Whan can you say to this???
Even for you Wozza thats just

Cobblers. When did BBC1 last air drama on Xmas Day, DW and EE aside?

The bbc's xmas day schedule is all about entertainment, always has been, and hallelujah for that!

Downton Abbey is popular entertainment. It is perfect for Christmas Day. Would you have preferred it at 8pm instead?

Nobody has a problem with Downton being on Christmas Day, as I've previously stated its their right to do so.

The problem is your assertion that it wouldn't rate better a week earlier opposite no BBC opposition.

Of course it would rate better. ITV are, for once, doing what the viewers want. The fact is, millions of people are going to be excited about it being on the day itself. It's remarkably brave and selfless of ITV IMO.

They know it'll lose in the overnights, but hopefully the officials allow it to time shift 2-3m.

Of course the BBC will receive criticism, they do no matter what they do, and no doubt ITV will kick up a fuss in the papers about BBC scheduling EE against DA.

I'm a fan and even I think of it as a soap now, there was a man who was supposed to be paralysed from the waist down who miraculously healed to save his fiancée from falling, you don't get more soapy than that. The first series might not have been, but the second most certainly was.

a) it wasnt that good

b) it was a 3 parter

c) it was new* (except that it was on LWT in the 1970's)

Whats Eastenders doing on Christmas Day then!

It was worse than Walk on the Wild Side, it was an As Seen on TV repeat run, with Hole in the Wall:

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...&postcount=102

ITV signs deal with Warner Bros for premiere of Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince (and a load of other films they've shown before).

http://www.televisual.com/news-detai...e_nid-940.html

Boxing Day will be fun.

Banter on here, hopefully involving Downton getting a smaller overnight audience than The Gruffolo, off to the football, and a brand new David Jason comedy followed by Mrs Brown to look forward to in the evening.

Perfick!

I've ordered my gloves already.

Don't think there's anything wrong with Downton Abbey on Christmas Day at all - in fact, I think it's a good fit for the ITV audience, a decent contrast to the BBC offering, and will do surprisingly well on the day.

The BBC Christmas Day schedule is solid, if not particularly exciting. I think 2 animated films, followed by an animated short is overload, really - though is preferable to the Shrek The Halls and Jim'll Fix It that got dropped. Ab Fab will be fine at 10pm and I think Michael McIntyre will be better than some expect. It's a late enough slot for that kind of show to work OK.

The BBC's efforts on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day do look an awful lot better than last years, though, which I'm really pleased to see. If anything, Christmas Eve is a little over-stuffed, while The Borrowers adds a bit of oomph to pre-watershed Boxing Day that was entirely lacking last year (Nigel Slater, Countryfile, Antiques Roadshow ).

Actually, it's worth reminding yourself just how utterly awful those two days were last year!
Christmas Eve: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/programm...don/2010/12/24
Boxing Day: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/programm...don/2010/12/26

The ITV drama swap of Fast Freddie and Poirot makes lots of sense to me. The latter would have had a very large crossover with Great Expectations.

Julian Fellowes himself described it as a posh soap, i don't see what the problem is with that description either.

My personal favourite moment from the last series was when Matthew was lost at war for 10 minutes but made a miraculous return to Downton in time to duet with Mary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6tx8h5K_FI

It's always been a soapy costume drama, can I remind people of the Turkish diplomat dying while shagging 'Lady' Mary and the evil maid puting soap on the floor to trip up the pregnant Cora in S1.
It's these outlandish moments that make it so enjoyable.

She will just probably stands there in revealing dresses, thats what female hosts of DOI do

Yep, it's Schofe's gig.

Christine can't possibly do any less than Holly. All she did was link to the judges.

One show revealed the nominees for Sports Personality of the Year last night

Of course, the big Christmas scheduling question remains unanswered...

Where will Jim'll Fix It end up?

Oh come on Robbie, with misery-fest EastEnders at the centre of the schedule that isn't strictly true.

Good for Corrie last night reaching the magic 40% share for the first time this Autumn, it wasn't even a particularly major episode.

Poor for EastEnders though, a million adrift of Corrie and on the back of a massive hyped week of episodes.

I'm a Celeb continues to do well.

No Tuesday FlopZone tonight which will upset the usual suspects.

Final Schedules...

Christmas Eve

BBC One:
17:50 Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
20:00 Merlin
20:45 EastEnders
21:20 Outnumbered
22:00 Lapland

ITV1:
18:30 The Cube: Celebrity Special
19:30 Text Santa
22:00 Life Stories: Donny Osmond

What made it worse was that both Countryfile and HIGNFY were clip shows


Oh dear Lord, did this not have an early Afternoon slot last year I suppose at least it's Christmassy. Boxing Day looks a lot better this year at least.

Boxing Day

BBC One:
17:40 Jim'll Fix It with Shane Richie
18:10 Madagascar 2
19:30 The Borrowers
21:00 EastEnders
21:30 The Royal Bodyguard
22:00 Mrs. Brown's Boys
22:30 News

ITV1:
18:30 Emmerdale
19:00 The Unforgettable Ernie Wise
20:00 Coronation Street
21:00 Poirot

Christmas Eve confirmed as :

BBC One

4.50pm Winter Wipeout
5.50pm Film : Chronicles of Narnia, Lion Witch & Wardrobe
8pm Merlin
8.45pm Eastenders
9.20pm Outnumbered
10pm Lapland
11.15pm National Lottery Draws
11.25pm BBC News

ITV1

3.35pm Film : ET The Extra Terrestrial
5.45pm ITV News
6pm You've Been Framed Christmas Special
6.30pm The Cube Corrie Special
7.30pm Text Santa
10pm Piers Morgan's Life Stories : Donny Osmond
11pm ITV News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/comedy/2011/10/lapland.shtml

What's going on there then!!??

Perhaps it's a comedy about a foul mouthed family, rather than a family comedy?