It’s Christmas in 1995. You’ve got your red pen hovering over the Radio Times listings, all ready to circle the shows you’re going to watch or record on tape, and you realise … there’s loads on this year. Take a look at this trail, to begin.
That’s the last ever episode of Keeping Up Appearances, called The Pageant, and the penultimate 2point4 Children yuletide special, Porky’s. Then it goes straight into the festive edition of Last Of The Summer Wine, this year called A Leg Up For Christmas.
But that’s not all.
There was The Thin Blue Line episode Yuletide Spirit, and Thicker Than Water, the first of only two festive editions of The Detectives.
Christmas Eve alone looked like this.
It’s fair to say that Auntie was rather proud of her line up in 1995. They even made a little promo show with Linda Robson and Pauline Quirke.
I think I recorded every single one of those movies. Seeing Lenny Henry’s special there makes me sad that his back catalogue isn’t more widely available. The One Foot In The Grave episode was The Wisdom Of The Witch, while Goodnight Sweetheart went with Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea.
Stick around after to see some scenes from the Shooting Stars special, and only ruddy Knowing Me, Knowing Yule.
So, was 1995 the best telly Christmas ever?
The ratings were good.
The number one Christmas show was One Foot In The Grave, with 17.77 million viewers.
Keeping Up Appearances was next, after the two main soaps, at number five with 16.73 million viewers.
Hook was the most watched movie, with 12.5 million watching – with Beethoven and Patriot Games not far behind.
The Thin Blue Line was watched by more people than The Queen.
