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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Clare McCarthy

Ireland Christmas TV guide as TG4 confirms line-up of festive movies including all-time classics

There's nothing better over the Christmas holidays than cosying up on the couch and watching an old classic movie.

TG4 have just released the lineup of films they'll be showing over the holidays and there are a few Christmas crackers in store.

The Irish language broadcaster has always opted for an entertaining mix with some old classics as well as some Irish films in there.

Highlights from the list include La La Land, Borat, Dirty Dancing, Into the West and Sing Street as well as some wonderful kid's films like Miracle on 34th Street that's airing on Christmas Day.

READ MORE: Met Eireann forecast unseasonably warm weekend as temperatures crawl back up to mid teens

The TG4 schedule will air a family and primetime film each day with some Irish language film versions for those who want to practice their gaeilge.

Here's the full Christmas movie lineup on TG4 so you can take note of all the best films to watch:

Christmas Eve

3:05pm Playmobil (Irish Language version)

(2019 Animation Comedy) Irish version of the Playmobil movie. Marla and her younger brother Charlie find themselves magically transported to the fantastical world of Playmobil. While there, they encounter robots, Vikings, knights, pirates and other colorfully amusing characters. But when Charlie winds up in the clutches of an evil emperor, Marla joins forces with a bumbling secret agent and an adventurous truck driver to rescue her beloved sibling.

5pm Christmas with the Cranks

(2004, Comedy) Starring Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Aykroyd. Directed by Joe Roth. With their daughter, Blair, away in Peru, Luther and Nora Krank decide to skip Christmas all together until she decides to come home, causing an uproar when they have to celebrate it at the last minute.

9:50pm Dirty Dancing

(1987, Music, Romance) Starring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey and Jerry Orbach. Directed by Emile Ardolino. In the summer of 1963, 17-year-old Baby is vacationing with her family at a mountain resort when she is drawn to the staff quarters by stirring music. There she meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, and they fall in love despite everyone's warnings.

Christmas Day

10am Jungle Beat (Irish Language Version)

(2020, Animated Movie) Featuring the voices of Pól Ó Gríofa, Míchéal Ó Dubhghaill, Cillian Ó Donnachadha, Eoin Ó Dubhghaill, Luisne Ní Neachtain, Neasa Nic Dhonncha, Pádraig Ó Dubhghaill, Seamas O hAodha and Sinéad Ní Neachtain. Directed by Eoin Mac Diarmada. A homesick alien crash-lands his spaceship near the colorful African Jungle. His new animal friends need to get him back to his ship and teach him about friendship and fun before his Space-Conqueror father can take over the planet.

12:40pm Miracle on 34th Street

(1947, Comedy) Starring Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O'Hara and John Payne. Directed by George Seaton. After a divorced New York mother hires a nice old man to play Santa Claus at Macy's, she is startled by his claim to be the genuine article. When his sanity is questioned, a lawyer defends him in court by arguing that he's not mistaken.

2:45pm Abominable (New, Irish language Version)

(2019, Adventure Film) Starring Áine Ní Laoghaire, Fionn Foley, Dean Ó Riada, Máire Treasa Ní Dhubhghaill and Carmel Stephens. Three teenagers must help a Yeti return to his family while avoiding a wealthy man and a zoologist who want him for their own needs.

6pm Nanny McPhee

(2006, Comedy) Starring Emma Thompson, Colin Firth and Angela Lansbury. Directed by Kirk Jones. A governess uses magic to rein in the behavior of seven ne'er-do-well children in her charge.

11:20pm O' Brother Where Art Thou?

(2000, Comedy) Starring George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson. Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman goes after them.

St. Stephen's Day

1:50pm Hotel Transylvania (New, Irish Language Version)

(2012, Comedy movie) Starring Marcus Lambe and Gráinne Bleasdale. Directed by Cathal Gillespie. Dracula builds a hotel where all monsters can come on holiday safely, but a human finds their way in.

4:45pm Into The West

(1992, Adventure) Starring Gabriel Byrne, Ellen Barkin and Ciarán Fitzgearld. Directed by Mike Newell. Grandpa Ward gives a horse he found to his grandchildren, who keep it in their tower-block flat in Dublin. The horse is stolen from them, and the two young boys set out to find it and flee on it.

10:50pm Sing Street

(2016, Comedy) Starring Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Aidan Gillen and Maria Doyle Kennedy. Directed by John Carney. Aiming to win the heart of the über-cool and beautiful Raphina, 14-year-old Conor forms a band with a few lads, and the group pours their heart into writing lyrics and shooting videos in 1980s Dublin.

December 27

10:20pm Thelma & Louise

(1991, Comedy-Drama film) Starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Daivs. Directed by Rodley Scott. Two best friends set out on an adventure, but it soon turns around to a terrifying escape from being hunted by the police, as these two girls escape from the crimes they committed.

December 28

5pm Nanny McPhee Returns

(2010, Comedy Film) Starring Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ralph Fiennes. Directed by Susanna White. Nanny McPhee arrives to help a harried young mother who is trying to run the family farm while her husband is away at war, though she uses her magic to teach the woman's children and their two spoiled cousins five new lessons.

10:40pm My Best Friend's Wedding

(1997, Romantic Comedy) Starring Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney and Cameron Diaz. Directed by P.J Hogan. When a woman's long-time friend reveals he's engaged, she realizes she loves him herself and sets out to get him, with only days before the wedding.

December 29

4:40pm The Karate Kid

(1984, Action) Starring Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita and Elisabeth Shue. Directed by John G. Avildsen. A martial arts master agrees to teach karate to a bullied teenager.

10:20pm Borat

(2006, Comedy) Starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Pamela Anderson. Directed by Larry Charles. Roving journalist and the sixth-most famous person from his native Kazakhstan, Borat Sagdiyev travels to the Unites States to learn about American culture with hilarious results.

December 30

5:20pm Hotel Transylvania (English)

(2012, Comedy) Starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James and Andy Samberg . Directed by Genndy Tatakovsky. Dracula who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy discovers the resort and falls for the count's teenaged daughter.

10:20pm The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

(1994, Comedy). Starring Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Ternece Stamp. Directed by Stephan Elliott. Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.

New Year's Eve

5pm The Lego Ninjago Movie (Irish Language Version)

(2017, Animation) Irish language version. Six young ninjas: Lloyd, Jay, Kai, Cole, Zane and Nya, must protect the city of Ninjago from the evil Lord Garmadon.

New Year's Day

3:10pm Dr Seuss The Lorax (Irish Language version)

(2012, Animation) Ted, a 12-year-old boy, sets out to search the long-extinct Truffula tree to impress the girl of his dreams. However, in his journey, he has to overcome a number of obstacles.

10pm La La Land

(2016, Comedy) Starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and Rosemarie DeWitt. Directed by Damien Chazelle. While navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist and an actress fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future.

January 2

3:15pm Smurfs: The Lost Village (New, Irish language version)

(2017, Comedy) Featuring the voices of Pól Ó Gríofa, Marcus Lambe and Gráinne Bleasdale. Directed by Cathal Gillespie. When Smurfette wants to find out who she really is, she ends up finding a lot more than she expected.

9:30pm Foscadh (TV Premiere)

A Cine4 film. Set in the wild mountains of Connemara, Foscadh tells the story of naïve recluse John Cunliffe who is suddenly propelled into manhood at the ripe old age of 28. When his over-protective parents pass away, frinedless John inherits mountain land that is in the way of a lucrative wind-farm development, and he is forced to navigate the choppy waters of romance, trust and vengeance for the first time.

January 3

5:15pm The Muppets Take Manhattan

(1984, Comedy) Starring Jim Henson, Frank Oz and Dave Goelz. Directed by Frank Oz. Kermit and his friends go to New York City to get their musical on Broadway only to find it's a more difficult task than they anticipated.

11:10pm Reservoir Dogs

(1992, Crime) Starring Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen. Directed and written by Quentin Tarantino. After a simple jewellery heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.

January 4

5:20pm Stuart Little

(1999, Comedy) Featuring the voices of Michael J. Fox, Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie. Directed by Rob Minkoff. The Little family adopt a charming young mouse named Stuart, but the family cat wants rid of him.

10:40pm There's Something About Mary

(2006, Comedy) Starring Cameron Diaz, Ben Stiller and Matt Dillon. Directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly. A man gets a chance to meet up with his dream girl from high school, even though his date with her back then was a complete disaster.

January 5

5pm The Lego Ninjago Movie

(2017, Animation) Starring Jackie Chan, Dave Franco and Fred Armisen. Directed by Charlie Bean and Paul Fisher. Shunned by everyone for being the son of an evil warlord, a teenager seeks to defeat him with the help of his fellow ninjas.

11:55pm A Fish Called Wanda

(1988, Comedy) Starring John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline. Directed by Charles Crichton and John Cleese. In London, four very different people team up on a jewel heist, then try to double-cross one another for the loot, complicated by their efforts to fool a very proper barrister.

January 6

5:20pm Smurfs The Lost Village

(2017, Comedy) Featuring the voices of Demi Lovato, Rainn Wilson and Joe Manganiello. Directed by Kelly Asbury. In this fully animated, all-new take on the Smurfs, a mysterious map sets Smurfette and her friends Brainy, Clumsy, and Hefty on an exciting race through the Forbidden Forest, leading to the discovery of the biggest secret in Smurf history.

10:50pm Damsel

(2018, Western) Starring Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska. Directed by David Zellner and Nathan Zellner. Affluent pioneer Samuel Alabaster sets out on a journey across the American frontier to marry his beloved Penelope, accompanied by a miniature horse called Butterscotch and an alcoholic named Parson Henry. But Samuel's romantic quest defies expectations at every turn in this wildly original take on the Western genre.

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