Fifty-and-odd residents of a Virginia neighbourhood are befuddled after a mysterious person left television sets on their porches in the middle of the night,last weekend. CCTV recordings show an individual dressed in midnight blue, wearing a TV on his head, placing TV sets outside people’s houses.

While it sounds like a marvellous gift, the TV man left behind only ancient, outdated box sets which are practically unusable now – and had to be collected by the local police the next morning.

None of the TVs came with a note from the Television Santa Clause, as some residents called him on local news channels. Was it a college prank? Someone’s sense of humour? Or something altogether more sinister?

Who knows? For now, there’s nothing on the telly.