17 TV Picks To Watch Over Christmas If You’re Not Feeling Festive

If you’ve switched on the TV lately, it can’t have escaped your attention that the schedules are starting to get pretty much dominated by Christmas specials and old seasonal favourites.

Yes, if you’re looking for something festive to feast your eyes on as December draws to a close, you’re very well catered for. But what about the rest of us?

Well, fear not. We’ve scoured the listings and found there are still loads of great new shows and films – plus some old favourites being repeated on TV – that you can enjoy even if you’re trying to swerve the usual festivities.

Here are just 17 of our top picks…

Emily In Paris

Just in time for most of us enjoying a long break from work, Netflix is releasing a new season of its most mindlessly binge-able original series.

It’s been a whole year since we last checked in with Emily, so we’re expecting more romantic entanglements, bold fashion and, who knows, maybe even some French when things pick up?

21 December on Netflix.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

After the success of Knives Out in 2019, it was announced that Netflix had bought the rights to produce a string of sequels centred around Daniel Craig’s detective character Benoit Blanc – the long-awaited first of which, Glass Onion, is finally here.

Like its predecessor, Glass Onion is a star-studded outing including Edward Norton, Kate Hudson and Janelle Monáe, with the chart-topping singer truly stealing the show with her impressive turn.

And if you’re in need of some escapism from the December blues, it might interest you to hear that this time around the action all takes place on a blissful desert island. Enjoy!

23 December on Netflix

Strange World

Disney had some success with Encanto when it hit cinemas in December 2021, but it was only when the film began streaming on Disney+ a few weeks later that its popularity really exploded and it became the phenomenon we now know it as.

The company will no doubt be hoping to replicate this pattern with its latest film Strange World, which passed by pretty much unnoticed when it was first released in November, but is coming to Disney+ just in time for Christmas.

In a break from the traditional Disney movies most of us know and love, Strange World is not a musical or a fairytale retelling, but instead an all-new family adventure. It’s also the first film from Walt Disney Animation Studios to include an explicitly LGBTQ+ lead character, voiced by comedian Jaboukie Young-White.

23 December on Disney+

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse

Of course, just because you’re not feeling festive doesn’t mean you have to be an all-out Grinch, and if you’re in the mood for some wholesome and emotional viewing, one of the BBC’s new originals for Christmas 2022 might just be for you.

An animated adaptation of the book by Charles Mackesy, we reckon this story about a young boy and his animal pals could thaw the heart of even the most cynical of viewers. 

Listen out for the likes of Idris Elba and The White Lotus’ Tom Hollander, too.

Christmas Eve at 4.55pm on BBC One

Top Of The Pops Review Of The Year

Top Of The Pops has been moved from its usual Christmas Day slot, with this year’s special airing on Christmas Eve as a retrospective of the music we all loved in 2022.  

As well as a tribute to the year’s Christmas number one (which it’s fair to assume will be sausage roll-themed...), there’ll also be performances from some of the biggest artists of the past 12 months, including Harry Styles and Stormzy.

Christmas Eve at 10.40pm on BBC Two

Britain’s Favourite 80s Songs and Britain’s Favourite 90s Songs

But there’s also something for people who prefer a more nostalgic approach with their music choices.

On Christmas Day, Channel 5 is airing a look back at some of the UK’s most popular tracks of the 80s. And once you’re done with that, a similar special celebrating hits of the 90s will be shown later on in the evening.

Christmas Day at 1.10pm and 6.25pm on Channel 5

The Witcher: Blood Origin

Fresh from her critically-lauded (and, dare we say it, potentially Oscar-winning) performance in Everything, Everywhere All At Once, Michelle Yeoh takes the lead in this new prequel to the hit Netflix show The Witcher.

Set over a millennium before the events of season one, this four-part miniseries explores how the very first Witcher came to be, and will show viewers what life was like in the Elven civilisation before its ultimate demise.

Christmas Day on Netflix

Gogglebox

Nothing cheers us up quite like a visit to our favourite Gogglebox families – and, as ever, the bumper Christmas Day episode serves as a retrospective of 2022.

Not only will the two-hour special be celebrating the year’s best telly, it’ll also revisit some of Gogglebox’s most ridiculous and entertaining moments of the past 12 years, serving as a reminder of why it’s become one of the most unlikely runaway TV hits of recent years.

Christmas Day at 9.05pm on Channel 4

Goodfellas

Of course, if you’re really trying to swerve the usual Christmas programming, it might come as a relief to hear that on Boxing Day, BBC Two is taking us about as far from festive as can be with an airing of Goodfellas.

The Oscar-nominated gangster film by Martin Scorsese was first released in 1990, and stars Robert DeNiro and Ray Liotta, the latter of whom died earlier this year at the age of 67.

Boxing Day at 10.15pm on BBC Two

Miriam Margolyes: Australia Unmasked

The chances are, if Miriam Margolyes is involved, we’re probably going to be watching it, and her latest venture is definitely no exception.

Expect all the usual fun, frolics and all manner of other F-words as the Bafta-winning actor – who became an Australian citizen in 2013 – explores the culture Down Under in her own unique style.

27 December at 9pm on BBC Two

Mayflies

One of the BBC’s new big-budget dramas to keep us all entertained between Christmas and New Year is Mayflies, a drama based on Andrew O’Hagan’s much-loved book.

The two-part series sees Line Of Duty’s Martin Compston and Marvel star Tony Curran (themselves good friends in real life) as a pair of best friends, with the story beginning in 1986 and following the pair to the present day via travel, marriages and a devastating announcement. Expect tears.

28 and 29 December at 9pm on BBC One

Prince Andrew: The Musical

At the complete other end of the scale is what Two Doors Down star Kieran Hodgson has cooked up over on Channel 4.

Despite only being an hour long, the actor and comedian’s special crams in seven distinct musical numbers chronicling the rise and fall of Prince Andrew, from his marriage to Sarah Ferguson right through to his infamous Newsnight interview.

Joining Kieran in the cast are Munya Chawawa as King Charles and Emma Sidi as Emily Maitlis, while Harry Enfield and Baga Chipz will portray prime ministers Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher, respectively.

29 December at 9pm on Channel 4

Marie Antoinette

In what we’re sure will be a completely unique and separate project from the Sophia Coppola film of the same name, the new BBC drama Marie Antoinette will chart the true story of the iconic French queen.

Episode one begins with Marie Antoinette getting to grips with life in Versailles after being married off at just 14 years old.

The show was penned by Deborah Davis, whose most notable credit is the historical drama The Favourite.

29 December at 9pm BBC Two

‘Madonna night’

From one iconic queen to another, we’re happy to see that BBC Two is devoting one night in the lull before New Year to one of the most game-changing and influential artists of her generation, Madonna.

The fun kicks off with Madonna At The BBC, which will look back at some of the pop icon’s most memorable on shows like Top Of The Pops and headlining performances at Radio 1′s Big Weekend festival.

From there, it’s straight onto Desperately Seeking Susan (one of Madge’s few films we don’t find ourselves simply pretending doesn’t exist), and then In Bed With Madonna, the documentary that got the whole world talking.

29 December from 9.55pm on BBC Two

The Masked Singer

Yes, the most weird and wonderful reality show in British telly is finally back for its fourth series.

This time around, viewers will be introduced to a host of wild characters including a musical recycling bin, a literal pile of knitting and the show’s first ever duo in Cat & Mouse, as the nation tries to work out the celebs behind the disguises – with only the stars’ voices and the most cryptic of clues to go off.

Who’s that behind the mask? We can’t wait to find out.

New Year’s Day at 6.30pm on ITV1

No Time To Die 

The curtain finally came down on Daniel Craig’s time as James Bond in 2021 – but what a way to go, eh?

No Time To Die saw 007 reunited with his old friends and colleagues as he battles a new adversary played by Rami Malek, with an ending that truly none of us saw coming.

Whether you missed it in the cinema first time around or just feel like reliving the action all over again, New Year’s Day will see the 25th instalment in the Bond saga getting its UK television debut.

New Year’s Day at 8pm on ITV

Happy Valley

It’s been a long time coming, but Sarah Lancashire is finally back in action as Sgt Catherine Cawood after a seven-year break.

The arrival of the Bafta-winning crime drama’s third and final series means 2023 is getting off to a gripping start – and while over half a decade might have passed, the recently-released trailer suggests Happy Valley’s last hurrah is very much business as usual. Bring it on, we say!

New Year’s Day at 9pm on BBC One