From the Editors

The broadcasters’ announcement of their Christmas highlights may not be made with the sort of fanfare we once heard when much of the country had just four television channels to choose from, but to many it remains the first sign of the season to come and this year’s fare is an encouraging sign of a return to normal after the disruption of the lockdown years when productions were stopped mid-shoot, postponed or even abandoned.

Our preview of the best TV this Christmas begins on page 14 and a quick glance reveals an enticing mix of the new and the old. The BBC’s big family treat is a charming animation of Charlie Mackesy’s heart-warming picture book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. As the illustrator tells us on p14, his book began life as a series of messages on his social media feed about the enduring power of kindness. Published just before lockdown, during the pandemic it became a word-of-mouth hit, selling almost two million copies worldwide. With stars such as Gabriel Byrne, Idris Elba and Tom Hollander providing the voices, we think you will find it uplifting and reassuring – like a good deed in a weary world.

Elsewhere, Mackenzie Crook writes for us about what persuaded him to revisit his own charming creation, Detectorists, for the first time in five years; we hear from the writers of Christmas Carole, Sky’s comedy starring Suranne Jones as a very modern incarnation of Ebenezer Scrooge; and we round up the seasonal specials from the likes of Death in Paradise, Motherland, All Creatures Great and Small and Call the Midwife.

And for those of you who are still very much enjoying the TV scheduled for the week at hand, we have the back story of the fish-out-of-water ranch hand’s job that inspired BBC2’s splendid reinvention of the western, The English. Read writer Hugo Blick’s feature My Cowboy Life on page 28.