Festive favourites mix
THERE’S a faintly nostalgic feel to this year’s Christmas television. ’Twas ever thus, but you may also get a sense of deja vu, with many all-too familiar shows in the schedules. It’s ironic that the BBC is also bigging up box sets on the iPlayer. If you have the internet, the number of download sets is now considerable. If your view is that TV isn’t getting any better, then the best is behind us. So why not revisit modern classics from the archive.
In fact, you can catch up on 24 months’ viewing with, among other things,
A Very English Scandal, Bodyguard, Collateral, House of Cards, McMafia. Call The Midwife Watership Down
the
original and even
Someone, somewhere likes it. Probably a Russian. There’s also and for a complete Jane Austen “binge”, which will please your maiden aunt.
But there is breaking news from the Christmas special of (BBC1, Christmas Day, 7.45pm). A donkey is set to cause upset. Fred, the comedy caretaker and general good egg, is missing a reindeer or three so implores his chirpy mate from Poplar to come up with a solution – and it’s an ass. Spoiler alert: it might be part of a nativity, an annual feature to the Call The Midwife festive frolic.
On a terribly serious note (there’s always at least one), a new Mother Superior is being appointed to the “Mother House”, henceforth to be known as the Mother Ship. The wonderful Sister Julien (Jenny Agutter) is poised to accept her calling, while she is facing robust competition from new character Sister
Mildred, played by Miriam Margoyles who plays the role like she’s had her own message from above.
But no one can transcend Sister Monica (Judy Parfitt) who pleases us all with phrases such as, “You have deployed the future perfect...” Well done, BBC; you have educated the public.
Animation is a common deployment at Christmas. (BBC1, December 22 & 23, 7pm) is a compelling family drama which, while bleak in parts – farmers and rabbits rarely mix socially – does have humour, and humanity.
Much of this is because there is more time to tell Richard Adams’s affecting story of finding a new home for these lost creatures who, for some reason, don’t realise that new homes need to be built for humans – and often on green belt. It can be a little taxing deciphering one bunny from another, but one thing is certain, you won’t be surprised to learn that males are constantly in search of females. If you read this drama as a Brexit allegory, then you’ve drunk too much. Again.
As a companion piece,
Pride And Prejudice Sense And Sensibility Raymond Briggs: Snowmen, Bogeyman & Milkmen
(BBC2,
New Year’s Eve, 9pm) comes highly recommended. This fine documentary tells the story of a man who triumphed over loss and sadness to create several of our of most memorable animated films, including The Snowman and The Way The Wind Blows.
Now 84 and still living in Sussex, here is an illustrator whose emotive, meaningful works will endure for decades. Finally (BBC1, Christmas Day, 4.50pm) completes the animated trio with a brisk family tale about a dinosaur school populated by fine voice actors such as Sir Lenny Henry, Tracey Ullman, and Hugh Skinner. Kit Harington (Game Of Thrones) plays the lead, but I hardly recognised him without his large bearskin cover-all.
One of the more unusual contenders for your attention over Christmas is
Zog Les Misérables
(BBC1, December 30, 9pm), a six-part, music-free drama adapted from Victor Hugo’s literary house brick.
What makes it more enticing than revisiting the 2012 film is the prospect that writer Andrew Davies (Pride And Prejudice/War And Peace) has discovered a new approach to this classic, along with his tendency to extract a sexual frisson from two stone statues. The quality of the line-up will attract many, too. It includes Dominic West, Lily Collins and Olivia Colman, more than enough to guarantee above-average audiences.
Whether it’s gritty subject matter – a tale of redemption, barricades and revolution – will suit a festival of mince pies and mulled wine is debatable. It’s extraordinary how enduring a French story about a loaf of bread has become. To cheer you up, try
(Channel 5, Christmas Day, 9.15pm). Yes, get your comedy fez at the ready. This aboveaverage, bio-doc tells his life story, along with revisiting some of his great lines.
In His Own Words Tommy Cooper
Here’s one to be getting on with: “Police arrested two kids yesterday, one was drinking battery acid, the other was eating fireworks. They charged one and let the other one off.” If you don’t watch this, you will be rather starved of actual new comedy over the Christmas period. Gone are the halcyon days of Del and Rodney dropping by for a festive laugh in the Reliant Robin. You will have to swing by the ever-reliable Gold to enjoy that.
ITV, AS EVER, is having a peculiar Christmas. Together with a one-off drama on Torvill and Dean, Paul O’Grady returns to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in wonderful one-hour special
Paul O’Grady, For The Love Of Dogs At Christmas,
(ITV, Christmas Day, 5.55pm). You just simply know that within five minutes the staff at the dogs’ home will try to stop Paul leaving with yet another pooch under his jacket. But