I'm a TV writer - here's why the TV Times Christmas edition is one of my favourite festive traditions
It’s not quite Christmas until the TV Times Christmas bumper edition is picked up in the shop...
Yesterday, I wandered into the shop and picked up the annual edition of the TV Times Christmas bumper magazine. An illustrated Santa’s jolly smile guided me towards it and without hesitation, I popped it in my basket.
It really doesn’t make much sense in 2025. I can barely get a signal on my television, so I spend my time watching everything on streaming, catch-up services or on a three-second delays watching live on console apps. There’s really no need for me to know the exact time that The Masked Singer or Strictly Come Dancing will be airing at as I just catch up with it later if I need to.
But there’s something that keeps me buying the TV Times Christmas bumper edition every single year. It started in childhood when we bought the TV Times every single year without fault. Albeit this started back when there was no Netflix or Prime to stick something on (so we had reason to know what was on TV at Christmas).
Christmas time is often spent trying to keep up with family traditions no matter how much life changes. For me personally, the past few years have seen some huge overhaul in my life. I moved out of my parents’ house, recently got married and unfortunately lost some very important people close to me who were key to Christmas in the Carrick household every year.
But keeping up with these tiny family traditions is a way of honouring and remembering how cherished those years were, while entwining it with new traditions as family grows and moves on.
And it might sound silly, but the slight of a good, old jolly illustrated Santa Claus on the front of the TV Times on my coffee table does just that. It gives me some childhood joy, flipping through the pages and circling what we want to watch while we gorge ourselves on chocolate and cheese (and now wine as a 28-year-old). It’s almost a decoration that we buy every single year, just as important as the tree or the wreath.
Whether your publication of choice is the TV Times like me, or the festive Radio Times, or any other publication, I’m sure I’m not alone in hoping this tradition survives as the world moves to everything being digital. I hope I’ll still be able to buy the magazine years from now with my own children and family.