Blaise Tapp: All the time in the world – but nothing is worth watching
This is the time of year that the nation collapses as one into its collective arm chair, after a frenetic week or so of visiting folk we rarely see, peeling spuds and badly wrapping presents, which are likely to be returned next week.
We’ve earned the right to sit down and tuck into the coveted cheese footballs as, if life wasn’t already busy enough, the dash for the Christmas finishing line is usually the final straw. We are now approaching the few days of the year where it is socially acceptable to slump in front of the television, while not properly communicating with others.
The trouble with that plan is that this year, there appears to be very little on the box that’s worth watching - there doesn’t appear to be that one standout piece of ‘event television’ for which we’re all excited for. Last year we had the last ever Gavin & Stacey episode, which was genuinely one of the television events of recent years.
This year, we’ve got an array of Christmas special shows, which we get every year, including Strictly, Bake Off, Call the Midwife and Mrs Brown’s Boys, which seems to have been running forever, despite the fact that I’ve not met anyone who admits to watching it. Unlike recent years, there’s not even a new animation that’s on our ‘to watch list’. I’m so underwhelmed that I can’t even be bothered to pick up a copy of the Radio Times, which at least means that I don’t have to embark upon the annual hunt for the highlighter pen.
The more I think about it, it may just be possible that all of those moaning about the lack of quality festive telly this year - me included - have forgotten to take off our rose tinted specs because, largely speaking, it has always been a load of old chestnuts. People of a certain vintage will often hark back to the golden era of the Morecambe and Wise specials, but the last one of those was aired nearly half a century ago.
Since then we’ve had classic Only Fools and Horses, the Vicar of Dibley, The Royle Family and implausible soap drama in both Corrie and EastEnders but we’ve also had plenty of dross, which has clearly been knocked out quickly months earlier.
It is more than likely that I will sit down and watch some of the seasonal offerings and the chances are that I will moan about how awful it all is. I also imagine that I will go through the same process next year.
Thankfully, there’s much more to this time of the year than rubbish telly.