That missing magical Christmas ingredient

If they could bottle the magic ingredient of classic Christmas TV shows, then we'd have a brilliant one every year, writes Peter Rhodes.

Sadly, whatever it is that makes the likes of the Blackadder and Men Behaving Badly Christmas specials so good is an elusive thing.

As the disappointing The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff (BBC2) proved this week, you can't just give Stephen Fry a silly name and an even sillier voice and hope it will all work.

It won't.