Christmas Repeats

On the way home last night I found a discarded copy the Daily Telegraph that contained this utterly pointless article about the upcoming Christmas television schedule.

The early schedules are out now, and that means that some of the tabloids will be rushing out early versions of their Christmas TV guides before we head off out in a few days and dutifully pick up our rather-more-comprehensive Christmas editions of the Radio Times - other listings magazines are available.

But at the Telegraph that's not an option. Instead of getting excited about when Doctor Who is airing, or what films are getting premieres, the Telegraph gets some work experience to tot up how many hours of programmes have "(R)" next to their names.

"600 hours of TV repeats to be shown over Christmas" is the headline.

Re-runs will include classic episodes of Dad's Army, Top Gear and Morecambe & Wise as well as family favourites such as the Men Behaving Badly and The Two Ronnies.

MPs have criticised broadcasters saying that audiences are entitled to variety, instead of old films like Romancing the Stone, Mary Poppins and The Snowman.

Clearly families will be gutted to have watch such fare. Everybody hates Morecambe & Wise and The Snowman don't they?

And why do MPs lend credence to this garbage? If there's one thing we all know about MPs is that they simply don't have time to watch television. They're far too busy! What on earth do they know about what television?

Someone's worked out that the BBC is showing 270 hours of repeats, with the BBC Two Christmas Day schedule filled with such shocking films as White Christmas and Kiss Me Kate.

Why is John Whittingdale quoted as saying "Certainly during peak time viewing, people are entitled to new programmes. The BBC in particular should not be relying on old shows considering they receive £3.6billion in licence fees" when, umm, it is filling peak time with new programmes.

Meanwhile Don Foster says, "As channels dish out yet more of the same old Christmas fare, it's not surprising that viewers are turned off by Christmas TV.

"With fewer new children's programmes being made, surely the broadcasters could have made a special effort for them at Christmas."

He has a point about childrens' broadcasting, although I think that's not relevant to the argument here where there's plenty of child friendly fare at Christmas.

Meanwhile the Telegraph castigates ITV for repeats when it's own commercial department will be able to explain that it's simply not worth spending valuable editorial resources too close to Christmas since advertising drops off a few days before Christmas, and post Christmas, there's really just "Sales" advertising.

Having raised this irrelevant and misleading question, the piece ends with:

A BBC spokesman said: "We are showing a wide range of original programming on both channels this Christmas and there are no repeats in prime time on BBC One from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day. However, we are told by our viewers that they also appreciate being able to see some much-loved programmes again, and therefore repeats have a place in the mix alongside new programmes for an enjoyable Christmas schedule."

At least the Telegraph isn't filed with repeats dredging up this non-story at the same time every year... This filled most of page 3 by the way.

[UPDATE] Media Guardian has coverage of the Express' ludicrous front page as well as the Mail, and years passim.