Mike Ward s TV blog - Christmas and New Year

At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, there's one heck of a lot of stuff on TV this Christmas.

And really good stuff, too, that's my point. Stuff for which you'd be well advised to jab the little red R' button on your YouView remote, knowing there almost certainly won't be enough hours in the day or days in the week, for that matter to watch everything at the time it goes out. Stuff to savour once the relatives are out of your hair, bless them, and the kids are tucked up, and you've finally got time, as they say, to put your feet up.

Stuff I really need to stop calling stuff , on the basis that it sounds a bit, I don't know, rude maybe. Great TV , that sounds better, doesn't it?

After all, just imagine all the months of creative input that must have gone into delivering Christmas Day's spectacular Doctor Who (BBC1, 7.30pm) an hour-long special where the Doctor is set to undergo one of his rare but radical makeovers.

And likewise into the extended Christmas Day episodes of Downton Abbey (ITV, 8.30pm) two whole hours of it, with the Crawley clan descending on London for flighty Rose's eventful coming-out do and Call The Midwife (BBC1, 6.15pm) where, goodness me, there's an unexploded wartime bomb threatening to do its worst.

Obviously every household's Christmas Day is different, but ours gets kind of chaotic people, pets, prezzies, general pigging out etc. So, yes, the option to watch these shows exactly when it suits us (just by scrolling back through the YouView on-screen guide, if we haven't actually set them to record) is a bit of a godsend.

Actually, I even came up with a great analogy the other day, comparing the YouView box to one of those state-of-the-art fridges, keeping all your Christmas goodies fresh for days until you're ready to enjoy them. Rather clever of me, don't you think? Oh, suit yourself.

Other than Downton, Christmas Day highlights on ITV include a special edition of Paul O'Grady: For The Love Of Dogs (5.15pm) and the colourful documentary River Deep Mountain High: James Nesbitt In New Zealand (2pm).

There's also Bear's Wild Weekend With Stephen Fry on Channel 4 (8.30pm) where the loveable Stephen is seriously put through his paces by adventurer and survival expert Bear Grylls. That's followed on the same side by the Alan Carr Chatty Man Christmas Special (9.30pm) and the Man Down Christmas Special (10.30pm).

We've also got Channel 5's UK terrestrial premiere of Michael Jackson: This Is It (Christmas Day, 9.30pm), the extraordinary documentary filmed shortly before Jackson's death in the summer of 2009, featuring rehearsals for a major set of London gigs that were destined never to be.

Of course, it's not just Christmas Day's programmes we're getting excited about. The entire festive season is bursting with good TV.

BBC1's three-nighter Death Comes To Pemberley, for example, should have millions hooked from Boxing Day (8.15pm) to Saturday. It's adapted from a PD James murder mystery, using characters from Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice, and stars Anna Maxwell Martin, Matthew Rhys, Matthew Goode and Jenna Coleman.

Also on Boxing Day, Gangsta Granny (BBC1, 6.05pm) is splendid family viewing. Written by David Walliams, who also stars in it, it's about a lad whose gran surprises him by revealing her daring criminal past. Other cast include Miranda Hart, Julia McKenzie, Joanna Lumley, Rob Brydon, and Reece Buttery.

And later on the same side, Still Open All Hours (7.45pm) is a one-off revival of the old Roy Clarke corner store sitcom in which the late Ronnie Barker used to play the magnificently miserly Arkwright. Sir David Jason reprises the role of Arkwright's nephew Granville, now the shop's owner.

Meanwhile, over on ITV on Boxing Day night, I Am Britney Jean: Britney Spears In Las Vegas (10.05pm) follows the star as she finishes off her new album and prepares for a two-year Las Vegas residency.

ITV's other big hitters over the festive fortnight include Gary Barlow: Journey To Afghanistan (Saturday December 23, 9pm), a Christmas-themed Midsomer Murders (Christmas Eve, 8pm, kicking off the new series), a seasonal special of Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi's sitcom Vicious (Friday December 27, 9pm) and the last in the current series of Agatha Christie's Marple (Sunday December 29, 8pm), with guest stars including Joanna Vanderham, Hugh Dennis and Tamzin Outhwaite.

There's also Jason Manford looking back over the past 12 months in 2013: Funny Old Year (ITV, New Year's Eve, 10.15pm).

And it its a feast of ITV gameshows you're after, there are festive specials of The Cube (Saturday December 28, 8pm), All Star Family Fortunes (Saturday December 28, 7pm) and Catchphrase (Sunday December 29, 7pm).

Channel 4 devotes a generous chunk of its Christmas Eve to The IT Crowd Night (from 9pm), including classic episodes and a brilliant documentary, The IT Crowd Manual, with cast interviews, favourite clips etc.

It's also treating us to a special Celebrity Come Dine With Me (Friday December 27, 8pm), featuring the potentially lethal combination of Daniella Westbrook, Louie Spence, Sinitta and Made In Chelsea's Hugo Taylor.

On Saturday December 28, also on Channel 4, chortlesome flashback show 50 Funniest Moments 2013 (9pm) features guest contributors including Charlotte Crosby, Danny Dyer, Helen Flanagan and Russell Kane.

And on Monday December 30, there's Gok Does Panto (Channel 4, 7.05pm), where we follow the TV fashion guru preparing for his role in Snow White at Birmingham Hippodrome.

Channel 5's other top Yuletide treats include The Muppets And Lady Gaga At Christmas (Sunday December 22, 5.25pm), and the arena production of Jesus Christ Superstar (Monday December 30, 11.35

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