Del Boy comic caper tops festive TV moments poll

Tricksters: Rodney and Del Boy Trotter
11 April 2012
The Weekender

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A classic Only Fools And Horses episode in which Del Boy and Rodney dress up as Batman and Robin has been named as Britain's most memorable Christmas TV moment in a poll.

The 1996 comedy sequence when the Peckham pair dress up for a party which turns out to be a wake beat scenes from Wallace And Gromit and The Snowman, a survey found.

British sitcoms dominate the poll, with Dawn French as the Vicar of Dibley eating four Christmas lunches and Dawn and Tim getting together in The Office also in the top 10.

Some serious moments also featured, with the moment when Den hands Angie divorce papers in EastEnders in 1986 ninth, according to the survey for TV channel Gold.

A famous dance routine featuring BBC newsreaders from the 1977 Morecambe and Wise Christmas special, the annual making of the Blue Peter Advent Crown and the Queen's Annus Horribilis speech from 1992 failed to make the top 10.

Paul Moreton, Gold's channel head, said: "Great TV is one of the pillars of what makes a fantastic Christmas and what unites families.

"I'm delighted to see that so many of the great British classics are still the mainstay of so many people's seasonal viewing."

The poll of 2,000 viewers also revealed the average British family watches four and half hours of TV per day in the festive season and a quarter admitted having the television on in the background while eating Christmas lunch.

Animated children's film The Snowman, from 1982, was the oldest clip to make the top 10.

The results also showed more than half of those polled (52%) believe Christmas TV was better in days-gone-by.

The top 10 most memorable TV Christmas moments are:
1. Only Fools and Horses: Heroes & Villains (1996) (Del Boy and Rodney dress up as Batman and Robin)
2. Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993)
3. The Snowman (1982)
4. Vicar of Dibley: Christmas episode (1996) (Geraldine goes to four Christmas dinners)
5. The Royle Family: Christmas special (1999) (Denise gives birth)
6. The Office: Christmas special (2003) (Dawn and Tim finally get together)
7. Gavin and Stacey: Christmas special (2008)
8. Father Ted: Christmas special (1996) (The priests get lost in a lingerie department)
9. EastEnders (1986) (Den gives Angie divorce papers)
10. Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned (2007) (David Tennant as The Doctor kisses Kylie Minogue as Astrid Peth)

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