Will there be Christmas cheer in River City this year? What will the New Year bells bring for Montego Street?

Don't forget to catch-up with Christmas and New Year in Shieldinch on Tuesday 21 December and Tuesday 28 December at the usual time of 2000. The first River City of 2011 will be on Tuesday 4 January at 2000.

With the festive season now upon us, we're winding down our updates to this blog. You can continue to leave your comments here or you may also want to visit one of the excellent, unofficial, fan-created River City pages on Twitter, Facebook or elsewhere on the web. It's always great to see online communities building up around the show.

From all the River City cast and crew, we'd like to wish all our viewers a merry Christmas and a very, very happy 2011.

With baby-making high on the agenda at the Mullens' house, little wonder both Jimmy and Scarlett declared themselves fatigued with the whole process. Scarlett's reaction to Jimmy's attempt at romance, with a bottle of fizz and rose petals, was classic - "What's all this? You done something?" And loved Iona's expression when she overheard Raymond and Jimmy trading stories from the front line of fertile over-40s - ew!

One thing's for sure - Scarlett's original wee Bubba is missed - so here's hoping he'll be back soon.

River City fans might recognise some familiar faces in the David Tennant drama Single Father on Sunday nights. The ex-Time Lord Mr Tennant plays Dave, a photographer who faces the shocking sudden death of his beloved wife. The drama explores the heartache and obstacles which he faces in the difficult task of bringing up four children alone.

Jenni Keenan Green, who played femme fatale Heather Bellshaw, makes an appearance as Dave's ex-wife Michelle. Jenni talks about acting with her real-life toddler son in Single Father in this press article.

14-year-old Natasha Watson has a lead role as Dave's stepdaughter in the show. Sharp-eyed fans may recognise her from River City. She played Heather's vulnerable daughter Freya in the show five years ago. It was an emotionally demanding role as she was reunited with her birth mother and father, Heather and Duncan, so Natasha did quite a lot of weeping. The family left to make a new life in Australia.

Natasha's also appearing in the feature film Donkeys which has just been released. You can watch an interview with Natasha and her Single Father co-star Millie Innes from STV's The Hour.

Single Father is on BBC One Scotland, on Sundays at 2100.

Another winning turn from Mrs Carroll -Alison Peebles does such a good job bringing the sour-faced lady to life. Her snooty manner in the salon would've curdled milk. But the final straw was definitely Iona - and her comment about the lack of sleep at the newly-weds' house. That broke the camel's back for sure. Will Sheila Carroll be as much fun in the withering looks stake now she's made her peace with the Rossis? We've still go the wedding to look forward to...

Attract, flatter, manoeuvre - it seems Drew's tactics do work. But we all know it was Bob's charm which really worked a treat on Iona. We were so crushed on the big man's behalf. Why is love so complicated? Jack and Hayley are no doubt thinking the same thing...

Taking place on a submarine far below the Arctic Ocean, The Deep sounds like it has nothing in common with a Glasgow-set drama. However this BBC One series was filmed in Dumbarton earlier this year in the same studios as River City.

Neil Mac works as the Unit Manager at Dumbarton. It's his job to co-ordinate the people in control of BBC in-house and independent productions on site. So Neil helped the team from Tiger Aspect Productions, who produced The Deep, to work successfully at BBC Dumbarton.

Neil kindly filled us in on a production secret from The Deep. CGI was used to create many effects in the drama, as the story takes place far below the ocean surface. A submarine set was created for 'The Orpheus' in the studio. The team filled the entire space with a smoke effect, and cleverly lit the studio area surrounding it. Neil tells us when you peered out of the window of the 'submarine' it actually looked like you were underwater.

The Deep stars Minnie Driver, James Nesbitt and Goran Visnjic. It's on weekly on Tuesdays at 2100 on BBC One Scotland until the end of August. You can watch the show on iPlayer if you miss it. Goran talks about filming the show in Scotland and the special effects involved on the TV blog and in The Sunday Mail.

It's clear Theresa resents Scarlett's life, but it's shocking to see the lengths she's willing to go to. The family may be no stranger to knock-off tellies, true, but what was alarming about the situation was how far Theresa was willing to push it. And did you see Theresa's reaction when Scarlett made the joke about prison radio? Watch out, Scarlett - there's a lifetime of seething resentment there.

Gordon McCorkell, aka Deek, is keeping busy this week while his character is going off the rails. He's appearing on Radio Scotland's MacAulay and Co on Wednesday 14 July. Tune in at 1005 to listen live or catch-up afterwards. Gordon will be appearing on The Hour on Wednesday also and being interviewed on Friday by Dave Marshall on Smooth FM. Busy man!

It's Tuesday - time for your weekly fix of all things Shieldinch, However, don't forget that the latest episode has been moved to Wednesday 30 June at 21:00.

Missing the show? The good ol' iPlayer will keep you in the loop with Eileen's secret and Theresa's reign of terror.

Things are pretty grim in the Muillen household aren't they? Theresa's using the house as a half-way house for her knock-off gear, Jimmy and Scarlett are struggling to hide their disgust at the woman's antics, and Molly's firmly under her menacing daughter's spell.

Happy days for Bob though: he's thrilled with his aunty's business know-how as partner in the garage. As Jimmy wisely pointed out, Theresa's skills must have been gained at The School of Business Studies in Cornton Vale. Is Bob blind, or just choosing to ignore?

We've noticed something even more sinister: are we spotting a wee bit of flirtation from Theresa towards Jimmy? Batten down the hatches, Mr Mullen, and beware the wee woman!

Jeez-oh, Amber hasn't got it easy, has she? After the horror of Ewan's death she discovered that both her parents have been using her as a pawn in their mind games. So what's next for Amber, now she's abandoned her mother, and rejected her father? She finally said no to Lydia, but where to go from here?

Confronting a bully is a daunting prospect, but hats off to the team who tackled the Murdoch menace head-on. Even if Lenny was dismissive of the Shieldinch alliance - "Well, if it isnae the mild bunch!'. Did you cheer when Jimmy gave Murdoch a smack across the chops? At long last! See the magic moment again (it's about 39 minutes in!).

Sadly it seems to be an eye for an eye in Lenny-land...we'll be glad to see the back of his nasty ways, won't you?