FOR 11 months a year I avoid like the plague watching anything that resembles a musical.

Watching actors break into song just makes me cringe, but come December I suspend this revulsion for all things Rodgers and Hammerstein and eagerly await seeing Julie Andrews sing the Nazis out of Austria.

But this year you can get in the Christmas spirit a little earlier as tonight Buffy the Vampire Slayer presents its bizarre musical episode.

Fans of the show were slightly bemused when creator Joss Wheedon announced that the sixth series of the popular US TV show was to have a musical edition.

What's more, Wheedon himself would be penning the songs and writing the music and the stars would actually being singing the songs.

So far the sixth series has been a let down after the excellent last series which ended with Buffy who, if you didn't know, is a little blonde superhero chosen to ward off the vampires and the end of the world on a weekly basis dying.

But seeing as the show is named after her, Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, has been resurrected. Subsequently the series has been very downbeat, with Buffy struggling to come to terms with having to once again fight off evil when she was actually enjoying the rest in heaven.

The musical episode is just what is needed to light up the series and the population of Sunnydale, as they are put under a spell which makes them burst into song so they are unable to hide their feelings for one another.

As in all good musicals the tunes are catchy and the stars manage to carry off the singing performances with aplomb, despite not having classical singing voices.

It all sounds daft, but Joss Wheedon uses the songs to answer some of the questions that the series has posed so far, and sets up what will happen later on. The show also reveals Buffy's real feelings for impotent vampire Spike, who has fallen in love with the Slayer.

If you only watch one musical this Christmas make sure it is this one.

Tonight, 6.45pm, BBC2