Christmas telly - was it really better in the old days?

Posh/ODvM

Central Defender
Found this website while bored at work.

UK Christmas TV

I always looked back on the 70's as a golden age of family Christmases and everyone gathered round the telly. By god the truth is very different. Black and White minstrels every year, tv movies being shown instead of proper films. Other than classic Morecambe and Wise it was a sea of grim.
 


Telly's always been shite, the difference then was that it was all there was in home entertainment, other than the radio and people look back with a warm fuzzy feeling because they were children then.
 
I could never stand Morecambe and Wise (I found them embarrassing, not funny) although I fully accept many loved them.

Please don't forget the Wizard of Oz, which we seemed to be subjected to every year. GRRRR!
 
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Monty Python and Whistle Test on during Christmas week in 1971. What's not to like.
And "A ghost story for Christmas" was always canny.
Some shite fillums on mind.
 
There is a website called BBC Genome which has all the old Radio Times listings.

I recently looked up a few schedules from Xmas TV in the 70s & 80s and it looks awful now.

We've certainly been spoilt since thanks to technology.
 
We are spoiled for choice and have too many channels. Years ago we didn't have Sky or Netflix and the only time you go to see big blockbuster films was at Christmas and nearly all TV shows had a Christmas special. Nowadays you only have to wait about 6 months before they are Sky or Netflix and Christmas specials aren't really that important now.
 
We are spoiled for choice and have too many channels. Years ago we didn't have Sky or Netflix and the only time you go to see big blockbuster films was at Christmas and nearly all TV shows had a Christmas special. Nowadays you only have to wait about 6 months before they are Sky or Netflix and Christmas specials aren't really that important now.
Also cinema was the only chance you could actually see films in COLOUR and on a big screen!!

Then it was back to 22inch B&W with the curtains closed.
 
More channels mean tons of shit.
This means more programs with alleged celebrities giving their opinions on songs, films and stuff.
 
I used to love getting the TV Times when I was a young un and planning out what I was gonna watch owa Christmas, now I'm older all I seem to watch are TV series and films with the occasional bit of porn thrown in for good measure but they're all streamed. I haven't watched terrestrial TV for a good while due to the lack of quality available
 
Just picked out 1982 as I was 13 then so thought it was fair representation...

BBC1: standard afternoon stuff, Top of the Pops, Queen, a film (International Velvet) but after the news there was a run of Jim'll Fix It, Paul Daniels and Last of the Summer Wine before a brief up with The Two Ronnies. The big film was Death On The Nile. Late evening, post-news, Perry Como.
BBC2: in the afternoon we had adocumentary about East Anglian sailors, some highbrow entertainment ( the schools prom and The Book Game), one part of a serialisation of A Christmas Carol and the Peter Sellers film I'm Alright Jack. The evening started with a Dr Who spinoff (K9 and Company) and a doc on the raising of the Mary Rose, followed by 2 hours about James Joyce, Richard Baker presenting some carols and the film Fedora.
ITV: from 2pm, half an hour of the King's Singers, the big film for the afternoon was Won Ton Ton: The Doh Who Saved Hollywood, then something called Stawberry Ice. Things improved With The Goodies' Christmas Special and after the news, Cartoon Time. We then got Punchlines (with Lennie Bennett), something called A Christmas Lantern (with a cast including Cliff Richard, Una Stubbs, Robert Hardy, Christopher Timothy, Wayne Sleep and Mike Reid), In Loving Memory (because nothing says Christmas like a Thora Hird undertaker based sitcom does), an hour of Stanley Baxter (probably quite funny TBH), rounded off with a 2 hour operatic version of A Christmas Carol
Channel 4: the newest channel didn't kick off until 4:45 with a Buster Keaton film, The Tube followed (it was a Friday) then the news and The Friday Alternative (spoof news thing maybe?), there was then an hour of gospel (repeated), a doc about the 60s narrated by James Bolam, then The Curious Case of Santa Claus (which blended comedy and history and co-starred Jon Pertwee). The evening rounded off with an hour of Norman Gunston.

All of the big films were made in 1978, in keeping with the only shown 4 years after release thing that used to happen.
 

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