Prepare for a glut of chefs’ TV specials this Christmas

Looking for inspiration on how best to eat your own body weight this Christmas? Look no further than Irish broadcasters’ gluttonous offering of food-related programming.

The first of RTÉ's two main courses is/was Neven's Christmas Special, in which Neven Maguire shows "imaginative ways of cooking the ham, turkey and lamb". Lamb!

The show, in which he also shares Aunt Maureen's Christmas pudding recipe, aired this week but is available on the RTÉ Player. Next up it's down to business with A Simply Delicious Christmas with Darina Allen and Rory O'Connell, a Ballymaloe-flavoured two-parter on December 22nd and 23rd.

Over on TV3's the Great Irish Bake Off Christmas Special, pantomime stars George McMahon and Leanne Moore take on presenters Lucy Kennedy and Martin King in a panto- versus-presenter challenge. Is Anna Nolan hosting? Oh yes she is.

Even UTV Ireland is getting in on the act, with two Christmas specials from chef Kevin Dundon – Kevin Dundon's Perfect Christmas Dinner on December 14th, and then, on December 27th, when bids for perfection are over for another year, Kevin Dundon's Christmas Leftovers.