Turkey, no trimmings from Beeb
WHAT is it about the season of goodwill that brings out the worst in our state broadcaster?
BBC One’s Christmas Day served up fatal accidents, suicidal desperation, gun-play, a stillborn baby...It was the dramatic equivalent of E.coli in your turkey.
EastEnders’ complacent reliance on festive heartache has spread across prime-time schedules like a virus.
But the soap still won the misery crown by having Abi and Lauren topple to their (apparent) doom from the Queen Vic roof. Merry Christmas everybody!
That they managed to fall off a ledge that was a good two-feet wide only added to the unintentional hilarity..
Meanwhile, Corrie’s killer-vicar Billy survived a 300foot fall over on ITV.
Something broke his fall. But what? An angel? The foul smog coming off the script? Or the convenient fact that he plummeted in slow motion? God moves Email me at: garry.bushell@ dailystar.co.uk or write c/o Daily Star Sunday,
10 Lower Thames Street, London
EC3R 6EN in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.
Call The Midwife played the misery card early, with a young mum giving birth to a “stillborn” baby in a caravan colder than Pat Phelan’s heart.
Nurse Valerie tried valiantly to revive him before finally giving up.
Can you imagine how agonising that must have been for any parents who’d suffered a similar loss? Not exactly tidings of comfort and joy…
It doesn’t matter that the baby pulled through. The scenes will have triggered unnecessary anguish for tens of thousands.
And here’s the thing. It’s very easy to make an audience cry. But to make them laugh, to fill them with joy and hope – the real Christmas spirit – requires much more talent.
Mainstream TV used to know how to do it, as the ghosts of Christmas past prove every year on smaller channels. They need to learn how to
do it again.