On Christmas Eve there wasn't a lot on, but I was rather excited about Victoria Wood's Midlife Christmas as there's not been a Victoria Wood comedy show on TV in years! It was a mildly amusing affair, never reaching the heights of the As Seen on TV series, and I think it would've been better as a series of different sketches instead of dragging out the Lark Pies to Cranchesterford parody. I was bemused by the gay postman character in this parody, and also by the gay vicar - what was Victoria Wood trying to say? Was she trying to just be inclusive? Neither character sat well with me. Maybe I didn't enjoy it because I'm not in midlife? The best bit was the updated classic song at the end, The Ballad of Barry and Freda (Let's Do It), and any scene with Julie Walters in it.Our Christmas Day viewing began with Top of the Pops Christmas. Christmas is often synonymous with a sense of disappointment, and what could be more disappointing than having to watch Reggie Yates and the talent-vacuum that is Fearne (I'm feeling bored as I type this) Cotton for the chance to see a bit of music on BBC1. It was quite a good line up this year, a mix of dirge and decent tunes - the later covered by The Saturdays, La Roux, and the fact the X-Factor wasn't number 1. The crap was made up of Robbie Williams and the dodgy dance act Diversity - the first time I've seen them, and they really are poor.
After TOTP we stood for The Queen, well ok we stayed seated, but I like watching Her Majesty's annual broadcast. I don't know why. I like the royals, maybe that's it?
The Gruffalo, although supposedly a family/kids treat for Xmas was actually rather enjoyable. Since I'm 25 the book passed me by, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The plot was a lovely, poetic tale, and the animation was wonderfully bright and bold - it looked quite different to Pixar, for example, without coming off as a cheap, kids-TV series. The voice cast were great too, even James Corden suited his role as the mouse. This was a pleasant surprise that I had no expectations of before watching, so perhaps that's the best way to approach these Xmas shows.
There was a LOT of expectation over the Xmas Doctor Who, the penultimate episode to feature David Tennant as the eponymous Doctor. After a beginning in which the Master escaped through the use of some unintelligible mumbo-jumbo that I'm not entirely convinced by, I allowed my disbelief to suspend itself almost to breaking point! The rest of the episode was top notch - the X-ray skeleton-like effects used on John Simm's the Master were scary, June Whitfield was delightful, and Bernard Cribbins continues to be the heart of the show, weirdly enough. The climax, with the Master having created a genuine Master race was thrilling! I just hope that the concluding part on New Year's Day will resolve everything satisfactorily, as Doctor Who has the habit of setting up an amazing evil before defeating it incredibly swiftly and/or conveniently. We'll see. During the making and eating of chicken sandwiches we watched the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas. I wouldn't have watched this if I hadn't somehow got into the non-festive edition 3 or 4 weeks ago - I even watched the entire 2009 finale last week. I've usually been against these populist reality shows, but I realised that there was actually a lot of skill and humour involved in Strictly and I enjoyed the shows I've seen. The Christmas programme was as camp as, well, the proverbial, and a nice time to spend while having tea.
The Royle Family special turned out to be hilarious and pitch perfect, as the recent specials have tended to be. Moving outside of the Royle's living room has done wonders for the series, allowing Caroline Ahern to expand her explorations of this very British family to a caravan holiday in the Pearl of Prestatyn this year. We cringed as the Royle's sang along to the theme tune to The One Show, as we do exactly the same thing! Although we then tend to switch off. This was one of the highlights of Christmas Day's offerings, the cast are all just fantastic, and it was great to see the return of Ralf Little and Jessica Hynes to the show. I can't wait for the next special!
Following a non-festive Gavin & Stacey (which I'll cover when the series ends) we stayed awake for Catherine Tate: Nan's Christmas Carol. I wasn't sure what to expect, as I found the Catherine Tate Show tailed off as it went along over its 3 series, but again I was pleasantly surprised at how funny and well-plotted this special was. And it really was a special - Catherine Tate was a joy to watch (as she was in Doctor Who, earlier in the evening) and the ghosts that visited Nan were hilarious - Ben Miller as an inept ghost of Xmas past, Roger Lloyd Pack as a non-scary ghost of Xmas yet to come, and the best of all, an uber-camp, uber-Scottish turn from David Tennant (whose never off the screens this year) as the ghost of Xmas present. An absolute cracker!And finally, after a day of watching BBC1, on Boxing Day we watched Harry Hill's TV Burp Review of the Year on ITV1. Maybe not quite as comprehensive, offensive or funny as Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe Review of the Year, it was still essential viewing. And the only programme worth viewing on ITV1 all Xmas - no wonder the BBC won the ratings war. I think the very worst programme ever made was shown on ITV1 on Boxing Day - Ant & Dec's Christmas Show. I didn't watch it, and I wouldn't, even at gunpoint, for the guests included: Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden, Robbie Williams, and I'm sure there was someone else, but my brain is crying out for mercy at having to think about this dross.
There are a few more shows to look forward to our the Xmas / New Year period, including the concluding parts of Doctor Who and Cranford, the Outnumbered special, and Hamlet, but they're for another day and another post or two.
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