I've Been Thinking... - Four Of My Favourite Comedy Christmas Specials

Hi!!!

So as it's now officially December (cue excited squeals), I thought it was about time that I got some Christmas content going on over here. So today, I wanted to talk about one of my favourite parts of Christmas - the comedy specials. Here's some from over the years that I think you should watch to get you feeling festive.

The Royle Family, 'The New Sofa'

This one is my all time favourite Royle Family Christmas special ever - and that's saying something as there are loads to choose from. From Denise wanting to be Nigella (we've all been there), to Dave trying to defrost the turkey in insane ways, to the excitement at a reclining sofa, this episode is full of so many laughs that you simply must watch it- what a fabulous festive classic.

Gavin and Stacey, Christmas Special

This is one of the best Christmas specials there is. I think at this point I could quote it backwards, and with good reason, because it is hilarious. It has the incredibly loveable characters we know and love from the show, and they all get a turn in this one. Expect lots of loud singing, talk of tea towels, a bit of a fight, some side splittingly awkward moments and those iconic gift wrapped Celebrations chocolates.

Miranda, 'The Perfect Christmas'

Miranda is a ridiculously funny show all year round, but something about this Christmas special tops it all. One thing everyone loves about Miranda is how relatable it is and that doesn't change at Christmas - Miranda misses the delivery of her parcels full of presents, she tries to have Christmas at her house but her friends cause chaos and some fantastic Christmas jumpers are worn. All round festive fun with the potential to make you cry-laugh.

The Vicar of Dibley, 'The Christmas Lunch Incident'

I've seen this one loads of times now, and it never stops making me laugh. What happens when you say you'll go to three christmas lunches? This episode shows you. With laughs galore, Dawn French as the fabulous Geraldine, advent calenders, jokes from Christmas crackers and some of the best one liners that the character Alice was ever given, this is a must watch before the big day.

All of these Christmas specials are available on the TV Channel ChristmasGOLD (Sky Channel 110, BT Channel 310, Virgin Channel 124 and TalkTalk Channel 310), and are available as part of series box sets. Some are also available on streaming services, like Netflix and SkyGo so do be sure to try a quick search there too.

Thanks for joining me today, I hope you liked this post.

What is your favourite Christmas special? Do you have any comments or suggestions for future posts? Let me know by leaving a comment. 

Go forth and watch TV.

I hope your day is full of laughter.

GingerSnaps xxx

I've Been Thinking... - The Comedy Box Sets You Need In Your Life.

Hi!!!

I am a massive comedy fan, be it stand up, movies, sitcoms or anything of that sort. Over the years, I've watched many a sitcom/comedy box set and I've certainly been more impressed by some than others. With that in mind, I thought that I'd share my carefully curated favourites list with you today. Some of the shows have finished and so you can watch them all at once if you wish, while others are ongoing and so you can catch up before any new series.

The Comedy Box Sets You Need In Your Life.

 

Father Ted. I have no words to express how brilliant Father Ted is and how much I love it. It is honestly so hilarious and one that I always go back to. It follows three priests from Craggy Island - Ted, Dougal and Jack - and their housekeeper Mrs Doyle and their ridiculously funny exploits in life including a rather interesting trip to a department store, an attempt at a caravan holiday, a very intense ride on a milkman's van and a marvellous 'Eurosong' entry. This show is life.

The IT Crowd. Another Channel 4 favourite. I absolutely love The IT Crowd. Moss, Roy and Jen work in the IT department of Reynholm Industries and on the show we see their antics both at work and outside of work, which are always ridiculously funny. 'Countdown', football, social media and trips to the theatre (I cry laughed at that one in particular) are all under fire. It's one for the geeks - it's clever, it's relatable and it's riotous. Love.

Modern Family. The show revolves around Jay and Gloria, Claire and Phil, Mitch and Cam and all of their children - Hayley, Alex, Luke, Manny, Lily and Joe. The show is stellar - it's super funny, it's relatable and it makes my heart happy. From taking Halloween hilariously seriously to raising ducklings to family photo-shoots gone wrong, Modern Family provides the perfect mix of belly laughs, craziness and truly heart-warming moments.

The Big Bang Theory. This show has become a bit of a pop culture icon, and it's easy to see why. Leonard, Howard, Sheldon and Raj are all massive nerds and they and their neighbour Penny (who is about as far from a nerd as you can get) experience all of the crazy moments of life together. It's smart, massively entertaining and, of course, totally hilarious. Science, paintball, The Cheesecake Factory and comic books are all regular features of this gem.

How I Met Your Mother. Ted is a bit of a hopeless romantic and the show follows him and his friends Marshall, Lily, Barney and Robin, and the story of how he met the love of his life and the mother of his children - it involves a marathon attempt gone wrong, games of laser tag and *that* yellow umbrella. Full of laugh out loud moments, little life lessons, charming moments and the happy things that make up life, How I Met Your Mother is a stroke of brilliance.

Miranda. I think this show is completely hilarious - I've loved it for years. Miranda runs a shop with her best friend Stevie, is hopelessly in love with her friend Gary, has a mother who is constantly trying to marry her off, and is trying to navigate her way through grown up life. I love this show and whether it be going to the gym, booking a not-so-far-away holiday or going for lunch with school friends, this show is full of belly laugh moments. (Apparently, Elf Girl and I are like Stevie and Miranda...)

Not Going Out. Flatmates Lee and Lucy and Lucy's brother Tim make for a fab trio in this series (although Tim doesn't appear in the later series and Lucy isn't in the first). Their antics and mishaps make for very funny viewing, whether they be having a go at Battle of the Bands competitions (despite their questionable talents), getting stuck in ski lifts or trying their hand at am-dram, the mundane and the ordinary become the extreme and the hilarious in this cracker of a comedy.

 Gavin and Stacey. One of my all time favourite shows ever, ever, ever. Lovebirds Gavin and Stacey and their legends of friends and family are the subjects of this one. Whether it be a big old family Christmas (I can quote that episode backwards), ordering takeaways, going to foam parties or crossing the M6 toll bridge, this show will bring side-splitting comedy in absolute spades. I'm forever referencing it and I always love watching it (I've even been to Marco's in Barry). Big love.

Thank you for reading this, I hope that I've given you some inspiration for what to curl up and watch on these chilly February evenings.

What are your favourite comedy box sets? Have you seen any of mine? Which do you think you might like to watch next? Do you have any comments or suggestions for future posts? Let me know in the comments below.

I'll speak to you all soon, I hope your week is off to a good start.
 

I hope your day is filled with happiness and laughter!
 

GingerSnaps xxx

 

Oh My Life! - Tales Of My Life and Times - Road Trip!, Disney Sing-a-Longs, Air Guitars, THE DAY OF THE DOCTOR, Gavin and Stacey Times and Mr Blue Sky!

Hi!!!

Today's post is a good'un! (I know, I'm so modest...) Alllll the way back in April, I went to the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff with one of my favourites ever - of course, my ever fabulous best friend Elf Girl (find her tiny elf-self HERE) - and it was, as you can imagine, a pretty epic day.

From where we live, it takes about two and a half hours to get to Cardiff, but we know how to handle such road trips - with air guitars and rock songs and Disney soundtracks and selfies in traffic, which is just the best. Like, seriously, I had such a great time spending two and a half hours sat in a car!

When we got to Cardiff, we had something to eat before heading over to the giant blue thing that is the Doctor Who Experience.
We bought our tickets and then had a bit of a walk round, taking photos of the bits and bobs that are sat lining the queue.

Once you get inside, there's the Interactive Experience that gets you much more involved in it all. I don't want to spoil it for any of you Whovians out there, but it is awesome!
Do it the GingerSnaps and Elf Girl way and make sassy comments the whole way around, feel confused about why random people keep talking to you and always elbow your way to the front.

Upon leaving the interactive bit, we entered the Exhibition Hall which is where all of the sets and artefacts are.
We ran around like crazy people trying to see everything and take photos with everything and we did pretty bloomin well. We also had our photo taken in the TARDIS - twice - and saw lots of really interesting things. There is more up the stairs from here, from lots of more recent episodes, which is cool, and we had loads of fun being silly and trying to pose like we were "running away from the bad guys" which inevitably involved falling over! Ooops! 

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Mermaid Quay, which is right by the experience, entering the children's colouring competition at Starbucks - including a FRIENDS reference - and making it to the wall (!!!), and heading out to Barry to fangirl over Gavin & Stacey and to get ourselves on every kids arcade ride possible (including a rollercoaster simulator on which we nearly lost a purse!)

The way home included singing ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) and Queen at the very tip top of our lungs and lots of laughing.

So, thanks to Elf Girl for asking me to join her, I had such an absolutely brilliant time. Go and check out her excellent blog (HERE), and the posts she has done about our day (HERE) and (HERE), the latter includes captions of epic proportions for some of the photos seen here, and some of her own - should make you chuckle.

To find out more about the Doctor Who Experience, click (ME).

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have enjoyed this post, and that this was interesting - especially for the Whovians amongst you.

Have you been to the Doctor Who Experience? What did you think? Would you like to go? Do you have any comments or suggestions for future posts that you'd like to see? Let me know in the comments below.

See you all soon,

 

Have an superb day!

 

GingerSnaps xxx