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Known in Britain as a Christmas Special (but that means something different on this website), the Christmas Episode is a one-off seasonal episode of an ongoing series, typically a comedy or comedy drama. Sometimes the Christmas Episode will be shown in two or three parts over consecutive nights, typically in the build-up to Christmas Day. Only the most popular shows get shown on Christmas Day itself. Note that the Christmas Episode is not part of an ongoing season, unlike most U.S. shows' episodes that take place on Christmas. May overlap with Vacation Episode if travel is involved.

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  • Christmas Episode
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  • Known in Britain as a Christmas Special (but that means something different on this website), the Christmas Episode is a one-off seasonal episode of an ongoing series, typically a comedy or comedy drama. Sometimes the Christmas Episode will be shown in two or three parts over consecutive nights, typically in the build-up to Christmas Day. Only the most popular shows get shown on Christmas Day itself. Note that the Christmas Episode is not part of an ongoing season, unlike most U.S. shows' episodes that take place on Christmas. May overlap with Vacation Episode if travel is involved.
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  • Known in Britain as a Christmas Special (but that means something different on this website), the Christmas Episode is a one-off seasonal episode of an ongoing series, typically a comedy or comedy drama. Sometimes the Christmas Episode will be shown in two or three parts over consecutive nights, typically in the build-up to Christmas Day. Only the most popular shows get shown on Christmas Day itself. Note that the Christmas Episode is not part of an ongoing season, unlike most U.S. shows' episodes that take place on Christmas. Since it is divorced from its parent show and will probably be seen by a wider audience than usual, the Christmas Episode does not usually rely heavily on continuity, generally just using the core characters (and possibly some of the popular secondary characters). However, it is also often used to set up major changes in continuity, through events such as a Christmas wedding or - and this is a popular one for obvious reasons - a Christmas birth. These may then be carried into the next year's season. Alternatively, the Christmas Episode may be the last-ever episode of the series, as happened with the UK version of The Office, Doug (before getting Un Cancelled), and Only Fools and Horses (although the latter had more Christmas Episodes commissioned afterwards). In Britain, a more recent variation is a specially recorded Christmas day message which is then run in competition to the Queen's televised Christmas message (recent years have seen announcements from Ali G and Marge Simpson). However, since this is breaking the Fourth Wall, it is not typically part of an actual story. During the 1980s and 1990s, British Christmas specials usually took place in some decidedly un-Christmassy part of the world such as Florida (Only Fools and Horses) or Majorca (Birds of a Feather). This has proven unpopular in recent years. In Soap Operas such as Eastenders and Coronation Street it is traditional for the Christmas Episode to be the most depressing of the entire year. Which is saying something as Brit Soaps, especially Eastenders, tend to be depressing anyway. It is not uncommon for a long running character to die in Christmas Episodes of this kind, and another occurrence is a disastrous Wedding Day where everything goes wrong and the wedding doesn't occur, or a disastrous Birth where the baby, mother or both die in the process. May overlap with Vacation Episode if travel is involved. See also Christmas Special. Also see You Mean "Xmas", where a world where Christmas doesn't exist gets a similar holiday for the purposes of having a Christmas Episode. Compare Christmas in Japan. See April Fool's Plot or Very Special Episode for another themed episode found in shows. If the plot is taken by a certain Dickens' tale, you might be prompted to say Yet Another Christmas Carol. Examples of Christmas Episode include:
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