Reading time: 2 minutes...

We’ve all got different ‘triggers’ for when ‘Christmas’ officially begins. For many, it’s probably when the Supermarkets start displaying their Christmas lines! But that’s obscenely early isn’t it? So how about…

…that first Christmas meal? (this year, our first one was last Saturday 😋😃)

…or when the John Lewis Christmas TV Ad first appears? (an almost ‘return to form’ this year for JL after a few misfires!!)

…or receiving your first Christmas Card? 🙄.

Anyway, back to Christmas TV. The real big event for me (and this ritual goes back years!) is when the Christmas double-issues of Radio Times and TV Times first go on sale. Normally that’s around the first or second week in December, and I always try and pick them up as soon as they’re out! This year, I was too busy wrapping presents to pick them up on launch day, but we were in Milton Keynes the day after (the 11th) and grabbed our copies from M&S.

I think my (slightly obsessive) fascination with these two publications is a throwback to my childhood, when Dad used to bring them home after finishing work for Christmas. As a family, we loved Christmas (of course!) but more especially, we all loved Christmas TV (first, in black & white, then colour, on just three channels, then four, then five – then hundreds! — and by 2024, probably closer to thousands if you include all the streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Video, Apple TV, Disney+, Lionsgate+ etc etc). Back then, there was no remote control, so Dad’s choice normally ‘won’, but that didn’t cause any issues, as TV was more family-friendly back then wasn’t it — The Generation Game at Christmas anyone??? 👍To add to the fun in those days, there was also frequent positioning and re-positioning of the aerial to ensure the best possible pic! 👍

With these oversized publications taking pride of place in the lounge, our first job was to painstakingly search through the schedules, taking it in turns to circle our favourite programmes.

Fast-forward to 2024 and it’s much the same now — except we use a highlighter pen or just go online, or download the digital versions to our Tablets (only the second year, we’ve grabbed them online). What progress ehh!?

…then again… maybe not! ☹️

The Christmas Double Issues (2024)

These days, both publications have a massive page count, mainly because they both list more-or-less the same information, Why’s that? Well, for my younger readers here, back in the ‘Stone Age’ (up until 1990) RT listed only the BBC stuff (including the radio) whilst TVT covered just the commercial channels. These days, in the now ‘gazillion-channels/satellites/streaming TV era’, you have both publications running into hundreds of pages. 😊. Prices are slightly up on last year, but that’s offset by an increase in page count – The Radio Times is up to 303 pages, whilst the TV Times boasts 228!

So, just like back-in-the-day all that’s left to do now is to plough through them both, highlighter pen (or two, or three) at the ready, and our Christmas TV preparations are sorted!

Ghosts of Christmas (Covers) Past – 2010-2023…

🎅 Merry Christmas everyone! 🎅