Christmas Specials I’ve Rewatched Far Too Often

After watching The Avengers’ Too Many Christmas Trees for Telefantasy Time Jump‘s Christmas Special (out…sometime this month!! I should really check these things), I felt compelled to return to a few Christmas telly favs to try and life my mood during this week of Eternal Rain and Wind and Grey Omg When Will It End. And then, obviously, I had to rate them. In a list. So here they are! Beloved Christmas Specials I return to year after a year:

Frasier, Miracle on Third or Fourth Street (Season 1, Episode 12) – Channel 4 on Demand

There are quite a few Frasier Christmas specials, but this is my favourite. Frasier is expecting his son to be visiting for the holidays but, alas, plans have changed as he has the chance to go on a magical adventure to Austria, with sleigh-rides, hot air ballooning over the Alps, and dinner with Julie Andrews.

Unable to argue with the trip-of-a-lifetime reason for the cancellation, Frasier gets snappy at his father when he doesn’t want chilli pepper lights on the Christmas tree (why, Frasier, WHY? You’re supposed to have good taste!) and ends up taking the Christmas shift at his radio station. Oh, it shouldn’t be so funny seeing him slowly lose the will to live when he experiences Christmas Day callers, and yet, here we are.

The final scene is both gently heart-warming, and painfully funny in the best way, hurrah for physical comedy!

Friends, The One With The Holiday Armadillo (Season 7, Episode 10) – Netflix

Back in the day I was the sort of Friends fan who owned all ten seasons on VHS. I’m a smidge more discerning about the show now, but there are still moments that absolutely kill me. One such moment is the five minute long climactic scene to this episode.

Ross wants to teach Ben, his son, who’s half-Jewish, about Hanukah. But his son is very keen on Santa and reindeer and getting presents. And so Ross decides to dress up as Santa, and have Santa tell his son about Hanukah. Alas, two days before Christmas there are no Santa costumes left at the costume shop. So Ross does the only sensible thing he can: he hires an armadillo costume instead.

The arrival of the Holiday Armadillo is glorious, and every second of the five minutes after he arrives is glorious. That beautiful combination between humour that hurts my ribs slightly, and the extremely sweet, Ross being a good father, efforts to get his son to learn about the Maccabees. Chandler is the one who finally convinces Ben to settle down and listen, and the look of gratitude Ross gives him is one of my very favourite Ross moments.

Jackmaate Zoella’s Calendar – YouTube

No, wait, come back! So, yes this is not telly, and it’s not drama, but it is funny, and Christmas-y, and that’s the most important thing for a Christmas watch.

So, in case, you’re unfamiliar with the Biggest UK YouTuber of the 2010s, it was Zoe Sugg aka Zoella. And in the Year Of Our Lord 2017 she brought out an Advent calendar. It was £50, which is really quite a lot for an Advent calendar when the target market is young girls. But she’d make sure it was worth that £50, right? Right?!

No. The calendar was bad. Shockingly, hilariously bad. And this was reported on in many of the sort of media outlets you’d expect to write articles on Youtuber controversies But more importantly, it was also reviewed by a Youtuber known as JaackMaate in this utterly brilliant vid. I watch it every year, it makes me laugh. Don’t judge me. Thank you.

The Goes Wrong Show, The Spirit of Christmas (Season 1, Episode 1) – BBC iPlayer

The first time I saw Peter Pan Goes Wrong was a truly glorious televisual experience. I’d no idea what to expect, I’d only been told that I should watch it. I went in expecting…I have no idea actually. And by the time the Teletubby arrived I was madly in love and devastated there was not more to watch in this universe. (There was an actual play on in actual theatres, but my access to theatres is terribly limited, though I did finally see it last year!)

The next year brought a new film, A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, which couldn’t possibly be as good as Peter Pan, could it? Well, yes, yes it was. And it also has what I consider one of the greatest of all comedy moments: Derek Jacobi bursting out of Tiny Tim’s coffin.

And then there’s the lovely Christmas episode from the telly show. A cosy delight, again embracing that gorgeous tension of actors playing actors who are playing parts in a play, that makes the humour feel so very Goes Wrong. “It’s not your best work, Chris,” is such a humble line that, in context, is truly magnificent.

Alas, the Peter Pan movie isn’t streaming anywhere just now, but The Christmas Carol on is available on Amazon outside the UK, maybe? (I’m checking on JustWatch and the link goes to Amazon, but the icon says something else that’s too small for me to read.)

Peep Show, Season Beatings (Season 7, Episode 5) – Channel 4 on Demand

This is probably the greatest Christmas Special of all time. Probably. It’s not first because I’m a filthy Doctor Who fan who can’t admit I’m wrong.

Mark and Jeremy are stuck having Christmas with one another, and they have very, very different ideas about what Christmas should be like. For Mark it’s a miserable time to suffer your way through until you can get out and back to suffering in normal, everyday life. For Jeremy, it’s for festive joy. This is the magical day of the year when he’s entirely lovely and thoughtful! While Mark is “trying to strangle [his] Christmas with Sellotape.” I’m just doing that quote…just the one fully quote. It’s painfully quotable. I sort of want to write out the entire script to emphasise my love.

On watching this again, it occurs there are a few too many of these lines I’ve used in real life. Shh, I saw Peep Show at a very formative age.

Doctor Who, The Husbands of River Song, (Season 9 (sort of), Christmas Special) – BBC iPlayer

A long time ago, Doctor Who Christmas Specials used to be about Christmas. And this one totally is! For, um, several seconds. But mostly it is the beautiful, perfect, heart-rendingly beautiful conclusion to the Doctor and River Song story; it’s the ending I always wanted to desperately but never thought I’d get. And it’s not just that my beloved twelfth Doctor gets the perfect romantic moments, but in a screwball comedy too!

For me, this is the perfect Christmas watch. It does epic things to my heart. The moment when River realises the Doctor is standing right next to her, and he greets her with a “hello, sweetie,” is one of the most magical in all of Doctor Who. And there’s a lot of Doctor Who to choose from.

And the final shot. God, that final shot. I always cry. It’s the height of sad/happy feelings for me. Something I adore is ending, but it’s ending in the most perfect way.