Season's Greetings Everyone! The festive season isn't the festive season without sitting down and watching some Christmas films, but today I wanted to share some other Christmas things you could be watching right now - Christmas episodes and specials! Most TV shows to ever exist have had at least one holiday episode, so there are plenty out there for you to enjoy in December, but I've narrowed the thousands down to some of my favourites, both well-known Christmas episodes, and some you may have forgotten about. My list of TV specials and episodes is so long that I've had to cut a few out, otherwise this post would go on forever. But never fear, it just means I'll be able to do another post next year, without having to repeat the ones I've already talked about. So, put the popcorn in the microwave, make a drink, and get ready to add some great programs to your festive watch-list! Probably one of my favourite Christmas episodes, and possibly one of the first that I remember watching and always come back to each year, is Merry Christmas Mr Bean (Mr Bean: season 1, episode 7). It's probably one of the most iconic Mr Bean episodes, filled with so many hilarious moments - Mr Bean going Christmas shopping and inadvertently causing havoc; Bean attempting to cook a mammoth turkey, only to loose his watch inside the turkey and then get the entire turkey stuck on his head; sending Christmas cards to himself; and making the ultimate Christmas cracker. This episode is also the perfect example of how good Rowan Atkinson is as an actor with the ability to convey so much in so few words. Filled with so much Christmas spirit, it's the perfect episode to watch during the holidays. And besides, who doesn't love Mr Bean? Another series that I grew up with is Monarch of the Glen, and the holiday episode Hogmanay Special (season 5, episode 11) is such a fantastic episode. All the residents of Glenbogle prepare for their New Year celebrations, while Golly tells everyone tales of 'Mad Malcolm', the ghost that haunts the house during Hogmanay. Between Duncan helping out some amateur ghost hunters and Paul discovering a mysterious chess belonging to his great-grandfather Bertie, there's a party to plan and lots of dancing to be done. In general, Monarch of the Glen is a fantastic series, and this holiday special really showcases every aspect the show has to offer. Plus, I'm a sucker for the Scottish accent! Continuing the slightly weird Christmas specials is the Christmas Special from Misfits (season 2, episode 7). Again, Misfits is a favourite of mine, particularly the first two seasons with the original cast. Generally, Misfits is a hard show for me to describe to people, especially when trying to make it sound as awesome as it is - five young adults doing community service get struck by lightning in a freak storm and get superpowers. See, doesn't really do the show justice. Anyway, this Christmas special is a fun one, showing us our main characters over the Christmas period when their community service is over. Topping it all off, there's a guy buying these super powers to pretend he's Jesus and cheat everyone out of their money and get sexual favours. Seriously, this is such a good show and episode, trust me on it. I'm just not that good at doing it justice. Just watch it! Okay, moving back to more iconic UK Christmas specials. The first is, of course, Mrs Browns Boys. The show in general is absolutely hilarious, but it's probably, at this point, more well-known for its annual Christmas and New Years specials. Now, I could list all the Christmas specials, but for me, it's definitely the earlier ones that are some of my personal favourites (and also because I think I'm a couple of episodes behind on the specials). Firstly, there's Mammy's Ass (2011), the very first Christmas special that kick-started all this holiday comedy. Agnes is waiting for her son Trevor to return home from Africa, while Dermont struggles to figure out where to spend Christmas. It might not be as crazy as later Christmas specials, but it is where it all started. Following the simpleness of 2011, are the 2012 specials Mammy Christmas and The Virgin Mammy, where Agnes takes over the organising of the Nativity play, resulting in some hilarious moments (the most iconic moment has to be Agnes wanting to actually show the birth of Jesus, firing canon and all!). Finally are the 2013 specials Buckin' Mammy and Who's A Pretty Mammy?, in which we really get to see Bono. A big theme throughout all the Christmas specials is Agnes' Christmas tree, which gets crazier and crazier each year. Definitely one of the most hilarious UK series. If we're talking iconic Christmas episodes, you can't go past The Vicar Of Dibley, another absolutely fantastic British comedy. And possibly the most iconic Christmas episode for the series is The Christmas Lunch Incident (1996), in which our Vicar Geraldine is invited to four Christmas lunches, but doens't have the heart to say no to the subsequent invites, resulting in her eating four Christmas lunches. Dawn French is hilarious in this episode, particularly as Geraldine consumes more and more food. Plus, it's such a good showcase of all our favourite Dibley residents and just how crazy they all are. A very close second in iconic Christmas Dibley episodes is the Winter Special (1999), where the residents of Dibley do a live performance of the Nativity, on a farm and all, culminating in Alice, who was playing Mary, giving birth (and then wondering if she had actually given birth to Jesus). An absolute classic. Friends is possibly one of the greatest shows when it comes to holiday episodes. Almost every season features Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Years episodes, and while they are all amazing Christmas watches, there are five that I particularly love. The first, The One With The Monkey (season 1, episode 10), is more-so a New Years Eve episode, but it's a fantastic one nonetheless, watching our six friends navigate a holiday party with their dates and lack of dates. Plus, it's also the first episode we see Marcel, so that's a bonus! Then there's The One With Phoebe's Dad (season 2, episode 9), which is honestly the best just because of Joey and Chandler's presents at the end - I really do feel bad for everyone else spending so much on nice presents, like a sweater, only to get wiper blades or condoms in return. If we're talking iconic Phoebe Christmas episodes, then The One Where Rachel Quits (season 3, episode 10) is definitely a good one. While most of the group are following Rachel on her road to quitting her job at the coffee house, Phoebe is on a mission to save all the old trees at Joey's holiday job. It's classic Phoebe and a fantastic holiday watch. The other great Phoebe episode is The One With The Girl From Poughkeepsie (season 4, episode 3), in which we see Phoebe attempting to write a holiday song for her friends. 'Smelly Cat' may be Phoebe's most iconic song, but her Christmas song from this episode is probably a close second. Finally, the most quintessential Christmas episode is The One With The Holiday Armadillo (season 7, episode 10). Apart from the Armadillo/Santa/Superman hi-jinx, it was also great to have the inclusion of Hanukkah into the holiday celebrations. While we're on the subject of Hanukkah, we really can't go past Chrismukkah and The O.C. Chrismukkah has kind of been a thing for a while now, but it was The O.C. that really brought it to the mainstream. With four seasons, we are treated to four perfect Christmas episodes. The first, The Best Chrismukkah (season 1, episode 13), introduces us to Seth's epic holiday - "eight days of presents, followed by one day of many presents" - and the magic that is Chrismukkah. The second, The Chrismukkah That Almost Wasn't (season 2, episode 6), sees Summer perform a Chrismukkah miracle to bring the Cohen family together on such an auspicious holiday. In the third, The Chrismukkah Bar-Mitzvahkkah (season 3, episode 10), the gang through Ryan a Bar-Mitzvah in order to raise money for Johnny's knee surgery. And in the final Chrismukkah episodes, The Chrismukk-huh (season 4, episode 7), we are thrown into an alternative universe when Ryan and Taylor are both knocked unconscious. It's all so flipping good! One of the few shows that mixes Christmas viewing with Christmas Carols is, of course, Glee. Of their four Christmas episodes, the first two are definitely my favourites. A Very Glee Christmas (season 2, episode 10) is such a fun How The Grinch Stole Christmas spoof, and all our characters had some great storylines, if not a little heartbreaking - from Rachel and Finn breaking up (sob) to Brittney asking Father Christmas for Artie to walk again, it's a great episode with the perfect Carol soundtrack. Extraordinary Merry Christmas (season 3, episode 9) is also fantastic, not just because the namesake song is one of my favourite Christmas songs (did you know it's a Glee original?). Artie's Christmas specials is so fun, and the episode culminates with an important message about helping out the less-fortunate during the holidays. A show a recently rewatched and that really put me into the festive spirit was The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. Again, this is a show that is FANTASTIC and I love having a cheeky binge session here and there. Of the four Christmas episodes that spanned the show's six seasons, it's the first two that are the most festive. The first, Deck The Halls (season 1, episode 15), sees Will go all out and decorate the Banks' house with traditional Christmas decorations in order to get Ashley more excited for the holiday. There's a million lights flashing on the front of the house and tinsel covering almost every surface inside the house. You can't not feel festive watching this episode! The second is probably my favourite of the two, and that's Christmas Snow (season 2, episode 13). The entire Banks/Smith rent a house in the snow for Christmas, and while the adults are out dancing the night away, a robber comes and steals absolutely everything, leaving the kids of the family tied up. You know what else this episode has? The Carlton Dance! On the home front, I couldn't ignore some great Australian Christmas episodes, showing an Aussie Christmas in all it's glory. I'm actually going to start off with a mini-series, A Moody Christmas, because it's just so damn good. Over six episodes, we follow the Moody family, in particular Dan Moody, over six Christmas'. Dan returns from London to visit his family every Christmas, and with each episode we see how much has changed in the course of a year. The Moody's are such a dysfunctional family, and no Christmas is smooth sailing, so it's no wonder Dan doesn't return home often. It's such a great series, so even though it's not exactly a one-off Christmas episode, I still had to include it here! (FYI, the series is on Stan if you're wanting to watch it!) Continuing the Aussie Christmas comedy is Da Kath & Kim Code (Kath & Kim, 2005). Kath & Kim is one of my favourite Aussie series, so to have a whole 90-minute telemovie in general is great, but a Christmas-themed telemovie is even better! Okay, so it might be a movie, but it's still a Christmas special. Not only do we have Kel trying to crack the Da Vinci Code, Kel and Kath becoming back-up dancers for Michael Buble at Carols by Candlelight, and Kim finding Brett is cheating on her, again, there's also appearances from Barry Humphries, The Wiggles, Rove McManus and Rhonda Burchmore. It's a crazy ride that is classic Kath & Kim. Rounding out the Aussie-ness on this list is the episode Silent Night, the season seven finale of McLeod's Daughters. McLeod's is, again, one of my favourite series (and I totally want to rewatch it just writing this), and this episode is such a good one, although not the happiest of Christmas'. Set on Christmas Eve, the biggest part of the episode is a massive storm which causes flooding around 'Drovers Run', proving very dangerous for both animals and people. Just when everyone thinks Christmas is going to be a wonderful time, especially with Alex making a surprise visit from Argentina, tragedy strikes and one person won't be seeing the New Year. As I said, it's not the happiest of Christmas episodes, but I love this show, so it's still making this list. There are definitely more Christmas episodes that I could have added to the list, but there's just so many that it's impossible to name them all. These in particular are ones that I watch fairly often and have easy access to through DVDs or streaming services. I definitely urge you to add at least one of these series or specials to your watch-list this year, because they are just as great as binging Christmas films! I've already got a few added to my mammoth watch-list, and I'm sure more will be added as the month goes on.
I'd love to know some of your favourite Christmas specials and episodes, because I'll no doubt add them to my list for next year (or this year if I can stream them!). Stay tuned, because I've got some Christmas film blog posts coming soon - it's all Christmas all the time here on Just Me, Victoria this month! Happy Holidays! Victoria :) |
Categories
All
Affiliates
See DISCLAIMER.
|