The Christmas TV Strategy Guide 2020
Here we are! A brand new year! In a lockdown thanks to a global pandemic! No, wait, stop that. Lets keep things positive. Things can only get better after the events of the last year, either that or we're heading into full on Mad Max territory. Either way, make sure you know where your leather chaps are at all times
0840 - BBC2
Yes, this will shake out those New Year blues, a proper joyful musical from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Honestly, just watching Gene Kelly dance is one of the greatest things you can see so get I say to get it in your eyes whenever you can
0900 - Channel 4
After the first SpongeBob film you'd expect more films to follow direct to DVD but no, we had this film which somehow manages to be just as fun as the first. Some great songs, a daft plot that never stops for too long and even a bit of emotion chucked in there as well. It's a proper fun film
1100 - Horror Channel
There seems to have been a lot of these films on which is great, they're just the kind of films you want to watch on a Bank Holiday, full of derring do with not much effort for your brain. They should be brought out of the cupboards for new people to find them, at least every now and then
1400 - BBC1
You may as well finish the trilogy off, this is again a much better sequel than you'd expect; honestly, a lot of the first was carried by the design and animation of Toothless but each film after that managed to find a great story to tell which is all you can ask for really
1630 - BBC1
Robin Hood is the definition of a Hollywood romp; it barrels along full of action barely stopping for historical accuracy or anything else that gets in the way of fun. And don't forget Alan Rickman stealing another film to add to his collection. You can then follow that with new Doctor Who which, as we all know, should have been on Christmas Day but it is what it is. I enjoyed the last run of Who despite the downs being pretty down but, hey, one episode was set in Gloucester so that was fun. This special? We'll see how it goes but Daleks and Captain Jack makes for an enticing mix
1820 - BBC2
This is a really good character study of someone reaching the end of their usefulness. McKellen perfectly captures a Holmes at the end, losing the mind that made him special and running out his days in isolation. It's also a bit rough seeing McKellen playing someone like that as it reminds you that he is actually really old, you want more of the Holmes in his prime almost as a comfort to remind yourself of the glory days. Which is kind of the point of the film, to be honest
1845 - Film4
Pretty fun triple bill here; a slice of 80s Cold War nostalgia, a murder mystery wearing one of cinema's great mustaches and finishing off with a great low budget film of werewolves versus soldiers. It's hard to say which is the highlight but I do have a real soft spot for Dog Soldiers. It's a great cast dropped into a great action horror plot which never takes itself too seriously
2145 - Talking Pictures TV
A proper cracker here, probably Price's best; there's generally a good dollop of camp in his films but there's none of that here. Nope, here he's just a properly nasty person going around doing nasty things. And thats what makes it so bad, because it's a person committing these acts, it's not a vampire or a demon or anything like that.
2200 - Dave
As a follow up to the lean Reservoir Dogs you can tell that Tarantino had a bit more budget for this one. Which is matched by the ambition, with stories told out of sequence with characters popping up all over the place. It was almost instantly iconic, thanks to that poster and that soundtrack. It's probably still up there which
2255 - BBC1
Quite why this is on so late I have no idea, but its a decent enough way to end the Strategy Guide for this year. This was the film where the Marvel Films properly embraced the wilder aspects of the Marvel Comics; talking raccoons, living trees, big massive heads floating in space. It was a big massive gamble and you probably have to give a lot of thanks to the soundtrack for getting this film over with a mainstream audience. Anchoring the big bonkers cosmic stuff with recognizable songs was a masterstroke, add into that a great funny script and you get a film thats hard not to love