Festive fare

IT’S not hard to get me excited about Christmas and the TV schedule is right up there in importance with the pudding and mince pies. Being completely unpatriotic in my TV viewing however, a sizable part of my festive fare comes from across the Irish Sea, mainly due to larger budgets and the willinginess to provide sweeping adaptions of particular favourites. Here are just some of the highlights that could be worth tuning in for.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without Dickens and BBC1 is offering a particularly dark three-part adaptation of one of my favourite books, Great Expectations. The first episode airs on December 27 at 9pm when young Pip has his life turned upside down at the hands of the heartless Estella before a mysterious benefactor has him sent to London to become a gentleman.  With the likes of Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham, Ray Winstone as Magwitch and David Suchet as the brilliant Jaggers, how could this possibly go wrong?
Also in the Dickens era although setting a very different tone, The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff Christmas Special (BBC2, 8.30pm, Monday, December 19) is the first in a new four-part comedy. Jedrington (Robert Webb) is an upstanding family man, owner of The Old Shop of Stuff and is Victorian London’s most successful purveyor of bits and bobs. Christmas Eve is a bust for Jedrington however when lawyer Malifax Skulkingworm (Stephen Fry) has his family incarcerated in a debtors’ prison. What could be behind this grinch’s plan to steal Christmas? It also stars David Mitchell and Pauline McLynn who are no strangers to producing laughs.
Keeping with the period costumes, Downton Abbey (ITV1, 9pm, Christmas Day) returns to tie up some loose ends as the Crawleys celebrate Christmas of 1919. Mr Bates’s trial for the murder of his ex-wife threatens to put the festivities on ice however and then there’s also that pesky Mary/Matthew will-they-won’t-they story to sort out.
Elsewhere, fans of All Creatures Great and Small might enjoy Young James Herriot, a three-part prequel, showing over consecutive nights, which follows the young James as he begins his studies in Glasgow. James (Ian de Caestecker) wants to be a vet but his unsubtle methods may hinder his progress. There’s no Tristan or Siegfried, but the charm and humour of the original is there by the bucket-load. It’s on BBC1 on Sunday, December 18 at 9pm,
The old favourites also get a run out for a Christmas special, among them the outstanding Outnumbered (BBC1, 9.20pm, Christmas Eve). Fed up with dealing with the usual mayhem at home, Pete and Sue decide taking the kids for some fun in the sun is the perfect foil. As things never run smoothly for the long-suffering parents however, events are bound to take a turn for the unpredictable.
Also back with a Christmas special is Dr Who (BBC1, 7pm, Christmas Day). Titled The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, it is more than just a little nod to CS Lewis’s Narnia series. When the Doctor lands in a World War II-ravaged Britain he finds that Madge Arwell (Outnumbered’s Claire Skinner getting another Christmas run-out) is having a tough time since being evacuated from London following the Blitz and decides to help her and her children Lily and Cyril to have the perfect Christmas. But when Cyril manages to crawl through a giant present and into a snowy forest, it’s up to the Doctor to save the day once again.
Making an Absolutely Fabulous return to BBC 1 on Christmas Day are bezzie mayes PR guru Edina Monsoon and champagne guzzling editor Patsy Stone. To celebrate the hit show’s 20th anniversary, the brilliant Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley are re-joined by the old crew for some more erratic antics.
Another effort that looks like it might garner a few laughs is The Royal Bodyguard (BBC1, 9.30pm, St Stephen’s Day). Comic timing is David Jason’s forte and this time he plays Captain Guy Hubble, a Buckingham Palace car park attendant who’s accidentally put in charge of royal security. Hubble learns of an assassination attempt on the Queen and upsets everyone with his security checks. Yet it is he that lets slip information when a woman pays him some attention. Can Hubble save the queen?
There is also plenty for the children outside of Harry Potter re-runs. The Gruffalo’s Child (BBC1, 6.30pm, Christmas Day) is Julia Donaldson’s follow-up to the classic children’s story, The Gruffalo. This vivid animation tells the story of the Gruffalo’s adventurous daughter, who sets off through the snow into the nearby woods despite her father’s warnings about the big bad mouse. Also getting a run is The Borrowers (BBC1, 7.30pm, St Stephen’s Day) about the tiny people living beneath the floorboards of a big house who make use of discarded everyday items. Aisling Loftus plays the young Arrietty, whose rather protective parents Pod (Christopher Eccleston) and Homily (Sharon Horgan) have never really let her out of their sight. However, the whole family is forced into the big, bad world when humans Granny Driver (Victoria Wood) and Professor Mildeye (Stephen Fry) discover their hiding place.
Looking to home-grown stuff, RTÉ always manage to do factual or nostalgia-type programming with aplomb and this year’s line-up is no different.
Now That’s What You Called News is a countdown of some of the biggest and more colourful news stories over the past 12 months. Presented by Craig Doyle, it features contributions from, among others, Mary O’Rourke, Ivan Yates, Matt Cooper, Evelyn Cusack, Mark Little and David McWilliams. Keeping with the current affairs theme, Bryan Dobson looks back on a year that included a general and presidential election and two State visists in RTÉ’s News Review of the Year. The queen’s visit is also the subject of The Queen’s Speech, a behind-the-scences of the visit last May.
For another nostalgia piece, you could do worse than For One Night Only featuring The Dubliners on the eve of their 50th anniversary. Gay Byrne presents, with guest performances from Declan O’Rourke, Sharon Shannon, Shane MacGowan, Mary Couglan and Liam Ó’Maonlai.
Also in the music line, Other Voices NYC charts the journey of Other Voices from its home on the Dingle Peninsula to the heart of New York City for its 10th year special and features Gabriel Byrne, Glen Hansard, Roddy Doyle, Damien Rice and Joseph O’Connor amongst others. If interested by the way, The Guardian has some excellent podcasts and interviews this week with those that took part in the Other Voices weekend in Dingle. Comedy makes an appearance also, with a Christmas special of Brendan O’Carroll’s Mrs Brown’s Boys, while sports documentaries include Frank O’Farrell: The Shadow Of Busby, which explores the story of the only Irishman to manage Man Utd.
Miriam O’Callaghan rounds things off with the New Year’s Eve Show and will look back on the year that was and highlight some of the events happening in 2012, which is RTÉ’s 50th anniversary year. Enjoy!