Advent Calendar 2022 Day 21: Russell Harty's Christmas Party, 1982

We wouldn't suggest a lot of rules to live your life by but as a rule of thumb no programme that starts with Harty in flick photo form getting dressed as Santa can be bad. Russell in his white suit has set up live at the Greenwood Theatre in full variety pantomime mode, being challenged by Nicholas Parsons as a surprisingly angry Sheriff Of Nottingham threatening "the Grace Joneses" before a valiant interruption from fairy godmother Sandra Dickinson, who has the voice for it, and her Buttons in more than one way Peter Davison - remarkably the pair and Anthony Ainley were in a production of Cinderella in Tunbridge Wells written and directed by John Nathan-Turner. Your move, Messrs Gatwa and Davies. Matthew Kelly and Sarah Kennedy, one more accustomed to the art than the other, Esther Rantzen in knee-high boots is Dick Whittington conducting a singalong to "the fish and chip song", something that was entertaining the boys and girls of Bognor that season. After a tasteful interlude from St Paul's Cathedral Choir Mother Christmas Shelley Winters, who cannot have known what was going on, joins in and hands over a stuffed penguin, James Burke plays classical guitar, Shaw Taylor dances Latin American style and the Archbishop of Canterbury's wife plays piano. An all-party choir of MPs sings God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen out of sync on the verses and the whole things ends with the entire company led by Winters, who stops singing before the first chorus, on We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Is it the last knockings of the golden age of variety? We're not sure what it is, but it's remarkable in its jollity.