Christmas Special 2024

It's Chrrrrrriiiiissssstttttmmmmaaaassss!

Join sisters Amanda Davies and Jacquie J Sarah as they take a festive trip down memory lane, reminiscing about iconic Christmas TV specials! From the heartwarming laughs of Only Fools and Horses to other timeless Christmas shows, including The Good Life, Vicar of Dibley, Blackadder, Frasier, The Office and more. Jacquie explains why the British Christmas comedies are different from those in the US.  The duo also share their favourite moments and test each other in Amanda's favourite part of the show - the quiz.  Whether it’s Del Boy’s antics or the nostalgia of family TV traditions, Amanda and Jacquie explore what makes Christmas specials so...well...special.

Grab a cup of hot chocolate, settle in by the fire, and tune in for a dose of holiday cheer, warmth, and plenty of laughs. This episode will remind you why these Christmas classics continue to hold a special place in our hearts.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to That TV Comedy Podcast. I'm Amanda Davies and my co host is Jacquie J. Sarah. And for this episode, we are going to be looking at TV Comedy's Christmas Special. A slightly different format to our usual one. But as it's that wonderful time of year, we thought we'd have a chat about Christmas specials, old and new, that we enjoy.

Jack, Christmas specials. Yes. Oh my gosh, I've had so much fun researching this. Now this is, this has been a good subject. Could we just do a whole series on Christmas? Because, yeah, I've fallen down some pretty, pretty deep rabbit holes with this. You just really, yeah, I completely agree. And you find things you've completely forgotten about.

Yeah. So for the purposes of this recording, [00:01:00] just say that obviously British, we're both Welsh British, so a lot of the references will be to British. And over here we call them Christmas specials. And the thing is, we haven't discussed this. No, this is interesting, isn't it? We've got some mince pies at the ready.

No, we won't because I don't like podcasts where they eat food in there. I mean, come on. It's an audio. Why are we eating food? Don't not there now come on because I know you listen to some of them But they are edited very well so that it doesn't become annoying. So there'll be no mince pies. There will be no Drinking no drink.

No Boo Yeah, so there'll be no alcohol. No food, but Christmas cheer nonetheless Yeah, we hope Welcome to our Christmas special.

Let's think back to [00:02:00] Christmas specials when we were growing up. Did you have a particular favourite? Man, I'm only 21, so there wasn't that many. You're not even going to acknowledge that, are you? I'm just in shock that you would even suggest such a thing, to be perfectly honest. Do I have favorites? Yeah, I've got loads of favorites.

Growing up for us, we looked forward every year and it was fools and horses, wasn't it? Yeah, it was only fools and horses. And there was a point when I was researching this that I was going to get in touch with you and say, I think we need to do one just about only fools and horses Christmas, but I think we can get it in here.

I think only fools and horses were the one that was the one that we'd looked forward to. It was one that went over the top. Three generations, wasn't it, at least? I'm not sure Gen Z would be interested in ill and frozen horses, but everyone alive and above them. I think it's got a special place in their hearts.

Even if that place is, I hate that program. I remember dad used to watch, [00:03:00] but it's there. It's part of our culture. Absolutely. I'll talk more about that in a bit, because when I was researching this, I found it fascinating how different Christmas specials are in this country compared to others. Now I've saved it to the preface that I only really know about American programs.

They don't do Christmas specials like we do. They do Christmas episodes, but they're the same amount of time as a normal episode. And I suppose in the old days, when they were doing 22 episodes a year, the Christmas episodes used to sit in the beginning of December and it was just and another episode.

And the other side is some of our Christmas specials, and I've watched a lot, both American and British Christmas specials, ours are not necessarily set a Christmas. They'll be on an hour and a half and there's no Christmas and talked about, but it is a Christmas special because it's extended. And I found it so fascinating.

I thought there's a book in here or a large paper. So for university, [00:04:00] once. It's for me to do a doctorate in comedy and write this about Christmas specials. I'm happy for them to do that. I'll put the work in. If a publisher wants me to write a book about this, I'm available. I'd be happy to do that as well.

I think I need to go into examples and I think you need to go into examples too, because I'm just talking around the subject again and we need to get stuck in. If we don't want an hour and a half podcast, which nobody wants. And a lot of the episodes that you talk about, their extended, their special episodes, they would have been written in January.

Yeah, and a lot of them end in a series. 

Yes. 

So they will end a series that everyone loves on Christmas Day, Boxing Day. They don't care about us, do they? The broadcast companies, they break our hearts on Christmas Day. So should we go back to Only Fools and Horses? We'd like to. You started it, what did you find about Only Fools and Horses?

I was not surprised. It was so [00:05:00] many of them. Do you know how many of them there were? Eight. Eighteen. Christmas specials. Eighteen Christmas specials because they did trilogies. Yes. So they were on the same year but there were eighteen episodes. So should we just run through them quickly? Go for it. Number one, 1981, called Christmas Crackers, which was, I think it was the first series of Paws and Horses, ran for 31 minutes and studied the requisite 28.

Now, do you remember what that episode was about? What year was it? 81? 81, 1981. Oh, I was far too young, then. Yes, but it's not like it hasn't been on a loop, on repeat, repeat, repeat. For the last 30 years, is it? I'm going to say no, but probably when you say what it was about, I'll say, oh, yes. I don't think you would, because when I watched it, I had no memory of it.

The early Fools and Horses are really weird. They're not what you would expect. They've had a miserable Christmas, Rodney, Del, Boy and Grandad. And Grandad's got a lady [00:06:00] on the side, so he decides to go there. So Rodney and Del go to a club. That is the Christmas episode. It's set at Christmas. Not an awful lot happens in there.

Number two, 1982, Diamonds Are for Heather. It's not the one where they pretend they were ill. Bear in mind I've watched all these. I've watched every single one of them. So Diamond's are for Heather is another one which is so weird. It's the three of them, Del Boy, Rodney and Grandad. And Rodney and Grandad are barely in it.

Del Boy falls for this woman. She;s got a little son and six weeks later he wants to propose to her and she decides to go back to her ex husband and that's the whole story. So that was another happy go lucky one. We really need to talk about how dark Christmas episodes are over here. 1983. Thicker than water.

I believe Grandad's already left us at this stage. Thicker than water, Del's dad comes back, and as we know, very much later on that Del [00:07:00] Boy and Rodney haven't got the same dad. But, he comes back, we tell him he's not very well, he's had blood tests, and apparently Del Boy's not his son. So Del Boy is ostracised.

Uncle Albert and Rodney take him in, the father, because he's not well. And of course he's just doctored the notes because he's not a very nice man. Del's dad. Then to Hell and Back this is our first proper Christmas special. 1985. It ran for one hour, 35 minutes. And you remember this one, don't you? And where they going?

I want to say Amsterdam. There's diamonds there and Boyse has set them off to buy these diamonds. And do you know who stars in it as well? It's Jim Broadbent. The man originally they wanted for Del Boy and he plays that crooked cop who's out to get them all. Next one. The universally hated. 1986 special, A Royal Flush which ran [00:08:00] for one hour, 15 minutes.

Del Boy is horrible in this. So Rodney meets this nice girl, who happens to come from a rich family, and Delboy gets involved and tries to get money out of the girl's father to keep Rodney away from her. This is a brilliant one if you want to look into comedy history because the writer of Only Fools and Horses, one man wrote them all, which is amazing.

John Sullivan, he was Working on something else at the time. And in those days, I would imagine those days, I don't know if they still do this, but they used to record right up to the wire. So if they're recording fools and horses Monday, they would be getting it to editing suite to go out on the next Sunday.

So this Royal Flush Del Boy is so rude in there that John Sullivan watched it a Christmas day, what it was for the rest of us, and he demanded there's a cut in there. Because he didn't want Del Boy to be so mean. Even now when you [00:09:00] watch it, he comes across as rude, abrasive, and actually just money grabbing.

Whereas we know in the character that he does actually put Rodney first. He wants money, he wants wheeling and dealing, but he does always put Rodney first. So yeah, look into the history of that one, that's really interesting. Because it was just hated, people hated it. 1987 was The Frog's Legacy, and that was only on for one hour.

It Which we find out about, do you remember who the frog was? It was Rodney, wasn't it? It is Rodney's father, but we don't know that at the time. Yeah, Freddie the Frog, who was played by Nicholas Lindhurst in the later series, Rock and Chips, is playing Freddie the Frog. They believe he's hidden treasure. So Del, Albert and Rodney work to find the treasure.

That's basically it. It's an hour's treasure hunt. And it wasn't a very fruitful day. Next one, 1988. Dates. One hour and twenty minutes. What happened in Dates, Mand is this the one where he's going to meet Raquel? [00:10:00] It is Raquel. End of the clock? Yes, it is. Well remembered. See, these are all coming back now, aren't they?

You'll know all of them now. Now, this is another interesting one. He's going to This dating agency Cupid something, and the person's asking him what he would look for and a partner. And I'll say in mind, David Jason's in his mid forties by here. And that doesn't mean Del Boy is that age, but the man at the dating agency says, Oh, I found you someone perfect, but she's 37 and Del's like, no.

So Raquel, how old is Raquel mad? She was only 30. Oh my goodness. I know we thought she was really old when we watched it, but she's only 30. So that one's famous for Del Boy getting arrested and not being able to meet Raquel. But it's also another one famous for Rodney on the car chase. Now the girl's name is escaping me.

So [00:11:00] this is one Mickey Pierce and Jevron who is friends with Rodney. Persuade. He really likes this girl, Donna. Is it Donna? It's, it's too near, it's like alliteration. What, Nervous Nervous? It's Nervous Nervous, man, it's Nervous Nervous, I don't know where I got Donna from. Anyway, Nervous Nervous, he takes her out and then these blokes start following him in the car.

And he takes her on the three wheeler van. And he's, he's doing stunts to impress her and obviously she's terrified. In the Robin Reliant. In the Robin Reliant, the three wheeler van. You definitely know the next one. 1989, run for one hour, 20 minutes. What is it, man? It's the Jolly Boys Anthem. I think I've heard something.

Oh, yeah. Down at Margate That's a brilliant episode. It is so good. Probably the best. They're the Christmas specials. I disagree, but I understand why you would think that. They all go to Margate and a bus blows up. And why does the bus blow up? Del's got one of these [00:12:00] dodgy radios that he's sold to the coach.

And there's a train strike on, so they end up staying at Margate. And Del and Rodney go out. And who should be on stage? The lovely Raquel. And they stay in a lovely BMD. The only B& B with room. Yeah, and the door was locked at 11 and they couldn't get back in. So they go to Raquel's and they get back together.

The next one, not as famous. 1990, Rodney comes home, which is on an hour and 13 minutes. Do you know what that one's about? It's got one of my favorite bits of all, Bulls and Horses in, even if they're gone. Is it when he comes, and he tells, is Rodney married at this point? He is Rodney, he's married at this point.

And he goes, and then they have all this chat and then he says, you don't live here anymore. No, that's not it. What about that one? No, that's the one where he, he gets married, he comes home from work and he forgets he's living there. Yeah, that's, that, this is not where he gets married. So Rodney and Cassandra, Cassandra.

Marriage is in trouble and Rodney has to [00:13:00] move back into the Trotter household. He thinks she's having an affair with her boss. And he's got this, with the rat's tail. Yeah, they're yuppies. Remember he asked another girl to the cinema on a date and this is the one where It's said to Uncle Albert, when he tells you about this, you've got to look really shocked.

Oh, this is brilliant. It is so funny. It isn't, it's just, yeah. Because he goes, I'm going out and Uncle Albert goes, Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. And then Dad was, no, no, no, no, no. And he does that, and right until the bit when Rodney says, I'm going out with someone else. And he's just sat there like, so what? Yeah. So yeah, not one of the more popular ones, but next year's was 19, I, to me, this was the pinnacle, 1991, Miami twice, one hour, 15 minutes.

Nothing to do with Christmas. Mafia. He's mistaking for a mafia boss. Yeah. So Del and Rodney. Del, again, there was [00:14:00] an hour or so episode the night before. So on the 24th Christmas Eve there was an hour special telling the story of Al selling. Already blessed Ryan to the church 'cause it takes so long to bless wine.

So why don't he do it all at once and a big lorry full of wine? Rodney gets money from the pension 'cause he's left his old job and he's mouth the pension money. Dell persuades him to go on holiday to Miami. And Del manipulates it, so it's a week that Cassandra can't go, so he goes with him. And the reason that he wants to get out of the country is he's got a load of Romanian wine for the church, but it's all white.

Which is no good for communion. No good for communion. They go to Miami in America, they meet the mafia, and the mafia Bloke looks exactly like Del Boy and he's in trouble so the sons of him thought it'd be a good idea to swap him out Kill him and makes it look like the Mafia guy's dead police are no longer after him [00:15:00] But that was really interesting that one because it was a movie so even on the Opening credits, it never mentions Only Fools and Horses.

I think that one's my favorite because it is so different. It's extremely different. And when I was talking about this with my husband the other day, I asked about his favorite Christmas sitcom comedy special and that was his. Yeah. And I remember at the time, I didn't want to watch it because they kept saying they're going to kill off Dalboy with all the papers.

I was like, I don't want to watch something on Christmas Day, will they kill off Del Boy? No. But I have a memory of it being on in the house and with all our family there. I really like Miami twice. Happy days. Yeah. Well, we could talk about nostalgia again. It is nostalgia, isn't it? Christmas specials are all about that.

Nostalgia. 1992, Mother's Nature's Son, one hour and nine minutes. That is about Peckham Springs. Oh no, that is a brilliant episode. [00:16:00] It's Peckham Springs. Peckham Springs. So he's selling water, tap water to the country. Got the host under the name set up under the name Peckham Springs Next in 93. Yeah. Famous about a dentist Del Boy has a row with Al Raquel.

She goes to stay in Rodney and Cassandra's flat. That means Dale's single again now. So he's cha at the nurse and the dentist course. They flirt a bit. He asked her out, she says yes. And then. He realizes he made a massive mistake because she's not Raquel, she's not Raquel. He leaves a message on her answering machine and then he starts to think she's stalking him.

And then she tells him not to be so stupid. She's got better things to do, but she turns up at the flat, to buy a high chair. And she gives Raquel the answer phone in exchange for the high chair, which has got a voice message on there. So, you know, she is a woman scorned and she has been doing all those things, but that one's [00:17:00] famous for one voice singing in the darkness.

That's a great moment. And then we had a little break, 1996. Trilogy. The Trilogy. The end. Heroes and Villains. It wasn't the end. The Trilogy was supposed to be the end of the series. Okay. Heroes and Villains. That ran for one hour. And that one, it's got 9. 3 IMDB rating. It's famous for two things. Can you remember what those two things are?

That particular episode? Yeah, just that particular episode. I've got two words. No, three words. Go on then. Batman and Robin. Batman and Robin. They dress as Batman and Robin running through the streets because the van's broken down. Do you know it's filmed in Bristol? But only for us Norses. They had to do media shut down, everything, just so they, nobody leaked them dressed as Batman and Robin running through the streets.

And of course they saved the counselor from being mugged. And the counselor who was ignoring him because he wanted a [00:18:00] grant for a new kitchen. Yeah. But there's the other very famous bit, where they turn up in their costume and they turn up, there's an actual wig, not a fancy dress. That is one of the famous things.

The other is the, the old philosophical argument, the ship of Theseus, but made for a new generation, and it will be always known as Trigger's broom. The argument is something, the same object, if it's been replaced, different parts of it has been replaced. So remember Trigger's crew? Yes. And I can't remember, but it was something like, He said how long he'd had it for.

Yeah, something like, he's had four handles and sixteen heads, and they said to him, How is it the same broom? And he went, Yeah, it's in a picture. Yeah, so if somebody says to you, Trig, Triggers, Broom now, in popular culture, everyone knows what it means. Of course. The next episode, 1996, was Modern Man. That ran for one hour.

We learn more about [00:19:00] Raquel's family. They're middle class. So we find out that Raquel's father is an antiques dealer. Which is going to come in handy. So the very last one in the trilogy was called Time on Our Hands. From what's supposed to be the very end. Last episode, run for one hour, IMDb. Yeah, so just over 24 million people watched that.

Yeah, they had some lesser known Harrison Watch, which is a real watch, which has never been found. Absolutely. Biggest audience ever recorded for a single transmission of a TV sitcom in the UK. To put that in perspective, 26. 2 million people watched it. Watched the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth Sapin. They're out in a garage and Raquel's father sees the watch and he said, where did you get this from?

And do boy remembers. He said, if I think this is what I think it is, then it worth a few hundred thousand. But as we know, that's not, it wasn't strictly true. It wasn't a hundred thousand. [00:20:00] But I, I think what I wanted to go back to on this is Dell's catch phrase is this time next year will be millionaires.

They were always millionaires. That watch was sitting in their garage the whole time, the whole series and the only reason we really know that is On the very first episode, Rodney started keeping records of what, and Delboy said, no, don't do that, obviously, cause they don't want the tax man finding out about it, but Rodney had just started in the business and he wanted to keep records.

And for the fact that he did that, it went to auction and it got a cool 6 million pounds. So Rodney and Delboy did become millionaires. Walked off into the sunset, didn't they? But the one thing I wanted to say about this was, watching it again now, it's almost set up that That was going to lose that money because he starts talking that we can buy future options.

You've got to speculate to [00:21:00] accumulate this time next year, we'll be billionaires. So it was already set up. They were going to lose that money, which they did in 2001. If they could see us now, they invested in some Brazilian scheme and they lost all of it. And then get back in the flat. Married to Nelson Mandela.

2002, Strangers on the Shore, went for one hour, 15 minutes, that was the gary one. So they end up going to France, and Del Boy gets a load of beer from France, so they can sell cheap in the pub. And the last one, 2003, Sleepless in Peckham. They're about to lose everything, they're about to lose the flat, it was going to foreclosure.

They owed the tax man 53, 000 for Uncle Albert's, it started a while ago. And we find out Uncle Albert kept his money that they gave him and so they both have 130, 000 each and they're okay. Uncle Albert looks after them in the [00:22:00] end, which is a lovely ending. Now those three specials, so maligned. I watched them again and I was like, this is better than the most of the stuff I'm watching.

It's because it wasn't as good as the older Only Fools and Horses, but it was still great. People's expectations were then way, way high. So what did you watch or what did you find out? Gosh, I watched lots of things. I, I was watching the Vicar of Dibley. Right. Specials. I watched one of the Vicar of Dibley.

The Christmas lunch incident. The Christmas lunch. She's so kind. They all think that she's on her own. They invited her to lunch. And she ends up having to eat lots of Christmas lunches, which is perfect to show on Christmas night. And then representing her with 16 veg deals. It's obviously caught, you know, I really do.

Brussels sprout competition. Would she? She did win the Brussels sprout competition. So it's not one to watch when you're full. I deliberately watched it as I was eating. Cause [00:23:00] to give the full, the full effect. Yeah. The full effect. Yeah. Yeah. You love Vickery and Dubley, don't you? I do. I don't know, it's the engagement, with where, um, Hugo and Alice finally get together and end up having a four and a half hour kissing session.

It's just so good and it's just so simple. They put that finale on Christmas, didn't they? It was a Christmas special. I really wish Richard Curtis made less films and more Vickery and Dubley. Because Vickery and Reeve are so good. A little bit busy and then getting the actors together and what a group of actors again.

Exactly. So many of them not with us anymore as we discussed in the episode. Yeah. That I chose. I also caught up with A Very Sunny Christmas. I watched that as well. Which has got some funny moments but my goodness that's. It's dark, as you just felt. It's really dark, isn't it? I mean, when Charlie loses it in the shopping mall and Oh, my gosh, yes.

bites Santa. Oh, that's awful. He shouldn't have got away [00:24:00] with that. He should have been in prison for Christmas. They bring his old colleague, Eugie, his business partner, to try and make him change his ways. Yeah. And he goes back to his old way. He hides in the It's the bit where he's hiding in the couch.

Oh, yes. And then he climbs out and he's naked. And you find out that Frank has always bought whatever the twins wanted for Christmas for himself and he flaunts it to them. I mean, it's such a good episode because they made it to show why they were the pandas are as they are. I think it's got a feel good ending to it.

As well, because it was Christmas, they were singing carols. They were full of Christmas. And then they, what it was, they united, they united. And that was exactly right. Instead of the infighting. So it's a really good Christmas. They called it Christmas. It's a long, long episode. They don't set a Christmas.

Yeah, but it's about 14 minutes, 14 minutes longer. So that would have run about an hour in America. 

Hmm. 

And then I was also watching, seen [00:25:00] it lots of times, the Friends, the Holiday Armadillo. Right, yeah. That's a small part of the episode anyway. But that's really funny. And then the other program that I really watched, and I love this Christmas special, is Gavin and Stacey.

Ah yeah. 2008. The 2008 one. I watched both of them. It's the best Christmas special that they did. Well they only did two, didn't they? We got the 2019 one. Yeah, and there's gonna be another one. And there's gonna be another one. But the 2008. Yeah. It's perfect. It's got Yeah, it does sum up Christmas, doesn't it?

Absolutely. Family Christmas. I mean, it's just got everything it's got. But it's also moving the story on. It's the beginning of the series. Some great, great, great moments in it. No, it has. That's a being Santa. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Merry Christmas. So, I really enjoyed watching that as well. And then I just watched little clips, really, of Christmas things like, um, the Royal Family.

Yeah, I didn't watch any [00:26:00] Royal Family. I didn't get there. Yeah, but they were so good, weren't they? Yeah, um, and I also watched, uh, a bit of, uh, The Good Life. I have to watch that every year anyway, so I thought I'll just put that in. It's silly but fun. It's silly but fun, the penultimate episode of the whole series.

Was it? I thought, yeah, it was the penultimate episode of The Good Life. So they just had that one special, which was the royal one. And for our listeners that are not in the UK, The Good Life was a sitcom from the 1970s. It's got one of the best characters ever from British. Sitcom, Margot Ledbetter. The Good Life, it revolves around four characters.

Good refers to the surname of Tom and Barbara Good, who have basically decided to give up the rat race and become self sufficient. Way ahead of its time. Very much ahead of its time. And then their snobby neighbor, Margot, um, and her husband, Jerry, who's a little bit more laid back. Christmas is ruined [00:27:00] because Margot has refused the delivery from Harrods.

Of things because the Christmas tree is not the right height and then there's a mix up and they can't get a delivery So they've got nothing for Christmas and Tom and Barbara take pity on them and four of them have a lovely basic Christmas Yeah, they do and Marco, especially she's told to have fun.

She's gone. I don't know how What is that? Aww. And she refused to have the Christmas hat made out of the mirror newspaper. That's right. She had that on the telegraph. And then they had, after the homemade crackers, and one of the jokes in the homemade crackers was the ooh ah bird is so cold because it lays square eggs.

And they start laughing. That's the only joke I think I ever remember. It's um, rubbish at mem and jokes and she doesn't get it, but they buy a cow at the end, don't they? Do they name the cow Dancer or Pratt? No. What do they call the, do they name the cow? Oh, I don't recall. It was a lovely moment because it was [00:28:00] acceptance.

Okay, Extras. Final episode of Extras. Do you remember that? It was the final episode. It was a Christmas episode. The first five minutes were set at Christmas. The rest were set every other time of year. And even has, besides the 20s, Sitcom because he wants to be a serious actor, but then he realizes he wants to be famous and then he realizes he doesn't want either.

That was good. Not going out. They've had a few Christmas episodes, but my favorite is Ding Dong Merrily On Live. It went out in 2018 and it was a live episode. Do you, you obviously got no memory of this? No, because I've never watched it. It's very tongue in cheek. It's very Breaking the Fourth Wall. It was a really lovely episode.

The only thing that's different is they have these indents. Where it's, the house is over London or they show bits of London. Of course they last a bit longer while it's going to the next set up. Of course, yeah, because the live episode, they need it. Yeah. And there was quite a [00:29:00] few sets, which was quite brave as well.

So yeah, so Lee Mack, who's also a comedian, he does do a few things straight to camera on it, which is, it's just a bit of fun. Ghosts. We've never talked about ghosts, only because I'm not that keen on it. I know it's clever. I know it's funny. I've seen bits of it and it's funny. Yeah, I struggle. I think I don't like the young couple in there and I'd like the actors.

They're really good actors. Yeah, I don't like them. But I struggle with those characters to be amongst all those ghosts. Yeah. So I watched two. One where I was recommended, which is They've got a tick list of all the things they want, they want to happen in the house at Christmas and she only wants one thing, the main character, whose name just escapes me, wishes to sing carols and so when she's on her own, it's all his family, she hasn't got family, so when she's on her own she plays the piano and starts singing to herself and all the ghosts come around and sing with her so she gets a Christmas wish which was nice.

And then the very last episode of [00:30:00] Ghosts was Christmas one. Was it? It was a Christmas one. So they finished Ghosts on a Christmas one. Okay, another one's Alison. It's Alison. Alison, she's just had a baby and she feels she has to stand on her, because she's getting so much help from the ghosts. She's getting help from her partner's mother as well.

And she's just, I've got to do this on my own. 

They move, don't they? 

They move, yeah. I 

know, 

but she goes back and sees them black out of Christmas. Yeah, I did watch Dead Lasso. Carol of the Bells from August, but yes, Christmas. It's a Christmas episode, man. I think it's a Christmas episode, even though it's shown in August.

That's a nice episode though, isn't it? 2021 episode. Blackout of Christmas Carol. 1988, Edward Blackadder's lovely, caring, and the ghost comes along and shows him with his past life and his future life. And he realizes being bad is the way forward. So yeah, they go back, yeah, they go back to the Regent's court and they go back to Elizabeth I's gold, which [00:31:00] is fun.

And Porridge, The Desperate Hours, 1976 episode. I won't say too much, but that's one's known because they had a problem with filming. There was a big break in filming. So, Ronnie Barco's the star of Porridge. He actually, when he kept the audience happy, so it's known for that fact that he He's a great, he's a great comedian.

So clever. Great actor. He used to write under a different name so people didn't know it was him. Yeah. So, I think the audience were a bit upset they had to carry on because they had this fantastic performance. They did a show. Yeah, they had a great BoJack Horseman's Christmas special. Sabrina's Christmas wishlist, 2014.

BoJack Horseman. BoJack Horseman. Don't act like you don't know. Oh, no, you actually don't know, do you? BoJack Horseman. He's a roshed up star from the 90s. He's a cartoon horse as well, and his sitcom [00:32:00] was about a horse taking over three orphans. So they actually watched the Christmas specials in the episode, and they hit all the stereotypes of Christmas episodes.

It's really good. Oh, I might watch that then, if I can find it. BoJack Horseman's on Netflix in the UK, and oh my gosh, it's bleak. It's funny, but it's bleak, and I can understand them not wanting This is why it's a horse in a cartoon. Because you couldn't do that as a person, if that makes sense. But yeah, it's such a good program.

There's a problem with casting, but we won't talk about that. I watched Miranda, The Perfect Christmas. And was it perfect? It was all right. It was fun. Such fun. Such fun. Such fun. Parks and Recs. Mix it up a bit. Non British. Parks and Recs. I watched the episode called. Scandal, which was from 2009. I didn't really remember it.

I know how much I like the [00:33:00] program, but I don't think they're nice people. They keep acting like they're nice people, but they look down their nose at everyone. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So in that one, it was a councilman. It's got a, it's about to get involved in a scandal. So he sees Leslie to try and, To get information out of her and because she's seen with him, she becomes the scandal and it talks about the news cycle.

Yeah, it was good. So the other thing I watched was Outnumbered, two of them. That was interesting. One, Outnumbered is a program that used to be Ad libbed. By the children, so what they used to tell the children what it's about, but they used to do their stuff and then they used to shoot. They improvised it.

Yeah, they improvised it and then they used to shoot the adult stuff a different time because obviously they're so young. So there's Karen and Ben. Karen was a bit of a know it all and Ben was, Just a homewrecker. I need to ask all these questions. Ben was the youngest, wasn't he? No, Ben was older than Karen.

That's one's getting [00:34:00] a new Christmas special this year. Yes, I saw that. So all of that will be worth watching. It's only been eight years since the last one. So it outnumbered the robbers. 2009. Which was, it was interesting. It was all about the granddad being in a home and the mother of the family feeling guilty about it.

But back at the house, the father was looking after the kids and Ben was upset because his toy was hidden behind the radiator and they had to get it out. And Karen had lost her hamster. But then the next special. was in 2016 and they'd all grown up. Yes, and they suddenly look very different. They're very different.

And Ben is a philosophy student now. So he was like the home destructor. But now he was running. Rolled up now. He was running circles around them. And because it's Christmas and it's British, it was dark. They were trying to spray the ashes of the father. So the one episode in 2009 was the mother feeling guilty about putting her father in a home.

And obviously he's died. And the actor who played him died in the [00:35:00] meantime as well. So they're trying to spread the ashes on Boxing Day as per his wishes. So yeah, of course that's British, isn't it? It's gotta be a bit dark. It's got to be dark, yeah. There's got to be sadness alongside the comedic moment.

The newest ones I watched, and you've watched them quite recently as well, you just haven't mentioned them, is of course New Frasier. 

Yes. 

Which are proper Christmas episodes we liked when we were younger from American sitcoms. I loved the most recent one with David with his immaculate little gingerbread.

Your house is insane. And David, David is the son of Niles and Daphne, but of course, Niles and Daphne's not in it. So he's a mixture of the two, so he's very uppity and, but he's also a bit of an airhead. And it's really good balance for him. But the reason why they had to chuck it all in a bin because Paul Allen, who was played by Nicholas Lindhurst, who played Rodney.

I don't think we mentioned the actors [00:36:00] on Fools and Horses as we come full circle. Nicholas Lindhurst, Allen, his daughter's not speaking to him and he's found out she's in town and Frasier gets involved, tries to get, to speak to her. And well, they all get involved. They all get involved in the end, little scheme, typical Frasier going overboard.

And there was this line that Amanda hated. In England, we say. Happy Christmas, not Merry Christmas. Well, we do not. And you're not English. Well, I know, but You're not English, man. I don't know English people. They might say Happy Holidays, but they certainly say Merry Christmas more. Merry Christmas! And the actor saying that is British.

The guy who plays Freddy is from London, isn't he? So he knew full well saying that. But I'm sure Nicholas Winters had those moments as well with some of the things he was saying as well. But I suppose you are an actor and you are playing To say the line. That's my Christmas specials. We're gonna go on to a quiz in a [00:37:00] moment, but I've got a question to ask you.

Which actor has appeared in the most Christmas specials and Christmas specials as in narrative comedy? Is it gonna be Nicholas Lindhurst? Is it? Yes. Not David Jason? No, because Nicholas Lindhurst has been in the Fraser one as well. I remember David Jason was in Open All Hours and still Open All Hours. Oh, yes he was.

I forgot about that one. They're tied. No, they're not tied. One is a winner. There is David Jason then. Three in it. Three, three Christmas bachelors in it. Is it David Jason or Nicholas Lindhurst? From what you've just said, David Jason. No, it's Nicholas Lindhurst! How could you get that wrong? I was right this time!

How dare you? I was right the first time and then you tried to throw me off. No, I, I was, it makes it more interesting. To make a multiple choice. Nicholas Lindhurst is the king of Christmas. Good night, sweetheart. [00:38:00] 27 Christmas specials. No, you're forgetting the very first one. I'm not saying you watched this episode.

Oh, Butterflies. Butterflies, he was in, 1979. I won't go through the Fools and Horses again. I'm just trying to pick up the ones that wasn't only Fools and Horses. The two of us, the ITV sitcom, Goodnight Sweetheart, 1993 and 1996, After You've Gone, couldn't look that up. And then in 2012, Rockin Chips. It was Freddy the Frog.

It was Freddy the Frog. And then obviously 20, 23 and 24. So he's been in Christmas sitcoms since the 1970s. And now it's time for everybody's favorite part of the show. Just yours. It's the quiz. Question one. Go on. How many Christmas dinners did Vicar Geraldine Granger end up eating in the Christmas lunch incident?

Four. And I think that's one of your questions as well. Yeah. That was one of your questions. [00:39:00] Question one. What was the most watched? Non sporting TV special of the noughties out of all of them now, which one from 2000, 2020, Gavin and Stacey. It was the 2019 Gavin and Stacey and the one this year will top that I'm sure.

Yes. Okay, question two. In the ABFAB Christmas special Cold Turkey. Ah, I wish I'd watched it now. What is Idina's main goal for the holiday season? It could be something like losing weight, or drinking champagne, or Getting Lulu a guest spot somewhere. Go on, I can't remember. It's the political shits family Christmas.

No, that's not Idina. Who learns that his son won't be with him for the first Christmas in Seattle in the program Miracle on 3rd or 4th Street. Razor Crane. Razor Crane. Do you think that we didn't talk about our vixen, Roz, who came back into Frazier on a Christmas episode as [00:40:00] well? That's a big moment, isn't it?

Why is the oooh ah bird so cool? Because it lays square eggs. It sure does. What was notable about the Christmas episodes of the 1990s sitcom? Here we go, going back a bit. 2. 4 children. I'll give you time to think about it because, go back a bit, because 2. 4 children was supposed to be the British answer to Roseanne.

It was very, very different. Yeah, but it was about a working class family, supposed to be. Although, can't remember the name of the actor, Belinda something. She wasn't very working class, but the father. Was a bit like Dan. I don't understand why 2. 4 children is not up there. When we talk about British sitcoms, great British sitcoms, I don't understand why 2.

4 children gets forgotten. Oh, do you want the answer? Well, they were musicals. The cast used to sing. Yeah, I can't believe I forgot that. [00:41:00] Yeah, and you're into your musicals. You should remember them. I shouldn't. Go on. What does Leslie Knope receive as a Christmas gift from all her friends in season four's Citizen Knope Christmas episode?

I think I've watched all the wrong Christmas episodes, haven't I? Um, she gets the perfect gifts for all her friends all the time. She does and they're really frustrated by it, aren't they? They're really annoyed by it. It's a waffle iron, isn't it? From the diner. Is it the waffle thing from the diner that she loves?

Not, no. It's not the waffle maker. Oh, okay. It's a miniaturized city hall made of gingerbread. Ah. Which Christmas special had the word Algarve in its title? Ah. We haven't mentioned One Foot in the Grave. We haven't mentioned One Foot in the Grave. Oh, that one was good as well. But that gets recognised as one of the great British sitcoms, doesn't it?

Go on. Who is asked, what are you doing here, weird [00:42:00] turtle man? Why are you doing here, weird turtle man? Oh my gosh, I've heard that recently. What are you doing here, weird turtle? It's from Friends, isn't it? It's the holiday armadillo, so I think it's Chandler who says it. Or Joey. Well, no, I said who was asked.

Oh, who was asked? It's Ross who's asked, as he's dressed as the holiday armadillo. That's why Chandler says it. As he comes in as Santa. What are you doing here? Weird 

turtle. 

And your bonus one. Who was born during the Royal Family Christmas special Christmas with the Royal Family in 1999? The baby's born isn't it?

But I can't remember the baby's name. Is it David? Yeah. It is David! Right, okay. But, he's Baby David Keanu Rowling Best. Okay, and your last question is, and you should know this, Who's guest starred in the 1999 Vicar of [00:43:00] Dublin special? Oh, was this the one with Peter Capaldi? No. Who turns up at Christmas?

I'll give you a clue, because I'm nice. Peter Capaldi's playing a part in there. So he does turn up in a Christmas special, but he's playing. Tristan, I think is the name is. Yeah. 'cause he wants the producer of this Harry. Some songs of praise. Yeah. No, this is somebody playing themselves. This is when Kylie here.

No, it's 1990 Christmas Fair, isn't it? Yeah, the summer fair. Summer fair. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to kick myself. You all gonna kick yourself? Do you wanna Doy Bussel? No, it's not Darcy Busle. Oh, I've forgotten. Comes in like a comet from the sky. And his name is Sean Bean. Oh, of course she loves Sean Bean. She does love Sean Bean.

And that concludes our quiz. I think I won. I think you're fine if you didn't. I think you've Really messed up on Sean Bean. I think and we could have got like [00:44:00] blitz and now way through that. But you have to make me wait for Sean Bean.

So now as it's Christmas, we thought we'd talk about our favorite Christmas moments on sitcom Christmas specials. So. So give me yours then, number three. My number three is Dawn French, the Christmas lunch incident and it's the bit where she takes the brussels sprout even though she's so full and She's trying to prove a point to David She takes a brussel sprout, she puts the fork in her mouth and she physically has to put her lips around the fork so she can eat it.

And I, I just live that moment. Okay, what's your rude moment? I can't put my lips on. On one of your food. I give you one of my, I give you one of my food. Okay. It's Camel and Stacey. [00:45:00] Alright, alright Gav. Alright Stace. Mmm. All right, clever now, what's occurring, go on. So this is from the Christmas special. Can we point out, The Wizard, she loves Gavin and Stacey as well.

It's one of the only sitcoms or comedy programs set in Wales. And not only set in Wales, it's set in somewhere we know, Barry Island. Yeah. And written, well, co written by a fantastic Welsh actress, writer. Yeah. Ruth Jones. Ruth Jones. And it's also written by James Corden. Yes, who's also a fantastic actor.

Yeah, right. He is. He is. Yeah. So this is from the Kevin and Stacey Christmas special 2008 which is the final episode of Series 2 setting up for 3. It was shown on Christmas Eve. It gets an 8. 6 on IMDb I think it deserves higher. Yeah, lots of lovely moments. It's got [00:46:00] everything a little bit of story, happiness Not a perfect ending.

Nope. But it leads on nicely to the next series. So loads of great moments. Yeah. However, it's the scene at Lee Dallemaire, the services, filmed at Cardiff West Services. Yeah. Nessa, Oh, Gwen, how's the baby? And then Gwen says, Oh, he's fine there. He's enjoying the massage, he is. Dave, you let us know when you want to get along.

Camera, hands to Dave. He's in the arcade on a car racing game. Cheers, Gwen. I just needed a break from the driving, you know. I mean, yeah, well, that is good. How funny. Brilliant. Okay, your next moment. Okay, my next moment is from something we've talked about a bit. Okay. Only Fools and Horses, we've actually mentioned it and it's the final few moments of the very [00:47:00] last episode they thought, and it's when they become millionaires.

And they're walking down the street, Del Boy, Rodney and Uncle Albert. And it's quite a long stretch of road and then there's a fence in the distance to go into a restaurant. They've seen they've gone to Mandela House for the last time, they think, just to say goodbye to the old flat. And they're walking down the road and then in the background it also suddenly changes orange.

And there's a massive sunset and it looks like they're going towards the sunset. And I thought that was a really lovely touch, a really lovely way to end it. It's a perfect ending. It is. And then they brought it back. Five years later. It's a really tough one because I understand why they brought it back.

People wanted more. They obviously, the writer wanted to write it again, John Sullivan. Yeah, I suppose if he's got an idea and [00:48:00] it's good. It's a tough one, isn't it? So as we're not doing them in order to Delboy, Rodney and. Uncle Albert going into the sunset. My next moment comes from something we've already talked about.

Vicar Dibley. Yeah. Christmas special, 2007, on Boxing Day. It's called Engagement. It gets an IMDb rating of eight points tonight. Hugo and Alice finally got together. Four and a half hour kissing session. Hugo also stands up to his father. Broughten to cut him out of his life, cut him out of the will. If he continues his relationship with Alice.

Yes, he has. Yeah. He did that in front of Geraldine. He was really happy. And he'd said he'd have all he's ever wanted with Alice. And you might think that's the perfect moment. But for me, it came a little bit later when Hugo asks Alice [00:49:00] to sit down and gets on his knees and begins the proposal and starts it off in the most unexpected way.

He goes on a knee and he says in the words of Sigourney Weaver in film aliens I just want to say and I listen to her get away from her you be yeah female dog and then No, idiot little girl. Oh, you stay in the ventilation shaft. I'll check the corridor And then he was just let me finish. Oh, sorry, and then he says I will never leave you That's a promise, but I just love it the way she just cut straight in stay away from her you did Yeah, it is totally unexpected and it's just So funny.

And then it gets even, you've got that funny bit and then it switches right back because when [00:50:00] she said answers, she says no, and then he says, oh, and she says, no, let me finish. No question I've ever been asked has been easier to answer apart perhaps from when my mum asked me which of the Teletubbies I'm most, because the answer was Tinky Winky.

Absolutely. Just like that. Perfect writing. It is perfect writing. Totally unexpected. Good. Okay. I guess I took my moment now. Can you guess what it is? A bit from the office. It is from the office. The very final office. The very final office. The Christmas, is the Christmas special. It was second of the Christmas specials.

Laid on December 27th, 2003 with an IMDB rating of 9. 3 by any chance. It is indeed. You've done your homework. I wonder how. So, there's an office party. David's been told he can't just pop in the office. I'm watching it thinking, no, there's no reason for [00:51:00] him to be in that office. Bear in mind, he sued the company because they made him redundant.

Uh, they shouldn't have made him redundant. I, I agree with that. And that's why they paid him off. He spent all the money we called in a single, if you don't know me by now. But anyway, that's not part of that episode. So it's the Christmas party, all the gang are there. And David Brent's been on a date. He's been on a Dates and website and he's had a few bad dates, but this one they've just clicked and she's very nice and He says goodbye to her and he comes in so he sees Neil the manager and Chris Finch talking Brent interrupts, he starts talking about football and Chris Finch is rude.

He says, you don't know nothing about football. And that's doing it word for word. This is all paraphrasing. And somebody says, where's the [00:52:00] dog? Cause he was bringing his dog into the office. And Chris Finch says, didn't you see she just left? And they both laughed. And Brent looks at him and says the words he should have said all along.

Why don't you just F off and just walks away from them. But we think that's a great moment. Remember we got Yazoo playing in the background, only you, and then Brent is talking to Gareth and Tim and all of a sudden Dawn's come back and nobody really sees her and she walks all the way over to Tim. She just kisses him.

Now, you know I'm not a romantic. I, I separate real life and fiction quite well. But the relationship with Tim and Dawn has been built up over three years. We really want them to get together. [00:53:00] They are perfect for each other, even though in the real world, there are no perfect for each other. In story world, there's a lot of perfect for each other.

And that moment was just perfect. It was absolutely perfect. They didn't speak. Gareth says she's got a fiance and Dawn says, not now, I haven't. Tim and Dawn don't say a word to each other and then they just walk off. And yeah, it's beautiful. I would actually say that would be my top moment, except there, changed my mind with the sunset, with bulls and horses, but that one's my top moment.

What was yours? What's your last one, Mand? Funnily enough, I'll show you the piece of paper from the office. Yeah. Yeah. Final episode. It's got a few moments and a great ending. Yeah. It's the Finch, isn't it? David finally stood up to Christopher. This is [00:54:00] Finch. Yeah. And they never give up. Oh, yeah. They never give up.

It's all written down. That's what made her. Dawn had done, which made her come back and get together. But, I love that. What? The next bit was also perfect when they did the photo. Yes. The old gang. And, and they did this talking heads with David and said, gee, how do you want to be remembered? And he said about, he wants to be, he wants to make a difference and be remembered as the man who put a smile on the face of everyone he met.

And then they did the photo of the old gang and he does the whole Frank Spencer and they all laugh. Yeah. And it, for him that was. That's all he wanted. Yeah, he just wanted recognition, didn't he? And I thought that whole episode, those moments, the telling off Chris Finch, the never give up, getting together and that just tied it up beautifully.

And that was my moment, same as you. So, there we [00:55:00] go. And we were worried we'd have three the same.

All that remains to be said is, thank you for joining us. Remember, we get a lot of stuff from the internet. And did you know, the internet can lie. You can contact us on Instagram, tvcomedypod. Our website is thattvcomedypodcast. com. And you can email us on thattvcomedypodcastatoutlook. com. Merry Christmas.

Happy Christmas. Boo. Boo. That TV comedy

podcast was presented by Amanda Davies and Jacquie J. Sarah. It is a deliciously bright podcast. [00:56:00] Produced by Jacquie J sarah.