Clive Anderson tries to fathom the miracle of Christmas television. Why do we sit down in front of the box, year after year, with such high expectations, and then feel surprised when it feels like we've seen it all before? Mostly because, it turns out, we actually have seen it all before.

The Funny Side of Christmas enjoys showing you the best and the worst that TV has served up to us over the years: the Blue Peter Advent crown, Christmas Top of the Pops, Morecambe and Wise, Nationwide's Christmas Panto, The Royle Family, Gavin and Stacey and one TV chef after another trying to come up with a variation on how exactly we should be cooking a turkey.

Contributors include Valerie Singleton, Mike Smith, Diane-Louise Jordan, Esther Rantzen, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Mike Read and Barry Cryer.

Part of the BBC Christmas 2009 season. Show less