TV Cream
Christmas Logs
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15.3K32022
“All hell breaks loose in the Vic” Nobody knew it at the time, but Christmas Day 2021 saw the end of the...
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8.5K62021
“It can be hard after losing a loved one” After last year’s Covid-curbed Christmas, and despite the pandemic being nowhere near over,...
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6.9K32020
“Age rubs one out day after day, like an Indian rubber on a faded pencil sketch” Christmas Day telly has always had...
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11.0K42019
“We shouldn’t actually be talking to each other…” We’ve all got some people we only ever see at Christmas – so it’s...
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9.0K12018
“Changing their lives for ever” In 2018, Christmas telly is in something of a state of flux. With the streaming services continuing...
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7.1K42017
“He faces his past to decide his future” It always happens at Christmas – you end up seeing people you haven’t for...
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5.4K12016
“Any hopes of a Merry Christmas seem slim” Christmas telly is all about its traditions – and it seems like one of...
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4.1K12015
“The world is a different place” Despite declining ratings and the rise and rise of other entertainment options, festive telly continues to have...
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3.8K12014
“Will Santa offer the gift of salvation?” The main battle for audiences on Christmas Day has always been sold as BBC1 vs...
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4.3K22013
“Agnes finds the festive spirit lacking” Christmas Day, at least on BBC1, has long been held up as the most important broadcasting...
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4.4K32012
“A story of lifelong sorrow and abandonment” The BBC1 Christmas Day line-up is often held up as the perfect example of the...
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4.2K12011
“Everything you could want for Christmas Night” Over the past few years it’s been fairly easy to predict the ITV1 schedules for...
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4.2K22010
“Everyone’s home for Christmas” Christmas Day 2010 brought us a familiar Christmas Day line-up on BBC1. Some may argue, in fact, rather...
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3.5K22009
“Jim favours buying an HD satellite box” Another decade of festive television comes to an end. Anyone predicting the future of Christmas...
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2.9K
2008
“What more do you need?” One aspect of Christmas Day television seems to be rather rarer throughout the rest of the year...
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2.7K
2007
“Christmas is all around” On Christmas Eve 2007, BBC2 screened The Comedy Christmas – the latest in what appears to be a never-ending...
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2.8K
2006
“Life really doesn’t get much better” One of the reasons why Christmas Day television remains so important and unique in the telly...
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3.3K
2005
“And it’s a Happy New Year from him” It always used to be said that people judged the quality of their Christmas...
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3.4K
2004
“Loved and loathed in equal measure.” For those who are fascinated by Christmas television, one of the main attractions is finding out...
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2.9K
2003
“Del Boy and family face eviction.” It’s always very easy to hark back nostalgically to Christmases past and suggest that television on...
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3.4K
2002
“I’m sure we watch TV, but I just don’t remember it.” Turn back the clock a decade and soaps play but a...
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4.3K2
2001
“Home for Christmas” Lorraine Heggessey became BBC1 controller in early 2001 and before she’d even adjusted her swivel chair to the correct...
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3.3K
2000
“I’m the king of the world!” The first Christmas Day of the 21st century harked back a few decades, with the main...
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4.3K31999
“The family gathers to celebrate Christmas.” 1999 saw a revival on both channels – perhaps they were disappointed at the distinctly average...
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4.9K1
1998
“Contains violence, swearing and sex scenes.” 1998 saw ITV make similar mistakes to before, but the early evening was the best for...
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3.5K
1997
“A day spent lying in front of the telly in a self-induced coma.” ITV by this point had seemed to have hit...
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5.8K3
1996
“Don is consumed by despair.” After all their good attempts, ITV seemed to crumble again in 1996, with another pretty comprehensive BBC...
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4.9K3
1995
“The first of tonight’s two offerings from Albert Square.” 1995 was when things got dirty, as both channels battled it out over...
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4.1K
1994
“An unashamedly sentimental festive offering.” ITV’s failure in 1993 did not go unnoticed by the press or the ITC. They may have...
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8.2K2
1993
“An ITV/Diet Coke Movie Premiere.” The fact that advertisers were not really interested after the pre-Christmas spending spree tailed off began to...
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5.2K
1992
“At Christmas, Freddie is disillusioned.” The schedules for the early part of Christmas Day by this point had settled into a predictable...
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5.6K1
1991
“Continued after the Queen.” If a viewer had been out of the country for a whole year, a look at the Christmas...
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6.3K2
1990
“Elliot has a new friend.” “There are some terrific films on over Christmas … But wouldn’t it be great if the films...
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7.6K101989
“We both knew immediately Oswestry was just right. I mean there are times when Kilburn can fit the bill and others when...
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5.7K10
1988
“Cilla Black introduces another selection of lonely young men to similarly placed young ladies.” Behind a traditional Christmas cover, Radio Times revealed...
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4.7K1
1987
“Will the Liverpool canniness of Sheila and Billy Grant be enough to counter Lancashire bluntness from Jack and Vera Duckworth or Yorkshire...
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5.9K8
1986
“Anything can happen in Last of the Summer Wine and Christmas is no exception – especially when Compo is persuaded to clamber on...
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7.0K8
1985
“I’ve never known a year like it. Talk about hectic … To be honest, the fuss that is sometimes made when we’re...
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5.4K5
1984
“Eric Morecambe has gone, but the laughter he left behind is still ringing in our ears.” Christmas 1984 saw the end of...
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6.2K1
1983
“And no royal Christmas party would be complete with charades, popular with the Royal Family through five generations. As in television’s Give Us...
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6.2K6
1982
“Every year for the last seven years we’ve had the wife’s family up for Christmas dinner. This year, for a change, we’re...
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6.0K8
1981
“He pulls the rabbit of verbal spontaneity from the hat of immediate circumstance.” After last year’s great showing, Christmas ‘81 was a...
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7.2K15
1980
“For whom the jingle bells toll” Mike Yarwood can be found wearing a red cardigan, reclining on a rug in front of...
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7.8K101979
“Best switch off – if you don’t believe in laughter.” This final year of the decade found the BBC enjoying renewed popularity...
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6.9K8
1978
“People actually send spies to the rehearsal rooms.” Christmas 1978 was one of those pivotal moments in television history, where a number...
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6.1K2
1977
“Both parties contemplate divorce.” 25 December fell on a Sunday this year, so that meant a slight re-working of the traditional menu...
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5.3K3
1976
“400 brownies are yelling ‘We want Leslie Crowther’.” The Radio Times noted that a key element of Christmas was “being able to...
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5.9K7
1975
“A sort of Christmas bonus, you might say.” After their botched effort last year, the BBC rallied in 1975 to deliver another...
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5.7K3
1974
“Music composed and conducted by Ronnie Hazelhurst.” As ever, BBC1’s morning schedule ran to form: some carols, kids programmes –Camberwick Green, and Cartoon...
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6.0K6
1973
“A cast of 362 animals, birds and lords a-leaping.” If there was one person above all who was responsible for the BBC’s...
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