Bring on the golden oldies

Somebody once said: "Nostalgia ain't what it used to be." But looking through the festive TV schedules, you would be forgiven for thinking this message has bypassed broadcasting executives. Because if there's one boom area in the Christmas output, it is yesteryear television. This is clearly the time to eat, drink and merrily wallow in nostalgia.

But not just the widespread repeats that have already brought criticism snowing down on broadcasters' heads. No, it is more dressed-up than that. In recent times programmemakers have developed and perfected the art of taking old material, chopping it up, binding it together with cleverly ironic commentary and re-packaging it as instantgratification television, called I 1992, 100 Greatest Moments or something similar.

Over the next five days prepare to find plenty of these televisual Big Macs dropped into the smorgasbord of festive viewing.

It starts tonight with I'm Dreaming of a TV Christmas - which happens to be the best: an entertaining roundup of memorable moments from the past 30 years of seasonal television, with appearances by Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett and Noel Edmonds, as well as nearly two hours' worth of clips, including the inevitable Morecambe and Wise.

Meanwhile over on Channel 4 they are getting nostalgic for this year. The 100 Greatest TV Treats of 2003 takes an inordinate length of time (three-and-a-half-hours) to sort out the highlights of what has really been a pretty indifferent TV year.

On other days we have I Love the Muppets, a look back at the hit puppet show of the Seventies; The 100 Greatest Musicals, with a host of old clips; and Denis Nordern's Christmas Laughter File Special, with clips of Tommy Cooper and, of course, Morecambe and Wise.

But nostalgia takes many forms, not just compilation shows. Five has a whole night (Boxing Day) devoted to classic British comedy, with complete episodes of Rising Damp, On the Buses and Robin's Nest. Plus (you've guessed it) more Morecambe and Wise and (on Sunday) a rerun of Tommy Cooper's 1973 Christmas Special.

There's also the chance to watch Top Ten TV Families, Top Ten TV Rebels and Top Ten TV Icons of Camp - and they are all repeats of nostalgia shows. How long before Channel 4 slices and dices the best bits into a Top Ten of Top Tens?

Elsewhere, Only Fools and Horses delivers a new episode, but for most of us the show is already firmly lodged in nostalgia-land. In fact, isn't it about time someone came up with a Top Ten of Only Fools and Horses Moments?

But perhaps the cleverest example of window-dressing old material is That Was the Week We Watched, a six-part nightly series on BBC2 from Boxing Day. Each edition takes a week from the past and looks at its TV schedules to "capture the essence of an era". Goodness knows what significance there is to the fact that in the same week Princess Anne married Mark Phillips in November 1973, the BBC broadcast the first edition of Last of the Summer Wine - but it is a great chance to wheel out some clips.