21. Miranda The Perfect Christmas (BBC One, 2010)
Tired of Christmas with her overbearing and embarrassing parents, joke shop owner Miranda plans the perfect Christmas with no family.
Miranda is a sitcom that tends to polarise sitcom viewers. On the one hand, there are people who see it as an enjoyable bit of fluff that doesnt bother itself with serious meaning, and on the other there are people who consider it to be lowbrow and outdated. This episodes not the best of the series but it boasts some fairly entertaining moments and a wonderfully deadpan performance by Tom Conti (
The Dark Knight Rises) as Mirandas father. Its a little bit over the top at times but thats one of the reasons I personally enjoy it so much. Its stupid and farcical but its funny and lighthearted. Its also quite refreshing for a sitcom to show the hassle of Christmas shopping from the shopkeepers point of view as Miranda finds herself overwhelmed by the Christmas Eve rush in her joke shop.
Best Moment: Mirandas parents Christmas party, complete with a rewritten version of
Good King Wenceslas that mocks Miranda.