Maybe Tony Mammoth has a point, Christmas TV *was* better back in his day, mainly thanks to Morecambe and Wise.

The 1970s – where comedian Mike Bubbins’s alter-ego existed until he was buried by an avalanche, only to be thawed out in the present-day – was also a time of a LOT more comedy on telly. For every Fawlty Towers or Porridge, there were countless more now-forgotten schedule-filling sitcoms.

It feels as if Mammoth is in this second category – an enjoyable, good-natured half-hour of gentle good cheer without punching through to be an all-time classic, and this festive special is true to that form.

Some of this may be down to the restraint Bubbins brings to his character. He’s a man with the sensibilities of his age, certainly, but he’s not an utterly unreconstructed dinosaur, sidestepping Anchorman-style exaggerated parody in favour of being a decent bloke trying his best, however badly executed his efforts.

That said, he does get suspended from his job as a PE teacher at the start of this Christmas episode by hijacking the end-of-term school play for what he’d surely call ‘a bit of slap and tickle with a dolly bird’ (Justine Jones’s dinner lady Becky Pickering). Still, he gets to keep the school guinea pig over the festive season.

His approach to Christmas comes from a time when men were not expected to be competent or empathetic, so of course his actions look like ruining the big day for daughter Mel (Sian Gibson) and grandson Theo (Joel Davison), whose date with the girl he fancies is also jeopardised.  Though Mammoth remains largely oblivious to the problems he causes… and of course it wouldn’t be a Christmas episode if everything wasn’t resolved, more-or-less.

His idea of being festive is to leave bottles of advocaat around the cactus, limply festooned with garish coloured lights. And he will cater for his non-drinking guests by offering Buck’s Fizz. 

There’s essentially only one joke to Mammoth, but it’s affectionately explored, teased along over another episode thanks to Tony’s likability and the show’s heart generally being in the right place – even if it might be more outrageously funny if it wasn't.  Mel also gets a bit of a storyline this time, thanks to her irrational rivalry with Imogen (Grace Blackman), a fellow volunteer at the soup kitchen where she works at Christmas.

Mammoth is an old-school sitcom in more ways than one, and the festive episode doesn’t vary much from its formula, save for a nod to Dickens – but if you can’t enjoy a gently warming comedy at Christmas, when can you?

• The Mammoth Christmas special is on BBC Two at 10pm tonight.