Pick of Christmases past

ROB’S top picks from 40 years of Christmas TV

■ 1977 - BBC1 had a programme called Adre Dros ‘Dolig on at 9.40am (there was no S4C until 1982)

■ 1978 - The Morecombe and Wise Show makes its debut on HTV after they left the BBC earlier in the year

■ 1982 - Channel 4 launched in November and The Snowman was broadcast for the first time on Boxing Day

■ 1985 - Only Fools and Horses went up against Minder in a prime time battle between BBC and HTV

■ 1988 - Back to the Future on BBC went head-to-head with The Empire Strikes Back on HTV

■ 1991 - The deregulation of TV listings in 1991 made the purchasing of Christmas TV guides (not to mention the subsequent trawling of them 27 years later) much easier

■ 1993 - The television premiere of Ghost will have had people sobbing into their sherry ■ 1996 - The episode of Only Fools and Horses where Del and Rodney dress up like Batman and Robin was watched by more than 21 million people

■ 1999 - Denise goes into labour in the bathroom in the Royle Family Christmas Special

■ 2003 - The last ever episode of Only Fools and Horses attracts 16 million viewers

■ 2011 - Downton Abbey and Mrs Brown’s Boys become Christmas Night traditions for millions of people with their first ever specials

■ 2017 - Call the Midwife is the most watched programme on Christmas Day with an audience of 9.6 million