History UsefulNotes / AVeryBritishChristmas

Before we continue, let's debunk a tabloid myth. There is no [[PoliticalCorrectnessIsEvil mass PC-ing]] of Christmas. 'Winterval' was a one-off commercial event,[[note]]Thank you, ''Series/{{QI}}''. [[/note]] and few things could annoy a Brit more than someone wishing them 'Happy Holidays' in December.[[note]]To most Britons, the "holidays" are your summer vacation.[[/note]] The secular wintertime scene depicted on one year's festive postage stamps isn't 'taking the Christ out of Christmas', it just means the Baby Jesus or suchlike will show up on next year's, as they ''alternate''. Cards are still sent. Office parties are more common every year. In fact, Christmas in Britain is so popular that from around the 1800s onwards, it has begun to be celebrated by virtually every religious denomination in some way or another. Christmas did ''almost die out'' in pre-1843 Anglophone Protestant nations (US and UK), but then a [[Literature/AChristmasCarol certain book]] by Creator/CharlesDickens completely revitalised it, and it is very firmly here to stay.

2017 saw another entirely unremarkable non-TV related, non-charity, non-festive Christmas [=No1=] in the form of Music/EdSheeran's "Perfect". It's been suggested that streaming is increasingly diluting the effect of ''The X-Factor'', 'protest vote' buys and charity singles, because you're not necessarily buying these because you actually want to ''listen'' to them. The 2018 Christmas [=No1=] saw a return to the novelty/charity chart-topper when [=LadBaby's=] parody of Music/{{Starship}}'s "We Built This City" extolling the virtues of sausage rolls(!!) saw off the likes of Music/ArianaGrande and Music/AvaMax (the latter's "Sweet but Psycho" had to settle for #2) to claim the top spot. He would have a monopoly on the position, claiming the top spot for Christmas in 2019, 2020 and 2021, with sausage roll-themed parodies of "I Love Rock n Roll"[[note]]"I Love Sausage Rolls"[[/note]] and "Don't Stop Believin'"[[note]]"Don't Stop Me Eatin'"[[/note]], making him one of only three acts (alongside Music/TheBeatles[[note]]who had a fourth Yuletide Number One after a one-year gap[[/note]] and Music/SpiceGirls) to have had three Christmas Number Ones in a row. (Cliff Richard has also appeared on three consecutive Christmas number ones, between 1988 and 1990; however, the second of those is excluded due to his name not being explicitly used - he was one of the acts that appeared on 1989's re-recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas".) In 2021, they would claim a record fourth Christmas chart-topper in a row, having roped in Ed Sheehan and Music/EltonJohn (incidentally knocking their own collaboration off the top) for "Sausage Rolls for Everyone". This was the first Christmas-themed Christmas [=No1=] since 1990 (excluding 2004's re-recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas"), but was the fourth Christmas-themed [=No1=] in a year - again following a 30 year gap between them[[note]]ignoring the 2004 and 2014 re-recordings of "Do They Know It's Christmas"[[/note]] - following Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You", Music/{{Wham}}'s "Last Christmas" and the previously mentioned Ed Sheeran/Elton John collaboration "Merry Christmas" (which the [=LadBaby=] song parodied). In 2022, they would kick the Beatles out of the record books by claiming a ''fifth'' Christmas number One with "Food Aid", a reinterpretation of "Do They Know It's Christmas".

** As far as Christmas movies are concerned, expect to see the likes of ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', ''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet'' (both versions), ''Film/HomeAlone'', ''Film/{{Elf}}'', ''Film/LoveActually'' and many more among the listings. Oh, and there will be ''at least'' three or four [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol versions]] of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' on the terrestrial channels alone. The exact ones vary, but ''Film/{{Scrooge|1951}}'' (the Creator/AlastairSim one) and ''Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol'' (voted [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the nation's second favourite Christmas film]] after ''It's a Wonderful Life'' in a 2011 ''Radio Times'' poll) are usually among them [[note]] although Creator/ChannelFour doesn't show the latter on Christmas Eve any more, as Sky bought the rights to it in 2019 — but don't worry, as some cinemas have started showing it during the festive period![[/note]].

** What with it being set on Christmas Eve, ''Film/DieHard'' usually makes an appearance somewhere. Expect some debate about whether it really counts as a Christmas movie; some people (mostly men) say it is, others (mostly women) would beg to differ [[note]] curiously, although it is also set around Christmas, ''[[Film/LethalWeapon1987 Lethal Weapon]]'' has never really been thought of as a Christmas movie to the extent that ''Die Hard'' is regarded thusly[[/note]]. Among its fans, there are those who don't consider it to be Christmas until Hans Gruber has left the building! Worth nothing that, as with ''The Muppet Christmas Carol'', some cinemas now have screenings of ''Die Hard'' in the run-up to Christmas.
* In recent years, Creator/TheBBC has been adapting Creator/AgathaChristie novels and broadcasting the resulting mini-series during the Christmas period -- for example, ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'' (2015) and ''Film/WitnessForTheProsecution'' (2016) [[note]] the plan for 2017 had been to follow these up with ''Literature/OrdealByInnocence'' -- however, accusations of sexual misconduct against one of the actors led to it being pulled and [[{{Unperson}} his scenes being re-filmed with another actor]], with the finished product eventually airing over the 2018 Easter weekend[[/note]].

* The Father Christmas tradition holds that he comes from Lapland (the northern region of Finland), rather than the North Pole as American and Canadian children are taught. Perhaps a little less magical, but slightly less likely to melt, and easier for families who can afford to get to it via plane. And there are actually reindeer there. And ''snow'' -- the British climate generally is rather too temperate to see a real-life 'White Christmas' more than once in a given decade, despite the popular imagery and an annual rush to place bets on the subject. The tourist board of Finland (contested by the Swedish, as the two countries border each other with provinces that are both called Lapland and are both inhabited heavily by the Sámi people[[note]] whom it is impolite to call "Lapps" anymore, but unfortunately there’s no great English-language term for their homeland other than "Lapland"