WATCH out this Christmas for a programme that doesn’t boast sex, drugs or Katie Price and when a swear word would cause mass fainting.

Yes, Cranford is back on our Sunday evening screens on December 20 and 27.

It’s a rare chance to step back into a gentler and more innocent time in a Cheshire village which authoress Elizabeth Gaskell based on 19th century Knutsford.

Dame Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton and Julia McKenzie are among the mainstays for the series, joined for these special episodes by other fine actors like Lesley Sharpe and Jonathan Pryce. If you haven’t caught up with the series yet, please give it a go.

I know it’s a bonnet saga and that its main stars are a bunch of genteel ladies who won’t see 50 again, but I promise you it is compelling stuff.

No buildings are blown up, hectic car chases are conspicuous by their absence and no-one gets their kit off in saucy circumstances.

But its appeal has already entranced millions and, at this crazy, commercial time of year, it is exactly right for a cosy step back in time.