Kirstie Allsopp

New Year's Eve is a tricky one for TV: lots of us stay in through necessity, bloating or an aversion to contrived parties, yet nobody's ever really cracked the question of what we want to watch.

The big channels stick with Big-Ben-and-fireworks jobs. Channel 4 doesn't try to compete at midnight, firing its big light-entertainment gun earlier (9pm) with Alan Carr's New Year Specstacular. Jonathan Ross, Kirstie Allsopp, and Heston Blumenthal are among the likeable Carr's comic foils, with music from JLS and the Ting Tings.

Bespectacled funnyman Carr hosts a party-themed special, with guests including Jonathan Ross, comedian Micky Flanagan, and Strictly's Alesha Dixon, who proved herself fond of a tipple when she appeared on Carr's chat show a few weeks ago and later apologised for a string of indiscreet comments. Also popping up are Channel 4 colleagues Heston Blumenthal, Gok Wan and Kirstie Allsopp, while there's live music from JLS and The Ting Tings. We're promised themed sketches including a Royal Wedding spoof with Carr and David Walliams as the newlyweds.

It's rare to find impressionists whose material matches their talent but for most of this enjoyable half-hour programme Jon Culshaw and Debra Stephenson have pulled it off. Both find moments to shine. Culshaw nails fashion consultant Gok Wan's slangy lingo and makes a suitably narcissistic Elton John. Stephenson shows us what it would be like to be stuck in a forest with Kirstie Allsopp and excels with her uncanny take on a breathless squinty-eyed Claudia Winkleman.