That was Eric Morecambe's thinking with their Christmas shows as well. He didn't want much remotely Christmassy mentioned in the shows so that they could be repeated all year round, although they do still tend to be repeated mostly at Christmas anyway simply because of their legacy and association with Christmas.
Mike Yarwood, 1980: "I mustn't make the show too Christmassy in case it gets repeated in the summer. So only the opening titles will be festooned with tinsel!"
Andrew Sachs is dead and Prunella Scales has dementia so Fawlty Towers won’t come back now. Blackadder is the only classic sitcom with all principal players still alive that could conceivably return, but Back and Forth already did that and showed why they probably shouldn’t, especially now. Leave it as it is.
I wasn't actually suggesting they should revive Fawlty Towers. What I was responding to was the suggestion that Gavin and Stacey got 11 million viewers last year so the Beeb should just do more things like that, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. But what things like the Gavin and Stacey revival are there? You need to find another sitcom that everyone knows and likes and where a revival would be a guaranteed ratings smash. That would only be something enormous, like Fawlty Towers. Which isn't going to happen.
Yes, because Call the Midwife and Strictly is all about the young folk. Mrs Browns Boys has now had a special every year since 2011, twice each Christmas since 2012 and airing on Christmas Day since 2013. Ridiculous to guarantee them that slot for another 6 years - but wouldn't be ridiculous to force them back to doing a series or two instead. Indeed when you look back at the classics you'd often either get a series or a special, and doing it that way meant both a one-off or a new series actually felt somewhat special.
I find it very hard to believe that this new contract for Mrs Brown guarantees a Christmas Day slot, let alone the exact time on Christmas Day. They don't even guarantee the Premier League that Match of the Day will start at the exact time every Saturday.
Back in 2009, Victoria Wood complained that her Christmas special was on Christmas Eve when she made it with the expectation that it would go out on Christmas Day, but the Beeb chaged their mind. And that was
Victoria Wood
.