Advent Calendar 2021 Day 14: Cannon & Ball For Christmas, 1980

Two series into their shiny floor reign at LWT Tommy and Bobby were given their first festive special though going out the week before rather than when London Weekend retook the reigns from Boxing Day evening itself suggests they weren't entirely convinced yet - in fact they'd only ever get four Christmas shows of any stripe. What's also interesting about this is it's all set on one stage, the classic LE set with the orchestra in the back corners, though there's a smart gag to begin with involving the big staircase entrance. You can see the transition between the working men's club and the telly screen going on as there's pointers to them becoming proper song and dance men, both in delivering Me And My Shadow and wearing comedy costumes to back Faith Brown, but the mania (and Sid Green script) behind a routine based on Bobby playing a stringless guitar that turns into the duelling banjos from Deliverance shows they could never fully commit to that. We'll be honest, other guest Bertice Reading and colleagues' version of Didn't It Rain doesn't quite match Sister Rosetta Tharpe's. But yes, together they were OK.