CHRISTMAS EVE
Drama
Casablanca
RTÉ One, 9.15am
American nightclub owner Rick Blaine’s cynical veneer begins to crack when the love of his life shows up at his Casablanca nightclub. Wartime melodrama, with Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman.
Drama
It’s a Wonderful Life
Channel 4, 1.25pm
A suicidal small-town businessman is visited by an angel who shows him how much difference his life has made. Classic comic drama, with James Stewart, Donna Reed.
Comedy
Paddington 2
RTÉ2, 6.10pm
Hugh Grant stars in this thoroughly winning sequel, playing a devious ham actor who frames poor Paddington — who ends up in prison. With Brendan Gleeson, Sally Hawkins.
Action
Quantum of Solace
RTÉ2, 10.10pm
A rich businessman’s obsession with an apparently barren piece of Bolivian desert alerts James Bond to a sinister organisation, and an imminent coup. With Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Arterton.
CHRISTMAS DAY
Animation
Wolfwalkers
RTÉ One, 2.25pm
Cartoon Saloon’s animation is set in 17th-century Kilkenny, where the daughter of an English hunter discovers a strange connection between locals and a pack of wolves.
Family
Aladdin
BBC1, 3.10pm
In this Disney remake of their classic animation, the street orphan Aladdin summons a genie with great powers after stumbling upon a magic lamp. With Will Smith.
Drama
Little Women
RTÉ One, 4.05p
Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel stars Saoirse Ronan as Jo March, an aspiring writer who turns her rural childhood into a bestselling story. With Florence Pugh.
Video of the Day
Drama
Downton Abbey
RTÉ One, 9.55pm
The household is all aflutter when it’s announced that King George V and Queen Mary will stop at Downton during a royal tour. With Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery.
Action
Wonder Woman 1984
RTÉ2, 10.25pm
Diana Prince is rocking the power suits in 1980s Washington when a demented businessman gets his hands on a very dangerous weapon. Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Pedro Pascal star.
Romantic comedy
When Harry Met Sally
BBC1, 12.05am
A man and woman’s long-platonic friendship is threatened when they start to fall in love. Classic comedy romance, starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher.
ST STEPHEN’S DAY
Drama
Great Expectations
BBC2, 9.15am
David Lean’s masterful adaptation stars John Mills as Pip, a young blacksmith’s apprentice who receives a mysterious inheritance. With Valerie Hobson, Finlay Currie.
Family
Peter Rabbit
Channel 4, 5.55pm
When Thomas McGregor inherits his great-uncle’s country manor, his life is made a misery by an interfering rabbit. With Domhnall Gleeson, Rose Byrne, James Corden.
Musical drama
Wild Rose
RTÉ2, 9pm
In the film that announced her enormous talent, Jessie Buckley plays an aspiring Scottish country singer whose career is blighted by her messy personal life.
Action
1917
RTÉ One, 9.20pm
Two young soldiers face a nightmarish journey through the trenches when ordered to warn a distant company of a cunning German trap. War epic, with George MacKay, Andrew Scott.
Musical drama
Sing Street
TG4, 10.50pm
A middle-class boy fears for his life when he’s sent to an inner-city Christian Brothers school, but things turn out better than he thought. With Lucy Boynton, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo.
DECEMBER 27
Comedy
Back to the Future
RTÉ One, 3.35pm
Cocky 1980s teen Marty McFly must make sure his parents fall in love when he’s transported back to the 1950s. Classic fantasy, with Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson.
Thriller
The Post
RTÉ2, 9.40pm
Steven Spielberg’s drama follows The Washington Post’s dilemma over whether or not to publish stories based on leaked government documents about the conduct of the Vietnam War. With Tom Hanks.
Action
White House Down
Virgin Media Two, 11pm
Daft but oddly prescient thriller starring Channing Tatum as a Capitol policeman who must defend the president when terrorists storm the White House. With Jamie Foxx.
Thriller
The Untouchables
Channel 4, 12.05pm
Hugely entertaining mobster drama starring Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness, an intrepid US Treasury Agent in 1920s Chicago who decides to go after Al Capone. With Sean Connery, Robert De Niro.
DECEMBER 28
Thriller
The Third Man
BBC2, 9.35am
Carol Reed’s sublime postwar drama stars Joseph Cotten as a hack writer who comes to Vienna in search of his mercurial and missing friend, Harry Lime. With Orson Welles.
Animation
Moana
BBC1, 3.50pm
A Polynesian teenager takes to the Pacific to right an ancient wrong with the help of an untrustworthy demigod called Maui. Musical animation, with Dwayne Johnson.
Action
Gladiator
RTÉ2, 9pm
Ridley Scott’s sprawling epic stars Russell Crowe as Maximus, a betrayed Roman general who returns to Rome as a gladiator determined to get his revenge. With Joaquin Phoenix.
DECEMBER 29
Fantasy
The BFG
BBC1, 3.35pm
Mark Rylance heads the cast of Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s story about an orphan girl who befriends a benevolent giant.
Sci-fi
Tenet
RTÉ2, 9pm
Christopher Nolan’s high-concept thriller stars John David Washington as a CIA agent who travels to the future to try and avert an existential threat. With Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki.
Horror
The Others
BBC1, 11pm
The young mother of two children becomes convinced that their old house on the island of Jersey is haunted. Horror, with Nicole Kidman.
Drama
Schindler’s List
RTÉ2, 11.45pm
Liam Neeson stars in this harrowing epic based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a Sudeten-German businessman and Nazi Party member who saved more than 1,000 Jews from the death camps.
DECEMBER 30
Family
Sonic the Hedgehog
Channel 4, 4.45pm
When a blue alien hedgehog falls to earth in Montana, he joins forces with a local sheriff to foil the grandiose plans of a mad scientist. With Jim Carrey.
Action
John Wick: Chapter 2
Virgin Media One, 9pm
The taciturn assassin emerges from retirement to fulfil a blood oath to an Italian crime boss. Keanu Reeves stars.
Action
Skyfall
RTÉ One, 9.25pm
When MI6’s London headquarters are bombed, James Bond heads to Macao to confront a dangerous new enemy. Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem star.
NEW YEAR’S EVE
Animation
Coco
BBC1, 1.15pm
In this colourful Pixar adventure, a 12-year-old Mexican boy visits the Land of the Dead to persuade an ancestor to end a family curse.
Fantasy
The Witches
RTÉ1, 6.25pm
An orphaned boy discovers a coven of witches dedicated to the destruction of children. Adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel, starring Anne Hathaway.
Comedy
Stan & Ollie
BBC4, 10.40pm
After years of separation, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy reunite for an arduous tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland that will turn out to be their last. With Steve Coogan, John C Reilly.
NEW YEAR’S DAY
Action
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Channel 4, 1.50pm
David Lean’s wartime epic stars Alec Guinness as a British colonel in a Japanese PoW camp who becomes obsessed with completing a railway bridge that will greatly help the enemy’s war effort.
Thriller
The Little Things
RTÉ One, 9.30pm
In 1990s LA, two cops investigating a string of brutal murders become convinced a seedy loner is their man. Thriller, with Denzel Washington, Rami Malek.
Melodrama
The Mountain Between Us
RTÉ2, 9.50pm
When two strangers survive a light aircraft’s collision with a mountain, they fall in love while battling to survive. Melodrama, with Kate Winslet, Idris Elba.
JANUARY 2
Musical
The Greatest Showman
Channel 4, 7pm
Rousing musical starring Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum, a failed shipping clerk who decides to found his own circus. With Zendaya.
Action
Spectre
RTÉ One, 9.30pm
After making a mess in Mexico City, 007 is suspended from duty and goes underground to investigate a sophisticated criminal organisation.
Drama
Foscadh
TG4, 9.30pm
A reclusive young Galway man must learn to cope on his own when both his parents die. Dónall Ó Héalai stars.
