Directed by Adrian Cooper • Drama • With Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, David Jason, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band • 1968 • 40 minutes

Seen here in its entirety (an edited version was screened on television in the 1980s), this bumper-length Christmas special was the first episode to be made for Thames, the company that won the franchise from Rediffusion. Terry Gilliam’s fantastic animation The Christmas Card brings the house down – just listen to how much the kids in the audience love it. I’m the Urban Spaceman gets another push – and there’s some splendid audience participation in By a Waterfall that certainly seems to please Mr Stanshall.