11 of the best TV Christmas specials ever made

It wouldn’t be Christmas if we didn’t do a little walking in the air with our favourite frosty friend.

The Snowman began life as a book, hit TV screens as special one-off in 1982 (when it also earned an Academy Award nomination) and earned itself an annual spot in the festive schedules.

And remember, that’s NOT Aled Jones singing. It’s a choirboy from St Paul’s by the name of Peter Auty.

From missing wedding rings to new sofas and a turkey just like Nigella’s, there’s little ground the Royles haven’t covered in their Christmas crackers.

Widowed neighbour Joe even did a spot of speed dating back in 2012.

But if there’s one special that never fails to deliver – quite literally – it’s the one during which Our Denise goes into labour and dad Jim has to comfort her in the loo.

Sci-Fi fans have grown to appreciate the yearly offerings from the NuWhoniverse, the first of which featured David Tennant making his debut as The Tenth Doctor.

He may have regenerated at the end of the previous series, but it was during The Christmas Invasion that he really found his Whovian feet.

They very first full length episode of The Simpsons was shown on December 17th 1989 and, to this day, remains one of the show’s classics.

Homer’s horrified to discover the family won’t have enough cash to buy Christmas presents – his Christmas bonus hasn’t come through and they’ve spent all their money having Bart’s tattoo removed – so he gets a part time job working as a shopping mall Santa.

As luck would have it, that doesn’t pay enough either, so Homer takes Bart to the dog track to try their luck on a four legged fiend called Santa’s Little Helper.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Who could forget Ross Geller’s struggle to explain Hanukkah to his son, Ben, while dressed as a giant Armadillo? Or the moment Chandler arrived home, dressed up as Santa Claus – much to Monica’s delight.

17 Christmases later, it’s still a beloved classic.