The Christmas TV Strategy Guide 2023 #08

Admitedly not the most festive double bill to start your day, but its not really about that at this time of the day is it? Its about waking up slowly, getting some breakfast and having something on in the background. Now, Puss in Boots might have its fans but its very much overshadowed now by its recent sequel which was an absolute cracker. And I’d argue that Kung Fu Panda 2 is the best of the series, so its not a bad way to start the day

This is more like it! The second best of the Wallace and Gromit shorts then slow motion running on a beach to Vangellis.

A good spread of family films to dip in and out of here. Jingle All The Way is clearly the most festive of the lot and whilst its not a classic its still a great Christmas film. Spider-Man is, well, a banger and probably the best superhero film. And thats film, not live action or animation, just the best film. Percy Jackson was better than it had any right to be seeing as it was made by a studio clearly chasing after Harry Potter money and then Titanic, because whats Christmas without Di Caprio freezing to death in the sea?

We’ll come back to this later today, but in this age of Doctor Who having a huge budget its good to go back to the beginning to see what we started with. Now, this is an offshoot of the show rather than the true source of the current series, but as a spin off movie its still a fun time despite very much creaking at the edges. But then if you want to see something really creaking at the edges then follow it up with the Doug McClure film. Its charming, but very creaky

Its almost a crime that a film this good is buried in the schedules like this. A great modern take on King Arthur, its a great kids adventure film which is something we don’t get enough of these days. But in a way, it being hidden like this almost makes sense, its a film to stumble across, to randomly discover that might become someone’s favourite. So many films I like now I stumbled across like that, I can only hope that happens with this film to someone this year

The Mask is, arguably, still Jim Carrey’s best film. Is it? Yeah, it is. No, it is so thats a good start to any triple bill. Going to be honest, no clue about The Man Who Invented Christmas but its too much of a pain to clip it out so may as well keep it in. Just checked on Wikipedia and its about Charles Dickens writing A Christmas Carol so fair enough, thats in. And then Bettlejuice!

Yep yep, another iconic musical to add to the list for this year. I mean, part of me wishes it had Return to Oz on after it but you can’t have everything

One thing that we’re going to start seeing more of is Agatha Christie films and what not, and here’s a good one. Its got some cast, which bogs it down a little, but the bones of the story still hold up despite Ustinov playing himself rather than Poirot

Another good triple bill, with a couple of All Timer family films followed by one of the best comedies of the last 15 years or so.

Here so go, a true Christmas Classic. As noted yesterday, the sequel is just as good (or a bit better?) but you can’t argue with the original. Sentimental with enough bite in it to keep you from choking on the sugariness, its pretty much a perfect film. Joe Pesci’s best? Certainly his best family film, its not really one you can watch back to back with Goodfellas

I tell you, I cannot wait for this, You can say a lot of negatives about the Chibnall run on Doctor Who for me the two biggest negatives were 1) the show being on a Sunday and 2) no Christmas specials. Since the show came back in 2005 the Christmas Day Specials were always something to really wait for, everyone sat round the TV watching them, proper special. Yes, maybe giving it a rest was a good idea but the New Years specials were never the same because, well, New Years is always a bit rubbish right? Its pretty telling that Russel T Davies comes and, bang, its back on Saturdays and here’s the Christmas Special. Can’t wait.

Here’s something else that transcends time and space, Morecambe and Wise. The ‘71 Special is pretty much the best one and contains some of their most iconic sketches so make sure you get that one recorded to watch after Doctor Who. Its is crazy though, for something that is so much of its time but remains totally accessible to a modern audience; my youngest has watched their shows and laughs out loud in all the same places as everyone else through the years, the shows remain really special

Here’s a whole lot of Queen for you, like a lot of Queen. But hey, they’re a great band so its not a bad thing to have on in the background

Don’t forget your daily dose of Clint; yet another Dirty Harry sequel but the first film is a bit more interesting; its the second of Eastwood’s films with Don Siegel so has that great pared back vibe the director always brought to his films. Its not the best of his Westerns but still pretty good

I love that this show was the success that it was, seeing this cast from the classic days of Horrible Histories put together a brilliant sitcom like this was, well, brilliant. Its sad that its finishing, but at least we’ve had like 5 series of it. What a great show.

A musical version of Hound of the Baskervilles followed by a classic era Miss Marple Christmas Special? Thats totally my vibe so will be lapping this up

Speaking of Agatha Christie, here’s some more Poirot for you and arguably the definitive version with David Suchet’s take on the character. By this point the show had evolved from a Sunday evening schedule filler to proper event TV with a proper budget and everything. Suchet is, well, by this point he is the character so its interesting to see them take on probably the most iconic story of the Poirot canon. And is it good? Well, yeah, course it is. They were really properly good and making them by this point so that shouldn’t be a surprise

A lot of Christmases ended with us watching whatever videos we had got for Christmas, which tended to be stand up shows so ending Christmas Day with a bit of comedy feels right. The Fast Show was brilliant and I do have good memories of this Christmas special, then basically the best Monty Python sketches reshot on film for an hour or so. Nice.