RTBWTV December 15th 2024

A leisurely sleigh ride through the snowy wastes of Christmas scheduling from the Golden Age of British Television (1956 and the Suez Crisis to 1974 and the three day week). Guy Morgan and David Newell set out on a search party to find the first authentic UK Xmas TV episode of a regular series - only to find the Americans had got there first. Sad to say, some of the tracks have been obliterated by the blizzard of wiping that afflicted the BBC, but some, surprisingly, have been frozen in time, thanks to the advent of ITV and the business nous of Lew Grade.

The intrepid explorers discover that the template of church service, the Queen's message and the mandatory circus/panto/celebrity revue was carved in stone from the mid fifties, but the number of elephants dramatically declined over the years.

So pour an eggnog, prise out some dates and steep yourself in the warm glow of black and white television that was probably recorded sometime in August...……..

As usual, rights in any clips and music remain with the holders and are used here for educational purposes.