HD Heads-Up: December 21 – 27

➢➢ Graham Norton will jump channels to TVNZ 1 for an Elton John interview that will premiere a day ahead of Norton’s latest Christmas show on Three. Elton John: Uncensored (8.10 December 22), however, apparently is anything but. Lamented The Telegraph: “This promised to be an hour of unedited, mischievous fun in conversation with Graham Norton. But it seemed that Fun Elton had left the building. Instead, this was a by-numbers retread of the star’s life and career pegged to the recent publication of his memoir.” But The Times argued: “What we got in Elton John: Uncensored was an older, wiser, mellower rock star in lilac shades who laughed at his toupee and was commendably self-deprecating” …

➢➢ Graham Norton’s Christmas Special (Three, 9.35 December 23) will feature Star Wars royalty John Boyega and Daisy Ridley, Henry Cavill (whose The Witcher opens on December 22), Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon, and Robbie Williams, who sings selections from his new album, The Christmas Present …

➢➢ Corries of Christmas Past (TVNZ 1, 9.25 Christmas Eve) will combine some of the best festive moments from Weatherfield’s history with interviews with past and present cast members. “Peace and goodwill can be short-lived on the cobbles during the festive season which always brings drama as well as plenty of fun and heart-warming moments – all captured in this documentary which will pack a Christmas punch,” producer Sue Walton promises. But the best news for Corrie fans is TVNZ 1’s onslaught of festive fare won’t pre-empt the thrice-weekly broadcasts …

➢➢ TVNZ 1 also will premiere the latest Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special (8.30 Boxing Day), A Wonderful Mammy, in which George and Will visit a secret ski lodge disguised as a boulder, a tree house that looks like a giant acorn, and a mountain-top restaurant resembling a spaceship …

➢➢ TVNZ 2 will screen a Great Kiwi Bake Off special, Celebrity Bake Off (7.00 December 23), in which Toni Street, MP Paula Bennett, The Bachelorette host Art Green, Educators’ Jackie van Beek, Celebrity Treasure Island host Bree Tomasel, and actor Dave Fane compete to be NZ’s best celebrity baker and raise money for charity …

➢➢ Other Yuletide specials will include Coca-Cola Christmas on the Park (Three, 7.00 December 21), Abba Forever (TVNZ 1, 7.00 December 22), The Chase Christmas Special (TVNZ 1, 8.00 December 23), Michael McIntyre’s Big Christmas Show (TVNZ 2, 7.15 Christmas Eve), Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Boxing Day) and Kylie’s Secret Night (TVNZ 1, 7.00 Boxing Day), in which Chatty Man Alan Carr chats to Kylie Minogue…

➢➢ The Chase’s host also will appear in his own offbeat chat show special, Bradley Walsh’s Late Night Guest List (TVNZ 1, 8.25 Christmas Eve). It aired in May in the UK, where The Sun reported: “Viewers ended up switching off this evening after being left confused by the ‘chaotic’ format” …

➢➢ Amid the tinsel of Christmas programming, TVNZ 1 will sprinkle “ace comedy” in the form of a late-night strip. From 10.45 on Boxing Day, it will screen consecutive episodes of Back to Life, a series about an ex-con who, after 18 years of imprisonment, moves back in with her parents to start over. The critical darling already has streamed on-demand …

➢➢ The similarly acclaimed The Queen and I (Prime, 7.30 December 21) imagines what life would be like for the royals if they were sent to live on a council estate, where the Queen discovers the system is rigged against the working class and bends rules to help her new friends. Said The Guardian: “Stephen Russell’s comedy-drama is based on the novel and play by Sue Townsend, and stars David Walliams as a newly elected People’s Republican party PM, whose first move is to oust the royals. The clan have to adapt to life in northern cul-de-sac ‘Hell Close’. Funny and provocative, just as Townsend intended” …

➢➢ It’s a Wild Christmas (ThreeLife, 7.30 December 22) celebrates nature on a wild, silent Christmas night all over the globe.