What to watch on TV on December 23: Our Friend Victoria at Christmas, Blind Date Christmas special and The World’s Best Christmas Lights

We've scoured the schedules so you don't have to
Christmas comedian: Our Friend Victoria takes a look back over the TV personality's life
Paul Stuart/Camera Press
Safeeyah Kazi23 December 2017

A beautiful documentary tribute to one of Britain’s biggest and brightest TV personalities, a comedic return for a game show and a festive trip round the world, we’ve got you set for the Christmas run-up.

Here’s what to watch on December 23.

Our Friend Victoria at Christmas

Much-adored British comedian Victoria Wood passed away in 2016 after a lengthy battle with cancer. This one-hour special will celebrate Wood’s extensive back catalogue, hosted by one of Victoria’s long-term collaborators, Anne Reid.

Wood had a significant impact on Reid’s career, pulling her from serious drama to comedy, something Reid says she’s ‘eternally grateful’ for.

The episode kicks off with classic stand-up from Wood on the downsides of Christmas, including include over-spending, over-indulgence and fatigue.

Other close friends of Wood including Julie Walters and Dan Rigby reveal how Wood really felt about Christmas and share anecdotes about Christmases spent together in years gone by.

BBC One, 9:30pm

Blind Date Christmas special

Paul O'Grady Blind Date Christmas special Channel 5 press shot
Channel 5

Paul O’Grady might be the pinnacle of pantomime dames but for once it isn’t the Scouse comedian who’s dressing up. The Blind Date Christmas special sees Prince Charming in full regalia attempting to find his very own princess from a choice of three - Cinderalla, Tinkerbell and Snow White.

The twist: the contestants are all real-life panto performaners – with 22-year-old Craig having played Jack and the Beanstalk this year.

Channel 5, 8pm

The World’s Best Christmas Lights

Channel 4

For the past five years, a group of Liverpudlians called The Christmas Decorators have travelled to Bethlehem with a goal to decorate Manager Square in time for Christmas.

Cameras followed them on their festive journey to document the hopes, dangers and political tensions of their journey.

The one-off special will show the team working with Palestinians to light-up Bethlehem’s Manager Square.

Channel 4, 8pm

Christmas TV highlights 2017 - In pictures

1/10

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in