Top 5 Christmas TV Specials

Another year has flown by and I've been a bit hit and miss with the top fives. Here's a suitably festive one to end the year, I'll be back in January with my end of year roundups. For now though, in the words of Shakin' Stevens, "Tis the season of love & understanding, Merry Christmas everyone!".

1. The Morecombe & Wise Show (1977) - The Morecombe & Wise Christmas specials were as much a part of our family Christmas ritual as having dinner an hour later than Mum planned and falling asleep in front of the Bond film. Difficult to single out one year but I suspect 1977 (which gained one of the largest audiences for a single light entertainment show and saw guest appearances from the Dad's Army cast, Penelope Keith and the usual array of unlikely candidates in the big dance finale) would have been my favourite.

2. A Christmassy Ted (1996) - In which Ted and Dougal get lost in Ireland's largest lingerie section and are desperate to find their way out before causing a scandle. Bumping into several other priests on the way, Ted eventually leads them to freedom and wins the Golden Cleric of the Year award. Some great moments along the way; Father Jack being left in the creche, Mrs Doyle trying to guess the name of Father Unctious with an ever more ridiculous list of Priest's names and Dougal's Matador outfit.

3. Only Fools and Horses (1989) - The Jolly Boys outing. Although it's set during an August Bank Holiday this was the '89 Christmas special and remains my favourite ever episode of Fools & Horses. The coach driver seeming to get drunk before they reach margate. The dodgy radio that actually causes this blowing up and destroying the coach. Rodney punching Cassandra's boss on the nose assuming he was up to mischief, only to find his wife is there as well. Classic Trotters.

4. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) - Charlie Brown strives to come to terms with the true meaning of Christmas.

5. Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988) - A parody of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" this one off special saw Blackadder in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. The plot is reversed so that Blackadder starts off as the nicest man in England but, following visions of his past and future lives, ends up the conniving and self-centered Blackadder we know and love.

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