fav christmas episodes of all time

Following a lonely Christmas spent with only Vienna as company, Rigsby is visited by the milkman, Fred, wanting his money, and post woman Gwen, who delivers a card - sent by himself - but declines to kiss him under the mistletoe. Alan and Brenda return from spending Christmas with his parents and both, separately, give him bath salts as a present. Philip comes back with a girl-friend Lucy, assuming they would be alone in the house. He tells Rigsby he has a present for him in his room and Rigsby wrongly believes this is Lucy. As she is black he imagines she has just arrived from Africa - rather than Northampton - and tries to teach her the British custom of kissing under the mistletoe. However Philip comes in to do that and gives Rigsby his actual present, a bottle of wine so strong it takes his power of speech away. Gwen and Fred return - she is now prepared to kiss Rigsby under the mistletoe but Fred gets in first!

Interspersed with fantasy scenes of a glorious traditional Christmas in which the two couples are waited on by George and Anthea comes the reality in which Gary shuts the door and carol-singers, nobody gets the present they want and, although Gary offers to cook the turkey, he forgets to turn the oven on. When he finally gets it right he gets so drunk he passes out and the meat is burned to a crisp. Deborah meanwhile tells Tony she thinks they should split up because he is so childish. Feeling guilty she follows him to the pub where Ken has created a bizarre crib but the guilt disappears when she sees Tony cavorting with a stripper. Eventually she forgives him and the two couples have an ersatz Christmas, thanks to last minute shopping at the all-night garage.

Christmas is a time of goodwill and cheer to all men-especially divorced, lonely men desperately seeking invitations to Christmas parties.

Briggs and Louis refuse to investigate a mugging case on Christmas Day, a special offer on lager leaves a bit of a hole in the festive finances, and a weirdly kinky gift leaves Father Christmas fighting for the turkey leg.

Harold wants to go to Switzerland for Christmas whilst Albert, as usual, prefers Bognor, though he is persuaded to go provided they sail, rather than fly. However he has no passport and when Harold finds his birth-certificate in order to get him one, it turns out that Albert is the illegitimate son of the muffin man and the picture of his supposed father is really Gladstone. At customs Albert"s new passport is accepted but Harold"s is a year out of date, so Albert happily goes on the holiday alone, unaware that Harold has actually cooked a scheme allowing him to spend Christmas with his girl-friend - in Bognor.

Albert is looking forward to another family Christmas but Harold wants to go to Majorca and put his father in a home for the duration. When Albert pulls his customary stunt and feigns illness Harold agrees to stay and spend the holiday money on a lavish party. Unfortunately he catches chicken pox from his father so the party is off and they are stuck with each other for the festive season.

The Meldrews get a surprise visit from Mr. Foskett, whom they know only because they stayed in the same guest house 17 years ago.

Jack and Victor face a miserable New Year when they become trapped in a lift at Osprey Heights. Winston recalls the daddy of all Hogmanays, in the dim and distant past when Craiglang knew how to throw a party.

Christmas has come round again but the Medfords get the festive doldrums when it looks as if daughter Wendy will be unable to visit. There is much eating, drinking and merry-making around the Christmas dinner table, though the fact that philandering Malcolm has received a card from a mystery woman annoys Beattie. Come New Year"s Eve, however, Wendy and her husband turn up for the party and Beattie turns the tables on Malcolm, making him violently jealous.

This Christmas special has all the staff meeting up on New Year"s Eve in the future, looking back at their first New Year"s Eve together.

After mild-mannered art-buyer Bernard Bottle is fired by his greedy boss and abandoned by his girlfriend, he discovers a genie in an old bottle. The genie immediately embraces the modern world and helps Bernard on the side.

After being pushed into his mother"s Christmas tree by his evil father Dan decides to impress head teacher Emma by writing the end of term play "Scrooge 3000", a musical set in space. He enlists the help of music teacher Frank Field-Williams, a reformed alcoholic, and everything seems to be going well until, on the eve of the production, Frank falls off the wagon and drinks so much it kills him. Disaster looms but happily a replacement pianist comes forward and, amazingly, the show is a hit, putting Dan well and truly into Emma"s - albeit platonic - good books.

It"s Christmas Eve and time for the annual contest with the Wigan branch to see who can return the highest sales figures. Unfortunately the shelves are empty because the delivery lorry hasn"t turned up. Gavin then learns that the lorry went to Wigan by mistake and the manager there knows that he can ensure victory by hanging onto it. Gavin will need his best men to recover the lorry - unfortunately he will have to make do with Leighton and Colin.

A witch predicts an untimely end for Victor; Patrick and Pippa prepare to move far away from the Meldrews, but Patrick gets stuck with Victor while trying to escape his secretary"s jealous boyfriend.

It"s Christmas day and Richie is cooking the dinner to which Dave Hedgehog and Spudgun are invited. Dinner is not up to Michelin standard, but Richie"s day improves when he finds out he is the son of God.

Mark has his family over to the flat for Christmas dinner, as well as Dobby, who he is finally going out with, except he hasn"t told his parents yet.

Production always slows down as Christmas nears and one dress gets destroyed as the clock reaches 5pm. Will anyone stay behind and help Mr. Fenner?

It"s Christmas, there"s a knock on the door. It"s Mary, and she"s pregnant but she assures them she"s not an allegory. I wonder if the Pope and Harold Pinter got home OK on that tandem?

Jeffrey gets an invite to the Young Conservatives" Dinner Dance but Ann will be away so she persuades him to take Mildred instead. A jealous George chats up widowed barmaid Beryl, telling her he is single and arranging to meet with her on the night of the dance whilst he is alone in the house. However Mildred feels out of her depth and returns home early,forcing George to tell Beryl the truth. The Ropers go to bed and,whilst Mildred declares that she loves George for all his faults, his response is less assured - he calls her Beryl.

When the Countess of Morcar"s priceless blue carbuncle is stolen, a reformed thief is charged with the crime.

Susan Cushing asks Holmes" help in solving the disappearance of her sister Mary Browner, but it doesn"t seem Holmes" type of case until he is told of a Christmas present"s grisly contents.

After the removal of Grace Brothers" perverse Santa Claus display models, the store decides to hire one of the staff to dress up as "Father Christmas" to entertain children.

Gordon takes the staff into Wales for a military-style team-building exercise. While dealing with the rigors of the wild, they are relentlessly pursued by would-be assassins. Gordon"s well-intentioned motivational skills make things worse.

It"s Christmas time in Craiglang and Jack and Victor have joined the choir. Tam is plotting his way to the jackpot in Boabby"s new fruit machine while Winston finds himself filling in as a Lollipop man at the top school in the region - a position coveted by others too...

The Brockmans throw a Christmas party with jubilee bunting for decorations but Pete is not happy. Of the kids only Ben wants to help whilst Sandra gets drunk, tactless Norris from next door reminds former TV weather-man Ray of his nervous breakdown and Pete gets shut in the bathroom with neurotic, flu-ridden Jane when the door handle falls off. As the evening progresses Norris"s wife runs off with her Lesbian lover, Jane takes an accidental over-dose and is rushed to hospital whilst Jake brings the police to the house. This will certainly be one party for everybody to remember.