When I read about this documentary programme advertised, I recognised a couple of the things mentioned that would be included, and I had my guesses of what else may be included, so I was really looking forward to watching. Basically the show was a three hour collection of clips, focusing on the mostly negative moments on televised festive-themed shows (and some films), including on the news, live broadcasts, Christmas specials, in advertising, comedy shows, discussion shows, social media, cookery shows, in music, in movies, in animation, and much more.
These moments included live or pre-recorded mistakes, outtakes, embarrassing incidents, technical errors, tasteless or inappropriate material that caused controversy, laughably bad stuff, and many more, all seasonal, broadcast to millions of viewers in Britain and/or around the world.
Christmas comedy TV going wrong included: Keith Lemon (Leigh Francis) and Gino D'Acampo attempting the Guinness World Record for "Most Christmas crackers pulled in one minute" on Through the Christmas Keyhole, they had 25 to beat, adjudicator Craig Glenday didn't start the stopwatch properly, they had to start all over again, thankfully they beat the record, with 45 crackers. Embarrassing Christmas moments included: On The Morecambe and Wise Show, a prop door broke as a guest is introduced; mistakes made and included in Mrs. Brown's Boys Christmas Specials; Piers Morgan was invited to turn the Christmas lights on for Stockbridge, Hampshire, he pressed down the plunger, but nothing happened, he was embarrassed and mocked on Good Morning Britain; and at the 1996 Pageant of Peace National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, with President Bill Clinton, Patti LaBelle was the special guest performer, she came out too soon after hearing her name, then she sang along to music for a song she didn't know, she had no backing singers, she improvised words along to the melody, and she was reading lyrics on mistimed cue cards, the audience were unimpressed. Other Christmas TV going wrong included: as part of Phillip's 24 Hour Live TV Marathon for Text Santa, Phillip Schofield presented an item on cooking pastries, his dough piping bag had an air bubble, causing a blob of dough, followed by a long and slim trail, it looked like a penis and testicles; Noel Edmonds hosted the Live Live Christmas Special, with Greg Davies presenting onboard a Boeing 747, 25,00 feet in the air, with Feargal Sharkey and his band performing onboard, this would make history, the band and track was playing, but Feargal does not sing along to the pre-recorded vocals, after a minute they cut back to Noel laughing; The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), where Chewbecca is trying to get home for the holidays, or "Life Day", it had a very low budget, bad special effects and dialogue, bad singing, and pointless cameos from Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman and Diahann Carroll, it was bizarre, and renowned as being one of the worst TV shows in history, it has never received a second broadcast and never went to home release; and the Mr Kipling - Delivery advert, a woman named Mary is giving a painful birth, it turns out to be an amateur stage production of the Nativity, a priest is eating a mince pie and says the tagline "he does make exceedingly good cakes", it ends with "it's a girl!", this blasphemous and offensive advert caused outrage, with 800 complaints, it was pulled after only three showings. Other televised Christmas fails included: Keith Lemon caused mayhem on Loose Women, redecorating and moving the fake Christmas tree on set, Lisa Maxwell helped him put it back together when it fell apart; Barack Obama and Michelle Obama giving their first Presidential Christmas message from the White House had outtakes, Barack could not stop laughing; newly elected President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump decorated the White House for an online video, the entrance hall was full of trees covered in white, it looked like a dark winter wonderland, like a creepy horror film, mock horror images were added online, including the twins from The Shining, and the Dementors from Harry Potter; and TV chef Fanny Cradock had a Christmas special in 1975, she was preparing a turkey, loosening the skin and stuffing it with raw bacon and mushrooms, then a syringe of stuffing up the bird, then attacking a goose, pricking it with forks, and dipping her hands in honey to rub on the raw bird, and finally making a Christmas omelette with mincemeat and heavily dusting it with icing sugar, all the food looks disgusting to modern audiences. News and advertising Christmas TV failing included: Eamonn Holmes and Fiona Phillips presenting GMTV with a talking and singing toy teddy bear selling at Christmas that cannot be turned off as they try to continue presenting; in 1996, on Australian show Midday with Kerri-Anne, a man dressed as Santa Claus abseiled down from the roof to greet 5,000 children had his beard caught in the mechanism, he got stuck; Black Friday is normally highly busy as people rush to get products at slashed prices, one year the BBC sent a reporter to PC World, Oxford Street to cover the doors opening on the day, but only one shopper walked in; and Robert Dyas made an internet advert, "We're Robert Dyas and we're gay and straight and bisexual", to highlight their inclusivity, it had straight, gay, lesbian and bisexual staff and customers mentioning their sexuality while talking about products, it was unconventional, weird and confusing. Christmas music and advertising going wrong included: Kim Wilde, with her guitarist brother, was filmed drunk on an underground train singing her song "Kids in America", and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", this video went viral; comedian Tiny Tim (Herbert Buckingham Currie), best known for "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", released a politically incorrect and tasteless song called "Santa Claus Has Got the AIDS This Year" in 1986, at the time of the AIDS crisis; Greggs the bakers had an Advent calendar, Baby Jesus Christ in the Nativity scene was replaced by a sausage roll, the campaign caused controversy; and Tennessee Ernie Ford on 50s TV was singing a Christmas song surrounded by children, including his two sons, they upstaged him with their mischievous and distracting behaviour during the singing. More Christmas stuff going wrong included: a German couple in Rintein have their house over-decorated Christmas trees filling every room; in Russia two giant Christmas trees came down; A Christmas Prince was a budget schmaltzy love story with a daft and predictable script made by Netflix, it was panned by critics, Netflix responded on Twitter and took the mick of viewers, but also unintentionally revealed they may be invading people's privacy, detailing how many people watched the film; and German supermarket Edeka made a Christmas bad taste advert about an old man lonely at Christmas every year, his family receive messages that he has died, but he had set them up, he pretended he was dead to bring them all together. Other Christmas TV calamities included: Global News reporter Rob Leth was doing an item about snowtubing, he ended up being flipped onto the ground by an oncoming tuber, the video became a viral hit; Fox 29's Steve Keeley on Route 40 in New Jersey reporting about heavy snowfall being hit by a tidal wave of snow from a speeding snow plough; on live Calgary Global News in Canada, a female reporter made an artichoke dip with the wrong ingredients; an online advertising video for Mitsubishi in Minnesota had a polar bear mascot and a gopher mascot slipping up on the ice hockey rink; and in Michigan, two men filming a TV pilot deep fry a turkey in oil using a barrel that goes up in flames, the pilot never turned into a TV show. Christmas films going wrong included: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) is a low budget science-fiction movie, about Martians kidnapping Santa to entertain the children of Mars, it has bad acting, a stupid script, and awful special effects, costumes and props, it was a box office bomb and panned by critics, it is renowned for being the worst Christmas movie ever made; and Spunky the Snowman (1958) is a forgotten short cartoon film, about a snowman that comes to life to deliver a message to Santa, it is sweet animation, but let down by the title and name of the lead character. The last bit of Christmas TV going wrong was: TSW (Television South West) launched on New Year's Day in 1982 with programme The Opening Night, comedian Lennie Bennett hosted, it had a weird line-up of acts, the atmosphere was drab, it was amateur, a new reporter interviewing hard-to-handle comedian Spike Milligan, a woman from TV billings was interviewed, and Judi Spiers was fired from a cannon, the show was a boring and awful sham.
I had my guesses what Christmassy moments would be included, the bad ones, the funny or unfunny ones and the awkward ones, I always enjoy the nostalgia seeing these moments again, but it was good to learn about those I did not know, and the serious stuff as well, overall it was an interesting and watchable documentary.
Narrated by Slade singer Noddy Holder, with contributions from Sam Bailey, This Is England's Perry Benson, Marina Berry, Christopher Biggins, comedian Joe Bor, actor Tim Brooke-Taylor, Honeyz singer Celena Cherry, The X Factor's Marcus Collins, actor and singer Jess Conrad, presenter and broadcaster Gary Davies, comedian Marlon Davis, actress Katherine Eames (she filmed Kim Wilde), Craig Glenday (Guinness World Records), DJ and broadcaster Joanne Good, DJ and broadcaster Angie Greaves, comedian Matt Green, Celebrity Big Brother's Jess Impiazzi, EastEnders' Anna Karen, comedian Judi Love, The Office's Ewen Macintosh, Nell McAndrew, reporter Frankie McCamley, Loose Women's Lisa Maxwell, Nina Myskow, comedian Phil Nichol, Jimmy Osmond, Linda Robson, ITV News reporter Richard Slee, Wayne Sleep, Judi Spiers, Kate Thornton and presenter Pip Tomson. Very good!
These moments included live or pre-recorded mistakes, outtakes, embarrassing incidents, technical errors, tasteless or inappropriate material that caused controversy, laughably bad stuff, and many more, all seasonal, broadcast to millions of viewers in Britain and/or around the world.
Christmas comedy TV going wrong included: Keith Lemon (Leigh Francis) and Gino D'Acampo attempting the Guinness World Record for "Most Christmas crackers pulled in one minute" on Through the Christmas Keyhole, they had 25 to beat, adjudicator Craig Glenday didn't start the stopwatch properly, they had to start all over again, thankfully they beat the record, with 45 crackers. Embarrassing Christmas moments included: On The Morecambe and Wise Show, a prop door broke as a guest is introduced; mistakes made and included in Mrs. Brown's Boys Christmas Specials; Piers Morgan was invited to turn the Christmas lights on for Stockbridge, Hampshire, he pressed down the plunger, but nothing happened, he was embarrassed and mocked on Good Morning Britain; and at the 1996 Pageant of Peace National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, with President Bill Clinton, Patti LaBelle was the special guest performer, she came out too soon after hearing her name, then she sang along to music for a song she didn't know, she had no backing singers, she improvised words along to the melody, and she was reading lyrics on mistimed cue cards, the audience were unimpressed. Other Christmas TV going wrong included: as part of Phillip's 24 Hour Live TV Marathon for Text Santa, Phillip Schofield presented an item on cooking pastries, his dough piping bag had an air bubble, causing a blob of dough, followed by a long and slim trail, it looked like a penis and testicles; Noel Edmonds hosted the Live Live Christmas Special, with Greg Davies presenting onboard a Boeing 747, 25,00 feet in the air, with Feargal Sharkey and his band performing onboard, this would make history, the band and track was playing, but Feargal does not sing along to the pre-recorded vocals, after a minute they cut back to Noel laughing; The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), where Chewbecca is trying to get home for the holidays, or "Life Day", it had a very low budget, bad special effects and dialogue, bad singing, and pointless cameos from Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman and Diahann Carroll, it was bizarre, and renowned as being one of the worst TV shows in history, it has never received a second broadcast and never went to home release; and the Mr Kipling - Delivery advert, a woman named Mary is giving a painful birth, it turns out to be an amateur stage production of the Nativity, a priest is eating a mince pie and says the tagline "he does make exceedingly good cakes", it ends with "it's a girl!", this blasphemous and offensive advert caused outrage, with 800 complaints, it was pulled after only three showings. Other televised Christmas fails included: Keith Lemon caused mayhem on Loose Women, redecorating and moving the fake Christmas tree on set, Lisa Maxwell helped him put it back together when it fell apart; Barack Obama and Michelle Obama giving their first Presidential Christmas message from the White House had outtakes, Barack could not stop laughing; newly elected President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump decorated the White House for an online video, the entrance hall was full of trees covered in white, it looked like a dark winter wonderland, like a creepy horror film, mock horror images were added online, including the twins from The Shining, and the Dementors from Harry Potter; and TV chef Fanny Cradock had a Christmas special in 1975, she was preparing a turkey, loosening the skin and stuffing it with raw bacon and mushrooms, then a syringe of stuffing up the bird, then attacking a goose, pricking it with forks, and dipping her hands in honey to rub on the raw bird, and finally making a Christmas omelette with mincemeat and heavily dusting it with icing sugar, all the food looks disgusting to modern audiences. News and advertising Christmas TV failing included: Eamonn Holmes and Fiona Phillips presenting GMTV with a talking and singing toy teddy bear selling at Christmas that cannot be turned off as they try to continue presenting; in 1996, on Australian show Midday with Kerri-Anne, a man dressed as Santa Claus abseiled down from the roof to greet 5,000 children had his beard caught in the mechanism, he got stuck; Black Friday is normally highly busy as people rush to get products at slashed prices, one year the BBC sent a reporter to PC World, Oxford Street to cover the doors opening on the day, but only one shopper walked in; and Robert Dyas made an internet advert, "We're Robert Dyas and we're gay and straight and bisexual", to highlight their inclusivity, it had straight, gay, lesbian and bisexual staff and customers mentioning their sexuality while talking about products, it was unconventional, weird and confusing. Christmas music and advertising going wrong included: Kim Wilde, with her guitarist brother, was filmed drunk on an underground train singing her song "Kids in America", and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", this video went viral; comedian Tiny Tim (Herbert Buckingham Currie), best known for "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", released a politically incorrect and tasteless song called "Santa Claus Has Got the AIDS This Year" in 1986, at the time of the AIDS crisis; Greggs the bakers had an Advent calendar, Baby Jesus Christ in the Nativity scene was replaced by a sausage roll, the campaign caused controversy; and Tennessee Ernie Ford on 50s TV was singing a Christmas song surrounded by children, including his two sons, they upstaged him with their mischievous and distracting behaviour during the singing. More Christmas stuff going wrong included: a German couple in Rintein have their house over-decorated Christmas trees filling every room; in Russia two giant Christmas trees came down; A Christmas Prince was a budget schmaltzy love story with a daft and predictable script made by Netflix, it was panned by critics, Netflix responded on Twitter and took the mick of viewers, but also unintentionally revealed they may be invading people's privacy, detailing how many people watched the film; and German supermarket Edeka made a Christmas bad taste advert about an old man lonely at Christmas every year, his family receive messages that he has died, but he had set them up, he pretended he was dead to bring them all together. Other Christmas TV calamities included: Global News reporter Rob Leth was doing an item about snowtubing, he ended up being flipped onto the ground by an oncoming tuber, the video became a viral hit; Fox 29's Steve Keeley on Route 40 in New Jersey reporting about heavy snowfall being hit by a tidal wave of snow from a speeding snow plough; on live Calgary Global News in Canada, a female reporter made an artichoke dip with the wrong ingredients; an online advertising video for Mitsubishi in Minnesota had a polar bear mascot and a gopher mascot slipping up on the ice hockey rink; and in Michigan, two men filming a TV pilot deep fry a turkey in oil using a barrel that goes up in flames, the pilot never turned into a TV show. Christmas films going wrong included: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) is a low budget science-fiction movie, about Martians kidnapping Santa to entertain the children of Mars, it has bad acting, a stupid script, and awful special effects, costumes and props, it was a box office bomb and panned by critics, it is renowned for being the worst Christmas movie ever made; and Spunky the Snowman (1958) is a forgotten short cartoon film, about a snowman that comes to life to deliver a message to Santa, it is sweet animation, but let down by the title and name of the lead character. The last bit of Christmas TV going wrong was: TSW (Television South West) launched on New Year's Day in 1982 with programme The Opening Night, comedian Lennie Bennett hosted, it had a weird line-up of acts, the atmosphere was drab, it was amateur, a new reporter interviewing hard-to-handle comedian Spike Milligan, a woman from TV billings was interviewed, and Judi Spiers was fired from a cannon, the show was a boring and awful sham.
I had my guesses what Christmassy moments would be included, the bad ones, the funny or unfunny ones and the awkward ones, I always enjoy the nostalgia seeing these moments again, but it was good to learn about those I did not know, and the serious stuff as well, overall it was an interesting and watchable documentary.
Narrated by Slade singer Noddy Holder, with contributions from Sam Bailey, This Is England's Perry Benson, Marina Berry, Christopher Biggins, comedian Joe Bor, actor Tim Brooke-Taylor, Honeyz singer Celena Cherry, The X Factor's Marcus Collins, actor and singer Jess Conrad, presenter and broadcaster Gary Davies, comedian Marlon Davis, actress Katherine Eames (she filmed Kim Wilde), Craig Glenday (Guinness World Records), DJ and broadcaster Joanne Good, DJ and broadcaster Angie Greaves, comedian Matt Green, Celebrity Big Brother's Jess Impiazzi, EastEnders' Anna Karen, comedian Judi Love, The Office's Ewen Macintosh, Nell McAndrew, reporter Frankie McCamley, Loose Women's Lisa Maxwell, Nina Myskow, comedian Phil Nichol, Jimmy Osmond, Linda Robson, ITV News reporter Richard Slee, Wayne Sleep, Judi Spiers, Kate Thornton and presenter Pip Tomson. Very good!
