TV

Crooked House
Part 3 The Knocker [final episode]
Short series of three horror tales set in the same house, by League of Gentlemen co-founder/member and Doctor Who & Lucifer Box writer Mark Gatiss, also showing as a portmanteau horror movie on December 27th.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who [new]
4x14 The Next Doctor [Christmas special]
Possibly a bit low-key for the Christmas Day episode, with a disappointing underuse of the Cybermen. Not sure about that finale either. Planet of the Dead is a good title for the next ep though.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gilmore Girls
5x08 The Party's Over

Strictly Come Dancing
2008 Christmas Special

Wallace and Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death
[#88a in 100 Films in a Year 2008]
Hurrah! Absolutely brilliant, though it was so packed with things you can't help wishing it were longer. Another Oscar nomination? It would be deserved.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Mamma Mia! (2008)
[2nd watch]

Articles

Disney: No, No Narnia
(from Studio Briefing)
"Disney announced that it will not exercise its option to co-produce and co-finance The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader [the third in the series] with Walden Media. The film was reportedly already in preproduction with a May 2010 release planned... Walden said that it would seek another production partner."

Poem of the Day: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Merry Christmas!

Yes, it may be Christmas Day, but it's also a week day, so business continues as usual here on Poem of the Day... but with a festive spin.

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

"Longfellow wrote Christmas Bells on Christmas Day 1864 in the midst of the American Civil War and the news of his son having suffered wounds as a soldier in battle. He had suffered the great loss of his wife two years prior to an accident with fire." Oh dear! (Source: Wikipedia)

Tomorrow, a Boxing Day poem.

Merry Christmas

to all readers of My Cultural Experience

Hope you have a good one.

(The site will be updated as usual today.)

TV

Big Cat Live
1x09 What Happened Next...? [Christmas special]
Big Cat Live suffered from a lack of content, wasting time on "ooh isn't our technology clever" witter and watching nothing happen on live feeds. Unfortunately, this special mostly collates footage from the series, with a few segments added that were previously only online. Only the last ten minutes actually catch up with what's happened since -- "not much" being the answer.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Crooked House
Part 2 Something Old
Short series of three horror tales set in the same house, by League of Gentlemen co-founder/member and Doctor Who & Lucifer Box writer Mark Gatiss, also showing as a portmanteau horror movie on December 27th.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gavin & Stacey
3x00 Christmas Special
As brilliant as ever. In fact, one might argue it's a return to form after the occasionally lacking second series. With much left unresolved, I hope a third follows.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Have I Got News For You
36x10 (24/11/08 edition) [Christmas special]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Peter Serafinowicz Christmas Show
2x00 Christmas Special
Peter Serafinowicz's first solo sketch series -- which first aired over a year ago now! -- was a real treat, so it's wonderful to have some new stuff at last. Look out for the iToilet sketch in particular. Hopefully a second series will follow.
One of the best things about Serafinowicz is that he's a rather talented impressionist, but his show isn't about the impressions in the way that your usual impressionist show (e.g. Dead Ringers, Alistair McGowan's) are.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Survivors [2008]
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
This started out as a good finale, bringing threads together and being decidedly more epic than any episode since the first. Unfortunately, it didn't bother to resolve any of its plot strands and ended on a great big cliffhanger. Rather shoddy, if you ask me -- by all means have a cliffhanger, but wrap some stuff up too! Unsatisfying.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

While You Were Sleeping (1995)
[2nd watch]
Very seasonal. Not that you'd guess it from the DVD cover, oddly, but it really is.

Poem of the Day: Twas the Night Before Christmas

or A Visit from St. Nicholas
by Anonymous

As it's still Poem of the Day's first Christmas I think I can be excused some obvious choices, so for the Christmas Eve poem I present this absolute classic.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle,
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

"A Visit from St. Nicholas (also known as The Night Before Christmas and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas)" -- which is how I've always known it, so how it's named here -- was "first published anonymously in 1823. It is largely responsible for the conception of Santa Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today, including his physical appearance, the night of his visit, his mode of transportation, the number and names of his reindeer, and that he brings toys to children. Prior to the poem, American ideas about St. Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors varied considerably. The poem has influenced ideas about St. Nicholas and Santa Claus beyond the United States to the rest of the Anglosphere and the world." (Courtesy of Wikipedia.)

TV

Britain's Got an Extra Pop Factor ...And Then Some!
So, turns out, I missed the last five minutes. Which I have now watched. Nothing else to add.

Clone
1x06 The Librarian [season finale]
Possibly the best episode yet, though that's not saying much. It does pay off the producer's comments that there'd be developing storylines though, with a fairly interesting cliffhanger. I'm not sure if I want it resolved enough to see another series this weak though...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Crooked House
Part 1 The Wainscotting
Short series of three horror tales set in the same house, by League of Gentlemen co-founder/member and Doctor Who & Lucifer Box writer Mark Gatiss, also showing as a portmanteau horror movie on December 27th.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Heroes
3x12 Our Father
3x13 Dual
And so Volume Three comes to an end with this lacking mini-finale. As things turned out, not quite the grand Return To Form we were promised. Perhaps Volume Four can manage better when Heroes returns (in February, so I hear).

Lead Balloon
3x07 Nuts [season finale]
A surprisingly Christmassy Christmas special/final episode for Lead Balloon. And at the end it even all turns out nice. Almost.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
6x13 (23/12/08 edition) [Christmas special]
Despite having already aired a highlights/cut bits show at the end of the last series, here's another one for Christmas, though at least with some added festive material.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

No Heroics
1x04 Back Issues
Still sex-obsessed then. It's better than Clone, but would be better still if the writers could get their collective brains out of their collective groins.

QI
6x02 Fire & Freezing [Christmas special; 2nd watch]
The problem with families is they have a tendency to talk over Christmas TV. The great thing about modern technology is you can record things to watch again in peace. The good thing about QI is it's both funny and interesting, which rewards repeat views -- especially as I did indeed miss some jokes first time round.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Poem of the Day: The Oxen

by Thomas Hardy

A slightly more unusual Christmas-related poem today, penned by that master of misery, Thomas Hardy.

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
"Now they are all on their knees,"
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
"Come; see the oxen kneel,

"In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,"
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.

Originally published in The Times on 24th December 1915 (I have an even more appropriate piece lined up for tomorrow). For an essay on this poem so literary-looking that I haven't read it -- entitled Image, Allusion, Voice, Dialect, and Irony in Thomas Hardy's The Oxen and the Poem's Original Publication Context -- click here.

the teases!

Behind the Doctor Who advent calendar today (well, technically, it's yesterday now) -- an excerpt from this year's podcast commentary, in which Russell and Julie tease about what's coming in the 2009 specials... including a two-part finale!

Check it out here.

TV

BBC One Session: Duffy
Ah, accidental viewing! Her music is pleasant enough, but I'm not going to be rushing off to buy it. Originally shown in October, so features the first performance of her Bond theme-esque last single, Rain On Your Parade.

The Graham Norton Show
4x12 (18/12/08 edition, uncut repeat)
Hurrah for comedian guests helping make things funny! Less joy to be had from stupidly dressed Big Brother presenters however.

QI
6x02 Fire & Freezing [Christmas special]
Series "F" follows in January, also on BBC One.

Russell Brand's Ponderland
2x06 Christmas [Christmas special]

Articles

BBC Drama announces Sherlock, a new crime drama for BBC One
(from BBC Press Office)
Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss co-writing/creating a modern day take on Sherlock Holmes, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Watson? Best. Thing. Ever.

SPOILER FREE REVIEW! Doctor Who The Next Doctor by Dave Golder
(from SFX)
Sounds good to me!

Poem of the Day: The Burning Babe

by Robert Southwell

Obviously it's Christmas week, so I'm sure you're expecting no less than five Christmas-themed poems from Poem of the Day. So here's the first of them:

As I in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,
A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear;
Who, though scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed,
As though his floods should quench his flames, which with his tears were fed.
"Alas," quoth he, "but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,
Yet none approach to warm their hearts, or feel my fire but I!
My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,
Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;
The fuel justice layeth on, and mercy blows the coals,
The metal in this furnace wrought are men's defiled souls,
For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,
So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood."
With this he vanished out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,
And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas Day.

I tried to find a decent modern Christmas poem online and failed (most were about how great Christianity is and/or how bad atheism is), so I chose this distinctly odd one instead. Incidentally, talking of Christians, the author was a 16th Century saint who was hung, drawn and quartered as a traitor. This piece was first published posthumously in 1595.

TV

Britain's Got an Extra Pop Factor ...And Then Some!
'Part Three' of Peter Kay's excellent talent show spoof. Very funny with plenty of new material, though the damn recording cut out before the end and it's not be found online (yet). Dammit.

Heroes
3x10 The Eclipse Part 1
3x11 The Eclipse Part 2
Answers? Not really. But Volume Three is nearly over now, so it must be going somewhere. I hope.

Lark Rise to Candleford
2x01 Episode 1 (Christmas Special)
As genteel as ever, though with a nice bit of Victorian Christmas production design (the sheer volume of snow is quite astounding) and a surprising ghostly plot, perfectly suited to the setting (if not the series).

Outnumbered
2x06 Episode 6

Radio

Radio 1's Official Chart Show with Fearne & Reggie
So, disappointingly -- though not surprisingly -- The X Factor winner was number one. But the unprecedented success of the Buckley version means no one will ever remember the X Factor one without him in tow -- especially as the broadcast spent a good few minutes building up tension as to who had actually won -- so there's definitely a victory in that.

Christmas singles

It's your last chance! Do your duty -- stop The X Factor from being Christmas number one! Buy one -- or all (I did) -- of these!

Do not buy from Amazon -- it doesn't count toward the chart.

Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley
iTunes | 7digital | tunetribe | HMV
Backed by Facebook and Radio 1, this one stands the best chance.

Let's Not Fight This Christmas by Chris Difford & the Decorations
(aka The One Show Single)
iTunes | 7digital
Camp and silly, this is -- believe it or not -- the best one.

It's Christmas Time by Status Quo
iTunes | 7digital
Almost as good. These two would fit seamlessly on all those Christmas compilations.

Little Drummer Boy/ Peace on Earth by Bandaged
(aka Sir Terry Wogan & Aled Jones)
iTunes | 7digital
It's got Sir Terry Wogan on it -- that automatically makes it a contender for Best Ever.

Once Upon a Christmas Song by Peter Kay's Geraldine McQueen
iTunes | 7digital
Not as good as it could be, but hey, it might have a chance...

Joseph, Better You Than Me by the Killers featuring Elton John & Neil Tennant
iTunes

Fingers crossed...

TV

Have I Got News For You
36x09 (19/11/08 edition; extended repeat)
Hilarious, as usual.

Live at the Apollo
4x04 (19/12/08 edition)

The Sarah Jane Adventures
2x10 The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith Part Two
2x11 Enemy of the Bane Part One
It's good to know that kids still get some quality drama these days. In fact, I'd wager they don't know just how good they've got it.

Christmas singles

Stop The X Factor from being Christmas number one! Buy one -- or all (I did) -- of these!

Do not buy from Amazon -- it doesn't count toward the chart.

Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley
iTunes | 7digital | tunetribe | HMV
Backed by Facebook and Radio 1, this one stands the best chance.

Let's Not Fight This Christmas by Chris Difford & the Decorations
(aka The One Show Single)
iTunes | 7digital
Camp and silly, this is -- believe it or not -- the best one.

It's Christmas Time by Status Quo
iTunes | 7digital
Almost as good. These two would fit seamlessly on all those Christmas compilations.

Little Drummer Boy/ Peace on Earth by Bandaged
(aka Sir Terry Wogan & Aled Jones)
iTunes | 7digital
It's got Sir Terry Wogan on it -- that automatically makes it a contender for Best Ever.

Once Upon a Christmas Song by Peter Kay's Geraldine McQueen
iTunes | 7digital
Not as good as it could be, but hey, it might have a chance...

Joseph, Better You Than Me by the Killers featuring Elton John & Neil Tennant
iTunes

And I'll be posting this again tomorrow... and that'll be your last chance!

TV

Britain's Got the Pop Factor ...and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice
Part 1 The Final
Part 2 The Result
Finally got round to watching this, just as the follow-up episode was aired (watch that tomorrow probably). It was an absolutely hilarious, brilliant, spot-on spoof. Even better than I expected.

Lead Balloon
3x06 Mistake

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
22x12 A Moving Tribute [special]
I swear they've done this before with this title, but it's not listed as a repeat and it featured clips from the series just gone, so... Also, of bizarre and limited interest, it's billed as being "Episode 13" on iPlayer and all the electronic programme guides, but is actually the twelfth. Probably something to do with that Brand episode being skipped (for now) I should imagine.