THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS TELLY PAST (part twenty one)

“My God! It’s full of Stars!”

Once glance at the sea of (once) famous faces in their little boxes, all faked up in their Santa-esque finery should have been enough to convince you that for Christmas and New Year 1976, the emphasis in the TV Times was firmly upon their stars of both the small and silver screens. Looking at them now, some of them have since faded into obscurity or legend, but some of them are still going strong(ish) even here at the end of the first decade of the  next century. Quality will out, lovey, quality will out.

With Christmas Day being on a Sunday, the two week double issue leaps straight in there, starting on Christmas Eve with the “Holiday Matinee: The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold” two ideas that would both exist separately to later generations, but here brought together in a collision of memories. After a lunchtime consisting of “A Handful of Songs”, “Pipkins” and “Frosty the Snowman”, the grown-ups had their own routine programmes with “Take Kerr”, “Crown Court” and “Money-Go-Round” following the news. After that, Lloyd Bridges found a “Stowaway to the Moon” before children’s TV kicked off with “The Siege of Golden Hill” and “Magpie”. Having been reminded of our rights in “This is Your Right”, it was safe to be let loose into the evening via “Crossroads” and “Kick Off” to face “The Holiday Sweepstakes Game” with Bernard Braden, “Within These Walls” with Katharine Blake and “Terror on the 40th Floor” with John Forsythe, before heading over to “Bing Crosby’s White Christmas” (his last, they say) and a Midnight Mass.

Christmas morning started with a triple bill of religious broadcasting back then, featuring “Carols from Durham Cathedral” at 8.45, “The Legend of the Christmas Messenger” and a “Christmas Morning Service” from Boxgrove Priory. After this, Tarby’s annual edition of “A Merry Morning” led into the movie “Doctor Doolittle” with Rex Harrison, and, just to compete with “Top of the Pops” on BBC1, a “Christmas Supersonic”. The movie version of “Please Sir!” with those middle aged students of Fenn Street followed “The Queen” before ITV greeted some “New Faces”, had a “Christmas Sale of the Century” with Nicholas Parsons, visited “The John Curry Ice Spectacular” and then had its “Waterloo” with Rod Steiger. Elaine Stritch and Donald Sinden shared “A Loving Christmas” in “Two’s Company” before Sir Geraint Evans hosted a late night “Celebration” with Petula Clark before “The Story of Silent Night” sent you off to bed.

Skipping “Christmas Sunday”, the “official” Boxing Day on the 27th featured “Thunderbirds are Go!”, “The Call of the Wild” and, just in case the Billy Smart version wasn’t enough to fulfil your circus requirements, “Chipperfield’s Christmas Circus” followed a “Christmas Runaround” with Mike Reid. An episode of “Rising Damp” with Leonard Rossiter kicked off Boxing Day evening before Gilbert O’Sullivan played his “Greatest Hits” and there was a “special” songwriters show on “Christmas Opportunity Knocks!” with Hughie Green. After the customary Monday evening visit to “Coronation Street” in which Annie bought a car and then got breathalysed (Never drink and drive, kids…), an episode of “Yanks Go Home” led into the play “The Mating Season” starring Bruce Forsyth (!!!) and the late night movie was Sven-Bertil Taube in “Puppet on a Chain” which I think I remember staying up for and seeing.

New Year’s Eve brought with it alongside familiar staples like “Look Who’s Talking”, “Take Kerr” and “Crown Court”, the prospect of a “Collision Course” on “Space:1999” and the Holiday Matinee “The Long Ships” with Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier. “The Siege of Golden Hill” continued, as did “Magpie” although the last evening of 1976 kicked off with “Kick Off” with Gerald Sinstadt, an old episode of “The Munsters” and Carmel McSharry suffering “Beryl’s Lot”. Nicholas Parsons had yet another “Sale of the Century” before Stanley Baker starred in “Zulu” and Billy Connolly was seen in concert for the first time on British television. After that it was over to Jack McLaughlin and his sparkling “Hogmanay” party from Scotland.

New Year’s Day was mostly a big chunk of “World of Sport” after “Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure” starring Gordon Scott, Anthony Quayle and Sean Connery, before George C Scott in “Patton: Lust for Glory” dominated the evening right up until we spent “New Year with the Fosters” featuring Norman Beaton and one of the stars of the future, Lenny Henry.