Tis Christmas, a time for television to get extremely silly, when no one minds at all. I actually really like this time of year for that reason: if you tried to show me a celebrity-powered charity stripping two-parter in, say, May 2024, I would stamp on your toes. “Give me hour-long big-budget legacy drama or nothing,” I’d say, hissing down at you as you sob on the floor. “If HBO doesn’t make it and someone on Reddit isn’t analysing every single frame for clues, I don’t want it!” I’d say. And, frankly, I’d be right to.
But it’s Christmas, so I am completely in the mood for The Real Full Monty: Jingle Balls (Monday 11 December and Tuesday 12 December, 9pm, ITV1). I do feel that the titles of TV shows have gotten out of control in recent years, and this show is a particularly egregious example of that. Those words just keep piling up, don’t they. The Real Full Monty: Jingle Balls is, of course, the Christmas-themed successor to 2017’s The Real Full Monty, followed by specials The Real Full Monty: Ladies’ Night, The All New Monty: Who Bares Wins, The Real Full Monty on Ice (!) and, my favourite, Strictly the Real Full Monty.
