Behind the scenes footage of 2003’s Toy Show is such a throwback

It's that time of year again, folks.

The time where sofas are settled into, takeaways are ordered, and drinking games are kicked off. It wouldn't be anything other than the Late Late Toy Show. And although we've all been getting sufficiently hyped for this year's installment of everyone's favourite Christmas tradition, sometimes it's nice to take a look back into the past, to see what the craic used to be like, way back when. And yeah OK, 2003 isn't that long ago but you'd absolutely be forgiven for thinking that it was based on this video. Shared on RTE as part of their Archives series, things start off pretty normal as reporter Cathal Murray does his utmost to give viewers a sneak peek into what they should be expecting from the show. After being denied access to the studio by a genuine bouncer, Cathal suddenly appears behind a Christmas tree, stealthily hiding his form as he tries to get the coveted scoop. Cathal then finds a few kids due to perform in the show that night, including a young fella who's going to sing Robbie Williams' She's The One because he just "sent in a video and applied for it", and a little girl who's getting a "surprise" from Santa. Beautiful. Pat Kenny also makes an appearance to drop the bombshell that there's going to be a "variety" of toys on the show this year. Never would've thought it. Cathal gets mercilessly thrown out of the studio by the aforementioned bouncer before he can get any more information. But, to be honest, at this stage, we'd pretty much seen it all. You can watch the full video here.