Join me today at 5pm as we literally kill the festivities stone dead with double bill of Ghost Stories For Christmas, followed by 1974’s proto-slasher classic, Black Christmas.

5:00: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1971)

Award winning animation by Richard Williams.

5.25: Frosty The Snowman (1969)

Classic Rankin Bass TV special from 1969

5.55: The Small One (1978)

Disney short directed by Don Bluth, possibly the most maudlin Christmas cartoon of all time.

6.20: The Bear (1998)

The animated Raymond Briggs adaptation that isn’t the Snowman, or Father Christmas, or the Snowman & The Snow Dog. The other one.

6.47: A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)

Kermit and his friends spend Christmas staging a surprise visit to Fozzie Bear’s mother’s farm.

7.30: The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show: Company For Christmas (1955)

For Christmas, Harry Morton invites his father and Blanche invites her brother. Unfortunately the hotel is booked solid – so Gracie attempts to create a vacancy. Meanwhile, Ronnie invites Jim so they can work on scripting a new play.

8:00 Film: Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964)

The Martians kidnap Santa Claus because there is nobody on Mars to give their children presents.

9:20: A Ghost Story For Christmas: Stigma (1977)

A young couple move into a remote country house in the middle of a stone circle. They employ workmen who disturb an ancient menhir, unleashing a supernatural force.

9.55: A Ghost Story For Christmas: The Ice House (1978)

Paul, recently divorced, seeks sanctuary at a country retreat run by a sinister brother and sister.

10.25: Film: Black Christmas (1974)

As winter break begins, a group of sorority sisters, including Jess (Olivia Hussey) and the often inebriated Barb (Margot Kidder), begin to receive anonymous, lascivious phone calls. Initially, Barb eggs the caller on, but stops when he responds threateningly. Soon, Barb’s friend Claire (Lynne Griffin) goes missing from the sorority house, and a local adolescent girl is murdered, leading the girls to suspect a serial killer is on the loose. But no one realizes just how near the culprit is.