19. Men Behaving Badly Jingle Balls (BBC One, 1997)
Gary battles with the turkey while Tonys clinginess begins to grate on Deborah.
Im just going to get my one annoyance with this out of the way right now: the fantasy sequences showing the characters having a perfect Christmas in a large house with servants are used way too much. Its a good joke at first but by the third or fourth time, its just dull. But other than that, its business as usual for
Men Behaving Badly. Theres all of the staple Christmas gags like terrible Christmas presents (a deep fat fryer and a stolen birdhouse from Gary) and the nightmare of preparing Christmas dinner, but neatly avoids the cliché of characters spending time with family members they hate by having the main four characters spend Christmas with each other. The only other disappointment is that we dont get any of Gary and Tonys trademark rambling conversations. Though we do get a pretty funny opening scene without Deborah and Dorothy in which Gary tries to buy Christmas presents from passers-by while a drunk Tony snogs a dog and a cars wing mirror. A great episode but dragged down by the overused fantasy sequences.
Best Moment: Tony burying Deborahs presents after she calls him an annoying puppy.