A Christmas season of repeats for the TV film fan
Viewers could be forgiven for thinking they know how every story ends when they watch films on TV this Christmas.
Ninety-seven per cent of movies on television over the festive period will be repeats, research shows.
Of the 533 due to appear over the three days of celebrations, 517 will be re-runs.
The figures, covering terrestrial and satellite TV, show there will be 16 small screen premieres between the start of Christmas Eve and the end of Boxing Day.
On Christmas Day itself 99 per cent of the films being shown are old, with just two new films out of the 185 being shown.
Across the period, despite there being a 12 per cent increase in the number of films being shown, the number of premieres is down by 30 per cent on last year.
Among the old films being shown are Mary Poppins, ET, Oliver Twist and High Society, as well as newer but often seen titles such as Love Actually, Casper and Jurassic Park.
The figures emerged as it was revealed that there will be about 860 hours of repeats of TV shows and movies in total across the five main terrestrial channels over two weeks. This represents about 100 hours more old shows than last year.
Festive favourites: Mary Poppins and ET will both be on our television screens this Christmas - again
There are growing concerns that broadcasters are failing to offer enough variety during the festive period.
The movie research, commissioned by DVD rental service LOVEFilm, found terrestrial channels are not as bad as those on cable and satellite when it comes to showing old films.
On the main five channels, 52 out of the 62 films over the three day period between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day will be repeats, which represents a figure of 83 per cent. However, last year the figure was 67 per cent.
On Christmas Day itself across BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel Five, 20 out of the 22 films are old.
The only two premieres on Christmas Day across the whole of terrestrial, cable and satellite TV are Shrek The Third on BBC1 and Stranger Than Fiction on Channel Five.
Recycled Christmas Day offerings include The Grinch on ITV1 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause on BBC1. Some repeats, such as BBC1’s The Gruffalo on Christmas Day and ITV1’s Love Actually on Boxing Day, were aired last Christmas.
Over the Christmas period on satellite, 99 per cent of films are repeats.
The only satellite premieres are on Christmas Eve, and each of these will be repeated six times over three days.
The handful of premieres across TV include BBC1’s Cars and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian on Christmas Eve and ITV1’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor on Boxing Day.
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