Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without great dollops of nostalgia and sentiment. And television has to play its part in providing the nation with its load of Christmas pudding. For years, Morecambe and Wise topped the menu, watched by millions, as many as 20 million on some occasions. Indeed, Eric and Ernie were just about the only reason for getting out of bed on Christmas Day. Who can forget Andre Previn – or Andrew Preview, as Eric called him – and the long-legged Angela Rippon shocking the nation by showing that she could do more than just read an autocue? The stars, Elton John included, queued up just to appear on the show while Eric and Ernie took the mickey.
Both may be long gone, but the legend lingers and while we can no longer delight in our annual Morecambe and Wise Christmas Day special, we were treated to Eric and Ernie, a drama about their formative days in show biz. I use the word drama loosely, because although that was how it was billed, there was nothing very dramatic about this offering. In fact, all it comprised was a simple portrayal of those early years. The only drama was Eric’s over-ambitious mother, played splendidly by Victoria Wood, who prodded and goaded young Eric into a showbiz career. Apart from that, it was little more than a slightly amusing romp through the 1950s. But it did excel in two respects. First, there was some astute casting with splendid performances, not only from Victoria Wood, but also from Daniel Rigby as Eric and Bryan Dick as Ernie, not forgetting their counterpart young actors.
And then there was the vintage atmosphere. Yes, this really was the ’50s recreated in all their austerity that had you slipping back through the years. Those wonderful old television sets that you had to switch on 10 minutes beforehand so that the picture could warm up, holidays at the seaside, mum dancing around the sitting room with the vacuum cleaner. It was harmless, good-natured and oozed sentiment, but drama it was not.
Toast, BBC’s New Year’s Eve offering, was the very opposite. Based on Nigel Slater’s best-selling autobiography here we had some genuine drama. Young Slater, uncertain in his body, motives and passions in life, finally finds his role in the kitchen. When his mother sadly dies, into his life steps the new housekeeper the ubiquitous Mrs Potter, delightfully portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter. It’s not long before her cooking – and she is something of a whizz on the gas ring – begins to delight his dad.
And it’s not just the food. They soon marry, much to Nigel’s undisguised revulsion. Then ensues an unhealthy competition between Nigel and Mrs Potter in the cookery stakes. Eventually dad dies – from a heart attack brought on by too many lemon meringues – and Nigel is freed to find his life in the kitchens of London. This may have been more ’50s sentiment, but there was also drama and sorrow as Nigel rose to the bait thrown at him by Mrs Potter.
Christmas may be about sentiment and families, but there’s usually a given length of time that you want to spend with them. I’ll vouch that anyone who has spent more than a few days with all but a select few members of their family will have been driven insane after a couple of days. At least it makes you realise the brilliance of Caroline Aherne’s The Royle Family. It’s Beckett, pure Samuel Beckett.
Not much happens, people sit around, there are laughs, bitty conversations and it’s all overwhelmingly depressing.
Christmas at the Royles could hardly be anything but sentimental. Joe and Cheryl joined them bringing mum’s ashes in an urn to watch over their celebrations. You think that’s mawkish? You ought to see the death columns in the Liverpool Echo at Christmas. No, this is life, or death, as it really happens.
As ever, The Royle Family rose to the occasion. Denise couldn’t go to the nativity play because she was waiting for the DNA results on The Jeremy Kyle Show, while Mary’s ashes got spilt and ended up in the Dyson. But all ended well as Anthony’s girlfriend accepted his marriage proposal meaning that there’ll be Royle and royal weddings this year. Yes, I can smell a Royle wedding special coming on already.
