TV review: The Real Marigold On Tour and Inside No.9: The Devil of Christmas

Our well-known OAPs tested the 'special relationship' in this America-set special

Bobby George, Miriam Margolyes, Wayne Sleep and Rosemary Shrager at Oak Run (BBC)

The Real Marigold On Tour – Florida: BBC2

The BBC’s favourite pensioners were back to help pad out the Christmas schedules – and check out more retirement options. Four of the eight celebs who visited India for The Real Marigold Hotel swapped Jaipur for over-60s hotspot Florida in this Christmas special. (Next year the series will upgraded to BBC1 and feature new faces.) Very-hard-to-please actress Miriam Margolyes, former professional darts player Bobby George, chef Rosemary Shrager and generally-more-upbeat-than-the-rest dancer Wayne Sleep were giving two “leisurevilles” a test run – gated communities for retirees. Days were filled with classes, clubs and cocktail hours. While it might not exactly have had the high-octane levels of the numerous festive dramas, it proved to be a heartwarming hour that put the important topic of ageing firmly on the Christmas agenda.

The foursome sampled the affordable Oak Run Country Club in Orlando and the swankier set-up that is The Polo Club of Boca Raton. Margolyes immediately declared their Oak Run digs “a pretentious rabbit hutch” and all scoffed at the idea of a day filled with bingo, pilates and pool aerobics. A trip to a local gun shop didn’t exactly help, when Margolyes and George were informed that the majority of their neighbours in the compound were likely gun-toting Trump supporters. But when they actually got involved in the activities – good old Sleep even ran a dance class – they appeared to warm to the benefits of structured living.

Boca Raton polo club was a different proposition. “A grotesque spending of money… deeply pretentious,” scoffed Margolyes, unsurprisingly. “I couldn’t give a monkey’s about it,” said George, also unsurprisingly. Most striking were the lack of lines on show for a room of pensioners. The gang met a 79-year-old who had had 10 facelifts and another who waxed lyrical about “Thirsty Thursday” nights. “Nobody’s miserable here, how could you be miserable?” said said. The irony was, she couldn’t actually smile, so it was hard to tell. We also discovered why no one talked about politics when Margoyles got in a heated fight with a Trump supporter.

Elsewhere, Shrager gave Botox a go and was cock-a-hoop. “I’d forgotten what it is to feel pretty,” she said. But it was telling that, once out of the gates and into Miami, all seemed happier and more relaxed. Getting accidentally inebriated, on a boat trip in Biscayne Bay at sunset, with wrinkles, scars and wobbly bits all on show – now that looked like a way to live at any age.

Inside No 9: The Devil of Christmas: BBC2

Left to right: Rula Lenska as Celia, Steve Pemberton as Julian, Jessica Raine as Kathy, Reece Shearsmith as Klaus and George Bedford as Toby (BBC)

If you hadn’t seen Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s Inside No 9 before, this deliciously dark, retro festive edition was a masterclass in the twisted, unsettling stuff that the League of Gentlemen and Psychoville creators do so well.

Kickstarting the third series, the setting was Austria in 1977 in a ski chalet. As with each episode in the anthology series, there was gleeful attention to detail – from the tinny, clumsy, percussion in the credits meant to jangle our nerves paying homage to the likes of Tales of the Unexpected, to the made-on-a-shoestring feel of the set and stilted flow of the action (it was shot using 1970s equipment). The Devonshire family led by the mustachioed Julian (Steve Pemberton) pitched up for a winter holiday. With him were wife Kathy (a honey-blonde and wide-eyed Jessica Raine), mother in-law Celia (Rula Lenska) and son Toby, who we quickly learnt from the perfectly-pitched hammy script was actually the son of Julian’s first wife, who may or may not have met a sticky end.

The bloke claiming to be the chalet-owner, Klaus (Shearsmith, with a dodgy Austrian accident crafted to get alarm bells ringing) told the family all about local legendary beast, Krampus, the so-called “Devil of Christmas”. Half goat, half demon, it preyed on children. The fun then was to spend the episode working out how Krampus would make an appearance. Just when we were getting in the swing of the setting, director, Dennis Fulcher (Derek Jacobi) was introduced into the mix, apparently commentating on the filming process – a meta-curveball of the sort these guys revel in. It wasn’t belly laughs they got here, more a playful growing sense of doom that was compelling to watch ramp up. If the seriously dark twist at the end was anything to judge the rest of the upcoming series by, then it will be a wicked one.