Christmas TV 2018

Did I say the audience was bored? I just commented that the schedulers prefer safe programmes for Christmas now. A tried and tested schedule.


The Two Ronnies some years did not do Christmas specials. Morecambe and Wise didn't do a Christmas show in 1974 and it was just a talk show special in 1979 rather than a big show.

I think it's fair to say Mrs Browns Boys is no Morecambe and Wise either. And did they have exactly the same shows around them every year?

Although MBB won it's Christmas night slot a few years ago by being the most popular show over Christmas when it aired on Boxing Day a few years on out of the Christmas staples I do think it's the show that needs the Christmas Day slot more than Christmas Day needs it. The others could all hold their own on another night and I think moving Doctor Who from a 5pm Christmas Day slot to a peak New Years Day slot is a wise move, and that at least opens up an hour for something slightly different.

I've not too much issue with Strictly, Call the Midwife and EastEnders then airing as usual, whilst the issue with Mrs Browns Boys isn't so much the show itself but the fact they haven't really got any other comedy they could put out on Christmas night. The only thing perhaps worthy of the slot is Not Going Out, but that's got a live slot a few days earlier instead.

I guess Luther might be sneaked into the Christmas schedule by debuting on New Years Day then continuing in January. Other than that I do think it is quite a strong effort from the BBC this year.

Last Christmas we had the expectations of a regeneration of the doctor, that put some emphasis on Christmas night.

Mrs Brown's Boys still amazes me, that sort of humour appeals to Christmas night viewers. I thought that show would have run out by now.

There is no big sitcom on BBC One anymore which is really family friendly and good, which would deserve a Christmas Day outing.

My Family used to be the one the BBC relied on over Christmas in the 2000s, even though their scripts were appalling at times.

Different era were are in now sadly.

I agree about Mrs Brown's Boys. It seems to be on Christmas Day because it is comedy, and the BBC are so short of it that it ticks the comedy box. I wonder if a double bill of Strictly and McIntyre will feature on Christmas Day this year? Strictly could easily take Who's vacated slot and McIntyre taking the slot left by the earlier screening of Strictly. Everything after that would more or less be in their familiar slots.

I wonder why the BBC never reveal their film packages anymore. Will Jungle Book premiere on Christmas Day this year? The new live action version, not the original animation.

Looking back at Christmas nights on BBC One for 1998, 2008 and waiting for 2018. Might give us some perspective on the changes over the decades:

Christmas Day Friday 25th December 1998 on BBC One

5.25pm - Eastenders
5.55pm - Auntie's Sparkling New Christmas Bloomers
6.30pm - Changing Rooms at Christmas
7.00pm - Movie Premiere - Babe
8.30pm - Eastenders
9.00pm - Before They Were Famous III
9.40pm - BBC News
9.50pm - Men Behaving Badly Christmas Special 1 of 3
10.35pm - They Think It's All Over Christmas Special

Christmas Day Thursday 25th December 2008 on BBC One

6.00pm - Doctor Who: the Next Doctor
7.00pm - Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special
8.00pm - Eastenders
8.30pm - Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death
9.00pm - Eastenders
9.30pm - The Royle Family Christmas Special: The New Sofa
10.30pm - Blackadder Rides Again

People only like tradition because they get told to like it. All the people going "it's not the same without Del Boy and Rodney" obviously enjoyed Christmas up to 1980.

And they're lazy. Strictly has been on far too long anyway. Just because it's there, doesn't mean it's necessarily good. Are they as "big" any more? Debatable. Viewing figures have decreased for many years and not just because of the inevitable shift to on-demand services and multi-channel landscape.

I also don't understand why I should get excited that ITV is showing Elf again. Everyone has it on DVD or Netflix or whatever, which makes it better anyway because of no adverts.

I know, I know, moaning old curmudgeon etc. It's probably too difficult to encapsulate in a single post.

Christmas Day Friday 25th December 1998 on ITV:

6.00pm - Emmerdale
7.00pm - Coronation Street
8.00pm - You've Been Framed at Christmas
8.30pm - Who Wants To Be A Christmas Millionaire?
9.30pm - Christmasses from Hell
10.30pm - ITN News
10.40pm - Film: The Godfather Part 2

Christmas Day Thursday 25th December 2008 on ITV:

6.00pm - Emmerdale
7.00pm - Coronation Street
8.00pm - Dancing on Ice at Christmas
9.30pm - It'll Be Alright On The Night
10.30pm - Stanley Baxter: Now and Then

Bloody hell - that really was dire. However my memory of it would be the Men Behaving Badly special and that is something I get nostalgic over. Can't believe it is 20 years ago though.

Well, think again...

https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1975-12-25
https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1976-12-25
https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1977-12-25

Barely any changes here. The Gen Game every year, Billy Smart every year, Morecambe and Wise every year. In 1977 there's even the same film in the afternoon as 1975. About the only difference is Songs of Praise in 1977 because Christmas was a Sunday that year.

There's about the same number of shows that turn up every year now as there were then. It's not like it's the exact same schedule every year. Last year there was The Highway Rat and French and Saunders. The year before Bake Off and Tracey Ullman. In recent years other shows like Gavin and Stacey and Catherine Tate were on there. Gavin and Stacey got on there eighteen months after it had been on BBC3. And this year they've already announced Doctor Who isn't on Christmas Day, so clearly they're ringing the changes.



Yes, a hopeless schedule - Men Behaving Badly was a big show, but the special was incredibly unfestive and got loads of complaints for being unsuitable for Christmas Night because of its adult content. Then in Auntie's Bloomers, Before They Were Famous and They Think It's All Over you have three shows involving men behind desks that cost 50p to make.

And you have Changing Rooms there, and in 2002 you had Ground Force on Christmas Day. And we don't get anything like that these days. I honestly think Christmas Day telly is a million times better now than it was in the nineties - virtually all-British, all-new and dominated by comedy, drama and entertainment. Something for everyone.

There was a lot of great TV in the '90s but let's be honest, it was a pretty poor decade for Christmas Day TV.

EDIT: Steve beat me to it.

Christmas Day Thursday 25th December 1958 on the BBC Television Service:

6.25pm - Christmas Night with the Stars: Hosted by David Nixon, included Charlie Chester, George Mitchell Singers, The Beverley Sisters, Perry Como, Ted Ray, Kenneth Connor, Tony Hancock, Vera Lynn, Billy Cotton and his Band, Jack Warner and more.

7.40pm - Harry Belafonte in a programme of music and song especially made for Christmas Night

8.25pm - Film: Top Hat, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

10.00pm - BBC News followed by a Christmas Appeal

10.10pm - Christmas Night Play: "The Black Eye" from the BBC Studios in Glasgow

Christmas Day Thursday 25th December 1958 on ITV:

6.20pm - Joyful and Triumphant

6.45pm - Max Bygraves Entertains

7.30pm - Double your Money: Hosted by Hughie Green

8.00pm - Alf's Button

9.00pm - New Look

10.00pm - ITN News

10.05pm - Film: The Maltese Falcon, starring Humphrey Bogart

ITV schedules thanks to UKTV Christmas website

I previously brought up the 1993 ITV Christmas Day schedule, which was so bad the ITC chastised the ITV Network Centre for it and told them to do better the following year.

One thing I think every single one of us can agree on is that the television landscape of the 2010s - and not just at Christmas - is very, *very* different to the television landscape of the 1970s, and considerably different to the television landscape of the 1990s too - and that whether it's different in a very bad way, a slightly bad way, a slightly good way or a very good way is a matter of personal taste.