’Tis season for festive favourites on the box

LITTLE else will feel like normal this Christmas, but at least television is hardly varying from its festive traditions.

Celebrity specials, new dramas, classic films, nostalgia and lots and lots of repeats make up the schedules unveiled yesterday by the big four channels.

In a year when TV production ground to a halt for several months, a third of BBC1 shows from December 19 to January 1 are retreads, including seven on Christmas Day and eight on Boxing Day.

Over on BBC2, 225 out of the 308 shows have previously been aired.

On ITV, around 30 per cent of the schedule has been shown before and just over 70 per cent on Channel 4.

But there are a few new episodes of favourite shows. A Call The Midwife special and Britain’s Got Talent Christmas Spectacular will go head-to-head on

But there’s no Strictly Christmas Special

Christmas Day. EastEnders, a festive episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys and a revival of Blankety Blank hosted by Bradley Walsh will be on BBC1, along with a Christmas edition of gameshow The Wheel.

But there’s no Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special – a countdown of the show’s 25 most memorable dances chosen by viewers will be shown instead.

The BBC1 line-up does include Miranda’s Games with Showbiz Names, a one-off show hosted by Miranda Hart.

There’s a fresh episode of Worzel Gummidge plus new drama Black Narcissus, starring Gemma Arterton, which will air over three nights from December 27.

ITV has game shows galore, including festive editions of Tenable and The Chase, plus Family Fortunes, The Cube and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Channel 4’s main attraction is The Great Christmas Bake Off 2020, plus animations of The Tiger Who Came to Tea and Clown, based on a Quentin Blake book and voiced by Helena Bonham-Carter.