Revisiting the BBC1 schedule from Xmas Day 1985

I have set up this blogspot purely for this entry, but I may yet go on to write other entries if they take my fancy and/or the idea ends up taking off and attracting attention.

For a few years now I have been watching each episode of Only Fools And Horses on the 40th anniversary of its first UK broadcast, having so far watched the first three series and the first three Xmas specials. The next episode to reach its 40th anniversary will be the feature length special 'To Hull And Back' which first aired on 25th December 1985 and will be 40 years old in just a couple of days time. Having known all year that I would be watching that episode on Xmas Day (since I have the luxury of living alone and spending Xmas alone) I decided to make it more fun by attempting to be able to watch (or at least have on in the background) as much of the BBC1 schedule from that year as I could possibly find. I set to work identifying what I already had on DVDs, what I could find online on youtube or elsewhere, and what I needed to buy the DVDs for, and set up a page covering all the details on my personal website www.spanglefish.com/webbyswonderfulworld . Unfortunately I discovered near the end of last week that my spanglefish website appears to have gone AWOL and spanglefish appear to have no way of being contacted to find out why, so I am rebuilding this same research here (I'll try to not even think about all the other pages that I have lost if my spanglefish website doesn't miraculously return at some point).

A * next to a title means that ident/continuity into that show is found on the following compilation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-2-qyMT-pQ

08:00-08:35 Ceefax

08:35-08:55 Play School
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItKX5Np73oE

08:55-09:20 Muppet Babies: Raiders of the Lost Muppet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcTL29VEe18

09:20-09:35 Knock! Knock!

09:35-10:05 This Is the Day

10:05-11:28 Film: The Gnome-Mobile
https://archive.org/details/the.-gnome-mobile.-1967.1080p.-webrip.x-264-rarbg

11:28-11:30 Weather*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEcizMqf_0c

11:30-11:55 Roland's Yuletide Binge*
Part 1
Part 2
NB: At about 9:46 in Part 2, when the fake Queen suddenly appears, the upload has jumped to a different Roland Rat special from a different year.

11:55-14:00 The Noel Edmonds Live Live Christmas Breakfast Show*
Continuity/Intro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Frip1d5dY

14:00-15:00 Top of the Pops Christmas Party*
https://archive.org/details/top-of-the-pops-christmas-day-1985

15:00-15:10 The Queen*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJs86N7bvgw

15:10-16:55 Children's Royal Variety Performance*
Short clip only
NB the uploader of that clips suggests that the full show is 'out there' if you know where to look, but I haven't been able to find it anywhere or even to tease a clue out of the uploader in question.

16:55-18:25 All Creatures Great and Small

18:25-18:30 News

18:30-19:30 Hi-de-Hi!*
Intro/Continuity

19:30-21:00 Only Fools and Horses - To Hull and Back
https://archive.org/details/vid-20221127-174549
NB start at 2:49 to skip the trailers from the VHS release

21:00-21:50 The Two Ronnies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-2-qyMT-pQ
NB the linked version is edited to remove a performance by Phil Collins

21:50-22:00 News

22:00-22:40 Wogan
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

22:40-00:35 Film: Absence of Malice (1981)

0:35 Weather

then Closedown*