Best Christmas TV episodes/specials?

Funky

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Right that's it I'm making a list, and I'm checking it twice. Category this year is NOSTALGIA

What are your favourite Christmas episodes... the cosier and more sentimental the better (but still good).
 
Actually remember when they actually used to do loads of Christmas specials? I think they still do the panel ones but there aren't really that many sketch shows anymore to do specials with. Oh the days of a Christmas filled with Victoria Wood, The Two Ronnies and French & Saunders.
 
Vicar of Dibley - The Christmas Lunch Incident
The Flint Street Nativity
Blackadder's Christmas Carol
Miranda-mas
The Greatest Store in the World
Every Royle Family Christmas special
Hebburn - Sleep in Hebburnly Peace
 
Any Christmas special that was clearly filmed in June is an instant fail, I'm afraid. The second I see verdant foliage it gets switched off; what the fuck is the point if they're not even going to bother creating the illusion?
 
Vicar of Dibley - The Christmas Lunch Incident - oh YES
The Flint Street Nativity - what is this
Blackadder's Christmas Carol - oh YES
Miranda-mas - I'm not sure I've seen this. I don't mind a bit of Miranda and she's perfect for Christmas nonsense
The Greatest Store in the World - what is this
Every Royle Family Christmas special - oh YES, although I have to pick my moment to watch the Queen of Sheba because it is TRULY DEVESTATING
Hebburn - Sleep in Hebburnly Peace - what is this

☝️
 
Even though it was late into the run and therefore patchy, the Xmas episode of Ab Fab is a fave of mine. Eddy staying at home for Christmas instead of swanning off to a Pacific Island was a perfect comedy scenario and you wonder why they hadn't done it earlier.

"Darling, you know how you want a wendy house for little Lola, well Bubble wanted to know if that's the same as a Barrett home?"

"It's the thought that counts mum"
"Yes well it's the thought that worries me. Because if the thought is YARDLEY..."

"Here you go darling your stocking, it's filled with money"
"Does it have chocolates and a tangerine?"
":square:"
 
The Flint Street Nativity is a load of late 90s actors (Julia Sawalha! Steven Tompkinson! Ralf Little! Mina Anwar!) playing kids in a school nativity in Rochdale. I watch it year in, year out.

Miranda-Mas is an absolute staple

The Greatest Store in the World stars Dervla Kirwan as a mother who squats in a London department store with her two kids over Christmas

Sleep in Hebburnly Peace is the Christmas episode of short-lived Chris Ramsey sitcom Hebburn. Featuring Vic Reeves, Gina McKee, Miriam Margolyes and Jan Ravens.

Also, the walking nativity episode of Vicar of Dibley is amazing as well.
 
Even though it was late into the run and therefore patchy, the Xmas episode of Ab Fab is a fave of mine. Eddy staying at home for Christmas instead of swanning off to a Pacific Island was a perfect comedy scenario and you wonder why they hadn't done it earlier.

"Darling, you know how you want a wendy house for little Lola, well Bubble wanted to know if that's the same as a Barrett home?"

"It's the thought that counts mum"
"Yes well it's the thought that worries me. Because if the thought is YARDLEY..."

"Here you go darling your stocking, it's filled with money"
"Does it have chocolates and a tangerine?"
":square:"
Oh yeah, another must for me.
 
I think we need to update each other if these pop up in streaming... I imagine a lot of the British ones will be on (ugh) Britbox.
 
The West Wing - In Excelsis Deo

Incredible. I think it's one of the most awarded episodes ever too, though I might be wrong.

Personally I prefer Noel from Season 2 for West Wing @ Christmas. A stunner of an episode.
 
Incredible. I think it's one of the most awarded episodes ever too, though I might be wrong.

Personally I prefer Noel from Season 2 for West Wing @ Christmas. A stunner of an episode.

Interestingly I've just realised that the two lead characters in each of those episodes are Jewish - Toby and Josh respectively.
 
@Sheena or @lolly might know which is the best Victoria Wood Xmas special. I like all of them although some of them are regarded as a bit disappointing.

But there's one or two that are considered corkers.

What's the one with the Acorn Antiques documentary for instance. God I loved that.
 
@Sheena or @lolly might know which is the best Victoria Wood Xmas special. I like all of them although some of them are regarded as a bit disappointing.

But there's one or two that are considered corkers.

What's the one with the Acorn Antiques documentary for instance. God I loved that.
All Day Breakfast is the best, without doubt.
 
Incredible. I think it's one of the most awarded episodes ever too, though I might be wrong.

Personally I prefer Noel from Season 2 for West Wing @ Christmas. A stunner of an episode.
Noel is amazing but a little more connected to the ongoing storyline to recommend to new viewers. I’d recommend ‘In Excelsis Deo’ to people who have never watched the show with confidence that they’d love it.
 
The Will And Grace episode where they visit all their families in a single night or something is really good. I think it's a double bill.
 
In with a bullet, Ted Lasso (Carol of the Bells)

Can I watch that without having watched the show?

I mean I know I need to, but whether I get round to it right now. The Xmas special might be a good way in?
 
Do you mean the behind the scenes Acorn Antiques, where it was supposedly axed? That was just the last episode of As Seen On TV series 2, although it was shown just before Christmas, and I think was slightly longer than the other episodes.
 
Oh GOD the Office UK and Extras Christmas specials. 5 stars the both of them (well all four episodes of them, they're double bills). Ricky Gervais might be a cynial satirist but he knows how to pull out the sentiment at the right moment. Tim's present to Dawn in The Office and Andy's Big Brother apology to Maggie in Extras just kill me every time.
 
Do you mean the behind the scenes Acorn Antiques, where it was supposedly axed? That was just the last episode of As Seen On TV series 2, although it was shown just before Christmas, and I think was slightly longer than the other episodes.

ah OK. I think I had a DVD of Victoria Wood Specials compilation at one time and probably just assumed it was a Xmas episode. I think they tacked that on as a bonus thingy.
 
Can I watch that without having watched the show?

I mean I know I need to, but whether I get round to it right now. The Xmas special might be a good way in?
Yes I think so. It’s an incredibly heart warming episode and I think it’s a key one to get to know a lot of the characters anyway, without it really tying in to ongoing stories.
 
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I unapologetically love both the Gavin and Stacey Christmas specials.

I do too and I was always a fairweather fan of the show. They're very good at capturing a British Christmas.
 
Oh the JOY of getting the Christmas Radio Times and flicking through it, discovering what you were going to watch. And obviously this in the days way before the Internet when you often had absolutely no idea what was on until you got the TV listings.
 
Was 'The Queen Of Sheba' a Royle Family Christmas broadcast? Because that is one of the very finest pieces of work on UK TV in any genre, ever.
 
Oh the JOY of getting the Christmas Radio Times and flicking through it, discovering what you were going to watch. And obviously this in the days way before the Internet when you often had absolutely no idea what was on until you got the TV listings.

I was meant to say this before! I would make LISTS using the guide because it was the only way to remember when everything was on! And I wasn't really a Putting Rings Through Listings With A Pen kind of person. I needed a LIST!

And then miss half of them because I was being dragged around various houses visiting people and we only had one VHS player and Dad was recording Only Fools & Horses.
 
The Miami Twice episodes of Only Fools and Horses from 1991 are a particular favourite.

Is that the one with the Del lookalike? I didn't really like that one.

There is an older Xmas special which is great but I can't remember which one.
 
Is that the one with the Del lookalike? I didn't really like that one.

There is an older Xmas special which is great but I can't remember which one.
That’s the one. It’s the one I know best, and as Part 2 is all in Miami, it feels like a film.
 

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