Christmas Night with the Stars is a television show broadcast each Christmas night by the BBC from 1958 to 1972 (with the exception of 1961, 1965 and 1966).[1][2] The show was hosted each year by a leading star of BBC TV and featured specially-made short seasonal editions (typically about 10 minutes long) of the previous year's most successful BBC sitcoms and light entertainment programmes. Most of the variety segments no longer exist in accordance with the BBC's practice of discarding programmes at the time.
From 1969 to 1973, ITV countered with its own annual Christmas variety show, All Star Comedy Carnival, while the BBC itself resurrected the format in 1982 with a special titled The Funny Side of Christmas.
Since its original run, Christmas Night with the Stars has been revived twice, with Fry and Laurie in 1994, and with Michael Parkinson in 2003.
In 2005, the show was voted 24th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Christmas Moments.[3]