The UKFF's Favourite Christmas Telly Special - Final Result On Page 6!

[Accident Prone]

*ding dong!*

Who's that at the door? Wow, it's all the NUMBER TW-ELVES!

Yes, the 12 Days Of Christmas are underway, and we kick off the official Top 12 Christmas Telly Specials with loads of lovely lads who all received 8 points each!

 

Joint-Number 12!

 

🎄 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special 🎄

"Morecambe and Wise, let's say 1974, because it's the one my dad would find and insist on putting on every year, 'it's a classic this', then not watch more than 15 minutes off before looking for something else." - HarmonicGenerator

 

 

🎄 Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia - A Very Sunny Christmas 🎄 

"The scene where Charlie asks Santa if he fucked his Mom absolutely kills me every single time." - SuperBacon

My Two Turtle Doves - A surprisingly heart warming episode about the gang you love to hate. Every character's flaws are out in the open and are being unabashedly abused in the name of yuletide fun. Mac and Charlie having their hearts in the right place (well, kind of) and Dennis and Dee trying to teach their father the true meaning of Christmas all add up to a lovingly pessimistic slant on the festive season. Merry Christmas, bitches!

 

 

🎄 The Fabulous Baking Boys Christmas Special 🎄

"An unbelievably shit hour of cooking television that somehow transcends appalling into being hilarious. Follow the two most twittish, twattish, upper middle-class brothers in the world as they progressively ruin every Christmas food tradition you hold dear. Want a Christmas cocktail? Well, you'll need three hours and the ability to go foraging. Christmas pud? Probably stuffed with bouillabaisse and saffron strands.

Like all truly great television, the best is saved until last. Instead of a traditional Christmas dinner, there is a CHRISTMAS BBQ. The whole family, including the ancient grandmother, is carted outside like emigres sent to the Gulag under Stalin, to sit in the middle of winter waiting for BBQ'd lobster and steak. The series shockingly wasn't renewed. Vital Christmas viewing." - Gus Mears

 

 

🎄 Father Christmas (1991 animated short) 🎄

"Pretty sure this should count (it does! AP) it's the standalone animated adaption of the Raymond Briggs book, voiced by the late Mel Smith. Usually shown on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve. Cynical British humour for all ages." - Fog Dude

My Two Turtle Doves - This brought back a lot of memories. My little bother had this on video and it was regularly thrown on throughout November and December. I love the connections to The Snowman 'universe' and the art style is very warming despite the cold setting.

 

 

🎄 A Storybots Christmas 🎄

 

 

🎄 The Royle Family- Christmas special 1999 🎄

"I think this was the peak of the show, didn't think much of it beyond this episode. Ricky Tomlinson puts in a hell of a graft here and brings a tear to the eye in his scene with the late Caroline Aherne." - PunkStep

"AKA the one where Denise ends up giving birth in the bathroom. A very affecting watch (unintentionally more so since Caroline Aherne's untimely passing)" - Fog Dude

My Two Turtle Doves - Permanently haphazard and staggeringly aloof Jim Royle has to not only comfort his daughter during a sudden bout of child-birthitus, but he also has to let his own emotions out of that traditional, cranky, old British man head. Christmas is about family and it's strong bonds, and showcasing the connection of a father and his adult daughter is a great way of celebrating the reason of the season. Even the most elite anti-monarchist will be reaching for their anarchist tissues.

Edited December 13, 2018 by Accident Prone

[Carbomb]

3 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

It's the silly over-pronunciation of certain words he does that I enjoy most. Like you say, you can tell he's having a great time.

Verily, his over-pronunseeaseeon doth invite great appreseeaseeon!

Edited December 13, 2018 by Carbomb

[Keith Houchen]

Lads, Upstart Crow is fucking terrible.  It's for chin stroking Olivers Army types.

[Carbomb]

3 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Lads, Upstart Crow is fucking terrible.  It's for chin stroking Olivers Army types.

Sorry man, but I enjoy it. I agree it's really very Ben Elton in a lot of places, but there are some really good parts of it that help to ignore them.

[Keith Houchen]

Just now, Carbomb said:

Sorry man, but I enjoy it

MIldShock.gif

What I've seen of it, and it isn't that much so I probably can't form a valid opinion, is it's the kind of comedy that's real backslapping oh aren't we dead clever and so are you for getting the references kind of thing. Not that my feelings towards David Mitchell have anything to do with it, oh no sir, not at all. (It's a sham marriage anyway, she doesn't love him)

[BomberPat]

I find it all a bit wanky. There were a couple of decent jokes - "there are no good roles for older men who play women" was good, and Kemp being played as a Ricky Gervais pisstake would have been funny if it had been a one-off appearance rather than a recurring character.

For the most part, it just doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, or who it's audience are. There's the odd halfway smart Shakespearean reference, that the show then feels the need to over-explain and beat to death, and every other gag seems to be a, "get it? IT'S AS IF THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT TODAY" joke that goes on for far too long and, again, insults the audience's intelligence by not giving the joke any room to land, insisting on explaining it down to the finest detail. Blackadder never felt the need to constantly hammer home, "BECAUSE IT'S GEORGIAN ENGLAND. GEDDIT?", they just trusted in the script to be strong enough and for the audience to be intelligent enough to follow it.

Throw in a gurning Harry Enfield at his phoning it worst, just to top it all off.

In amongst all of it, there's probably enough good material for one great episode of Blackadder with Shakespeare as a guest character, dragged out to multiple seasons. Imagine if, instead of the dictionary episode, they'd tried to make Samuel Johnson a recurring character. Or if Oscar Wilde had been a character in a series of Blackadder, rather than just subject of the excellent "big, bearded bonking Oscar!" joke. 

Edited December 18, 2018 by BomberPat

[Carbomb]

6 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

MIldShock.gif

What I've seen of it, and it isn't that much so I probably can't form a valid opinion, is it's the kind of comedy that's real backslapping oh aren't we dead clever and so are you for getting the references kind of thing. Not that my feelings towards David Mitchell have anything to do with it, oh no sir, not at all. (It's a sham marriage anyway, she doesn't love him)

That's what I was referring to about the Ben Elton stuff, and you're absolutely right - it can get annoying. But there's some great stuff in between, like the silly stuff that Shakespeare gets up to for ideas about his plays, Harry Enfield as his dad shitting on everything he does in a thick West Midlands accent, Liza Tarbuck with her earthy humour and heaving decolletage, Mark Heap, as mentioned above, clearly having the time of his life playing a complete and utter pantomime heel, and the character of Kit Marlowe being portrayed as a slightly toned-down variant of Lord Flasheart (which makes me wonder why, given what was already known of Marlowe at the time, they made up the character of Flasheart and didn't just cast Mayall as Marlowe). Gemma Whelan's good too, alternating between very sweet and gawky, and angry and trenchant.

EDIT: I see Pat doesn't agree about Enfield. Fair enough. For me, it just came across as him doing like Heap and just taking the piss.

Edited December 13, 2018 by Carbomb

[Accident Prone]

Just now, BomberPat said:

I find it all a bit wanky. There were a couple of decent jokes - "there are no good roles for older men who play women" was good, and Kemp being played as a Ricky Gervais pisstake would have been funny if it had been a one-off appearance rather than a recurring character.

For the most part, it just doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, or who it's audience are. There's the odd halfway smart Shakespearean reference, that the show then feels the name to over-explain and beat to death, and every other gag seems to be a, "get it? IT'S AS IF THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT TODAY" joke that goes on for far too long and, again, insults the audience's intelligence by not giving the joke any room to land, insisting on explaining it down to the finest detail. Blackadder never felt the need to constantly hammer home, "BECAUSE IT'S GEORGIAN ENGLAND. GEDDIT?", they just trusted in the script to be strong enough and for the audience to be intelligent enough to follow it.

Throw in a gurning Harry Enfield at his phoning it worst, just to top it all off.

Pretty much nail on the head. My missus bigged up Upstart Crow to me as the new Blackadder and I was tremendously disappointed when I sat through a whole series and half a second series (because even Blackadder has a shite first go of things).

I love the cast and I love the idea of what they're trying to do, but they just don't know what to do with it. A spectacular and soul-crushing swing-and-a-miss for me.

[hallicks]

I've seen a fair bit of UC as my wife went through a stage of binging it. I thought when it tried to be funny, it was almost always lame, but some of the in between dialogue was quite funny. I found it more funny when I was listening to it but couldn't see it due to badly positioned chores. 

[Accident Prone]

All dogs go to heaven, it's number 11!

Yes, number 11 in this crimbo countdown of the UKFF's Favourite Christmas Telly Specials! It's the continued adventures of the 12 Days Of Christmas!

That's enough with the attempted humour; let's kill the preamble and get on with the countdown! All these lovely programs gained a brilliant 9 points!

 

Joint 11th Place

 

🎄 Spongebob Squarepants - It’s A Spongebob Christmas! 🎄

"Plankton tries to feed everyone jerktonium laced fruitcake in order to obtain the krabby patty secret formula. This is excellent, and not in an ironic “Spongebob LOLZZZZ” way, it’s genuinely great. It features “Don’t Be A Jerk, It’s Christmas”, which is a fantastic song and will always be tied to the image of my then 3 year old singing that all that Christmas." - SuperBacon

 

 

🎄 Horrible Histories - Horrible Christmas 🎄

"Just a regular episode with a Christmassy set of sketches, but I love those guys." - HarmonicGenerator

 

 

🎄 Black Mirror- White Christmas 🎄

"Well, this'll get you in the fucking mood! Depressing, harrowing, worrying and saddening. Black Mirror at its finest. Other than San Junipero (which is a rare hour of joy from Brooker), this is the best episode of Black Mirror. Jon Hamm is excellent, but Rafe Spall steals it for me." - PunkStep

 

That's it for number 11! I wont be around Saturday so I'll whip out 10 & 9 on Sunday or we'll have a big, bumper issue on Monday! Thanks!

Edited December 14, 2018 by Accident Prone

[HarmonicGenerator]

I must be in the minority but I thought ‘San Junipero’ was just as bleak and miserable as any other Black Mirror - but maybe that was just the effect of the ending of me...

[PunkStep]

Eh?? San Junipero is the definition of joyous! It's a lovely episode. The ending leaves me with a massive smile on my face.

[HarmonicGenerator]

4 hours ago, PunkStep said:

Eh?? San Junipero is the definition of joyous! It's a lovely episode. The ending leaves me with a massive smile on my face.

I must have interpreted it much more cynically than you!

[Accident Prone]

Ho Ho Ho! It's a bumper edition of the Christmas Telly countdown, as we take a look at the shows who placed at numbers 10, 9 and 8!

No time for an opening spiel, lets move swiftly onto those who placed at 10th with 10 points!

 

🎄 The Simpsons - Miracle On Evergreen Terrace 🎄

My Two Turtle Doves - It may be a load of old hogwash these days, but one thing The Simpsons could do incredibly well after the Season 8 downfall, was a bloody good Christmas Special. This is probably their last hurrah with the festive format, as subsequent returns would see them gradually fail time and time again. This is the last bastion of their true Christmas Simpsons quality.

 

🎄 The Office Christmas Special Part 2 🎄

"Perfect television, I watch it ever year without fail whilst wrapping up my wife's Christmas presents. I don't think they could've ended the show any better than this. The first time I ever cried whilst watching telly was when Dawn returned to the party for Tim. I also remember shouting at her to turn around, when she initially left the party with Lee, and you're expecting her to at least give one hesitant glance back over her shoulder." - PunkStep

 

Now, for 9th place! This little number gathered 11 points;

 

🎄 Vicar of Dibley- The Christmas Lunch Incident 🎄

"Not normally a Dibley fan, but Dawn French is at her best here as she tries to guzzle four Christmas dinners. Excellent example of comedy facials done well." - PunkStep

"This one demonstrates the consequences of not being assertive. As big as Dawn French was at the time, even she didn't have an unlimited appetite for Brussels sprouts." - Fog Dude

 

And finally, the 8th place spot with 13 points goes to;

🎄 Futurama - An Xmas Story 🎄

"The first (and best) appearance of Robot Santa, the murderous cybernetic Father Christmas that thinks everyone's naughty and nobody's been nice." - Fog Dude

"Robot Santa!" - HarmonicGenerator

My Two Turtle Doves - A sublime episode of the show that really cements the core ideals. Everything hits and the pace is quick without taking away from the plot. Even the supporting cast meets the episode's lofty standards. Also, a lovely cameo from John Goodman as Bad Santa, for that extra kick. A real classic in my eyes.

7 more spots to go! Thanks for reading so far!

 

[Fog Dude]

Really enjoying the variety on this list so far. It's mostly live action sitcoms as you'd expect, but we've also had two anthology shows, lots of different types of animation, sketch shows, Morecambe & Wise, Buffy and even a cookery programme. You can usually trust this forum to have eclectic tastes!