This blog is probably the odd one out in that it's a TV blog which doesn't really like Dr Who. But I can see its appeal, and it certainly has a lot of fans, so it makes sense that the BBC would make it a key part of its Christmas Day plans.

With the Tardis included in the BBC's Christmas idents, it was clearly one of the shows the BBC was banking on for big viewing figures, and it came third in the "most watched" charts with around 10 million viewers - down on the figures for the previous two Christmas specials.

It was beaten by Eastenders, watched by 10.9million people, and by The Royle Family, which was watched by 10.2million - 10.199million of whom must be wondering if they'd missed the joke along the way. It was shocking bad in my opinion, a dreadful send-up of working class people by a bunch of actors who came across as smug in the process.

But back to Doctor Who, anyway. Ten million isn't bad, but there wasn't much competition in that slot, either. From where I'm standing, the charm of Doctor Who is that it went away for a long time and then came back. Now there is no escaping it. And surely part of what makes it so cultish is that it shouldn't get saturation coverage everywhere.

THERE are some things Eastenders just does brilliantly. Whodunnits being one of them.
And as a result, this year's 'which soap was best on Christmas Day' battle between Coronation Street and Eastenders was a one-horse race.

Corrie, put bluntly, simply wasn't in the running. The return of Nicky Tilsley v Ronnie losing her baby. Kevin almost leaving with the world's most unlikely seductress v Who killed Archie Mitchell? If this was boxing, it would have been a knock-out in the first round.

The Archie story has been bubbling along nicely for quite a while, as he slowly made enemies with most of the people in Walford. Not just Phil 'I'm going to kill him, once I've had a drink' Mitchell, either.

There was Peggy, his long time love from whom he's snatched the Queen Vic. Does she have it in her to see off Archie? What about Bradley, just back with his long-time love Stacey only to find out she's up the duff to Archie? What about Ian Beale? He lent the Mitchells the money to keep the Queen Vic when Sam Mitchell skipped bail, only to be forced to sell the loan on to Archie if he wanted an early fling with Janine kept quiet. So he sells the loan on, but Archie then decides not to keep quiet. Could Beale have what it takes to finish Archie off? What about Janine? Having acted as his sidekick for months, being kicked out on to the street as soon as Archie had got what he needed?

Whereas as Corrie felt like it a battle to sit still for an hour, Eastenders flew by. A couple of the possible killers appeared to have a go but fail - Beale, Bradley, long-suffering daughter Ronnie, but there wasn't even a hint of a clue as to who the killer would be at the end as the bust of Queen Vic plunged into the back of Archie's head.

IT feels like panto season in our house whenever an interview with Tamsin Outhwaite appears on telly at the moment.

She's been very busy promoting Paradox (BBC 1, Tuesdays, 9pm). And in almost every interview she has done she's been at pains to say it's "not a sci-fi programme."

At which point, I just want to shout: "Oh yes it is."

After all, it's about a bunch of detectives who get to see a bunch of images relating to catastrophies taking place in the future which arrive at the offices of a firm of space scientists.

So, in one sentence, we're dealing with science, a mysterious unknown force, time travel (of a sort) and trying to convince the unconvinced of what is happening.

Yup, sounds like sci-fi to me.

Remember when TV's best known muppets - Olly, Lloyd and co on X Factor - murdered Queen songs the other week?

Seems the original Muppets have done a much better job

Christmas TV on the BBC actually looks rather good this year. Honestly. Whether it is the "sensational selection" the BBC press office claim it will be remains to be seen, but it is shaping up to be good.

Highlights I've spotted include a good dose of comedy, including a special episode of The Catherine Tate Show, as Nan experiences Christmases past, present and future, Gavin And Stacey, The Royle Family - The Golden Egg Cup, which sees all the Royles celebrating a special day for Jim and Barbara, and Victoria Wood's Mid-Life Crisis.

Last Christmas's big hit was the latest Wallace and Gromit. On that theme, this year there is BBC One's animation of children's book The Gruffalo, voiced by an all-star cast - including Robbie Coltrane as the Gruffalo.

The Christmas films look good, including The Incredibles, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End, Over The Hedge, Flushed Away and The Santa Clause 3.

This Christmas also sees a number of festive one-offs, including Outnumbered, My Family, Not Going Out, Celebrity Total Wipeout,and Top Of The Pops, with Christmas karaoke on BBC Red Button, and Celebrity Mastermind on BBC One, plus Mock The Week, Top Of The Pops 2 and Never Mind The Buzzcocks on BBC Two.

And while it might be a bit early to predict this, I reckon Eastenders will beat Coronation Street again.

In a classic Christmas EastEnders, Archie's mission of hurt and destruction is brought to an abrupt halt when he is brutally murdered - but who committed the crime? Ricky and Bianca are full of festive cheer, while Max's lies and deceit catch up with him, forcing Tanya to make a heart-wrenching decision.

Other stuff I'm the BBC are getting excited about but which I'll take or leave depending on ability to leave the chair include the Strictly Come Dancing final and Christmas special, the dramatisation of Henry James's classic ghost story, The Turn Of The Screw, starring Sue Johnston and Michelle Dockery.

Dame Judi Dench reprises her role in two Christmas helpings of Cranford. It's a year since the small Cheshire market town celebrated the marriage of Sophy Hutton to Dr. Harrison and Miss Matty lost her beloved sister. But I still won't be watching.

There are cookery specials from some favourite faces including Delia's Classic Christmas, Oz Drinks To Christmas, The Hairy Bikers Celebrate The 12 Days Of Christmas and Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey. Victorian Farm Christmas, which is accompanied by an advent calendar of 24 festive 'how to' guides online and on BBC Red Button, along with Grow Your Own Drugs For Christmas and regular servings of Ready, Steady, Cook mean there's plenty on the menu for foodies this season. But not on my telly. Food at Christmas is there to be eaten, not watched.

Some things don't change at Christmas. There's the new Doctor Who - discussed in much more detail on blogs which know much more about these things and the Jools Holland thing on New Year's Eve which is always the best thing to watch.

And Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without some hospital misery.

In Holby City, Linden is preparing for the perfect Christmas at home with his daughter Holly, but is forced to face up to the real problem that has been affecting his life for years - his guilt over his failure to save the life of his beautiful wife Olivia.

The New Year brings happiness and then heartbreak to the emergency team at Casualty as a joyful occasion ends in unexpected tragedy.

Ho, ho ho

Just as we got rid of one pair of t*ts from a celebrity reality game show, along comes Sky One with a programme dedicated to celebrities trying to spot more t*ts.

Only Sky One hasn't announced a series involving Jordan (see what I did there?) but one involving celebrities going birdwatching.

I'm a bit skeptical here, and I can't really see this one taking flight (!) - after all, celebrities going birdwatching and then discussing what they saw around the camp fire doesn't exactly well, light my fire.

I know it's not normally the done thing to criticise people raising money for charity, but please bear with me.

Out of the marathon telly event that was Children In Need on Friday night, only one bit struck me as demonstrating serious effort by the BBC - and that was the brilliant Peter Kay video (see above).

Up and down the country, thousands of people put the recession to one side and did great things for charities. As journalists working in newsrooms, it's easy to become a bit dismissive of the men sitting beans, women being shaved, blokes being waxed and kids baking cakes.

But there they are, every year, raising money ahead of the big telethon on a Friday night. And then the BBC serves up something which is starting to feel, well, dull.

This weekend was the first Sunday I didn't watch the X Factor results show live. Instead, I was at a conference (no, really) and something very odd happened.

Men in suits were checking their mobile phones to see who had been voted off the X Factor. And then talking about it. There wasn't a hint of irony of bemusement as chaps supping pints discussed the merits of Jamie Afro over Lloyd Daniels. Like most blokes-in-bars chats, there was an element of "expert analysis" - people talking about voting patterns and so on - but if proof was needed that the X Factor has reached the parts other talents shows failed to, it was there on show at the Radisson Hotel in Stansted.

So the fact I didn't see it live makes it somewhat hard for me to comment on whether Jamie Afro should have left ahead of Lloyd Daniels.

There's no doubting he was the least popular act. How do we know that? Well, for the fourth week running they went to "deadlock" to decide who left - ie the four judges couldn't decide who to send home, and each of the bottom two received two judges votes each.

Oh how we laughed. Every time Simon Cowell threatened to leave the country if John and Edward won The X Factor (Saturdays and Sunday, ITV 1, at length), the chances of them making it through this week's X Factor live show increased.

And so it proved. With another mediocre performance, the twins who dressed up for Halloween on Saturday night should have been dead and buried as far as the X Factor was concerned.

Yes, they might be entertaining, but the programme they entered wasn't "The Red Coat Factor." Hell, it's not even "The Blue Coat Factor" - having stayed at both Butlins and Pontins, I can only assume performers at the latter aspire to work at the former.

People who can entertain work at Butlins. People who can sing very well tend to make the final 12 of the X Factor. John and Edward might entertain, but they certainly can't sing very well.

Warning: The blog may unintentionally contain spoilers

After going off the boil in 2007, Spooks returned with a bang in 2008 and it appears the new season of Spooks (Wednesday, 9pm, BBC 1) looks set to be superb.

As watercooler moments, go, the bundling of Spooks boss Harry into a body bag as he was kidnapped by Russia after saving London from attack, was right up there as a talker.

Unsurprisingly, the new series opens up with the hunt for Harry continuing - although he appears to be dead when his apparent execution is posted on the internet.

But this being Spooks, nothing can be taken for granted - and the great news is that one of the best characters of the entire series, Ruth, is making a come back.