A very festive edition of My Life in TV asks some of our favourite guests what they will be switching on this holiday season.
This year we launched a weekly series called My Life in TV, where our most interesting screen personalities open up about their television history and habits. It’s been a real rollercoaster, from Temuera Morrison partying with Matt LeBlanc, to Anika Moa following Julia Roberts around New York, to Sir Ashley Bloomfield shit-talking the Lord of the Rings series. But wait, there’s also the Briscoes Lady on Miss Piggy, Jason Gunn nearly getting killed by a cream pie and Sonia Gray veto-ing your Lotto jokes.
With Christmas just around the corner, we thought it was time for a special edition of the format. If you’re trying to decide what to watch over the festive season with your loved ones, we asked some of favourite My Life in TV guests (and some yet to appear in the series, spoiler alert!) to share what they will be choosing to blob out to during their holidays.
Sir Ashley Bloomfield
We spend between Christmas and New Year period with my wife’s family and the whole extended family. The family tradition is to watch a movie on a New Year’s Eve after we’ve had a lovely dinner and usually a bit of music and a dance together. It’s been a whole range of movies from Singin’ in the Rain to Love Actually, those sorts of nice family movies that can span a few generations. I also like to watch a bit of the Boxing Day test match, that’s an annual ritual.
Anika Moa
Every year, the kids and I put the Christmas tree up and we watch Home Alone. Soon we will be doing the Sound of Music, Grease, and all the musicals that I grew up with. The Christmas Chronicles with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn is also da bomb.
Turia Schmidt-Peke
I would always watch Pukana in the Park. I remember in 2010 I actually volunteered to work there, because my oldest sister was a presenter at the time. They had it at Rainbow’s End, and they had their parody segment. Someone was singing the Māori version of ‘Little Black Box’, fully dressed up as Stan Walker, and then Stan Walker came from behind and he actually sang it. It was only like a year after he had won Australian Idol, so he was really the “it” thing.
Matt Gibb
When we were kids my cousins and I had a dusty old VHS copy of an old animated version of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (which incidentally has now kicked off an argument in my family group chat because we can’t agree on which version it was). These days it’s been replaced by Boxing Day test match cricket, and as the official ‘Drunk Uncle’ in my family I’m happy to put my feet up in front of that all day long.
Tom Sainsbury
I regularly watch The Office (UK) Christmas Special during the silly season. It’s hilarious, of course, but emotionally devastating (in the best way). I choke up when Dawn comes back to Tim. And even David Brent finds love. Waaaaah.
Janaye Henry
I reckon I’ll be zombie-eyed staring at whatever is playing at home, so probably The Chase or re-runs of Friends.
Mark Richardson
Every year I’d always watch those old movies they have on Christmas Eve, because as a kid on Christmas Eve you’re so excited. You’d watch those until 9.30pm or 10 o’clock, which is really late, and chances are you’d fall asleep during them. I’d still watch any of those Christmas time classics.
Matty McLean
I’m a sucker for a Christmas movie. Love The Santa Claus with Tim Allen, I love Miracle on 34th Street (the Mara Wilson version), Love Actually, The Holiday – truly, give me a good Christmas movie any day. Christmas is my favourite time of year, it makes me so happy. I remember during one of the lockdowns, it was May and I was listening to the Ariana Grande Christmas album, just because it brought me joy.
Sonia Gray
I’ll be assuming a fulltime position on the couch to watch ALL the cricket! Dream 11 Supersmash, the Boxing Day Test and Black Caps vs Bangladesh. Of course those Lotto balls never stop rolling – even over Christmas – so I’ll get up from the couch to go and call the winning numbers (hopefully yours)!
Michael Galvin
The Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise would do Christmas specials, and it would always be fun watching those. Growing up in the 1970s, those are my Christmas TV memories, gathering around to watch those shows.
Chris Chang
Home Alone. I probably know most of the scripts, which is what kind of made it easy for Matty McLean and I to do the Home Alone scenes [for Breakfast’s Movie Mondays]. I’ve watched it so many times in my childhood that I reckon I could probably say most of it along with the movie.