I managed to find a few things on Christmas Day to watch.

A Top Gear special from India on one of the satellite channels, and 3 or 4 episodes of Judge Judy on one of the CBS channels.

It's out there if you look. Channel surfing has its advantages.

Slowly again - merely promoted - recent years - Christmas Day itself. And 10 years ago is hardly the Dark Ages.

I was quite surprised that there weren't Christmas Specials for shows such as Cold Feet, The Durrells and Poldark, but Christmas Specials for the likes of Grantchester and Midsomer Murders. There did seem to be an over reliance on crime shows and distinct lack of comedy programmes. Hopefully, this will be remedied next year.

I know crime dramas are very popular - and I'm a huge fan of cop shows myself - but there should've been more variety at Christmas. Maybe instead of yet another Christie adaptation or Maigret, they should have adapted something lighter like Georgette Heyer, Stella Gibbons or an Anthony Trollope?

It certainly is for TV! Netflix started streaming services in 2007 and didn't launch them here until 2012 so you could easily argue that only 5 years ago is the Dark Ages! There has been a complete transformation of TV in the past 3 years.

What on earth would constitute a Poldark Christmas Special? The Durrells and Cold Feet could work but they were hardly likely to be given specials first series out when nobody had any idea whether they'd be well received.

If it works for Downton Abbey and Call the Midwife - and I believe a Victoria Christmas Special is in the offing for next year - I fail to see why a Poldark Christmas Special wouldn't be possible.

I've a feeling that ITV would have renewed Cold Feet for a second series even if the ratings had been dismal - I don't think they would've gone to all the trouble of bringing the show back for eight episodes, if they weren't planning further series. And didn't The Durrells air way back in April with a second series commission in April as well? Plenty of time to commission and film a festive special!

I personally don't want anything festive. I hate the whole damned season and don't want themed nonsense applied to any programmes I watch.
Today, things are getting back to a bit of normality as yesterday we had another b****y Bank Holiday and there's still another one next week. Don't people do any work any more?
Firms should invite their staff to work as much as possible over the Christmas period and give them time off at a time their employees want.

You sound a bundle of fun.

Yours Sincerely,

E. Scrooge.

OK, what would be wrong with reviving the ancient concept of a light period crime drama?

I heard a question on the radio yesterday asking why the TV channels take off all the good shows over Christmas and replace them with a load of old crap.

Was that you?

Nothing, (although I'm not sure that I would describe anything from Philip Pullman as light), except the basic principle that Christmas Day is not a day for giving people TV that's good for them but a day for giving them what they want as BBC so successfully did this year. So what do you have in mind? What is there that would have the instant appeal of recognition but hasn't been done already? What specifically would offer BBC something to get ratings as good as Call The Midwife or ITV a chance to reasonably challenge it? Grantchester doesn't appear to be doing that though it ostensibly meets your brief. So what would?

The BBC 1 schedule wasn't bad, it had some good stuff. A lot I didn't personally watch, but it catered to the masses through the day. BBC 2 was slim pickings, but still had the occasional good thing.

ITV's schedule was so bad it should have been shot. They didn't put any effort into things and they should be ashamed of what they put on. C4 and Channel 5 had some films people probably enjoyed watching, but their schedules are almost always a load of crap, so it was business as usual for the rest. Sky 1 tried a little and had the Dragon special.

Apart from Poldark being based on a particular canon of novels whereas Downton was original script all the way, you mean?

You have a marvellously romantic view of how TV series are made so I hate to disillusion you but there is absolutely no way that there was going to be a Durrells special this year. If they do it next year they will film it at the same time as the regular episodes. Anything else would be far too expensive and impractical. Equally the fate of Cold Feet was never a done deal which is why the writers concluded the series with a proper ending rather than a million cliffhangers.

On the contrary. Having learned their lesson from previous experience and that of their American counterparts they produced a schedule that served their purposes and on occasion more than exceeded their expectations. Far from being ashamed, I think they will be very pleased with the result and will certainly have put a smile on the accountant's face. There was absolutely nothing to be gained from putting lambs out for the wolves!

And once again no detail whatsoever as to what these 'good shows' are no doubt?

Imagine this:
You have a stall at a christmas market and you're selling sausages in rolls for £1 each. You do pretty well, and the burger-joint next to you sells different stuff for people who don't want a sausage.

Then, the people who get all the entrance money from the fair - paid by all the customers who come in - decide to get in on the act and open stalls for sausages, burgers, pies, icecream and GIVE IT AWAY FOR FREE.
How could you compete with that? Should you "be shot" for not putting any effort into something that is clearly dominated by the other lot, and with whom it's impossible to compete?

Wouldn't it be better if there was no entrance fee, but all the stalls could sell a variety of stuff, at a variety of prices. Then each could make some money, innovation would increase the range of products available, competition would improve the quality and if people didn't want to buy as much as they had previously paid to get in, they wouldn't have to.

Absolutely not but it's so true. The Christmas University Challenge shows have been good, in their own way but to me there's absolutely no redeeming features of the Christmas period whatsoever. Grrrrrrrrrhh.

This has to be the most bizarre anti-Licence Fee post ever written on here.

And that's saying something.

Yes, to you! But there are over 7 million viewers who found at least one redeeming feature, 6 million who found a few and 4 million who found a lot. Do you seriously expect broadcasters to be abandoning them to suit you?

Giving up, as I don't converse with brick walls.

Well. I'd be interested to know where you came upon those facts.

Never visit the ratings thread? Bums on seats to use the vernacular!

Never. Bah humbug

Isn't Call the Midwife based on a trilogy of memoirs and when the screenwriters used up all the source material, they simply came up with new stories. Grantchester, Father Brown and Midsomer Murders are also based on a series of novels, but writers have created new stories to fit in with the TV show. Even if creating new stories proved anathema to the Poldark canon, I am sure that in the 12 novels in the Poldark series, Christmas must have been mentioned at least once!

While my view of how TV series are made might be romantic, wasn't the Birds of a Feather 1 hour special commissioned halfway through the year, filmed in November and broadcast on Christmas Eve?