Comedy Christmas Specials

[Mobius]

What's everyone's favourites to watch at this most wonderful time, of the year?

I do these with a mate.

Bottom - Holy (Series 2 Episode 5)
Peep Show - Seasonal Beatings (Series 7, Episode 5)
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - A Very Sunny Christmas (Series 6, Episode 13)
Arrested Development - Afternoon Delight (Series 2, Episode 6)

The Office & Extras xmas specials are alright too. I seem to recall quite enjoying Click & Collect the Steve Merchant & Chabuddy G one-off from a few years back.

Any more recommendations? I'm sure there's others.

[Steven88]

All the One Foot in the Grave Christmas specials, my particular favourites are Who's listening and The Wisdom of the Witch.

Christmas with The Royle Family - The best Christmas episode they did, the next one always gets a watch as well but isn't as good.

[Ham Bap]

I'll watch anything Chrismassy.
These are the TV ones that come to mind:

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, Gone Christmas Fishing - This was the best thing on Christmas TV last year
The Royle Family - Joe's Crackers and The New Sofa are good.
Bottom - Has become a Christmas tradition to watch.
Frasier -  Has a couple of good Christmas episodes
The Simpsons - First full length episode was a Christmas special
Knowing me Knowing Yule
The Office which I just watched yesterday on iPlayer
Extras
Father Ted
Porridge
Peep Show
Black Mirror (not a comedy one but deserves a mention)
One Foot in the Grave
League of Gentlemen
The Vicar of Dibley - the one when she has 3 dinners
Men Behaving Badly
Gavin and Stacey

[Icehaven]

Blackadder's Christmas Carol. I watch it every year, whether anyone else present wants to or not. Apart from the year I was at my then boyfriend's parents house and it came on, and they lasted about 10 minutes before saying "This is silly, what else is on?" and switched over. Genuinely think they'd never seen or heard of Blackadder, fucking philistines.
Anyway it always makes me a bit sad there wasn't a whole Victorian series, it could even have been a good start point as

Spoiler alert

he starts off virtuous and becomes evil by the end, which is a nice reversal of the original and of course fits the Blackadder character.

[close]

(I don't know why I'm spoilering a 33 year old show but no one's mentioned it yet so may not have seen it.)

[markburgle]

Ghosts gave us a good un last year
South Park's Critter Christmas is a great one

[shiftwork2]

Knowing me Knowing Yule

This.  I don't think there's anything else that I know quite so well and even then a rewatch never disappoints.  Can we get a mince pie for the Christian?

[BritishHobo]

This.  I don't think there's anything else that I know quite so well and even then a rewatch never disappoints.  Can we get a mince pie for the Christian?

This does it for me in such a specific way. Growing up in the late 90s, my childhood Christmas memories are so tied to the adverts/technology of the time that bits like the VT where he goes to Tandy really put me in that Christmas mindset.

I say this every year, but Man Down's two specials are lovely, and the second one is very bittersweet with the death of Rik Mayall, and Greg's dad.

dinnerladies always gets me as well. Very schmaltzy, but it hits.

[Bad Ambassador]

The Goes Wrong Show: The Spirit of Christmas and Peter Pan Goes Wrong. One a panto, one may as well be.

[non capisco]

This.  I don't think there's anything else that I know quite so well and even then a rewatch never disappoints.  Can we get a mince pie for the Christian?

Nice action. Very nice action. Qua..quality action.



I've got one, though.

[shiftwork2]

That branch of Tandy's is a few minutes walk from where I'm now sitting.  Now a Rymans but I feel a strange need to visit.

'The budget's around two eighty, two eighty k.  I don't know if you're familiar with TV budgets?'

[Tony Yeboah]

Blackadder's Christmas Carol. I watch it every year, whether anyone else present wants to or not. Apart from the year I was at my then boyfriend's parents house and it came on, and they lasted about 10 minutes before saying "This is silly, what else is on?" and switched over. Genuinely think they'd never seen or heard of Blackadder, fucking philistines.
Anyway it always makes me a bit sad there wasn't a whole Victorian series, it could even have been a good start point as

Spoiler alert

he starts off virtuous and becomes evil by the end, which is a nice reversal of the original and of course fits the Blackadder character.

[close]

(I don't know why I'm spoilering a 33 year old show but no one's mentioned it yet so may not have seen it.)

Humbug, humbug, humbug.

[DrGreggles]

The Goes Wrong Show: The Spirit of Christmas and Peter Pan Goes Wrong. One a panto, one may as well be.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong is good.

[bgmnts]

Yeah most South Park Christmas episodes are good, my favourites being Red Sleigh Down and Woodland Critter Christmas. And I do like the Blackadder Christmas Carol effort.

I suppose the very first Simpsons episode has that certain something as well. The image of Homer losing everything on the dogs on Christmas whilst dressed as Santa is perfect.

[Pink Gregory]

Ghosts gave us a good un last year
South Park's Critter Christmas is a great one

When I lived with my parents and had Sky+, I kept a recording of Mr Hankey's Christmas Classics on the box for a good few years

[Brundle-Fly]

Steptoe & Son 'A Perfect Christmas' (1974) was the final ever episode. The 1973 spesh is a good one too.

[dr beat]

A few mentioned already - Knowing Me Knowing Yule, Bottom, Fast Show, Father Ted.  Also the Christmas Limmy's Show and the 1995 Shooting Stars Christmas Special with the big opening. The Xmas Peep Show is another one.  We seem to be in a minority of really liking that episode and the portrayal of Mark's Dad.

[Wezzo]

I've watched Futurama's Xmas Story and A Tale of Two Santas every Christmas Day since the DVDs came out nigh-on twenty years ago.

[Bigfella]

Rising Damp.  Captures Rigsby's failures as a man and bigot.  Incidentally, where is his accent from?  He sounds like Inspector Meadows from The Bill. I'm a Scot, so I can't know.

[monkfromhavana]

I'm more of an old skool Xmas special fan, so,

Porridge
The Good Life
Ever Decreasing Circles
Terry & June

Then:

Father Ted

[superthunderstingcar]

I see the Yes Minister special Party Games hasn't been mentioned yet.

It's not very Christmassy, I suppose, but was broadcast in December, is set around Christmas, and contains the lovely routine with Bernard and Hacker and the Christmas cards.


Oh shit, my first post!

[Rizla]

Incidentally, where is his accent from?

It's set in Leeds (London in the film, for some reason), so I always assumed he was meant to be from there or thereabouts.

[Brundle-Fly]

I see the Yes Minister special Party Games hasn't been mentioned yet.

It's not very Christmassy, I suppose, but was broadcast in December, is set around Christmas, and contains the lovely routine with Bernard and Hacker and the Christmas cards.


Oh shit, my first post!

Welcome aboard. Pass the peanuts.

[shlug]

Think I've rewatched The Office Christmas Specials nearly every year for the past decade. Sad that I get teary and goosebumps at the exact same bits, beyond belief how the same person(s) can go on to write Derek and Lifes Too Short.

Similarly, Inside No. 9's 12 Days of Christine with tears and goosebumps included although not strictly a comedy.

I quite enjoyed Mr Bean's Christmas special if only for going against the grain a bit with the sad lonely ending relative to normal soppy Christmas episodes you'd expect.

Not really a special or indeed even a Christmas film proper but I do look forward to Planes, Trains & Automobiles coming on around this time.

[Icehaven]

Inside No. 9's Krampus one is great too.

[The Mollusk]

The Simpsons - First full length episode was a Christmas special

Ain't a patch on "Marge Be Not Proud" though. One of my all time fave Xmas speshies.

I mention this probably every year but the Ideal special is brilliant. It also marks a point where the show goes from pretty good to great, as it's plopped between the first and second series. It's one of the best episodes for utilising the run-down shitty flat and the little contained world of people who come and go through it. Warm and familiar but also melancholic and doomed to emptiness. The karaoke scenes are top notch.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Blackadder's Christmas Carol.

Victoria and Albert are the best part of that. "What are you doing, you naughty German sausage?"

[Mobius]

Some great recommendations in this thread, some I'd forgotten I also watch every year and some I didn't know about.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Steptoe & Son 'A Perfect Christmas' (1974) was the final ever episode. The 1973 spesh is a good one too.

That's a good 'un. Watched it for the past four Christmas Days. For the most part, It's a two- hander, and you have to hand it to 'em for the sheer amount of memorized dialogue the pair of em reproduce, with understandable near- fluffing of lines happening sporadically ( especially for William S. Burroughs features, who was enjoying the ol' drink a bit too much at the time, I believe).

And 'Arold wins at the end!

[holyzombiejesus]

The Likely Lads. Used to watch it every Christmas morning, semi-pissed.

There was a Detectorists one too. I've not watched it since transmission but I remember being a bit disappointed by it. I remember it being a tiny bit spooky but not at all Christmasy. :(

[kalowski]

This.  I don't think there's anything else that I know quite so well and even then a rewatch never disappoints.  Can we get a mince pie for the Christian?

Is Dr Hook a real doctor?