If you were looking for gay men on UK TV this Christmas, there was quite a lot to keep you entertained. Here’s a rundown of the highlights:

• When Joseph Met Maria, Christmas Eve, BBC1 7.00-8.00pm 
  Presented by openly gay comedian Graham Norton, and featuring the openly gay John Barrowman as one of the panel, this Christmas special brought together the finalists of two previous reality talent competitions, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, whose winners have gone on to star in The Sound of Music and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, respectively. We blogged back in May about Any Dream, where several of the contestants were pinging my gaydar, although none of them were openly gay. Rather frustratingly, this special stayed true to the heteronormative pattern the shows have followed so far: John Barrowman did a romantic duet with the female finalists, while female judge Denise Van Outen duetted with the male ones (who were all expected to act interested in her). While it’s great on the one hand to see out gay male performers cast in heterosexual roles, the fact that this was a concert and not a show where the performers were playing characters, made me wonder why why all the men were expected to present their default identities as straight. 

• Strictly Bolshoi on Christmas Day, Channel 4 2.45-4.20pm 
  This documentary followed the acclaimed, openly gay choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, as he became the first Englishman to create a new work for Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet. Tensions ran high as Wheeldon’s improvisational methods clashed with the more traditional expectations of lead dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze (who was also strongly pinging my gaydar, although his sexuality was not specified in the program). The final work, ‘Misericordes/Elsinore’, performed in the last half-hour of the show, has been considered a success though – you can read about Wheeldon discussing his Moscow experience here. 

• The Catherine Tate Christmas Show, Christmas Day, BBC1 10.30-11.10pm 
  This popular UK comedy show featured Catherine Tate as Irish nurse Bernie, cluelessly hitting on guest star George Michael with the words “Do you want my sex?” (to which he replied “Do you not read the papers, love?”) She gets to kiss him in the end though, not to mention duetting with him on The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale of New York’ (which controversially includes the word “faggot”). Check out the clip after the jump.  Another popular sketch in the show was reminiscent of Little Britain’s Daffyd, as a gay man, John, comes out nervously to his family, only to find that they are intrusively and obnoxiously supportive. 

Well, we thought it was just another strange bit of TV gossip to be taken with a pinch of salt. However, it seems not! As previously mentioned in the blog last week, George Michael will be sending himself up big time in the BBC’s forthcoming Extras Christmas Special.

If the promotional clips currently doing the rounds on the Internet are anything to go by, the show’s Christmas special will be a highlight of the beeb’s Christmas TV line-up. And, as usual, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant seem to have once again pulled out all the stops. Well, considering this episode is going to be the show’s swansong, we should blooming well hope so! The one-off show sees 44-year-old Michael mocking his own well publicized behavior, including spoofing his own past drug and public bathroom sex antics. We all know it’s been an up and down year for Michael, but the singer certainly hasn’t lost any of his sense of humor!

Whilst the net has been flooded with rumours flying around for months about which A-listers will feature in the last ever episode of Extras (Prince? Will Ferrell?), we’ve managed to find the newly released trailer. Enjoy!

Here's an odd bit of television gossip that should likely be taken with a bit of salt...

Apparently George Michael appears in the special final Christmas episode of the hit Ricky Gervais show Extras, playing himself and spoofing his own past drug and public bathroom sex antics. Now, Extras was known for having celebs make self-effacing appearances (Sir Ian McKellen was nominated for an Emmy for his, and celebs like Daniel Radcliffe, Kate Winslet and Orlando Bloom have made similarly hilarious turns), but making a joke about a rather big scandal (which resulted in his coming out) would be pretty daring.

Michael does have a history of poking fun at his own image, as he did in a special for Little Britain and looks ready to do in his recurring role as an angel on Eli Stone. And Gervais reportedly played a trailer for the Christmas special at a standup performance last week, and Michael appeared in the trailer (along with Clive Owen, David Tennant, Gordon Ramsay and Barry from Eastenders). So who knows? Maybe we should have "Faith" in the story after all...

Wild Tigers I Have Known
A soft spoken 13-year-old boy deals with a growing realization that he's attracted to other boys. As he obsesses over one particular boy, Rodeo, he ends up creating a female persona who gets to know Rodeo through whispered, late night phone calls until Rodeo suggest the two meet.

Sweet Land
This drama, set in the 1920's, tells the story of a German mail order bride who travels to Minnesota to marry a Norwegian farmer. The town rejects her and ostracizes the couple, partly due to her ethnicity and they're forced to work their farm alone. Alan Cumming co-stars.

Extras: The Complete Second Season
The second season of this uncomfortable-but-hilarious series includes has The Office's Ricky Gervais as a struggling actor and Ugly Betty's Ashley Jensen as a close friend and another struggling actor. Notable celebrity appearances include Ian McKellen (Gervais' character is cast as a love interest to McKellen's character, leading to one of Variety's 10 Funniest Scenes this Season) and cameos by Stephen Fry and Dame Diana Rigg (in an episode better known for Daniel Radcliffe's role as an egoistical horndog). Check out a clip of Gervais' character encountering Stephen Fry at the BAFTA awards.