If you were watching The Wright Stuff this morning you would have been told what the very best TV was this Christmas time. If not, read on for The Wright Stuff recommendations:

TV critic Kevin O’Sullivan reckons this year is a pretty good one for Christmas TV.

Doctor Who returns to our screens again this Christmas with a special show on Christmas Day at 6pm, BBC 1. Matt Smith returns as the Doctor for this one. This particular episode of Doctor Who is a take on the classic Dickens tale A Christmas Carol. Michael Gambon plays a kind of space-age Scrooge, while Katherine Jenkins plays the love interest in her debut acting role.

Channel Five’s The Mentalist has a Christmas themed episode airing on Friday 17 December at 9pm. It is called The Mentalist: Jolly Red Elf and based around a Santa convention.

Come Fly With Me is the hotly anticipated new comedy show by Little Britain creators David Walliams and Matt Lucas. Come Fly With Me is to be aired on Christmas Day at 9pm on BBC 1. It is a vehicle for a whole host of new Matt Lucas and David Walliams characters. Little Britain fans will love this and it is destined to be a smash hit.

The Santa Files with John Sargeant is a documentary about the true story of Santa Claus. Father Christmas is basically 1600 years old, and based on a kindly Turkish Bishop, St. Nicholas, who gave gold coins away. He has been re-invented over the years with various elements added to the mix such as the chimney, reindeer etc. The most recent incarnation of Father Christmas dates back to a Coca-Cola ad campaign in 1931.

Celebrity Juice Christmas Special stars Keith Lemon and is shown on ITV2 at 10pm on 23 December. Also making an appearance on the show are members of boy band Westlife, Holly Willoughby and Fern Cotton. If you like Keith Lemon you will like this show, but it isn’t family entertainment!

Avatar makes it’s television debut on Sky Movies Premiere and Sky Movies Premiere HD on Christmas Eve at 8pm. Even better, this film is also being shown on Sky 3D. Other Christmas movies include The Chronicles of Narnia, Atonement, The Queen and usual Christmas classic films like Mary Poppins, Scrooge, The Santa Claus and The Railway Children.

Strictly Come Dancing comes to a close this week with Kara Tointon in pole position to take the dancing crown.

One Born at Christmas is an experimental live show on Channel 4 filmed live from the Princess Anne Hospital Maternity Unit. It starts on Christmas Eve and runs through to Christmas Day - watch this and you will see the Christmas Day babies as they are born.

Upstairs Downstairs makes a welcome return to our screens on Boxing Day and runs for three consecutive days. Just William also makes a 4-day return. 

Finally Who Wants to be a Millionaire breaks new ground this Christmas with a live show featuring some very nervous celebrities who have yet to be named.

So that wraps up the Christmas telly highlights for 2010 – what are your thoughts on this line up? Let us know by posting your comment below!

YOTEL is the new business adventure by former Dragons Den regular Simon Woodroffe, creator of the Yo! brand. Everyone is familiar with Simon’s Yo! Sushi outlets, but now his new venture is a new range of innovative new hotels. YOTEL is a capsule hotel, found at major airports. The ‘cabins’ have been designed by the same man who designed the BA First Class cabins, and it was sitting in First Class that gave Simon Woodroffe the idea.

YOTEL rooms are small capsules but size depends on the price you pay, and being just moments walk from check-in or arrivals at major airports of the world such as Gatwick and Heathrow, they are ultra-convenient. Capsule hotels are a success in Japan but this is the first time they have been done in the West.

Click here to book a capsule at YOTEL, founded by Simon Woodroffe as seen on The Wright Stuff and Dragons Den

The Foreplay Timer was one of the first things mentioned on The Wright Stuff this morning. A joke novelty gift, the foreplay timer is very funny – it’s a sand timer for men to buy their partners, called the foreplay timer and designed to satisfy a girl’s need for hours of foreplay. However, the Foreplay Timer lasts for all of 3 seconds.

Click here to buy a Foreplay Timer as seen on The Wright Stuff

The Wright Stuff regular Lowry Turner today revealed that from 23rd March 2009, Lloyds Pharmacy was making the morning after pill available to buy online, without the need to see a doctor or pharmacist. This news has caused a bit of a stir, with some people suggesting that it may encourage young women to have unprotected sex, in the knowledge that they can simply buy the morning after pill online to ensure they don’t get pregnant.

Lloyds Pharmacy, the company who are first to start selling the morning after pill online, are countering this claim by saying that they are imposing a 72 hour wait for the tablets to be dispatched, so that women can’t simply have unprotected sex then instantly buy the morning after pill online.  

This news represents something of a landmark – for the first time ever the morning after pill is available online.

You can buy the morning after pill online from Lloyds Pharmacy by clicking here

Carrie Grant appeared on The Wright Stuff this morning to give her views on the stories making the day’s headlines. At the start of the show Matthew quizzed her on her latest venture, Carrie and David’s Popshop, a CBeebies programme aimed at kids (obviously). Riff the dog is always on hand to help out with the music on the show.

Carrie and David Grant are well known UK vocal coaches having coached the likes of Take That and Will Young, in addition to Fame Academy and Pop Idol hopefuls. They are married and have three kids of there own, which partly inspired them to make Carrie and David’s Popshop, a show that is one of the most popular CBBC programmes.  

There is now a CD to accompany the series, called quite obviously Carrie and David’s Popshop and containing many of the catchy songs from the hit show.

Click here to buy Carrie and David’s Popshop CD as seen on The Wright Stuff

Wondering how best to keep hold of your cash during the credit crunch? Lawrence Gold appeared on The Wright Stuff to talk through the options and answer a few viewers’ questions.

First, Matthew Wright asked Lawrence Gold about deflation – what it meant, and was it something we should be afraid of? Lawrence replied that deflation is not good for the economy. Whereas inflation means pricing are moving upwards, deflation means prices are coming down. This delays people from buying everyday items, causing a build up of unsold stock in shops, leading to factory workers being laid off and unemployment rising.

First on the line was Lucy with a savings question for Lawrence Gold. When asked what to do with £15,000 in savings, Lawrence said that there were some building societies currently offering around 3% interest. Egg and ING were 2 examples of online banks paying 3% interest. Bonds could be more profitable, but with more of an element of risk in the investment. The other option would be an ISA, though there is a limit on how much you can put into a tax-free ISA, around £4,000 a year.

The second and third callers to The Wright Stuff asked whether now was a good time to pay off a mortgage. Lawrence Gold said this depends on the mortgage rate. For high rate taxpayers with a low mortgage rate, putting money into a pension may be a better option.

Lawrence didn’t think that the Government would allow Lloyds TSB to go under following reports of huge losses on the HBOS side of the business they acquired last year. He thought the government would nationalise Lloyds if they had to, meaning that savings in Lloyds and other huge British banks would probably be safe.

Paul McKenna appeared on The Wright Stuff this morning to help chew the fat over various current issues dominating the papers. Paul McKenna is a renowned psychologist, hypnotist, author and TV celebrity who has a stunning list of A-List celebrities on his own client list. Paul McKenna has already released several very successful books aimed at helping people in various fields, such as ‘Instant Confidence’, ‘I Can Make You Thin’, ‘I Can Make You Rich’, ‘Stop Smoking’, and ‘Change Your Life in 7 Days’.

Paul McKenna’s latest book is called I Can Make You Sleep by Paul McKenna. Are you an insomniac? Do you struggle to get to sleep sometimes? Would you like to wake up full of energy? Would you like to stop your mind racing and feel calm? I Can Make You Sleep by Paul McKenna aims to solve all these sleep problems. This book is the ultimate ‘bed time read’. A hypnosis CD is included with the book, which can reset your natural sleep mechanism and help you achieve deep, restful sleep very quickly.

Click here to buy I Can Make You Sleep by Paul McKenna as seen on The Wright Stuff

Today on The Wright Stuff was a Credit Crunch Getaway special with Jane Knight from The Times, a woman with over ten years’ experience in the industry. If you’re looking to go on holiday in today’s uncertain financial times you need to make sure you’re getting a cheap deal – read on for more information:

1) Timing

Timing is key when looking for a cheap break at the moment. Jane Knight said that if you can go in the first two weeks of December or the first two weeks of January you are much more likely to get a good deal. If you travel on Christmas Day, then airfares drop by about half. Good news for people who don’t celebrate Christmas, but if you do and you take an early flight to somewhere like Lisbon, you can still get there in time for Christmas lunch. New Years Day is also a day for cheap flights.

2) Hot and cheap this winter

Jane recommended the Canary Islands for somewhere hot and cheap this winter. CheapHolidays.com have a deal on at the moment allowing you to stay in Lanzarote for just £7 per person per night.

Click here to visit Cheapholidays.com

3) Cheap honeymoon on a budget

Liz from Leeds phoned The Wright Stuff looking for a cheap honeymoon and wondering about the cheapest time to travel, plus somewhere good for an eleven month old boy. Jane suggested finding somewhere with a good holiday club. Sharm-El-Sheik was mentioned as a good budget destination with a reasonable flight time. It is cheaper than somewhere like Mauritius, where the childcare is wonderful but you have to pay for the privilege. Booking lastminute should also help you get a cheap deal, Jane mentioned the website Lastminute.com as a good place to look for cheap late holiday deals.

Click here to visit Lastminute.com

Wine expert Matt Skinner was in The Wright Stuff studio today to help people enjoy fine wine without spending too much money. First things first, Matt Skinner has a book out called Heard It Through The Grapevine: A few things you should know about wine, which Matthew Wright described as a very good book even for people with only a moderate interest in wine.

Click here to buy Heard It Through The Grapevine: A few things you should know about wine by Matt Skinner as seen on The Wright Stuff

Matt Skinner was on The Wright Stuff to suggest some fine tasting wines on a budget. The first recommendation by Matt was to buy a wine decanter, because it really does improve the taste of wine, allowing it to breathe before it is served.

Click here to view a selection of wine decanters

The first category Matt Skinner looked at was wine under a fiver. He chose the Torres Vina Sol. Torres is based in Penades outside of Barcelona. The Torres Vina Sol according to Matt Skinner is a fantastic alternative to a lot of the mediocre Pinot Grigio wines widely available in the same price bracket. The Torres Vina Sol 2007 has weight and richness. Raymond Blanc was impressed, as was Matthew Wright who said it was a very light wine.

Moving onto budget red wine, Matt Skinner explained that red wine is a tougher proposition if you’re looking for value for money, because the effort which goes into producing a red wine is a lot more and the whole process takes longer than white wine production. The ‘under a fiver’ red wine Matt Skinner chose was the Umani Ronchi Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2007, which is available from Waitrose at £4.99 a bottle, or cheaper if you buy a case. A lot of people compare the Umani Ronchi Montepulciano d’Abruzzo to Merlot, it’s a soft plummy easy to drink wine.

Matthew Wright, Matt Skinner and Raymond Blanc then looked at a wine gadget for artificially ageing wine, the quantum wine ager as seen on Dragon’s Den. The Quantum Wine Ager is not yet widely available to buy online. How does the Quantum Wine Ager work? Basically Matt Skinner explained that you put the wine into the gadget (in the bottle) for between 30 mins to an hour, and using ultrasonic waves it changes the chemical balance of the wine making it softer to drink. Priced at over £350 the Quantum Wine Ager is not cheap, but it certainly improves cheaper, younger wine.

Click here to buy the Quantum Wine Ager as seen on The Wright Stuff

The next wine featured was in the ‘wine for under ten pounds a bottle’ category. It was the white wine: Stoneleigh Sauvignon Blanc 2007, which is currently £6.99 from Oddbins. This wine has aromas of passionfruit and elderflower and went down very well in The Wright Stuff studio.

The red wine under a tenner was the Yalumba Organic Shiraz 2006 at £7.99 available from Majestic Wines. It is made from organically grown grapes, so no artificial chemicals used in the wine making process. Matthew Wright said it was ‘very nice’.

In the wines over ten pounds category Matt Skinner recommended the Clos de Los Siete 2006, at £10.99 a bottle available from Majestic Wine.

Click here to buy the Clos de Los Siete 2006 as seen on The Wright Stuff

Matt Skinner explained that the Clos de Los Siete was a blend of three different grape varieties, Malbech, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. It is an Argentinian wine and Matthew Wright and Raymond Blanc were very impressed with it. Matt Skinner called it a ‘fantastic wine’. It’s quite a full-bodied, rich and oaky red wine.

For a more comprehensive list of wines, visit the Majestic Wines website by clicking here 

The credit crunch is affecting everybody right now, it’s a global phenomenon and it looks set to get worse before it gets better. Matthew Wright discussed the best ways to keep hold of your cash with The Wright Stuff’s financial expert Lawrence Gold.

Yesterday the proposed $700 billion bail-out of American financial institutions failed, and at the time of writing no settlement had been agreed. Lawrence and Matthew discussed how this would affect English financial institutions, and most importantly, how Wright Stuff viewers can keep hold of their cash in these turbulent times.

First on The Wright Stuff hotline was Jane from Birmingham. She had a cash ISA at Halifax, but wondered whether in the present climate it would be wise to pay off her mortgage with the money in the ISA. Lawrence Gold suggested that it is entirely up to her, but that it is a good idea to keep a little bit of a mortgage because the mortgage company will keep the deeds for free, it will help your credit rating to make regular payments to something like a mortgage and it will help you get a mortgage if you need another one.

Second caller was Susan from Newcastle with £200,000 in a building society bond. She wanted to know whether she should take the money out. Lawrence suggested that Susan and her partner would only be covered for £70,000 (£35,000 each) so she should think about moving some of the money to different institutions to minimise the risk.

Lawrence Gold thought that overall, savings were safe even over £35,000 covered by the Financial Services COmpensation Scheme. He felt that the government would step in and intervene if the bank was at risk of going under, as was the case with Northern Rock.

Is my building society money safe? was the question from next caller Ken in Birmingham. Lawrence’s gut feeling was that yes it was safe, for the same reason as mentioned above – the government would step in to save your savings if the building society was at risk of going down.

Where are the safest places to put money?

Lawrence Gold suggested that National Savings were always a pretty safe bet, being government owned. Also Northern Rock for the same reason. Also, spreading your money around means that you benefit from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme payout of £35,000 per institution, but be careful as this only applies once per institution, not once per bank or building society.

If you’re struggling financially in the credit crunch, you are certainly not alone. One thing you may want to think about to ease the financial strain is to save money by switching to the cheapest gas and electricity supplier. Using Save On Your Bills could save you up to £360 on your bills each year. It’s free, so you might as well try it out.

Click here to visit SaveOnYourBills.co.uk