Last year, I wrote about the top five Christmas television specials, featuring such gems as the wonderful Vicar of Dibley, the ever-engaging Doctor Who and of course, my complete obsession with The Goes Wrong Show. Looking back at this now, I’m a bit annoyed that I called it the top five because… I don’t know how much thought I put into it actually being the BEST five. They were certainly five very good specials that were on my mind at the time, but the best?

It’s no surprise that as this year’s Strictly Come Dancing drew towards its conclusion and more and more focus was paid on the finalists, particularly Rose Ayling-Ellis, that the number of people interested in sign language increased time and time again. There were several stories on this topic through the series, but by the end, the BBC were reporting that: The director of one firm offering BSL courses told Radio 1 Newsbeat enrolments have gone up by more than 2,000% since Rose Ayling-Ellis has been on the show.

If we rewind six months of so, and ask my former self if the upcoming Hawkeye TV show would have been my most anticipated of the new MCU TV outings, I would have laughed long and hard. But then they signed up Hailee Steinfeld, then they set it at Christmas, and then they made all the artwork and superhero uniforms purple. Tick, tick, tick. The season finale was released yesterday, bringing to a close a six-episode arc that introduced a new character to Hawkeye’s life, as well as bringing in some returning faces both friend and foe.

I, like many other people, found myself crying for the full two hours of the Strictly final - for the second year in a row. But this year did feel different. The 2020 final was a celebration of joy and glitter and sparkles and fun after a dreadful year. We needed that release. This time, although we still need that in our lives, it was more about the couples taking part.

Four years ago (!) I published a Christmas playlist, having taken offence at some of the collections various streaming services had pulled together. Their festive mixes included party songs that really had no business being on a Christmas-related playlist, other than being good for the office get-together. They got you in an uplifted spirit but were they really true to the name? No. Since then, it seems like Christmas has been a growing trend for everyone, more films, more TV, and definitely more songs, as I’ve had to put together a second volume of the playlist, cleverly titled: How a Christmas playlist should be done Vol.

Semi-finals!! Somehow it feels like it’s come round really quickly but at the same time, when you watch the opening credits featuring all the participants of 2021, some of them seem like such a long time ago! I really think this is one of the closest competitions we’ve had in a long time, every one of the semi finalists has topped the leaderboard, so how can we possibly predict? Anything can happen.

It feels like we’ve been waiting for this short Doctor Who series for a long time but somehow, even though I was keen to see what happened, I didn’t feel the normal hype that I usually would. I can’t put my finger on why, although I’m wondering if at this point I just want to get on to the second Russell T Davies era and see what that brings. However, I dutifully watched every episode and revelled in many people enjoying what they were seeing.

It may just be the corners of the internet I dwell in, but Acapulco feels like a recent Apple TV+ offering that’s been slightly overlooked by the more high profile Foundation, Invasion and films with Tom Hanks. I’m here to say, if you haven’t watched it already, you absolutely should. It follows the story of a Mexican family and how their lives intertwine with a celebrity resort in Acapulco… in the 1980s.

We were greeted with two group dances by the professional this week, one at the start of each day’s show, but I much preferred the first one. Oti and Graziano portrayed a great story, I love it when the dance is completely mesmorising and even more so when the leads hug at the end. Good to see all the judges back in action, a full house of our favourites, but just five couples to take to the floor!

I’ve been a fan of Miranda since her sitcom first came out (2009, can you believe that?) and her unwavering dedication to joy and acceptance has been wonderful to follow. Recently, the lovely lady tweeted about some Christmas items for sale on her shop, with an element of the price going to charity, so it seemed rude not to snap up some of the goodies. I’ve long been searching for some comfortable jogging bottoms and should have known that if anyone knows comfort for a taller person, it would be Miranda.