Regular viewers can't even record it, as again SPOTY's timekeeping knackers that idea up.

For the record, for those noting out of season recordings, Songs of Praise for Advent from West Cornwall as transmitted last Sunday was recorded on 8th September of this year.

Don't tell the Daily Mail then, who did a "scoop" once when somebody told them an Easter special of Songs of Praise was actually recorded at Christmas the previous year.

Whod've thought TV shows were recorded months in advance? Shocking.

The heavily delayed 2010 series of Apprentice was particularly bad, being recorded over a year in advance. I believe there was a major issue with it effectively leaving the lives of Stella English and the other finalist in limbo for 18 months as under the old job format, two endings were filmed: Sugar didn't make his decision until a few days before TX.

I understand that's changed with the new investment prize.

It was odd though. We had the a kids series, a 2010 series, the 2011 series and then a second kids series all in about 18 months. It was like it was never away.

Although shows are recorded in advance, when they are so far in advance and it’s a quiz show and there are slightly topical questions, it does make new episodes almost feel like repeats.

Richard Osman may say ‘UK number 1 singles as at April 2018’ on the Christmas Special, or you may get someone from I’m a Celeb 2017 talking about the series with Bradley as if it’s a fresh memory and the most recent series.

I once went to an All Star Family Fortunes recording and they were taping the Christmas show in the middle of July.