Channel 5 have pulled something out the bag this Christmas. Check this out for Boxing Day.

17:10 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (1999)
18:40 Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
Christmas Special 1974.
19:45 TOTP 2: 1985 Christmas
21:00 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
Christmas 1974.

And then on December 30th:

19:00 Cowboy Builders
19:55 Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
Christmas Special 1975.
21:00 Butterflies
Christmas Special 1979.
21:45 Terry and June
Christmas Special.

Classic British Sitcoms, what a fantastic idea! Channel 5's Boxing Day schedule looks stronger than BBC One's at the moment.

Wow-how've they managed that?! That looks amazing...for Channel 5 anyway..so out of the ordinary and unexpected. I hope there's more of this to come!

Maybe somebody could start a channel doing that. Maybe they could call it UK Gold??


I wouldnt expect it to rate too well. the CSI audience will just go WTF when they see Terry & June.

I agree! I think it's a fantastic idea, but I'm pretty surprised they have managed it .. I mean ... HOW? .

I hope it does well for them.

I have no idea, but I'm incredibly impressed! They have seriously upped their game with that lineup. The kind of thing you'd expect from BBC Two, but theirs is nowhere near as good.

Looking forward to this sitcom Classic

Nice alternative though.

I guess it's subjective. But for me, a couple of 70's sitcoms does not make a good schedule.

Wasn't there a BBC Morecambe and Wise special on Channel 5 a couple of Christmases ago?

Yep I remember that!

Best line-up looks like Five to be honest. OK, I'll probably not watch much of it, but some of the BBC1 and ITV line-up looks extremely dire though.

I think the Boxing Day schedule will change to this:

6.00pm: Nigel Slaters Christmas Suppers
6.30 FILM PREMIERE: Indiana Jones......Crystal Skull
8.30 EastEnders
9.00 Upstairs Downstairs

The "Countryfile" and "Antiques Roadshow" slots are smoke and mirrors! That's my opinion anyway! If the BBC1 Boxing Day schedule remains as the provisional one suggests I'll eat my dirty boxer shorts!

Steady on folks with the Digiguide draft schedules - apart from a revised draft of Christmas Day, BBC1's don't seem to have changed from the Friday night drafts, unless I'm missing something.

And that Christmas Day schedule seems unlikely - why waste The One Ronnie at 5.10pm then shut up shop at 10.30? It would do much better at 10.30.

Obviously not the final versions, with Corrie and EE clashing.

I think it should be:

17:30 Indiana Jones
19:30 EastEnders
20:00 Upstairs Downstairs
21:00 Rock & Chips

Agree.

And Songs of Praise at 5.20pm on Boxing Day?

Not sure about the Indy premiere up against ITV's Mummy premiere. Suspect they've put it there to spook the BBC as they expect Indy to be scheduled there.

bloody hell maybe Desmond was serious when he said he wanted TOTP for Channel 5.

Still its not like we have not see TOTP 2 on other channels before, Dave & Yesterday being the most recent examples.

That's right, and it did really well in the ratings too. (2m) This year they are doing things on an even bigger scale!


Yeah but those channels are part owned by BBC Worldwide. It's much more of a coup for Channel 5 to have it, where it could reach a bigger audience.

I think some at the time of Desmond making those comments said Top Of The Pops on Channel 5 could never happen. Well it sort of has here, albeit in re-run form.

C5 have done something similar for a number of years, but there is nothing amazing about 35 year old repeats - the nostalgia value of shows from the seventies is long gone.

EDIT: Scrap that - compared to the BBC1 and ITV1 Boxing Day schedule it's amazing!

those TOTP 2 shows, have always been fully formed shows, avabile on the open market, its just this is the first time a non BBC WW channel has shown an interst in them.

I have only ever really speculated about BBC owned shows like TOTP (Eastenders etc) and there legal status, could BBC WW sell the format (& assocaite brands) to another UK channel? Its certainly fair to say that the BBC does not use TOTP, so there is little harm in that?

Could Channel 5 buy the rights to the video in the TOTP archive, to make new TOTP 2 with?

I wonder if Desmond sees any future in repeating old BBC shows, possibly Classic EastEnders, or even "Classic" Qi, if they can air on Dave (or other BBC WW channels) no reason they cant air on Channel 5.

I would still love to see Indiana Jones as the Christmas day film. It would work well if they scheduled it like this:

3.10 FILM: Indiana Jones....Crystal Skull
5.15 The Gruffalo
5.45 BBC News
6.00 Doctor Who
7.00 Strictly
8.00 EastEnders
9.00 The Royle Family
10.00 Come Fly With Me
10.30 The One Ronnie
11.20 BBC News

Then for Boxing Day:

3.40 FILM: Shrek The Third
5.00 Songs of Praise
5.40 BBC News
5.50 FILM: Enchanted
7.30 EastEnders
8.00 Upstairs, Downstairs
9.00 Rock and Chips
10.00 Come Fly With Me
10.30 BBC News
10.45 Match of the Day

I should be TV scheduler!

I agree.
Just checked the previous years when Boxing Day fell on Sunday, in 2004 S.O.P aired at 3.40 and in 1999 it aired at 4.15.

Bound to pull in 2-3 million viewers who have fond memories of these shows. I think Channel 5 knows its regular offerings will have little or no impact over Christmas so have opted for these repeats.

With regards to Songs of Praise on Boxing Day - it's a Sunday, it's always on the BBC on a Sunday, just like the weather for the week ahead. If 40 minutes in a teatime slot can't be devoted to a few festive hymns, then IMO it's a bit poor.

And imagine the complaints if it wasn't on, and no alternative religious programming was provided. In the Christmas period of all times. Not worth the hassle


Would this be best in the week before Christmas? Is there really a demand for a cookery show in Boxing Day primetime?

If thats correct then its decent. The One Ronnie is a good warm-up for Doctor Who and then the big guns are on until 10pm. Good to see Come Fly With Me get a great slot to show its potential but not impressed with Christmas night effectively finishing at 10:30pm.


Pretty terrible as expected. A gap in between Emmerdale and Corrie is a bad idea.


Great stuff. An excellent trilogy to get people in the festive mood. Only Fools is synonomous with Christmas TV.


A nice idea from Five and credit for making an effort. However, it does look like something I would expect on GOLD. It will either be a great idea (1.5m+) or quite bad. ( <0.6m).


Very good George.

Nothing new about ITV's poor Christmas day schedules, although they did come close to frightening the BBC in 1978 when they premiered Diamonds Are Forever and Morecambe and Wise changed sides and in 1987 walloped BBC1 when they showed Hilda Ogden leaving Coronation St( 25 million tuned in). However, good Christmas Day ITV schedules have always been quite rare.

Can't say I share the enthusiasm about Five, but that is quite unexpected. How did they do that?

Surely those rights are with the BBC and BBC Worldwide for the old UKTV channels?