The Robshaws time-travel through six decades of festive nostalgia, beginning by experiencing what the holiday season was like in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. A wartime Christmas has them embracing the make-do and mend spirit for presents and sitting down to ox heart for dinner, with a pudding made primarily of grated potato. The 1950s brings ham with tinned peaches, canapes, cocktails and the first televised Queen's speech, while youngest child Fred receives a 1960s gift of a chocolate smoking set. Giles Coren and Polly Russell present.
During their trip from the 1970s to the 1990s, the Robshaws discover how the race for a Christmas number one single was born. They also meet an EastEnders star who reminisces about the soap's tradition of festive misery, and examine Christmas gluttony in the 1990s.
