The festivities are officially over – tins of Quality Street polished off, remote controls returned to the coffee table, sofas abandoned during office hours. But do you consign the fat bundle of Christmas TV guides to the recycling with a heavy heart – or, perhaps, a slight skip of joy?
The schedules were not, admittedly, as packed with Christmas treats as they might have been. But there were the festive stalwarts: the Doctor Who Christmas special, which drew a rather mixed response on the blog; a new Poirot mystery; the annual Royle Family Christmas outing.
There was a smattering of new stuff – Channel 4's One Born at Christmas, the much-hyped Upstairs, Downstairs. (As good as Downton Abbey? Very differing opinions here.) And David Walliams and Matt Lucas' new show Come Fly With Me, which I, for one, found resolutely unfunny.
BBC1's Toast, starring Ken Stott and Helena Bonham Carter, seemed to divide opinion (over-sentimental/a bit dull vs the best thing on telly this Christmas), while the arrival of Rufus Sewell as Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen had much the same effect. In fact finding the stand-out hit of this year's Christmas schedules is rather less than straightforward. Eric and Ernie, perhaps? Just William?
So let us know – what did you make of this year's offerings? Which shows surprised you, which disappointed, and which made you switch off the TV and turn on the radio to catch Nigel's bloodcurdling scream. Your thoughts, please.
