The best Christmas TV 2011
Christmas - a time for stuffing yourself silly, exchanging gifts and spending quality time with loved ones... in front of the television. This year's smorgasbord of festive programming will make your feast of leftovers, Toblerone and sherry look like a light entrée. From adventurous family drama in the shape of Just Henry to the long-awaited return of laugh-out-loud funny Absolutely Fabulous - there is something spectacular for everyone. Here is our pick of the best Christmas television for 2011...
Black mirror
Satirical drama
Charlie Brooker, author of E4's BAFTA nominated Dead Set, returns with a three-part 60 minute mini-series which lampoons modern western culture and society. Two of the three films are written by Charlie, with the third written by Jesse Armstrong (Peep Show, The Thick of It, Four Lions).
What can we expect?
Black Mirror is a contemporary British re-working of The Twilight Zone with three stories that tap into the collective unease about our modern world.
The National Anthem looks at how life is very much harder for the rich and supposedly powerful now that information is disseminated so quickly and public opinion is so loud, powerful and quick to change; 15 Million Merits is a satire on entertainment shows and our insatiable thirst for distraction. In Memoriam (written by Peep Show's Jesse Armstrong) is set in an alternate reality where everyone has access to a system which records everything they do, see or hear.
The three stand alone dramas are sharp and thrilling satirical tales with a techno-paranoia bent. Not your typical festive comfort viewing but certainly one to watch if you're looking for some truly original and thought-provoking entertainment.
The National anthem aired 4th December (watch on 4oD); 15 Million Merits airs 11th December; In Memoriam airs 18th December, 9pm, Channel 4
My Big Fat Gypsy Christmas
Documentary
From the makers of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding comes a one-off observational documentary following the celebrations and traditions of members of the Irish traveller community at Christmas time.
What can we expect?
Filmed last Christmas, as a thick layer of snow covered the land, there's an avalanche of dresses and diamante as travellers prepare for Christmas. Following a mass yuletide traveller First Communion ceremony and two of the most jaw-dropping weddings ever shown, the film also follows some of the unique traveller preparations that go on in the run up to Christmas day.
Building on the massive popularity of the My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding series, this delving into the wider culture of England's traveller community will feature familiar faces as well as some interesting new personalities. Expect plenty of curious Christmas traditions - but not the kind you're accustomed to...
Airs 13th December, 9pm, Channel 4
Home for the holidays
Live gameshow
A seven day live entertainment show which sees T4 veteran Vernon Kay return to Channel 4 as host.
One soon-to-be-married couple will, for the first time, bring their two extended families together. Can they survive their own family 24-hours-a-day for a week to win a potential half a million pounds?
What can we expect?
At the centre of the show is one couple, soon to be married, who will move into a sumptuous manor house for the lead up to Christmas. Their first night in the house is a romantic, cosy affair - but it isn't to last... Eight members of their close family turn up to spend Christmas with the couple, at which point it is revealed the relatives will be there for 7 days and along the way the group will be given opportunities to build up a huge prize fund for them all to share at the end of their stay. But there is a catch, the prize fund will halve each time anyone leaves.
What the couple do not know is that each of the arrivals is worth a different amount of money and the first evening, live on the telly, they must choose only six of the eight to stay for good. Will the couple chose their favourite family members or will their decision be swayed by the price tags around their necks?
It's hard to say how this will play out but any televisual reflection of family politics and drama which is oh-so-typical to Christmas is bound to be entertaining and morbidly comforting.
Airs 18th - 24th December, 8pm, Channel 4
Just Henry
Drama
Rising star Josh Bolt (Nowhere Boy, The Be All and End All) leads a prestigious cast including Elaine Cassidy, Dean Andrews, Stephen Campbell Moore, Barbara Flynn and Sheila Hancock in an adaptation of Michelle Magorian’s critically acclaimed novel about one boy’s discovery that will alter his family life forever.
What can we expect?
Set in post-Second World War Britain, Henry is growing up in a fraught and unsettled household that consists of his mother Maureen, stepfather Bill, and his paternal grandmother. When his late father’s war medal for bravery gets posted through the door Henry wants to know more about the circumstances of his death, something that his mother has always preferred him not to know too much about.
A new school teacher, Mrs Beaumont, engages Henry's passion for film and assigns him and two classmates - Paul Jeffries and Grace Ellis - a group project about cinema. Things take a turn when Henry comes to believe that Paul's father - a deserter - may be responsible for his own father's death. But on a visit to his father's grave, Henry is approached by a stranger who claims to be his dad.
Mysteries abound and every twist is followed by a new one as Henry attempts to put together the pieces of a very personal puzzle.
Airs 18th December, 7pm, ITV1
