In The Quiet of Christmas Morning: BBC startup, 25/12/1999

Here's how Christmas Day began on BBC2 in 1999. They had one of my favourite films - Harvey - on first thing, so we managed to capture a proper TV Christmas dawn. It starts off with Pages from Ceefax, of course, with a respectful version of O Little Town of Bethlehem playing instead of the usual Paul Hardcastle-flavoured muzak. Top stories include a Millennial news poll and a strangely grateful widow.

Once that fades out, cue the BBC2 Christmas ident for that year - the one with the 2 as a hyperactive wingéd nuisance kicking fairies about. The late Andy Cartledge is the one who drew the short straw and has to show up at 6am on Christmas morning to do the links - I suppose it's possible the BBC pre-recorded the early links just for the season, but even to this day the Corporation do it live. For the first two stations. The rest of them can just about sod off.

After the velvet-throated Cartledge wishes us a Merry Christmas, we get a trailer guaranteed to wake at least 50% of the population up: for Il Postino, also an excellent film. This scene doesn't represent it brilliantly well, but it makes people more likely to watch it, thanks to Maria Grazia Cucinotta and her two good friends.

More wholesome fare next, as a tiny Harry Potter narrates his own trailer for that year's Christmas Dickensian treat: David Copperfield. The inevitable galaxy of stars revolves around the unfeasibly minuscule boy wizard as he basically has a really bad time, menaced by, variously, Trevor Eve, Nicholas Lyndhurst (not seen here, but he was a brilliant Uriah Heep), Gandalf (allowing the one-decade-on viewer to pretend it's some kind of insane Potter/LOTR corssover), and his future Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Flying professors. Oh, and Queen Elizabeth I's Nanny.

Then there's a Christmassy slide for the film following, and the film following that, providing the perfect link for Cartledge to actually introduce Harvey properly.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• BBC
• Christmas
• startup
• Morning
• Ceefax
• Copperfield
• Merry
• Trailers

[TheGerkuman]

That's not the version of O Little Town of Bethlehem we sing. It amazes me how many different tunes people sing hymns to.

[Applemask]

@TheGerkuman I made a Mistake. O Little Town just gets started right at the end before fading out.

[JollyJosh99]

2 days later i was born

[Jver10]

The music accompanying Ceefax is actually See Amid The Winter's Snow which then becomes While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night at 0:29.

[jx866]

Only four options for the news vote? Not much of a poll.

[GodlikeFurry]

Your videos are... Interesting.