Festive Viewing, Part One...

Well done, folks, We've made it to November! Memories of the oppressive Summer heat have finally faded and now not an evening goes by without my thighs being insulated by an IKEA blanket. Let's crack on with some cheery festive fun for the next couple of months, ensuring the Christmas glow remains high. Obviously the Christmas glow is significantly dimmed once the stress kicks in. Presents, food, airbeds, siblings, shops, queues, no money, and pressure. All that will come. That's why it's important to fit in the fun stuff around the horror. And as we all know, the fun stuff takes the form of TV and film. That's just fact. 

November is the time to warm up gently and use TV episodes to get the ball rolling. No one wants to peak too soon by wasting full Christmas films before it's time. There's room for all that, come December. For now, make a cup of tea, curl up, and let me guide you through the month with some seasonal TV. Best watched with candles, and/or fairy lights, here's Part One of my definitive guide to festive viewing. It starts now.

Ah-haaaa!

The West Wing - Noël

Let's start the season off with a bitter-sweet Christmas special. Yes, it features a PTSD diagnosis and references to an attempted presidential assassination, but it's also got carollers, Yo-Yo Ma, and a big tree. It's not peak Christmas, but it's a good watch, early doors. Leo's speech near the end, where he shows empathy for Josh's turmoil, is moving as hell. 

Knowing Me Knowing Yule

We're still not fully submerged into the festivities yet, but this helps us laugh along the way. Watch Alan Partridge's manic desperation as he clings to any semblance of control he might have had over the guests and events on his fictional chat show. It's easy to forget how long ago this was - twenty three years! Indeed, the audio cassette of this episode was part of a Freshers' Week Welcome Pack I got when I left home the following year. It's testament to the genius of the writers how fully formed Alan is, at such an early stage of his incarnation. Long before North Norfolk Digital and big screen outings like Alpha Papa. He's always been the same. Watching this episode is nostalgic and yet still laugh out loud funny. And Christmassy!

Fanny Cradock Cooks For Christmas

I mention this every year because I love it. It's the binary opposite of the warm and twinkly TV chefs we know today. Cradock's style is more a compassionless school cook than a nurturing nourisher. I've got one hour to feed 500 kids and the hall has to be empty in time for assembly. Now queue up in silence and don't push in. Forget luxury and decadence, too. The ingredients are budget and basic. But there's something about the strand of bargain tinsel that Fanny begrudgingly flaps over the plastic tree that is forever Christmas. It's a subversive joy.

Blackadder’s Christmas Carol

This is a classic in my house and regularly quoted throughout the year. When Blackadder tricks Melchet into signing his own death warrant, he holds the paper close to his face and says, 'I can't read this terrible childish writing.' It loses EVERYTHING in the retelling, but it's my favourite thing to say when I read a hand-written note. My other favourite line is when a disguised Prince Albert tries to pretend he's from Glasgow. 

Blackadder: Ah a fine city. I love the Gorbals!
Prince Albert: Yes the Gorbals. I love them too. A lovely couple - lots of fun.

I'm smiling already and I'm just talking about it! Silly, funny, festive, fun. 

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas
There is a brief moment, five minutes in - before we arrive at the country house full of suspects - where we're shown a wintry, festive scene, with Salvation Army carol singers and snow. It's December 21st 1936, and it's cosy and marvellous. Later, amidst the gruesome death and obnoxious characters, there's another gem. Thirty-five minutes into the episode, Poirot realises skullduggery is afoot and he needs Inspector Japp's help. He goes to get him, thereby rescuing him from the singing-around-the-piano hell of his in-laws' Christmas. We see Japp's discomfort as all around are ding-donging merrily on high. It amuses me lots. It also makes me think that Japp represents what the in-laws in my own family must think when the Bond festivities spill over into drunken musical theatre singalongs.

Midsomer Murders - Ghosts of Christmas Past
Now we're cooking! The seasonal tingles have started. This Midsomer Murders episode is my hands down favourite. The scene of the family returning home from the carol service on Christmas eve is lovely - it's all hot water bottles, bustle, and mugs of tea. (This is before the murder attempt, obvs). Also, the opening titles where Emily and Aiden drive home through the village and see the Santa-hatted carol singers and brass band, is sweet as. (This episode also features Phillip Quast, which never ever hurts.) Tingly, winter, fun. The bleak subject matter makes the cosy bits all the more necessary.

Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special
A modern classic. Forget what you think of James Corden now. Relive the moment that Smithy belts out Do They Know It's Christmas down the hands free as he's driving his van home from work. It's spot on. Plus, who wouldn't want to stay at Pam and Mick's for Christmas? Board games, food, and massive rows. Standard. Despite it's lovely vibe, it never pushes too far into sentimentality. The scene with Smithy and Nessa outside, where he blurts out a half-formed, badly-worded concern for her future happiness, is just right. It's not overplayed in the slightest. It's got cracking music, family dynamics, and all the feels.

So there we have it. If you've timed this right - and I assume you marked a special calendar to spread out the viewing - you'll be about ready to hit December now. And when December comes for real, I'll return with my Festive Viewing Guide, Part Two. You're ever so welcome. No, honestly.

Have a lovely week, folks.