It was a close run thing between Gavin & Stacey’s Christmas Special and Wallis and Grommit’s ‘A Matter of Loaf and Death’.
James Cordon and Ruth Jones delivered their usual pitch-perfect script and fantastic performances as Smithy and Nessa, the main support characters to the eponymous heroes, whilst Nick Park’s plasticine magic continues to utilise a whole raft of famous film scenes to illuminate the wonderful world of a man and his dog. I will have to watch it again just to be sure that I didn’t miss any of the wordplays, pastiches and cinematic homages.
Both are still available on iPlayer and highly recommended – it’s not absolutely necessary to have watched the two series of G&S but I think it probably works better if you do. Mind you, I suspect that sales of the boxset will be given a huge boost by those whose curiosity has been stimulated by the excellent Christmas Eve showing.
The much vaunted new Christmas episode of The Royle Family was a very disappointing third. It just didn’t have the same je ne sais quoi as the last festive special with Nanna’s death. There wasn’t really even that much of a joke after the first 20 minutes of Denise’s lack of cooking skills. The funniest line ‘Christmas isn’t really for kids is it?’ had already been shown several times in the trailer.
As far as non-comedy is concerned, the Christmas episode of Dr Who was a blinder withe the two Doctors (David Tennant and David Morrissey) and an evil Dervla Kirwen leading her Cybermen. Excellent fun and suitable for all the family on Christmas Day.
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