THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS TELLY PAST (part nine)

Rather surprisingly, instead of a painted illustration, the Christmas edition of the Radio Times 1n 1978 featured a  photograph of a single performer, namely Mike Yarwood, whose Christmas Day programme was seen as the biggest and best thing that BBC1 had to offer its audience that year and shows what a truly huge television star that he was back then.

Before Mike Yarwood got to divert the nation briefly, however, the Sunday of Christmas Eve included John Wayne starring as “Chisum” and “The Sleeping Beauty” from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden during the afternoon and the final part of the Sunday Classic serialisation of “Pinoccio”. Because it was Sunday, there was a “Songs of Praise” before the last episode of that year’s series of “All Creatures Great and Small” and The Sunday Film “El Cid” took the audience through to “André Previn’s Christmas Music Night” and a midnight communion.

BBC2 meanwhile included Stacy Dorning as “The Light Princess”, “The World About Us” on Orchids, and “Christmas Carols from Cambridge” before sticking to its tried and trusted musically themed Christmas Eve format with a new musical called “Petticoat Lane” (featuring Sheila Hancock), “The Old Grey Whistle Test” (featuring 10cc) and “Follow the Fleet” (featuring Fred and Ginger). An eclectic mix, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Christmas Day morning included “The Flumps” amidst all the acts of worship before “The Spinners” crooned a few tunes from a Dickensian Street within York Museum and then an ordinary showing of an Elvis Presley film was described as being “A special presentation for Christmas”. “Holiday on Ice” and “Top of the Pops 1978” filled the gap leading up to the Queen, who was followed this year by “Larry Grayson’s Generation Game” and “The Sound of Music”, before BBC1 slam-dunked the evening with “Some Mother’s Do ’Ave ’Em” and “The Mike Yarwood Christmas Show” featuring special guests Abba. Rooster J Cogburn then had a further adventure, this time played by Warren Oates, before Michael Parkinson investigated pantomimes with his guest Arthur Askey and the day was completed by a “Christmas Ghost Story” starring John Stride.

In the course of the afternoon, BBC2 had, rather surprisingly, shown a Russian film with English sub-titles called “Dersu Uzala” before Richard Baker sailed off with the Navy to the Pacific to retell his experiences on the Arctic convoys. After this, the life portrayed in the 18th century diary of “Anne Hughes” was dramatised before the more familiar pattern of music-based programming saw out the day with opera “The Count of Luxembourg”, “The King’s Singers” and “Swing Time” with Fred and Ginger doing that particular job very well for them.

1978 was also the year when kids of my kind of age were being shown the then 38 year old classic “Buck Rogers” serial on Christmas holiday mornings and I’d rather not think about the fact that we are now a further 33 years on from that because it seemed so very ancient then. So began Boxing Day on BBC1 and whist the middle of the daytime was mostly given over to sport, we were also entertained by “The Fantastic Journey”, “Demetrius and the Gladiators”, “Disney Time” and “It’s a Christmas Knockout” from Villars in Switzerland. What a well travelled bunch we were all becoming. After that, Jim did some fixing with Dr Magnus Pyke before the Disney film “The Boatniks” took us through to all new “Are You Being Served?”, that year’s “Mastermind” final and a new series of “The Two Ronnies” and their guests The Manhattan Transfer. After that, we visited the continent again (in a way) for “The French Connection” before returning to home turf for “Last of the Summer Wine” and “Boxing Night at the Mill” with guest Norman Wisdom.

Meanwhile, BBC2 filled Boxing Day with various musical entertainments and the John Wayne movie “Hatari!” before giving the evening over to a feature film for television starring Edward Asner called “The Gathering” (an “explosive and emotional family drama” – just what we all needed at Christmas…) before a Gala Evening with “Hinge and Bracket” lightened the mood. They were followed by “Don McLean and Friends in Concert” and another in the “Fred and Ginger” season of films: “Carefree” before the mighty Tom Baker told another late night horror story and sent anyone in the nation who was still up off to their beds in terror.

On BBC1, New Year’s Eve was dominated by “My Fair Lady” and a late night “Larry Grayson’s Generation Game” which I suspect was not “too hot for primetime”. Leonard Sachs took us back to “The Good Old Days” to complete the year before there was a “Celebration” live from BBC Scotland to welcome in 1979.

BBC2 finished its year with a documentary recreating the lives of Iron Age farmers called “Living in the Past”, an intimate portrait of “Itzhak Perlman Viruoso Violinist” and Jack Lemmon in “Cowboy” before the “Watchnight Service”, Big Ben and some “Old Grey Whistle Test” highlights bracketed the changing over of the years.

On BBC1, the New Year’s Day bank holiday brought us “Half a Sixpence”, more from “The Two Ronnies” and the Michael Caine feature film “Too Late the Hero”, whilst BBC2 brought us “The New Year’s Day Concert from Vienna”, “Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman” on tour and Jack Lemmon in “How to Murder Your Wife”, a cheery old notion for the nation to carry forward into the next year.