well, we are so very nearly at that time of year, look you see. Christmas, to be sure, is just about here. if not well and truly already. should for some reason you be one of them who takes issue with the term Christmas, well, ok, i guess for you we are in what they call the "festive season".
the coming of Christmas, as i shall for ease keep calling it here (as that is what it is), means one thing in particular. yes, my reliving of those childhood memories once more, via the conduit of the "double edition" of a TV guide. this would be a TV guide that i do not purchase at all throughout the year, but still wish to have the excitement of seeing what "big" shows and films the major channels all have on offer.
in truth i deliberated not doing so this year. other than the expense of the TV magazines in general and particularly at Christmas, well, British Christmas TV has had a fall in standards. with so many hundreds of channels available and the instant nature of other forms of entertainment i had been nothing but disappointed with the 2014, 2015 and 2016 editions and broadcast highlights.
another factor suggesting that perhaps i should not trouble myself with the tradition of a Christmas (and this time New Year, unlike the 2016 rip offs) TV guide was the insistence of some publications that i would want a magazine with Danny Dyer on the cover. no, just no. if you have no idea who, or what, a Danny Dyer is, well then i suggest strongly that you enjoy your blissful ignorance and know that i envy your ignorance.
the lure was just too great, though. in the end i opted, or if you like elected, to purchase the TV Times version this time around, having bought the Radio Times one for the last three years.
why? as in, why the change? well, the Radio Times has proven to be aloof and snooty in their bringing me Christmas highlights, filling the magazine with dull articles and difficult to penetrate listings. the TV Times looked more like it was focused on fun and, as we shall see, has a most excellent way of presenting the highlights and listings.
also - and i cannot emphasise how important this was in my decision - the TV Times was £1 south of the cost of the Radio Times. still, not cheap - the TV Times cost me £3.50, which yes, makes the Radio Times an eye watering £4.50.
let me again give the history, for those interested. back when we had just four TV channels, if you wished to know what was on the tele (and radio) over the next week, you had to purchase both of these magazines. the Radio Times presented what was on BBC1 and BBC2, along with what was being broadcast on BBC Radio. the TV Times gave you the listings for ITV and Channel 4. sorry, can't remember if they covered commercial radio too. probably not, going on the name.
this changed at some point. i think it was in the early 90s, when Sky, BSB and all sorts of other services came in, making it a bit redundant having a magazine with just two channels being reported on. both are still going, and as you saw above there are any number of magazines offering the same information.
now we have substantially north of 4 channels. which is just as well, as my particular highlight of the Christmas broadcast schedule happens to be on Channel 5. yes, as you can well and truly see above, it is decidedly so that Christmas will be done for me as of Saturday 23 December, when Channel 5 once again broadcasts the magnificent Chas & Dave Christmas Cockney Knees Up special.
thanks to the wonders of the internet i can, i know, watch this any time i like via that whole You Tube thing. you can too, i suppose, by clicking on this link right here in yellow. i just really, really like the idea of watching something dear and super special on broadcast TV over Christmas.
for purists who believe that the joys of Chas & Dave Christmas Cockney Knees Up should only be watched on broadcast television and on Christmas Day, well, that is happening.
as the above reflects, a channel called Yesterday is screening this televisual feast on 25 December at 10pm. now that i look, quite a bit of their line up for Christmas Day looks quite smart. special, even.
speaking of special, no, Chas and Dave is not my only joy on Saturday 23 December. here, have a look at what is happening on the Challenge channel more or less right after Chas and Dave have finished doing their thing.
oh, yes. you beauty. that's 7 (seven) hours of Bullseye i can watch. nice one.
usually the Challenge channel just shows a whole load of Christmas special editions from gameshows off of the 80s and 90s. not so this Christmas. rather disappointingly, i say, they are showing repeats of The Chase all day every day for the whole of what you would call "Christmas week".
not that i have any major issues with The Chase, mind. it's pretty good. i just don't think i would have all that much interest in watching nothing but that during the day. no, alas, advertisers on the Challenge TV channel will not be selling to me much after the Bullseye marathon. well, at least not until we are in 2018.
in terms of actual reading, yes, TV Times goes for a more simple, tabloid like nature in content than what one would find in the pages of the Radio Times. also, more interesting advertising; if the Radio Times actually has adverts in. i don't remember, but as a BBC thing i suspect historically not.
above is, in ZX Spectrum mode, a page of adverts off of the TV Times. it reflects the cosmopolitan nature of their readership. everything from entertaining housewives and chatting with gentlemen who seem merry and gay through to walk-in baths and stair chair lifts are offered. yes, obviously i have not made any contact details clear, lest i be held responsible for anyone making contact.
what about the actual TV programmes listed over Christmas and New Year? surprisingly, and pleasantly, very good. this is the first time in, to my experience at the least, the last 4 or 5 years that the major channels seem to have really done some billy ho effort.
any particular highlights? nothing overtly outstanding in an above average line up would cover it best. well, of the free to air, major channels i suppose ITV has scored the big one, having Jurassic World lined up for Boxing Day (i think). just as big, though, is the BBC having the most recent take on Cinderella on Christmas Day.
other than that, all the major shows the networks have get the traditional "Christmas Special" treatment. ITV have wisely elected to do a Victoria special this year, after not thinking to do so last. and it does not take much imagination to say that the most anticipated special on BBC is the Doctor Who one, where Doctor transforms......
a special shout out to ITV, though, who are showing the decent one of the Harry Potter films on Christmas Day. that is, but of course, the one what has Gary "Gaz" Oldman and Ian Brown out of Stone Roses in it.
the genie is almost back in the bottle, then. i know a lot of my fascination, if not all of it, is harking back to my youth, perhaps longing for simpler days and simpler times. that cannot happen, to be sure, though i am delighted that some of the magic is back in terms of the Christmas TV line up.
New Year's Eve? well, last year the TV guides caused controversy by rushing to print too early, meaning you only got the Christmas line up. not so this year. and New Year's Eve should see me with the Challenge channel on.
indeed. one sees out2017 with the superb You Can't Beat A Bit Of Bully documentary, and 2018 starts with some 6 hours of Bullseye repeats. that will do for me, thank you kindly.
and, well, there we go. if you are one of them posh people who paid the extra £1 for the 2018 Christmas (and this time New Year) edition of the Radio Times, i hope it has brought you much merriment. i do not regret my switch to the TV Times this year.
now let me phone one of these merry and gay chaps off the advert, see how they are doing and ask if by any chance they know Spiros.......
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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