1996 episode of Only Fools and Horses is voted top Christmas TV moment

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A 1996 episode of the classic British comedy series Only Fools and Horses, in which the show's two stars dress as Batman and Robin, has been named as Britain's most memorable Christmas TV moment.

The episode, called "Heroes and Villains", was originally broadcast on Christmas Day 1996 and was watched by an incredible 21.3 million people. The episode has the hapless Trotter brothers, Rodney and Derek (known as Del Boy), travelling in their yellow three-wheeled van to a publican's fancy dress party dressed as Batman and Robin. But the van breaks down leaving the embarassed duo having to walk to the party through the streets of London in their outfits (along the way they manage to inadvertently scare off a group of teenagers mugging a woman). What they don't know, however, is that the party is now a funeral wake because the publican, Harry Malcolm, had died the day before. The brothers weren't told as their phone was faulty - and their friend (and often rival) Boycie, a used-car salesman, also decided not to tell them when he answered the door to them at the home where the wake was being held. He then allowed the Trotter brothers, in a hilarious scene, to burst into the room where they think a party is being held, as they sing the theme tune to Batman (duh-duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh-duh Batman!) and spray silly string everywhere (including over the grieving widow) in front of the many horrified guests.

Only Fools and Horses ran from 1981 until 2003 and, in 2004, was voted the best British comedy series of all time by the British public (in a country where it had lots of competition).

British sitcoms dominate the poll, with a 1993 episode of Wallace and Gromit, called "The Wrong Trousers", in which the heroic duo (a Yorkshireman and his dog) take in a penguin as a lodger only to find that he is intent on robbing a jewel from the local bank by putting Wallace into a pair of mechanical, remote-controlled trousers and having him performing the deed against his will!

Dawn French eating four Christmas lunches in a 1996 episode of The Vicar Of Dibley and Dawn and Tim getting together in The Office are also in the top ten.

At No10 is the 2007 Christmas Day episode of Doctor Who, in which the Doctor lands his Tardis onboard the Titanic and discovers that the ship is actually an interstellar cruiser from the planet Sto. The episode also co-starred Australian singer and actress Kylie Minogue.

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

But 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 ten.

The poll also found that the majority of people think Christmas TV in the UK is not as good as it used to be.

Fools and Horses is top of Xmas TV


Hilarious ... Del Boy and Rodney in 1996 Christmas Day episode, which was watched by 21 million people

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

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 in the Xmas telly survey.

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

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

But 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 ten.

Boss of Gold Paul Moreton 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 a 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 (in which a young boy's snowman comes to life and takes him to the North Pole to join other snowmen at a party, and which is famous for its song Walking in the Air), from 1982, was the oldest clip to make the top ten.

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

Ten most memorable Christmas TV moments


Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers


THE top ten 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)


thesun.co.uk​



 
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