Call The Midwife? By all means Call The Midwife. Open All Hours? Okay. But what about all the other deserving shows over the years that never received a well-deserved Christmas special? Good question! And so TV Cream asked its friends on Twitter to spitball ideas for festive episodes of favourite shows. Here are some of our favourite pitches…
Howard’s Way
TV series that never did a Christmas special but really should have:
– Howards' Way (“Jan finds cooking turkey far from plain sailing…”
– Inspector Morse (seedy don stabbed in pulpit during midnight mass)
– The Prisoner (Number Six terrorised by sequence of festive party games)— Ian Jones (@metro_land) December 7, 2017
Triangle
Triangle – A group of booze cruisers on their way home on Christmas Eve decide to start the party early after food poisoning lays the catering staff low.
– Matt and Charles come to blows over the affections of Katherine Laker after one too many tax-free beverages.
— Chris Jacobs (@SgtBenton) December 8, 2017
Space 1999
Space: 1999 – Alan and Koenig search a planet for resources to make decorations to teach the children of Alpha the meaning of Christmas. Discover living bloodsucking tinsel and Dana as a god-like singing pixie who may be the Virgin Mary.
— George White (@Sperocaof) December 8, 2017
Masterteam
Christmas Masterteam ‘87! Tim Brooke-Taylor, George Layton and John Junkin (The Dim Wits) vs Heather Couper, Fred Harris and Paul McDowell (The Bright Sparks). Let’s play!
— Graham Kibble-White (@grahamkw) December 8, 2017
The Great Egg Race
The Great Egg Nog Race. Heinz and teams representing Birmingham Poly, the Royal College of Engineering and The Kings Singers must work out how to get an entire set of Christmas lights working in series and parallel. Johnny Ball explains how crackers work.
— Steve Berry 🚮 (@unloveablesteve) December 8, 2017
The Professionals
The Professionals. Ends with a chase through a department store with Doyle in a Santa jacket. Closing gag is Bodie saying he should "…lay off the mince pies!" ['joke' wah wah sting].
— Tim Worthington (@outonbluesix) December 8, 2017
The Brothers
The Brothers: Brian's mortified when Ann makes a fool of herself at Hammond's Christmas party, while for Jennifer and Ted it's not just the trifle that falls flat. Meanwhile, the hunt is on for Mary's handbag.
— Jon Peake (@JonPeake) December 8, 2017
Knightmare
A CITV special of Knightmare.
Oversized Santa hat instead of the helmet, Chrimbo stocking instead of a knapsack, Tregard all clobbered up in the Father Christmas gear, etc.
And yet all dungeon traps and challenges must still be hard and sadistic, those swotty spods can handle it.— Anthony Beavan (@AnthonyBeavan) December 8, 2017
Slinger’s Day
@tvcream Slinger's Day: In a bid to boost profits, Cecil Slinger has decided to open the supermarket on Christmas Day, but to boost morale, he's arranged a special guest appearance from… Bruce Forsyth! ("What? He doesn't look anything like me! I'm much better looking!")
— Chris Hughes (@chrishughes01) December 8, 2017
The Phil Silvers Show
Bilko bets his fellow sergeants that he'll spend Xmas with the Halls but the Colonel is wise to his plan… #UnlikelyXmasEpisodes
— patrick mccafferty (@mccaffepj) December 8, 2017
Me, You and Him
Me You & Him – ever-unpopular Harry is locked in an office closet at the Xmas do by colleagues seeking revenge for his year-round awfulness. Mark + John spend Xmas Eve desperately trying to find someone with keys so he can get to his special reconciliatory Xmas dinner with Clare.
— Matthew Rudd (@MatthewJRudd) December 8, 2017
And a few more thoughts…
Keep It In The Family
Dudley is frantically trying to finish the Barney The Bionic Bulldog Annual (which, for plot reasons, is being printed the week before Christmas), but Duncan has invited himself round for Christmas dinner, and the girls have invited a punk band (‘Acne Central’) to rehearse Christmas carols downstairs (Susan: “Cheer up, Dad, they’re doing requests.” Dudley: “How about Silent Night!?”).
Doctor Who (1983)
The Doctor is trying to get Tegan back home in time for Christmas on the beach, but instead, he finds himself duelling with the Master to foil his latest unwieldy plot to conquer the universe, before arriving in Australia just in time to help England win the Ashes (“Strewth, that ball was out of this world!”). Featuring guest appearances from Lorraine Chase, Roy Kinnear and Dennis Lillee.
Torchwood
It’s Christmas Eve in the Hub and all is quiet, apart from the usual swearing and shagging. But a breach in whatever that thing in Cardiff was (the Rift? We dunno) suddenly sends the team back in time to 1856 (Ianto: “It’s cold, bleak and there’s nothing to do… no change there, then!”) before everything gets sorted out in time for the heart-warming finale. Jack: “Peace and goodwill to all men – and I mean ALL men!” (wink to camera).
George White
December 20, 2017 at 8:49 am
The Doctor Who special – filmed on location in Australia, surely? With Tegan’s family.
Warren Mitchell as the villain, Jack Thompson in the Bernard Horsfall-type role, John Bluthal as Tegan’s Yugoslavian-Australian father, Gabor Jovanka, Moya “Marlene from Neighbours” O’Sullivan as her mum, Bill Hunter as her boozy uncle, and Charles Tingwell as the Aussie UNIT Commander.