Full of nervous laughter
COMEDIES are at their most effective when they tap into – and make light of – our deepest anxieties. Christmas, then, offers oodles of scope. Have we got all the shopping done? Do we have enough food and drink? Will everyone be happy? Will everything be perfect? Will anyone mind that the turkey is a wee bit raw? And, oh Lord, must we really host a drinks do for the neighbours? How the heck did we get ourselves roped into that?
CLICK & COLLECT (Tonight, BBC1, 9pm) stars Stephen Merchant as Andrew, desperate not to disappoint his beloved daughter who longs for – but looks as though she won’t be getting – this year’s must-have toy, Sparklehoof the Unicorn Princess. Asim Chaudhry co-stars as Dev, the annoying, over-chummy neighbour for whom Andrew usually has little time – until this chap appears to have saved the day, miraculously tracking down one of these elusive toys on Christmas Eve. The snag is they face a 300-mile journey together to fetch it
Elsewhere, BAD MOVE – FESTIVE CHEER (Tonight, ITV, 8.30pm), finds Jack Dee’s Steve, hardly the merriest soul at any time of year, reluctantly hosting a Yuletide gathering, despite he and wife Nicky (Kerry Godliman) having vowed to give Christmas a miss this year.
Also tapping into our fears rather effectively, of course, are ghost stories, another fine Christmas tradition, and Mark Gatiss has crafted a nicely unsettling example in THE DEAD ROOM (Tonight, BBC4, 10pm). Simon Callow plays a jaded old radio-presenting luvvie who’s haunted, quite literally, by an incident from his past.
Moving onto Christmas Day, and the absence (for now) of Doctor Who is pretty much the only unfamiliar aspect of BBC1’s line-up. Taking us into the evening, the latest STRICTLY COME DANCING CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (BBC1, 5.30pm) welcomes back former contestants Ann Widdecombe, Anita Rani, Michael Vaughan, Caroline Flack, Jake Wood and Aston Merrygold, while this year’s festive CALL THE MIDWIFE (BBC1, 7.45pm), where a question mark hangs over the future of Jenny Agutter’s Sister Julienne, features a guest appearance from Miriam Margolyes. Almost as comforting, we welcome back the sweet, perennially troubled Trixie (Helen George).
Christmas night attention-grabbers elsewhere include the much trumpeted TORVILL AND DEAN (ITV, 9.15pm), a colourful two-hour dramatisation of the ice dance legends’ early days. Poppy Lee Friar and Will Tudor excel in the title roles. And yes, don’t panic, of COURSE there’s a food show for Christmas night, because obviously a huge pile of food is something we’ll all be longing by then to feast our eyes on… THE GREAT CHRISTMAS BAKE OFF (C4, 8pm) is the first of two specials, each bringing back four bakers from past series. Tonight it’s Liam Charles (left) and Flo Atkins, who competed last year, plus 2016’s Andrew Smyth and Jane Beedle.