The initial post looked at the things which aired in 1981, 1986, 1991 and 1996. A year later, I checked out the content from 1982, 1987, 1992 and 1997. Then - in last year's post - I focused on '83, '88, '93 and 1998.
(By the way, if you'd like to view the aforementioned posts, you can follow the links in the menu below)
In this year's edition, I take a stroll through 1984, 1989, 1994 and 1999.
1984
When I browsed through the schedule for 1984, I stumbled upon a movie I had totally forgotten about. It aired on ITV at 11:45AM on Christmas morning and is Bug's Bunny's Looney Movie.
I'm close to certain my uncle had that film in his video rental shop back in the day.
The Christmas Day matinee - as it pertains ITV - was The Man with the Golden Gun. On the other side, at around the same time, the BBC aired Mary Poppins.
ITV's evening movie was Raiders of the Lost Ark. My dad recorded it.
The late film on BBC One was Some Like It Hot.
1989
By 1989, I was in charge of the video recorder. Or, I at least thought I was!
The big movie of Christmas '89 aired on BBC One. It was the network premiere of Crocodile Dundee (remember I wrote about the film earlier this week?). I definitely recall taping the film that Christmas.
I also recall watching the late film on BBC with my parents. It was the John Cleese film - Clockwise - which was on from 10:20PM that night.
Over on ITV, the matinee movie was The B.F.G. That would have been the cartoon version with David Jason voicing the Big Friendly Giant.
Earlier in the day, ITV's James Bond film was On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
ITV's evening movie was Down And Out In Beverly Hills. I thought it was rubbish. I still do. Then, at 11:20PM, Raiders of the Lost Ark was on five years after its network debut.
1989 was the first year we had Sky TV, so I had a look at what films we would have been able to watch on Sky Movies. Look at this!
Another thing I noticed on the TVRDB website was something which aired on Sky One on Christmas Day 1989:
I saw 'Mr Krueger's Christmas' listed in one of the Satellite TV magazines my dad would get us every month. It didn't have a description below it, but I immediately assumed it was an episode of Freddy's Nightmares or something. Imagine my displeasure when this Christmas TV movie did not have anything to do with the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.
1994
If you look back at the BBC One offering for Christmas Day 1984, you'll see I mentioned Mary Poppins was opposing the James Bond film on ITV following the Queen's Speech. Well, funnily enough, Mary Poppins followed the Queen ten years to the day. However, this time, the film was on ITV's schedule.
It wasn't the only Disney offering from ITV in '94. The 1958 classic - Sleeping Beauty - had its televised premiere (according to the website I have used to look up the TV guides) at 6:05PM.
The big film on BBC One in 1994 was Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The late night film on the Beeb's main channel was Trading Places - a classic!
1999
The movie which aired in BBC One's Christmas Day afternoon slot in 1999 was Robin Williams' Jumanji. The last film of the night was The Italian Job.
BBC 2 had some classics that day as well. White Christmas, Singin' in the Rain and Citizen Kane are three films which stand out from my browse through that channel's Christmas lineup.
Over on ITV's schedule, mixed in with a couple of Christmas editions of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and the usual soap opera offerings, was Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Pinocchio - one of my top Disney flicks - was ITV's midday offering. That would have been the film I would have gone out of my way to watch that year. IF I hadn't already owned it on VHS, that is.
And that's all for this year. The final edition of this series will be posted sometime next Christmas. In that post, I'll browse through the schedules of 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000. Until then, you can check back previous years below.
2021 Edition - 1981, 1986, 1991 and 1996
2022 Edition - 1982, 1987, 1992 and 1997
2023 Edition - 1983, 1988, 1993 and 1998
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