Christmas

Tue Dec 29, 8-10.55pm, BBC2

We sometimes ask people what their earliest TV memory is. One of ours is the surreal ‘Gnomes of Dulwich’, in which Terry Scott played a garden gnome in a satirical six-part comedy series that scared the bejesus out of us. And because June Whitfield spent a long part of her career playing alongside Terry Scott, we find her pretty scary too. But hopefully, with the help of this evening celebrating a TV and radio career that went far beyond her work with Scott, such nonsensical thoughts will be erased and replaced with images of Whitfield chatting amiably with Michael Aspel in ‘This Is Your Life’ (8pm), as a risqué housewife in the ‘Carry On’ films or working with Noël Coward on stage (‘The Many Faces of June Whitfield’, 9pm), or as the genial granny in the ‘Ab Fab’ 2002 Xmas special (10pm), or even as a pantomime cow in ‘Christmas Terry and June’ (8.30pm). Though that one might be just as terrifying as the gnomes. Whatever, it’s a chance to rediscover this talented and often underrated comic actress. Feature continues