Where to watch your favourite Christmas films – and the best new ones – on TV this year
THE holiday season is the best time to curl up with your family and enjoy films with a festive snack and tipple.
And we’ve done the hard work and found which of your favourite Christmas films – and the best new ones – are on TV this year.
So sit back, put your feet up and step into these festive crackers:
A Christmas Carol (1999)
A fan favourite and classic tale which carries a warm Christmas message.
Moneylender Ebenezer Scrooge who makes excuses for his uncaring nature learns real compassion when three ghosts visit him on Christmas Eve.
Starring Patrick Stewart as Scrooge and Richard E. Grant as Bob Cratchit.
Channel 5 December 23, 5.10pm
Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
A Christmas comedy starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis in the leading roles.
Finally alone for the holidays, Luther and Nora Krank plan to escape the Christmas traditions and take a cruise in the Caribbean instead.
This doesn’t sit well with their Christmas-obsessed neighbours who are determined to win the annual “best decorated street” competition.
The Kranks soon find themselves social outcasts because of their lack of Christmas spirit.
Currently available on Sky Cinema
Deck the Halls (2006)
This hilarious Christmas film stars Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito playing feuding neighbours.
They try to do outdo each other at every turn and their lights get so ridiculous they can be seen from space.
The result is a laugh out loud holiday classic.
Available to stream on Disney+ and Amazon.
Die Hard (1988)
Everyone’s favourite action hero, Bruce Willis stars as NYPD cop John McClane.
He’s determined to save a group of hostages taken by terrorists during a Christmas party.
Alan Rickman also stars as the magnificent Hans Gruber.
Available to stream on Channel 4, from Saturday 7th December
Elf (2003)
Raised as an oversized elf, Buddy travels from the North Pole to New York City to meet his biological father, Walter Hobbs.
But Walter doesn’t know he exists and is in desperate need of some Christmas spirit.
Starring Will Ferrell, James Caan and Bob Newhart.
Available on NOW Cinema and Sky Cinema.
Home Alone (1990)
An eight-year-old troublemaker must protect his house from a pair of burglars when he is accidentally left home alone by his family during Christmas vacation.
The film features the famous scene where Kevin convinces burglars that his family is still at home but plans to take them down.
Starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern,
Streaming on Disney+
Home alone 2: Lost in New York (1999)
Kevin is back again and separated from his family when he accidentally boards a flight to New York City during a Christmas trip to Miami.
However he crosses paths with the same burglars, who now plan to rob toy stores on Christmas eve.
Once again, starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern.
ITV2 Sunday 15th December 3:40pm
It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
This weepy yet uplifting Christmas treat stars James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore.
Tuesday 24th December 2:45pm on ITV1.
Last Christmas (2019)
A Christmas rom com about a woman who’s lost her way, only to find herself and love when she least expects it.
Working as an elf in a year-round Christmas store is not good for the wannabe singer.
However, she meets Tom there and her life takes a new turn–that seems too good to be true.
Starring Emma Thompson, Boris Isakovic and Emilia Clarke.
Available now on BBCIplayer
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
A classic feel good Christmas movie about a department store Santa claims to be the real deal.
A lawyer and a little girl must prove that the man claiming to be Santa Claus is the real thing.
Starring Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins and Dylan McDermott.
Available to stream from Saturday 7th December on Channel 4.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation ( 1989)
A classic festive comedy with Chevy Chase starring as the head of the hapless Griswold family.
The family’s plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster.
Also starring Beverly D’Angelo and Juliette Lewis.
Available to stream on Sky Cinema
The Holiday (2006)
Amanda lives in LA and is a movie trailer editor. Iris lives in Surrey and is a journalist.
The two decide to swap houses for two weeks at Christmas – both trying to forget their troubled love lives, until love finds them anyways.
Starring Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz and Jude Law.
Airs Saturday 7th December at 3:15pm on Channel 5.
The Santa Clause (1994)
A divorced man inadvertently makes Santa fall off his roof on Christmas Eve.
Then he finds himself magically recruited to take his place to help deliver gifts on Christmas Eve.
Starring Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold and Wendy Crewson.
Available to stream on Disney+.
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Bored with the same old scare routine Pumpkin Jack Skellington longs to spread the joy of Christmas.
But his merry mission puts Santa in jeopardy and creates nightmares for boys and girls everywhere.
Stars the voices of Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon and Catherine O’Hara.
Available to stream on Disney+
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
A brilliant new adventure with everyone’s favourite inventor and his trusty dog on a mission to solve a recent crime wave.
The film focuses on Gromit’s concern that Wallace has become over-dependent on his inventions, which proves justified when Wallace invents a “smart gnome” that seems to develop a mind of its own.
Starring Ben Whitehead as Wallace, Peter Kay as Chief Inspector Mackintosh and Lauren Patel as PC PC Mukherjee.
Stream on BBC iPlayer from Christmas Day