Ice Fishing

Christmas isn't Christmas without the appearance of a wise old man with a big white beard: Jack Hargreaves.

In 1981, Southern TV (which Jack had helped set up and run) lost its franchise, signalling the end for his long running TV show 'Out of Town', a jewel in the channel's crown since 1963. Jack bought the masters of the show and, shortly afterwards, set to work on re-editing them and adding newly filmed intros and outros. Now in his seventies, when reviewing the footage he occasionally becomes somewhat wistful and philosophical. In 'Ice Fishing', for instance, he ponders if the UK could get by on hydro power but concedes that he won't be around to see the answer.

Never one to suffer fools gladly, his assessment of his (slightly) younger self at the end of the film is typical Hargreaves: bluff, funny, honest. Merry Xmas, Jack.