THREE days of Christmas TV – and the schedules have an eerie feel of this time last year. Nothing much changes. A Doctor Who Christmas special along with seasonal episodes of The Royle Family, Strictly Come Dancing. A new Poirot whodunit and a ghost story.

Plus, some treats from the vaults, including old Top Of the Pops footage, and an episode of Some Mother Do ’Ave ’Em.

And, of course, a big chunk of time is occupied by the soaps where you can bet there won’t be much seasonal goodwill. Weatherfield residents are still coping with the aftermath of the tram crash. Over in Walford, Stacey’s wondering if she’ll manage to leave before the cops arrest her for murdering Archie. In Emmerdale, there’s a wedding. Perhaps. Chas is having second thoughts about leading love rat Carl up the aisle and then abandoning him There is one new show – the first in a six-part comedy series from Little Britain’s David Walliams and Matt Lucas. Come Fly With Me (Christmas Day, BBC1, 10pm) is a spoof documentary set in an airport terminal with the pair adopting a multitude of disguises as a gallery of characters.

CHRISTMAS EVE

WHISTLE And I’ll Come To You (BBC1, 9pm) is a modern version of the Edwardian tale by M R James.

“Christmas is just the right time for a ghost story, it’s conducive I think,”

says star John Hurt. “It’s sitting around the fire in the semi-dark, chatting and reminiscing, and it’s traditional.”

He plays retired lecturer James Parkin, who, after being forced to place his wife in a care home, encounters a terrifying apparition on a desolate beach.

He’s a big fan of ghost stories. “It goes back to when I was sent away to school in the Forties. If you became a prefect, which misguidedly enough I was, it was a treat on a Sunday night before going to bed, to go in and see the warden who would read ghost stories. He was very good at it, too.”

CHRISTMAS DAY

THE Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC1, 6pm) has quickly become as traditional as turkey and sprouts, yet, before 2005, when the sci-fi favourite was revived, there had only ever been one previous festive moment. That came in 1965 when the first Doctor William Hartnell broke the fourth wall by wishing “a happy Christmas to all of you at home”.

Lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat says: “Oh, we’re going for broke with this one. It’s all your favourite Christmas movies at once, in an hour, with monsters. And the Doctor. And a honeymoon. And...

oh, you’ll see. I’ve honestly never been so excited about writing anything.”

The Doctor himself, Matt Smith, says: “It feels very Dickensian, set in a mad futuristic world and it evolves into something even more magical than your classic monster Doctor Who episode.”

Michael Gambon guest stars as a Scrooge-like miser with singer Katherine Jenkins making her acting debut.

THE transition from debonair, classically-trained actor to eccentric detective involves all manner of props and padding. But David Suchet confesses there’s one simple act which transforms him into Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot.

“The thing that really tips me into the character, where I feel I can’t be David Suchet any longer, is putting on the moustache,” he explains.

“Poirot’s moustache is not intrusive, but it does restrict a certain movement of the top lip and that changes the way I sound and how I move my face.”

This time he’s investigating Murder On The Orient Express (ITV1, 9pm) with guest stars Eileen Atkins, David Morrissey, Toby Jones and Hugh Bonneville.

THIS year in The Royle Family (BBC1, 9pm) Jim, Barbara and Denise and co are back on the sofa and celebrating another Christmas Day – in ways only they could. Barbara is up to her eyeballs in wrapping paper and turkey grease, with Jim out of action because of an unfortunate incident in the precinct.

Meanwhile, Dave and Denise are reeling with the effects of the economic crisis and are concerned Anthony’s lavish gifts will eclipse their well-thought out present of a fridge magnet. Elsewhere, Joe reminisces about a tipsy evening of naked wrestling in front of the fire with Bobby Carter, while Cheryl shares the details of her romantic encounter in the local supermarket car park.

Very nice.

BOXING DAY

ANOTHER classic drama returns with three new episodes of Upstairs Downstairs (BBC1, 9pm). The door of 165 Eaton Place, Belgravia, opens again in the drama created by actresses Eileen Atkins and Jean Marsh. It ran on ITV for 68 episodes between 1971 and 1975.

Ed Stoppard and Keeley Hawes star as Sir Hallam and Lady Agnes Holland, who move into the house in 1936 following a diplomatic posting abroad.

Marsh returns as former parlour maid Rose Buck, who is charged with finding new staff. Atkins, who didn’t appear in the original series, joins the cast as Maud, the formidable mother of Sir Hallam.

THERE’S a festive dose of sun, sangria and Santa in the one-off special of comedy show Benidorm (ITV1, 9pm). This time the regulars are joined by several familiar TV faces.

Hi-de-Hi! star Su Pollard (who appears as herself) is booked for the Christmas Spectacular at the Benidorm Palace, but all does not go to plan when she encounters cantankerous pensioner Madge. Donald and Jacqueline arrive with plenty of friends in tow, as the Middlesbrough Swingers Association is also in town for the holiday season – and one of them is played by Pineapple Dance Studio’s Louie Spence.

RETURNING home one evening in October 1984, Bob Geldof caught Michael Buerk’s BBC news broadcast from the feeding camps in Eritrea Province. Deeply affected, Bob persuaded a host of his fellow rock stars to perform free on the Band Aid record, Do They Know It’s Christmas?, and then teamed up with Harvey Goldsmith to stage Live Aid the following summer. Their extraordinary story is charted in the drama When Harvey Met Bob (BBC2, 9.15pm), featuring Ian Hart and Domhnall Gleeson.

Gleeson, known to Harry Potter films fans as Bill Weasley, admits playing Geldof was a challenge. “Any friends I told usually launched into an impersonation of the man, which sounded nothing like him to my ears,” he says. “You do the work you have to do to try and get to the place you feel comfortable, then you kind of forget about it because it’s never going to be him. I worked very hard on trying to get the physicality and get the vocal thing across."