Christmas 2012 TV that’s a must-see

Normally, I wouldn’t give the time of day to this adaptation of David Walliams’ children’s book, which is described as “A magical, heart-warming story for Christmas. Daydreaming schoolgirl Chloe is unhappy at home and has no friends at her new school, so she befriends a stinky tramp and his dog in the local park. In uncovering Mr Stink’s sad past, she ends up on a journey that takes her to Number 10 Downing Street and eventually brings her dysfunctional family back together again.”

Starring Hugh Bonneville, David Walliams, Sheridan Smith, Johnny Vegas, Nell Tiger Free, (heaven help us) Britain’s Got Talent winner Pudsey, the reason I’m interested in this is because, at the same time as the usual BBC1 broadcast, it also has a 3D broadcast on BBC HD. Having recently bought a new 3D TV, and enjoying many films in that format, I’m intrigued to see if they make good use of it.

Mr Stink also gets a repeat airing on Boxing Day (BBC1, 12.40pm) and Sunday 30th December (BBC3, 7pm), but neither of those have a simultaneous 3D broadcast. There may be an Iplayer option, but don’t hold your breath.

This may seem like an odd choice for those who know me well, as I find Christmas rather pointless as an adult, but it appears Raymond Briggs doesn’t really like the season either.

Also, I’m completely sick and tired of the endless CGI films which are churned out from one factory or another and lack any kind of passion to them. That’s why I’m drawn to this – because the whole animation is DRAWN, and not mass-produced, and it actually looks like those involved have BOTHERED to come up with something engaging.

Synopsis: When a young boy, Billy, and his mother move house, he discovers a box hidden under the floorboards of his bedroom. In the box, he finds a hat, scarf, some lumps of coal and a shrivelled tangerine – it’s a snowman-making kit! When it begins to snow the child builds a Snowman and, with some spare snow, a Snowdog.

There are many repeats of this on C4, E4 and 4Seven, starting with Christmas Day, C4 at 1.55pm.

According to the synopsis, Penny is threatening to cancel Miranda’s Christmas if she does not sort her life out. Amongst other things, she forces her daughter on a detox. Stevie has a new executive job and Miranda tries to follow her into an office job, but it all proves too much. Meanwhile, are Gary and Miranda able to just be friends?

Spawned from the Radio 4 comedy, Miranda Hart’s Joke Shop, I originally thought this seemingly-silly comedy would fall as flat on its face in its translation to TV as Miranda often does, given the original trailer, but when it appeared on our screens for the first time I was very surprised how she and the cast had managed to put together a modern sitcom that (a) was consistently laugh-out-loud funny, (b) perfectly recreated the feel of a ’70s sitcom without over-egging the pudding and (c) translated the radio world nicely to TV including Miranda’s occasional asides directly to the audience, which were done by whispering loudly on the radio, and on TV are done by turning directly to the camera.

This epsiode starts the third series, premiering for the first time on BBC1, but this is the first example of many programmes over Christmas which DON’T GET A REPEAT. Why? Not everyone wants to rely on Iplayer, and there are plenty of hours going spare over the course of the week before the next episode is broadcast.

I know nothing about this, as I haven’t even seen a trailer, but the BBC have had some interesting drama recently with Good Cop and Hunted (which, it appears, IS getting a second series if the writers can collaborate with Sky, rather than the BBC who have given it the push), so a 3-hour spy thriller with a case including Hayley Atwell, Rufus Sewell, Michelle Dockery, Michael Gambon, Charlotte Rampling and Thekla Reuten (who starred alongside Philip Glenister in Hidden) looks like a good bet.

Synopsis: Adaptation of William Boyd’s spy thriller. Ruth Gilmartin finds out from her mother that they have been living a double life. She is not respectable Sally Gilmartin but in fact Eva Delectorskaya, a spy for the British Secret Service who has been on the run for 30 years.

Presenter Petroc Trelawny sets the scene live from Vienna’s Golden Hall of the Musikverein as the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performs the climax of the annual celebratory concert of waltzes, polkas and marches conducted by Franz Welser-Most for the second time.

As well as popular works by members of the Strauss family, we hear from anniversary composers Verdi and Wagner as well as Lanner and Hellmesberger. The Vienna State Ballet choreographed by Ashley Page dance to some of the pieces in and around the grounds of the picturesque Palace Hof.

Yes, it’s mostly the same old music every year, but I could care less about New Year’s Eve as I do about Christmas itself, but this is the one thing I do enjoy, and after getting an HD Freeview box in time for last year’s full broadcast I was hooked on the whole thing. It’s a magnificent piece of entertainment and it’s just a shame the whole thing isn’t broadcast on BBC2 where, oddly, a repeat of The Great British Bake Off is considered more important. For shame.

Hebburn (BBC2, from Thursday 27th December, almost every weeknight and sometimes shown just after midnight)

Created by Jason Cook and co-written by Ideal‘s Graham Duff, I could simply describe this as “Gavin and Stacey but funny”, as it’s a fish-out-of-water-style comedy which sees Jack (Chris Ramsey) bringing his new wife Sarah (Kimberley Nixon) to move from her big town to his small town of Hebburn, but it’s one that has a resounding hit rate of gags and was as enjoyable as I could’ve hoped it to be.

Family-based comedies aren’t easy to sell to the public when they’re not ones that can be watched by the youngest members of the audience, but this, thankfully, had good promotion and good ratings and I do hope a second series is commissioned.

Coming soon: Christmas 2012 TV I’ll still watch, but… because it’s there.