Carl Jones: The stars are coming out for a very telly Christmas

Following this festive tradition doesn't have to be a calorie-fest. In fact, confectionery-filled advent calendars have apparently fallen out of fashion as shoppers seek out more creative alternatives such as Lego creations, make-your-own sets, or interactive online sites.

Today, I unleash my TV advent calendar; a smorgasbord of diet-friendly morcels which have piqued my interest from early previews of the December schedule. Not always, I hasten to add, for the right reasons.

Behind window number one lie the likes of Alfie Boe and Cilla Black. Now don't panic, they've not joined forces in a bid to halt Cliff Richard's assault of the Christmas Number One spot . . .

Alfie's the guest on the Strictly results show tomorrow (when I'll wager a significant slice of my chocolate calendar on him singing Bring Him Home), while our Cilla's going back to her roots, joining successor Holly Willoughby on the Surprise Surprise sofa.

Gary Lineker looks like being the gift that just keeps on giving this year. When he's not fronting Match of the Day coverage, trying to whip Alan 'Scrooge' Hansen into a festive frenzy (windows 7, 14 and 28), he's anchorman for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, behind windows 11 and 15.

That's right, two nights. The awards in Leeds are preceded this year by a look back at the 60-year history of the BBC's behemoth, which began in 1954 as a low-key affair when Chris Chataway surprisingly beat four-minute-mile record-setter Roger Bannister. These days, the show's more of a marathon.

Gary's highest profile task is probably window number 6, when football fans will be on tenterhooks for live coverage of the eagerly anticipated draw for the 2014 world cup in Brazil. Roy Hodgson has asked Santa to be kind, but after recent Wembley woes against Chile and Germany, a daunting task is looking highly likely.

Ant & Dec, Phillip Schofield, Holly Willoughby, Christine Bleakley and Paddy McGuinness are lurking behind window 20. They're this year's celebrity presenters of ITV's annual Text Santa appeal, a sort of festive version of Children In Need which drags the great and the good onto duty to perform crazy things. What? No Lineker? Don't rule it out; remember, he's just been shooting a series of Great Ingredient Hunt festive commercials for a certain brand of popular snacks!

Stars of Corrie will perform a special version of Fairytale of Weatherfield on the show, accompanied by Shane MacGowan of The Pogues. I've had a sneak-peek at the pictures, and it looks like frothy fun.

Talking of froth . . . where else can you see Grammy Award winner Mary J Blige sharing a stage with Rizzle Kicks, Dame Edna Everage and Chas 'n' Dave? Yes, that's right, it's time for the Royal Variety Performance, which is the star of window 9, with John Bishop as compère.

Far less festive is window 3, on BBC3. More than a million Brits are going to be using payday loans to get them through Christmas, and Young British And Broke goes undercover to investigate the truth about this controversial means of borrowing.

Finally, my guilty December pleasure, the world darts championships which kicks off on Sky Sports on December 13, with Phil 'The Power' Taylor looking to follow up this month's Wolverhampton triumph with a 17th world title. What more does this legend have to do to get knighted?