What has been your favourite programme of the year?
The Killing, Series One and Series Two.
What will you definitely be sitting down to watch at Christmas?
Downton Abbey. It's so shit it's unmissable.
If you could give some festive advice to people wanting to get on in TV what would it be?
Dress nicely, do your hair, smile, and flirt with a select handful of people you suspect of being the decision makers. Television is ALL about appearances, all about surfaces, and not even about how things really look on the surface, but how they look on the surface on telly. Do not trouble yourself with finer feelings or deeper thoughts. Be nice. Popularity is all that matters. Unless you're Alan Yentob.
Giles Coren. Writer and columnist. Times restaurant critic and presenter of "The Supersizer's Go..." with Sue Perkins; new series for BBC2, working title "Grown In Britain", to air in Spring 2012; new book, How To Eat Out, published by Hodder, June 2012.
