After Thomas (ITV1); Faking It Special (C4); Doctor Who (BBC1): Sick child, cute puppy, dying grandmother, distraught mother - After Thomas sounded like it should be sponsored by Kleenex such was the potential to get the tear glands going.

To its credit, this drama - based on a true story - had an edge that kept it the right side of sentimentality without drowning in a puddle of tears.

Keeley Hawes was the mother at the end of her tether coping full-time with young autistic son Kyle (Andrew Byrne). We got an idea of the scale of the problem as she took him to buy a new pair of shoes, an outing that required a full-scale military operation as he kicked and screamed and generally behaved like a mad thing.

"I can't talk to him, I can't cuddle him," complained mum Nicola.

The unlikely answer to the problem was a dog. "Have you gone completely mad?" asked husband Rob (Ben Miles).

Well, no, as it turned out. The canine companion was just what Kyle needed. He started behaving like other little boys, although surely sleeping with the dog in his bed was going too far, not to mention unhygenic.

This was all heart-warming stuff to consider in that Boxing Day haze prompted by too much food, too much drink and not enough exercise. And, just in case the drama didn't stir those emotions, the post script that revealed shortly after the film was made the real Thomas became very ill and was put down would have sent you scrambling for the tissues once again.

There were tears too in the Faking It Special which took a shy 34-year-old cleaner from Wales and turned her into a sultry, seductive, flesh-baring burlesque dancer called Scarlet Fever.

As Sharon Pallister, who felt embarrassed by an operation scar on her stomach, didn't even wear a bikini on the beach, getting her to "master the art of nipple tasseling and seduce them with her striptease" seemed as likely as anyone in Albert Square having a happy marriage.

She had a good teacher in Miss Immodesty Blaise, who wanted to create the ultimate bombshell in the form of a cheeky Twenties flapper (at least I think she said flapper not slapper) or Fifties curvy Sophia Loren.

There was something genuinely pleasing about seeing Sharon's transformation from painfully shy country housewife who was "happy at the bingo" into someone confident both about her body and doing a tantalising, tassel-twirling burlesque performance.

To top it all, Sharon managed to fool two out of the three experts into believing she was a real burlesque star.

And finally, let us thank Russell T Davies for the Christmas Day Doctor Who. Homicidal Santas, exploding Christmas trees, a motorway car chase involving the Tardis and Catherine Tate as a bride who walks down the aisle only to find herself transported to the Tardis - what more could you ask for on top of turkey and Christmas pudding?

David Tennant and Tate were good enough together to make you sad that their partnership was only temporary. The doctor will be recruiting a new, permanent travelling companion when the series returns next year.