Stick Man 4.45pm, BBC1
Following adaptations of The Gruffalo books and Room On The Broom, animators Magic Light Pictures turn again to the work of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, and the tale of a wooden chap “who lives in the family tree”. Until, that is, he takes a jog around the park, and meets first a bouncy dog and then a girl with Poohsticks in mind. Will lost and lonely Stick Man ever get home? A charming tale voiced by a top cast, including Martin Freeman and Jennifer Saunders. Jonathan Wright
Doctor Who 5.15pm, BBC1
There’s no better time to get back in touch with long-lost friends, relatives and, erm, shapeshifting alien spouses, as this year’s Who Christmas special duly reminds us. Although having your husband morph from Matt Smith to Peter Capaldi is fairly standard when you’re married to the Doctor, it will be interesting to see how River Song (Alex Kingston) reacts to this new, wizened, Strat-toting Time Lord. Plus, brilliantly named baddie King Hydroflax (Greg Davies) might leave you cowering behind the sofa. Hannah J Davies
Gogglesprogs 8pm, Channel 4
Spinning off from Gogglebox – which has a festive best-of coming up next Monday – this review of television’s biggest 2015 moments is brought to you by the nation’s children. Ten sets of critics aged 13 and under interrogate everything from Nadiya’s victory in The Great British Bake Off to Ed’s disastrous defeat in the general election. In between, they’ll tackle shows on which they can offer an informed perspective, such as Growing Up Wild, BBC2’s Natural World special about the trials of young animals. Jack Seale
Downton Abbey – The Finale 8.45pm, ITV
Julian Fellowes’s infinite treadmill of correctly spelled words grinds to a halt in this mammoth finale, complete with romance and reconciliation. If that poor dog had still been alive, even he would have been forced to make eyes at a lamppost, so keen is the author to festively wrap it up. That business with the hospital is laid to rest, the domestic hierarchy is rejigged after a sudden illness and Lady Edith’s story may not be quite done. Probably just the mindless tonic you need to digest your sprouts. Julia Raeside
Our Cilla
10.45pm, ITV
A tribute to the late Cilla Black, likely to be longer on affectionate remembrance than rigorous contemplation of her cultural significance – though, that said, the archive footage of Black at the beginning her career, at a time in which there were few careers for women in popular culture, and fewer still for working-class women from Liverpool, cannot help but be interesting. Among the roster of peers sharing their reminiscences are Cliff Richard, Elaine Paige, Lynda La Plante and Paul O’Grady. Andrew Mueller
Knowing Me, Knowing Yule
11.35pm, Gold
Alan Partridge’s first – and last – Christmas special for the BBC gets a joyous repeat on Christmas Day, with special Norfolk tidings to one and all. In a mock-up of his own house at Television Centre, he welcomes filthy-mouthed cross-dressing TV chef Fanny Thomas (the magnificent Kevin Eldon), breaks various codes of broadcasting conduct, visits a local Tandy and sets a dialysis machine alight before thwacking BBC commissioner Tony Hayers with a game bird. Ooh, pardon! As Fanny Thomas might say. Ben Arnold
Comedy Christmas Shorts
10.05pm, Sky Arts
A quality box of festive chuckles from a dozen rising comedy troupes, fringe favourites and other up-and-coming gag-slingers. Shorts include: Sam Simmons’s Christmas, concerning cracker joke writers, and co-starring this paper’s Bridget Christie and Matt “Super Hans” King; and Gein’s Family Giftshop, who are struggling to come to grips with the truth about Santa. Elsewhere, character comedian Lolly Adefope plays a grotto elf, and up-and-coming comic Joseph Morpurgo is at a school nativity. Ali Catterall
Film Choice
Exodus: Gods and Kings (Ridley Scott, 2014) 9.30am, 8pm, Sky Movies Premiere
There was understandable cavilling about the all-white cast, but this is a full-blown biblical epic in the tradition of Cecil B DeMille’s Ten Commandments. Christian Bale is a noble Moses, getting into a fearful family squabble with his brother, the pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton) when leading his people out of Egypt. The special effects are stunning, from the parting of the Red Sea to the plagues – notably the creeping horror of the death of the firstborn. Paul Howlett
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Chris Columbus, 2001) 12.50pm, 12midnight, Sky Movies Greats
If you want to devote Christmas to Harry Potter, here’s the place to start, with the young wiz (Daniel Radcliffe), plus chums Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint), enrolling at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and having their first encounter with evil Lord Voldemort. With marvellous CGI invention and a whole coven of British acting talent on hand, it cast a wondrous, seven-movie spell. The next three Potters also show today. PH
Frankenweenie (Tim Burton, 2012) 1.45pm, BBC2
Tim Burton resurrects his 1980s Disney short to bring this charmingly creepy tale to life. It’s a black-and-white stop-motion movie in which pallid kid Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan) digs up his dead dog Sparky and reanimates him by harnessing the power of lightning in the time-honoured style. A very funny, not un-scary gothic horror pastiche ensues. PH
Scrooged (Richard Donner, 1988) 3.45pm, Channel 4
Bill Murray is the latter-day Scrooge, AKA Frank Cross, a nauseatingly ambitious TV executive requiring the attentions of three very persistent ghosts to straighten him out. Karen Allen plays the long-lost love of his life, Carol Kane’s Ghost Of Christmas Present is a delirious act, and even Robert Mitchum turns up. A coarse-grained updating of Dickens with a warming, festive feel. PH
Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995) 7.30pm, BBC3
The Disney film that signalled a new age of computer-generated animation, courtesy of the cutting-edge Pixar studio. There’s so much more to it than the thrill of the whizz-bang special effects: the tale of a boxful of abandoned toys struggling for survival is fast, funny and thoughtful on issues of friendship and loyalty, particularly in the rivalry between cowboy puppet Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) and upstart astronaut Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen). PH
Robin Hood (Ridley Scott, 2010) 8pm, More4
There’s not much Errol Flynn-style merriment about this Robin: Russell Crowe’s beefy bowman is a serious-minded leader of men who not only redistributes wealth to the poor but stops a full-on French invasion and swiftly drafts the now 800-year-old Magna Carta. It’s a chunky, mead-quaffing, earthy lump of English quasi-history, with savage action and staunch support from Cate Blanchett as a battling Marian and Mark Strong a vicious Godfrey. PH
Dr No (Terence Young, 1962) 12midnight, ITV
This first mission for James Bond introduces the key elements of the half-century franchise: the exotic location (Jamaica); the exotic dangers (spiders, sharks, a “dragon”); the criminal mastermind (Joseph Wiseman’s devilish Dr No); the Bond babes (white-bikinied Ursula Andress as Honey Rider) – and, of course, Sean Connery’s 007, embodying the wicked charm of Ian Fleming’s hero and the thuggishness, too. PH
Today’s best live sport
Basketball: Miami Heat v New Orleans Pelicans
Coverage from AmericanAirlines Arena. 5pm, BT Sport 1
ODI Cricket: New Zealand v Sri Lanka
Coverage of the opening contest in the five-match series, which takes place at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. 9pm, Sky Sports 1
Test Cricket: Australia v West Indies
The traditional Boxing Day Test from the MCG gets underway. Can the ailing West Indies make a game of it? 11.30pm, Sky Sports 2
