Alexander Armstrong is ready for his next dose of all things Christmas.

The Oxford comedian, singer and gameshow host admits to loving the festive season.

“I’m sort of elf-like in my adoration of the Yule,” says the 48 year-old father of four and presenter of TV quiz show Pointlesss.

“I’m a singer as well, and for singers – for choral singers – Christmas is like Christmas. It’s amazing,” explains the star, who admittedly loves nothing more than a celebratory sing-song with his wife and four young sons.

“There’s so much music. Everything about it should be cherished.”

It’s this unrelenting enthusiasm that understandably puts Armstrong – one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller – in pole position to present ITV’s Best Christmas Ever.

A one-off, fabulously festive offering, it will see him joined by a host of celebrity guests, each on mission to find out what, aptly, makes the best Christmas ever.

There will be fun, chat and live music as the famous faces go head-to-head to get their favourite bits voted ‘the best’ by the studio audience.

“The main function of the show is to wallow in all the things that we love about Christmas,” he says.

“Christmas is one of those things that just gathers customs and traditions.

“If something happens twice, then it’s a tradition. So I think we are trying to find what the quintessence of ‘Christmas’ is. The things that we fall back on are generally music, good company, booze, films, games and the many little flavours that we genuinely love. So it’s time to shake the tree to see what’s still hanging on and find out what we really cleave to at this time of year.

“I’m hoping our special celebrity guests will bring some interesting traditions - and share some good tips because we all need some priceless tips between now and Christmas. Any little cunning short cuts.

“I can tell you one of our guests will be the wonderful [Oxfordshire food guru] Prue Leith. So we are desperate to get some good cooking tips from her. I hope this is the kind of show that you watch with a pen and paper, so you can make a note of some of the hot tips we’ll be passing out.

So what’s the secret to a successful Christmas?

“My wife and I tend to divide and conquer,” he says.

“We try and do as much as we can in advance, but I’ve never been a fan of lessening the workload on the day. So yes, you can parboil your potatoes and your sprouts till you’re blue in the face, but you’ve still got to cook the things on the day. The thing that always happens is everything’s ready apart from the roast potatoes. So everyone’s drunk by the time you sit down anyway and it’s practically dark, but who cares? As soon as you’ve got a paper crown on your head, everything’s fine.

“We have various Christmas traditions and sometimes families have their own slightly mad ones. For example, our one is that we stand on the stairs and sing. We stand on the stairs and sing ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ at teatime on Christmas Eve. I don’t know why, it’s just what we do! Every year, it’s got a bit more elaborate so last year someone decided to light lots of candles and turn the lights off.

“I also absolutely love Brussels sprouts. I have a sprout recipe that I would challenge anyone not to like.”

For his favourite Christmas films, meanwhile, he picks A Wonderful Life and Trading Places.

And as for the big day with his four young sons, he adds: “There’s quite a lot of management of expectation going on – as well as running around looking for batteries. If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s just to buy a massive bag of every single possible size of battery you could possibly need.

“But yes, there’s high spirits mixed with everyone getting overtired and lots of children running around the house, which is lovely.

“God, I’ll miss it when the children reach the next stage of family life.”

In the meantime, Best Christmas Ever with Alexander Armstrong will air on ITV on Sunday. So will he be singing on the show?

“Oh God, they’ll be fighting me off the stage! Yes, I will be singing. I promise not to sing too much but we have a fabulous house band and I think it’s fair to say that everyone will be singing. Song is going to be a big part of our Best Christmas Ever. All comers will be involved in the music.

“It’s the most exciting thing to be on TV at this time of year.

“Partly because like all people of my generation, the first thing we would do at the beginning of the Christmas holidays is to sit down with the Radio Times and the TV Times and circle everything we wanted to watch.

“But more than that, it gets people together as a family.”