Christmas TV Of The 70s, 80s And 90s

Before catch-up, Christmas television was an event because it could not be watched later. Twenty-eight million people watching the same thing at the same time was normal.

Here's what that looked like.

Cards drawn and printed by us

Funny, rude and warm greeting cards for every occasion, blank inside, printed in the UK with kraft envelopes. Order on a working day and it usually goes out the same day.

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The Radio Times double issue

  • Out in mid-December, twice the size, and immediately fought over.
  • The ritual: a biro, and every programme you wanted circled before anyone else got to it.
  • The TV Times for the ITV side, which meant buying both if your family was serious.
  • A cover that was a genuine annual design event.
  • It is the single most-mentioned Christmas memory of anybody over forty.

The seventies

  • Morecambe and Wise. The 1977 Christmas show drew a figure usually given as around 28 million viewers, one of the largest British television audiences ever recorded.
  • The Two Ronnies, Mike Yarwood and the variety specials.
  • The Queen's Speech at 3pm, which the whole family sat through.
  • Billy Smart's Circus, which was on every year without fail.
  • Top of the Pops Christmas special with the year's number ones.
  • A film premiere at teatime that had been in the cinema four years earlier.

The eighties

  • The Snowman, first shown Christmas 1982 on Channel 4, and shown every year since.
  • Only Fools and Horses Christmas specials, building towards the enormous audiences of the nineties.
  • The Bond film, always, and always the same three or four.
  • EastEnders from 1985, and the beginning of the soap Christmas tradition.
  • Blackadder's Christmas Carol in 1988.
  • Christmas Top of the Pops, the Two Ronnies, and a Bruce Forsyth special.

The nineties

  • Only Fools and Horses, 'Time on Our Hands', Christmas Day 1996 - 24.3 million viewers, the highest audience for a British sitcom episode ever.
  • Del Boy falling through the bar had been 1989, and was repeated every Christmas afterwards.
  • EastEnders' Christmas Day episodes drawing over twenty million.
  • Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave, Christmas Eve 1995.
  • The Vicar of Dibley, One Foot in the Grave and the Christmas sitcom special as a fixed institution.
  • Toy Story and the big animated premieres arriving at the end of the decade.

The rituals

  • Boxing Day was for the long film and the leftovers.
  • The Christmas Day schedule was planned around the dinner, not the other way round.
  • Someone always fell asleep during the afternoon film.
  • The videotape, set to record something and later taped over by accident.
  • Two channels of children's programmes in the morning and nothing else to do until lunch.

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How to write it so it lands

  • The Radio Times double issue is the most-remembered ritual of all.
  • The Snowman has run every year since 1982.
  • Nobody could watch anything later. That's the whole point.

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Frequently asked questions

What was the most watched Christmas TV show ever in the UK?

The 1977 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show is usually cited at around 28 million viewers. For a sitcom episode, the 1996 Only Fools and Horses special 'Time on Our Hands' drew 24.3 million.

When was The Snowman first shown?

Christmas 1982, on Channel 4 - one of the channel's earliest broadcasts. It has been shown every Christmas since.

What was the Radio Times Christmas double issue?

The two-week Christmas listings edition, out in mid-December, which families circled in biro to plan their viewing. Buying both it and the TV Times was standard in many houses.

When did EastEnders start its Christmas episodes?

EastEnders began in 1985 and its Christmas Day episodes quickly became an institution, regularly drawing over twenty million viewers through the nineties.

Do you sell DVDs or TV merchandise?

No - we make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK. This is written for the pleasure of remembering it, and the only products on this page are our own cards.

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