In the blink of an eye, the year is almost over. And that means only one thing: Christmas is upon us once more.
Alongside all the playing of board games, eating of turkey and unwrapping of presents, there’s one other thing that remains a mainstay in most British festive households: the telly. Nothing quite beats the feeling of sitting in front of the TV, sliding into a post-feast food coma and drowsily watching the year’s collection of festive specials.
With the BBC’s festive offering newly released, what better time to round up our picks for the best shows to stream over December? From Taylor Swift to David Attenborough, here’s what we’re looking forward to putting on.
With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration
Good news! After painting our eyeballs in various shades of twee during the second series of her home inspiration show, Meghan Markle is back for more. This wordily-titled festive celebration episode delivers us back to her (fake) kitchen in Montecito for vaguely Christmassy shenanigans that include walking through a Christmas tree farm, wrapping presents in just the right way and making canapes with celebrity friends. There’s even a glimpse of Prince Harry to encourage people to tune in.
Netflix, out December 3
The War Between the Land and the Sea
After that bombshell Doctor Who finale, it looks like we’re not getting a Doctor Who Christmas special this year. Instead, Russell T Davies has turned his pen to writing a spinoff set in the Whoniverse – but without the Doctor. The result is the awkwardly named War Between the Land and The Sea, which resurrects some classic Who villains, the Sea Devils (here renamed as Homo Aqua), who have woken from their millennia-old slumber under the oceans and want to reclaim the Earth. Russell Tovey plays Barclay, a civilian sucked into the drama, while Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Salt, the leader of the Sea Devils.
BBC One, out December 7
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2
Something about watching kids outsmarting adults and going on adventures will always feel festive, so in that sense, the latest series of Disney+’s Percy Jackson adaptation feels especially well-timed. Adapted from the second book in Rick Riordan’s hit series, we’re once again off on a quest with Percy (Walker Scobell), whose attempts to stop the dark lord Chronos will take him to the mythical Sea of Monsters. Tune in for some good old fashioned fun.
Disney+, out December 10
Taylor Swift: The End of an Era
Taylor Swift seeks to complete her cultural takeover of our timelines by releasing her Eras Tour behind the scenes docuseries on Disney+. The good news: you won’t have to pay any more money to watch this as many times as your heart desires. The bad news: it might cause flashbacks to the 2024 Eras Tour mania, in which all anybody in London could seem to talk about was Swift’s multi-night takeover of Wembley. Basically, it’s a must for Swifties, and Travis Kelce is almost guaranteed to make an appearance.
Disney+, out December 12
Fallout Season 2 on Prime Video
Fallout’s first season felt like a secret among those in the know: a TV adaptation of a video game that (joy!) was actually pretty good. Now the secret is out, and a second season is on the way, once again starring Walton Goggins and Ella Purnell as the Ghoul and former Vault-dweller Lucy, wanderers brought together by some pretty gory circumstances. If this season is anything like its predecessor, there’ll be lashings of off-beat humour and splashings of blood, courtesy of director Jonathan Nolan’s wildly inventive monsters.
Prime Video, out December 17
Emily in Paris Season 5
Is the title still accurate when she’s actually in Rome? Um, no, but that’s just how this show rolls. Emily, smarting from the season four finale – in which Gabriel chose to stay with Camille and their new baby rather than her – has just moved offices, and shacked up with an Italian boyfriend named Marcello (because of course he is). Cue more fashion, more drama and a lot more mopeds.
Netflix, out December 18
Amadeus
The life of Mozart gets the Kirsten Dunst/ Marie Antoinette treatment. Will Sharpe (formerly of The White Lotus and Lena Dunham’s Too Much) dons a white wig to play the musical prodigy, who clashes with Paul Bettany’s Antonio Salieri when he rocks up at the Viennese court and starts making waves.
Sky, out December 21
Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2
After leaving us with that frankly gobsmacking cliffhanger, Stranger Things returns once more on Boxing Day (UK time) with a fresh batch of episodes. Things we’d like to know immediately: what’s the deal with Will? What about the prisoner El and Hopper discovered in the Upside Down? And will Robin ever manage to go on that date?
Netflix, out December 26
Amandaland
The fantastically awful Amanda is back for a festive special of her own. In her first outing as a solo TV star, Amanda (an excellent Lucy Punch) was forced to downsize and move to the wilds of South Harlesden with her two teenage kids. Now, her family is expanding: in addition to the wonderfully awful Felicity (Joanna Lumley), we’re getting to meet her sister, Aunt Joan, who is played by none other than Jennifer Saunders. It’s the Ab Fab/ Motherland mashup we didn’t know we needed: glorious chaos.
BBC One
Dear Father Christmas
This extremely saccharine sounding TV film stands out simply by virtue of its jam-packed cast: Stephen Fry, James Buckley, Greg Davies, Lenny Rush and Asim Chaudhry all appear here. Rush stars as a teen who sets out to prove that Father Christmas is real and uncovers a global conspiracy of shadowy scientists. For his sake, we hope the effort is worth it.
A Ghost Story for Christmas
Ever year, Mark Gatiss brings a taste of Hallowe’en to Christmas with his decidedly spooky festive specials. This year is no different – except that Joanna Lumley and Tobias Menzies are starring. The special, called A Room in the Tower, is adapted from an E.F. Benson tale, and stars Menzies as Roger Winstanley, who keeps getting ominous dreams: dreams that invite him to spend the night in the house of an acquaintance, where terrible things happen. Unfortunately for him, this year it looks like that dream is about to come true.
BBC Two
Wild London
David Attenborough has lived in London for decades. And yet, he’s never filmed a nature documentary there. For good reason, one might think: isn’t London, you know, a city? But there’s still a lot of magic to be found here, from the deer in Richmond Park to the beavers building a home next to a shopping centre. Let the dulcet tones of David lull you into a post-food coma.
BBC One
Call the Midwife
For something that’s been going for decades now, Call the Midwife is still a pro at juicing those tear ducts. This ambitious two-part special serves us up double drama, with the Nonnatus crew split across two different continents: London and Hong Kong. When the Poplar nuns hear of a tragedy at their sister nunnery in Hong Kong, Sister Julienne heads off, while the younger midwives are left to handle the festive wave of babies. Plus, we get the first inklings of the Women’s Liberation movement arriving in London. Time to burn those bras!
BBC One
A Very Taskmaster Christmas
It’s silly, it’s easy to watch and it features some cracking comedians: Taskmaster is always good fun. The festive special goes one better, though. This time, we’re seeing returning guest stars Sam Campbell, John Robins, Andy Zaltzman, and Mathew Baynton, who will fight it out with the yet-to-be-decided series 20 winner for the title of Champion of Champions. The prize: a gold sculpture of Greg’s buff body.
Channel 4
The Great British Bake-Off: Peep Show Edition
Ten years after Peep Show finally went off air, most of its cast have reunited to take part in another Channel 4 franchise: Bake Off. That means we’ll be seeing David Mitchell, (now Oscar-winner) Olivia Colman, Isy Suttie, Matt King and Sophie Winkleman reunite to concoct a series of Peep Show themed bakes in pursuit of the cake stand trophy. Go on: you know you want to.
Channel 4
Death in Paradise
Does it get cosier than a Christmas murder? Hell, no! Death in Paradise is back (once more) to give us yet another murder in the homicide capital of the world, the Caribbean island of Saint Marie. Don Gilet returns as our resident copper, DI Mervin Wilson, alongside familiar faces and some star guests including Pearl Mackie and Josie Lawrence. The murder in question? Oh, just some office workers who head off on the Christmas party of a lifetime… only to find a stranger dead in their villa pool. And to make things even more baffling, turns out the murder weapon is in Swindon.
BBC One
