The BBC has spent £43 million on its fight with ITV and Channel 4 in the Christmas ratings wars. The main highlight of the festive season is the three part special of top comedy Only Fools And Horses. There are also Christmas specials for The Vicar Of Dibley, Noel Edmunds and Animal Hospital. There will also be an extra Christmas Day edition of Eastenders.
Other events happening at Christmas include on BBC2: An Audience With Charles Dickens, in which Simon Callow recreates the novelist’s public performances of A Christmas Carol; Rossini’s version of the Cinderella story, called La Cenerentola; a festive version of Shooting Stars; Steve Coogan’s new comic creation Tony Ferrino gets two specials and there is a special edition of The Fast Show.
Major films to be screened over the holiday period include: dinosaur film Jurassic Park; the Tom Cruise thriller The Firm; Cliffhanger starring Slyvester Stallone; Shadowlands and the Richard Gere and Jodie Foster drama Somersby.
Last year BBC1 was watched for an average of 13 hours and 14 minutes compared to 10 hours and 23 minutes for ITV by individual four plus in the week ending December 31st.
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