The Comedy Christmas

This programme on Christmas Eve will feature lots of the old BBC Christmas Idents, apparently. I've seen some E-Cards promoting it which are available on the PPs, and they've got footage of some of the idents that we've not yet seen.

The repeat on Xmas Day is 10 mins shorter, so you'll do best to watch / record the Xmas Eve one if you are going to

The E-Cards show the footage with the captions changed on the idents, and things carefully converted to widescreen (not cropped!), but they've been well done by the looks of it.

Where are these e-cards mulder?

Look forward to the programme - I have a vested interest after all

Rory Clark uploaded them yesterday, along with that 1974 Xmas closedown. They are quicktime files, not very good resolution, but there's at least one ident in there that we haven't seen before except in off-screen pics. Hmm, am I to take it you are involved in some way I guess Rory is too, judging by the care that's been taken in making the widescreen versions.

Ho hum...nice to finally see the BBC2 1977 ident in its natural colours!

1978's is still missing from the archive.

A few bits of pieces of interest will appear on The TV Room's Christmas BBC pages later tonight...

A selection of new material has now been added to the 1970s/80s BBC festive pages. See the site front page for more information.

Some really excellent 'new' material there- the 1977 trailers show how much more effort was put in then compared to now.

Any information about the 1974 and 1975 BBC1 idents ?

Thanks for adding the clip with Noel Edmonds blasting the 1985 BBC1 Christmas Robins, I've heard about that incident loads, but yet to see it.

Just seen that for the first time since original TX - thanks Mike!

I maintain the view I held at the time - that the robins Noel blows up AREN'T the symbol version. Perhaps I am thinking wishfully but look carefully at the model in the Late Late Breakfast Show clip and the continuity version above. The robins themselves just don't look the same; they were almost certainly special versions made to explode on cue - also the ring that spins round looks narrower than the symbol version. It is also devoid of the gap that was sometimes visible underneath. The BBC1 logo is almost certainly the original, however.

A letter I had from the BBC in January 1986 explained that "the mechanism had now been stripped down for other purposes" Plus, whatever complaints the robins had generated were negated by the amount of complaints Noel's actions generated in the first two editions of Points Of View in 1986.

You had a letter from the BBC in January 1986?? How old were you then?

It was obvious from that clip that they were wired to blow up on cue...shame he couldn't return years later and blow up the snowflake kids JOKE, just a JOKE.

I love your sense of humour!

Because you've got them wrong.