If all the pre-Christmas cheer is getting a bit much for you, then the new Black Mirror special from Charlie Brooker is essential viewing - a tech horror story in three acts, 'White Christmas' explores the dark side of Yuletide.
Brooker, though, insists that the decidedly un-festive special is not intended as a riposte to traditional Christmas programming - even if he objects to the manner in which certain parties exploit sentimentality at this time of year.
"I think it's f**king incredible that a f**king supermarket has turned the First World War into an advert for a f**king chocolate bar - I think it's staggering," he begins.
"Having said that, I quite like Christmas specials - but I missed the tradition of having ghost stories at Christmas.
"It felt like if we were going to be doing a big one-off Black Mirror then Christmas was a good fit for it - more so than Halloween. For me, it's a more evocative time and it gives us a slightly different spin on things."
Both Brooker and 'White Christmas' star Rafe Spall agree that there's a tradition of slightly gloomy drama in the dying days of the year.
"If you think about something like The Snowman, there's a melancholy and a strangeness to it," suggests Spall.
"...and EastEnders at Christmas is never cheerful or feel-good," Brooker adds. "It's basically kittens being thrown into a cement mixer for an hour."
Spall accepted a part in Black Mirror without having ever seen the series, but having once read a script for a previous episode, the Get Santa star says he "knew the world" he was going into.
"But it was the quality and originality of the writing [that appealed]," he explains. "It truly is wholly original and that's a rare thing to come across in this industry."
Spall's co-star - a little-known US actor named Jon Hamm - is more succinct in summing up the hold that Black Mirror has over him: "Any programme that features someone f**king a pig on live television automatically appeals to me."
Hamm's involvement in 'White Christmas' is described by Brooker as "fortuitous" - the Mad Men star sought out the writer on a previous trip to the UK after becoming obsessed with his BAFTA-nominated series.
"I'd seen both previous series and absolutely loved it," Hamm reveals. "I mean, no-one in the States had seen it when I came over here to shoot it. No-one knew what I was talking about.
"Now I have studio executives saying, 'Oh my God, have you seen this show?' - it really reached some sort of tipping point."
Black Mirror's exposure in the US was heightened by its recent addition to US Netflix, with Brooker noting that global appreciation for the show has suddenly "gone mad".
Legendary horror scribe Stephen King even tweeted his appreciation for the series. "I think I probably smiled," deadpans Brooker. "That's about as effusive as I get about anything."
"It's travelled a lot more than I thought it would," he continues. "It's big in China, it's big in Spain... it's obviously not as colloquial as I thought it was.
"I guess technology is a global thing - wherever you go, people have had their lives slightly altered by it in the same way. I guess we're fortunate in that we've tapped into a global sweet spot of enchantment and anxiety - and there's not many shows doing that."
Black Mirror looks set to continue doing that for some time to come - with more episodes lined up to follow the 90-minute 'White Christmas'.
"Luckily the world is so horrible..." Brooker concludes, "...that there's constant inspiration."
Black Mirror: White Christmas airs on Tuesday (December 16) at 9pm on Channel 4.
