Banging on the Big Bass Drum: BBC1 Scotland junction, 20th December 1992

Описание: Our last trip to Christmas 1992 on the BBC (in Scotland). I didn't upload them in chronological order, obviously, because he we are on the 20th. A Sunday lunchtime. We're coming out of Half a Sixpence, the Tommy Steele classic, with the downright psychotic climax to "Flash Bang Wallop". UM TIDDLY UM PUM PUM PUM PUM.

Then we're into another trailer for what's coming in 1993, which coming this early seems a touch dismissive of the Christmas lineup, but never mind. A different one this time; new comedy! Note the parping brass version of the same jingle.

So what have we got? Well, there's the second series of As Time Goes By. A romantic comedy with old people. Quite nice, if not exactly an uproarious goldmine of belly-laughs. The trailer suggests it's mostly about an elderly couple going around irritating the young on general principles, but alas no.

Side By Side also gets a second series, but unlike As Time Goes By it stops there. Almost completely forgotten now; the premise is that Gareth Hunt is a plumber who enjoys dicking around with his house. Louisa Rix is his neighbour who is normal. Also Julia Deakin is his wife, so no will-they-won't-they. Stuff happens.

Then there's So Haunt Me, a high-concept thing about - yes - a suburban house with a ghost in it. A Jewish-American ghost. Better than its reputation, but not much. Starring a wasted George Costigan and Tessa Peake-Jones.

The 90s weren't a great time for the sitcom, really, but here's one of the decade's indisputable classics: One Foot in the Grave, which was becoming one of the BBC's biggest programmes and eventually a Christmas Day regular, despite its dark and even painful nature. But also funny, don't get me wrong. Comedy from January On One! Once Alan Yentob arrives they stop doing that.

Another trailer! This time cross-promotion for BBC2! Christmas 1992 was a weird one for BBC2; the presentation didn't have a consistent theme and just carried on from that autumn's campaign of adapting the bladed 2 into different situations. That eventually became the guiding principle of the stings used from mid-1993 onwards, but the ones from late 1992 to early 93 were unique and included several Christmas themed ones. There was an eerie pantomime-themed one (which provided the theme for the programme captions), a chimney-sweep's brush popping out over a snowy rooftop, and this, with the 2 as snowshoes. The ident itself showed the 2 picked out in red lights on a tree.

So what are we promoting? Oh, hey, A Christmas Story! Iconic to the point of legend in America, almost unknown here. Maybe it's just too American a story to catch on in Britain, or maybe it just wasn't broadcast enough. I mean, I'm the exact generation that worships this film (voluntarily or otherwise) over there, but I'd actually never heard of it until 2001 or so when I first read Roger Ebert's Great Movies essay about it. Well, here's proof it was actually shown in this country, even if its own trailer doesn't able to drum up much enthusiasm for it for some reason. You'll shoot your eye out etc.

If that's too much of a celebration of the commercial side of Christmas for you, then coming up in half an hour is Joy to the World. Despite the title, it actually takes its cue from Johnny Milton's Paradise Lost and Regained (mostly the latter, since it's about Jesus and all) for a retelling of the story of Christ. Introduced by Sarah Greene, starring a slightly odd cast (Peter Bowles, Patricia Hodge, Anthony Andrews, Roger Moore and inevitably Cliff Richard) with music provided by English Baroque Choir, English Philharmonia Orchestra and London Brass, the Massed Fanfare Trumpeters of the Household Division, and "Dennis". In association with Abbey National. High-fibre stuff, and yet perhaps a shade too populist for BBC2 (especially since they weren't '|'\\'() anymore). If more than a few dozen children anywhere watched it voluntarily I'll eat my wrapping paper.

Anyway, that's after the news. And to fill up an otherwise empty five minutes before the news, a short cartoon. A very old one. An MGM Harman-Ising joint, so it looks impressive but in content is so impossibly dated it's almost incomprehensible. You'll have to take my word for it because the minute or so I have of it is cut out for copyright purposes.

I made "Dennis" up.