It’s the most wonderful time of the year — to watch television! Our guide brings you the very best of Christmas TV, film and radio across traditional broadcast, but also carefully curates the cream of the on-demand platforms from the past 12 months.
From our TV columnist Rod Liddle and Victoria Segal’s favourite shows of 2025 and Tom Shone’s films of the year to our television team’s top 5 shows to watch on every streaming platform, there’s no shortage of great things to enjoy from the comfort of your sofa.
Highlights include a New Year’s Day return of The Night Manager with Tom Hiddleston and a new series of The Traitors, an Amandaland Christmas special, Celebrity Apprentice fun and a two-part Call the Midwife adventure in Hong Kong.
For family viewing, Channel 4 has the heartwarming Finding Father Christmas, there’s a Gladiators celebrity special, The Masked Singer returns and The Scarecrows’ Wedding is the latest wonderful Julia Donaldson animation.
Elsewhere, we bid a final farewell to Stranger Things on Netflix and welcome a new Sky drama, Amadeus, starring Will Sharpe and Paul Bettany.
Whatever you watch, have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. Tim Glanfield
Will Sharpe and Paul Bettany as Mozart and Salieri in Amadeus
SKY UK
Sunday 21 DecemberCritics’ choiceAmadeus
Sky Atlantic/Now, 9pm
Modern period dramas usually include sex and gratuitous swearing, but Joe Barton’s adaptation of Peter Schaffer’s 1979 play Amadeus hits a few surprising notes even so. Beginning in 1781, it shows the 25-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Will Sharpe) arriving in Vienna, hoping to parlay his former child prodigy status into composing for Emperor Joseph (Rory Kinnear). The narrator of the story in flashback is his mortal foe Antonio Salieri (Paul Bettany), the court composer who is horrified by this lusty, capering genius. Sharpe and Bettany are excellent, the latter conveying his prurient disapproval with a lip-purse or eye-twitch, while Gabrielle Creevy brings bright intelligence to the role of Mozart’s future wife, Constanze. The animated credits graphically show the blood and guts that such music demands. Victoria Segal
• Sex, murder and Mozart — the truth behind TV’s new Amadeus
Beyond Paradise
BBC1, 9pm
A robbery at a bar; a man with no memory seeking his sister; a snowman in a skip: Christmas in Shipton Abbott comes with a blizzard of complications for the town’s police. As if the professional challenges weren’t taxing enough, DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) also has an important personal decision to make after he discovers that Martha (Sally Bretton) has been formulating a secret plan for their future. It’s not exactly Line of Duty when it comes to plot twists and criminal conspiracies, but it’s worth watching to see James Lance take on the role of a grumpy Wham!-hating bar owner and Adrian Edmondson — once again showing what a fine actor he is — playing the mystery man discovered on the steps of the police station. He’s not the only unexpected visitor, as another surprise guest adds to the mood of twinkly goodwill. VS
Wild Horses, the Rockies and Me
BBC2, 7pm
After getting up close with bears and big cats in earlier documentaries, Gordon Buchanan focuses on wild horses in the Canadian Rockies. As he tries stalking them on horseback, things don’t go well — when he films himself looking scared in a forest, it resembles a “before” scene in a horror movie. Later, a small group of stallions, mares and foals start to trust him, once he settles for sitting nearby and observing them. John Dugdale
The Royal Variety Performance
ITV1, 7.05pm
The world’s longest-running entertainment show — starting with the Royal Command Performance in 1912 — returns to the Royal Albert Hall, London, attended this year by the Prince and Princess of Wales and hosted by Jason Manford. Highlights of this year’s show include music from Jessie J and magic from the Britain’s Got Talent winner Harry Moulding. There will be performances from the cast of Les Misérables and Paddington. JD
What We Were Watching
BBC4, 7pm
Grace Dent wrote about TV before judging chefs, and in this occasional series she features the 1985 festive period, when Dynasty’s wedding of the year turned into a bloodbath and Only Fools and Horses’ To Hull and Back was one of the most-watched shows. JD
Explosive film that swept up the Oscars
Cillian Murphy as J Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning film
ALAMY
Oppenheimer
BBC2, 9pm
Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus about the father of the nuclear bomb, J Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) — a three-hour film about theoretical physics and political hearings — made nearly $1 billion at the box office. It won seven Oscars, including best film, best actor for Murphy and best director for Nolan. All without a single superhero. Breathtaking yet mind-melding, the nucleus of the plot is the 1942-45 Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer’s pulse-quickening rush to develop the atomic bomb. (2023) Kevin Maher
• How accurate is Oppenheimer? The film fact-checked
Pope Leo XIV and cardinals in the Sistine Chapel after his election
VATICAN POOL/WAG ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED/BBC/GETTY IMAGES
Monday 22 DecemberCritics’ choiceSecrets of the Conclave
BBC2, 9pm
The 2024 film Conclave goes unmentioned in this account of the election of Pope Leo XIV. Yet it’s pretty clear that a key aim is to pooh-pooh the movie’s depiction of the conclave process as like a nasty, cynical political fight. In its final words, one cleric spells out the message that what went on in the Sistine Chapel was “a discernment of God’s will”, and unrelated to “human ambition”. Largely explanatory, it combines interviews with cardinals (who include two Brits, Vincent Nichols and Timothy Radcliffe) with footage showing the crowds in St Peter’s Square. While the cardinals are likeable, their cuddliness is part of a burnishing of the church’s image by a documentary resembling a corporate video — failing to reflect the arguments about whether Francis’s successor should be a liberal or a hardliner. JD
• How the conclave works: a guide to the pope’s election
Celebrity MasterChef
BBC1, 8pm
Three days after the Celebrity MasterChef final, Grace Dent and John Torode return to preside over a Christmas cook-off, with four more celebs vying for the golden whisk: the podcaster and I’m a Celebrity alumna GK Barry, the actor Kola Bokinni (Top Boy, Ted Lasso), the BBC’s disability correspondent Nikki Fox and the comedian and voice of Love Island Iain Stirling. There’s a warm-up round in which they cook Italian dishes from recipes, and last year’s whisk winner Vito Coppola tastes them. Then the enjoyably self-deprecating quartet — Barry and Stirling are the drollest — are tasked with creating the “ultimate Christmas dinner”. Two plump for giant Yorkshire puds filled with bits and pieces, one for beef stew, one for cauliflower cheese with chicken on the side. No one goes for turkey, duck, goose or fish. JD
• Grace Dent’s mission to save MasterChef: ‘It was a very male place’
The Mandy Who Knew Too Much
BBC2, 10.25pm
Diane Morgan’s underemployed northern siren returns for a festive jaunt. This year Lancashire’s finest, who by her own telling “rarely dabbles in global democracy, especially over Christmas when it’s so cold out and there’s good telly on”, is faced with applying her terrifying mind to the challenges facing the body politic. Ably supported by Michelle Greenidge, Tom Basden, Roger Sloman and Hugh Quarshie. Helen Stewart
Tea with Judi Dench
Sky Arts, 9pm
One of Britain’s most acclaimed stage and screen actresses, Judi Dench opens up her home to her longtime friend and sometime collaborator Kenneth Branagh. Settle in for lively conversation as the pair discuss their long and illustrious careers, interspersed with archive clips and anecdotes from their time in the business. They also talk about the craft of acting and discuss reviews — both good and bad. HS
Mammoth
BBC2, 10pm
After an incident at the school concert, Tony Mammoth faces the prospect of a Christmas without a job and correspondingly minus his new-found daughter and grandson unless he can bring some money in. As ever, Mike Bubbins’s hilarious performance outpaces the somewhat pedestrian script. HS
Amanda and Alan add some festive warmth
Amanda Holden and Alan Carr host Spanish Christmas
VOLTAGE TV/BBC
Spanish Christmas
BBC1, 9pm
Alan Carr and Amanda Holden return to Moclin in Andalusia to throw a celebration for the friends who helped them to convert a dilapidated house into a holiday home. While the pair hurl themselves into Spanish traditions by shopping for prawns and painting Nativity figurines, they also introduce their hosts to sherry trifle. It’s a luxe, maximalist affair, but with this duo it was never going to be a low-key, low-wattage event. Feliz Navidad, unlocked. VS
Guz Khan and Morgana Robinson as Arslan and Hannah in Stuffed
GARY MOYES/BABY COW/BBC
Tuesday 23 DecemberCritics’ choiceStuffed
BBC1, 9pm
Fans of Man Like Mobeen will be delighted to see Guz Khan take the lead role in the BBC’s flagship family show, not least because his character Arslan Farooqi isn’t a million miles from his Birmingham buffoon. Aslan is from Coventry, and when he receives an unexpectedly generous bonus from work his first thought isn’t to query the figure but to tell his wife, Hannah. She’s not looking forward to this Christmas because she’s grieving the recent death of her mum, but persuades her husband that a visit to see Father Christmas in Lapland is just what everyone (including her useless sibling) needs. Morgana Robinson, always a livewire, imbues Hannah with a credible mix of sadness and desire to be happy, Theo Barklem-Biggs is hilarious as her brother, Jamie, and Khan is a delight, warming up Andy Milligan’s script with sheer force of personality. HS
Inside the Christmas Factory
BBC1, 8pm
Paddy McGuinness and Cherry Healey are in Market Drayton, Shropshire, the UK’s “home of gingerbread”, to visit a factory that specialises in seasonal iced biscuits. In the final push to meet the Christmas rush the staff are baking, decorating and packaging 20,000 pressed Father Christmases, snowflakes and reindeer every day, a task that even the presence of two daft presenters will not interrupt. Hairnets on, they watch as shortening, demerara and granulated sugars are turned by a gigantic dough hook into a sweet cream. “Lovely,” McGuinness declares, “that’s what we’re paying our licence fee for. This is what we want. Mixing on the telly.” Elsewhere in the episode, Healey learns how to make it snow indoors by visiting a ski centre, and perfects the art of Christmas present wrapping. HS
First Dates
C4, 9pm
The first joke about “pulling a cracker” arrives quickly, but if you can tolerate that, this dating show is as charming as ever, any second-hand embarrassment cancelled out by the sweetness, sadness and vulnerability of the love-seekers. Tonight that includes the TV mathematician Bobby Seagull, a retired nurse and a barber from Essex, all of whom have their own baggage. There’s also inspiring news from a couple who met on the show six years ago. VS
The Madame Blanc Mysteries
5, 8pm
A box once owned by Marie Antoinette is the ormolu MacGuffin at the heart of this two-hour Christmas-set episode of the cosy crime drama, as Jean (Sally Lindsay) is called on to offer a make-or-break authentication for the Sainte Victoire museum. John Thomson and Kacey Ainsworth are among the guest stars tangled up in the action-film plot, which involves a bomb, a safe, a fiendish code and a wicked nemesis. VS
Arsenal v Crystal Palace
ITV, 7.30pm, ko 8pm
This Carabao Cup game was moved from December 16 after it became clear that Palace would have faced playing four games in eight days. The Eagles — beaten 1-0 by Arsenal at their previous meeting in October — will tackle this quarter-final match at Emirates Stadium. VS
• Read more of the latest football news, analysis, match reports and comment
Fact and fiction collide in this winter special
Alan Davies, Julian Clary, Sandi Toksvig, Jimmy Carr and Fatiha El-Ghorri
FREMANTLEMEDIA/QI/BBC
QI XL
BBC2, 9pm
Sandi Toksvig and Alan Davies are joined by Julian Clary, Jimmy Carr and Fatiha El-Ghorri in a Winter Wonderland Christmas special. By and large the festive theme is dutifully sustained, with presents for panellists, talk of wrapping methods and questions prompted by carols sung by “the QI choir”. The funniest section (spinning off from posers about domestic accidents) is an outbreak of anecdotes about what might politely be called dysfunctional personal hygiene. Toksvig is not amused. JD
Lenny Rush and James Buckley as Chris and his dad in Finding Father Christmas
TOM MARTIN/CHANNEL 4
Christmas EveCritics’ choiceFinding Father Christmas
C4, 7.30pm
If you think Hallmark Christmas films are too saccharine, you might be able to tolerate this star-studded comedy drama that merges feelgood sentiment with quantum physics. Chris (Lenny Rush) is a true believer in Father Christmas, but his dad (James Buckley) thinks that, at 16, it’s time his son handled the truth. Knowing his dad will believe anything that Stephen Fry says, Chris sets off on a mission to prove Father Christmas is real. He uncovers a shadowy conspiracy, a cabal of scientists (including Hannah Fry and Maggie Aderin-Pocock, both impressively good at acting on top of their other gifts) and an especially gruff Santa. It’s a charmingly modern take on Father Christmas — one that might trigger awkward Christmas Eve conversations with younger viewers, so do make sure they watch it to the very end. VS
A Ghost Story for Christmas
BBC2, 10pm
This is the eighth time that Mark Gatiss has written and directed the BBC’s traditional Christmas ghost story and happily (if that’s an appropriate word to use about a tale of such unease) it’s one of his more successful hauntings. Based on The Room in the Tower, a 1912 short story by EF Benson, it stars Tobias Menzies as Roger Winstanley, a man tormented by a recurring nightmare, one that involves a visit to a friend’s country house, an uncanny matriarch (played with perfect froideur by Joanna Lumley) and a ghastly lodging. While the tension between the mounting dread and the sudden jump-scare is expertly managed, it’s the surrealist-friendly recreation of Roger’s dream world (all stilted movements, spiral staircases and heavy veils) that will have you switching on all the lights and checking the locks. VS
Gone Christmas Fishing
BBC2, 9pm
A year ago Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse travelled to France, but for this episode Devon and Cornwall are far enough away to count as a special trip. The comedians fish in the Lyd and Camel rivers before heading out to sea, and meet the Cornwall-based Dawn French, Gone Fishing’s “resident doc” Anand Patel, and the chef Paul Ainsworth, whose Michelin-starred restaurant is in Padstow. And there are carols too. JD
All Creatures Great and Small
5, 9pm
It may be the first peacetime Christmas in Yorkshire for six years, but there’s still plenty of drama in the Dales as James has to step in to take over the Darrowby Nativity play and Siegfried has an important decision to make. With memories of war still fresh in the minds of residents and a national shortage of turkeys, our protagonists will have to work hard to ensure that 1945 is a very merry Christmas for all. JD
Two Doors Down
BBC1, 10pm
Last seen in 2023, the sitcom makes a one-off return. When Beth (Arabella Weir) and Eric (Alex Norton) put their tree up early, it sets off a premature festive frenzy as everyone else makes haste to buy presents or book transport. This special is not its swansong, as a stage version is planned. JD
Carols and songs to lift season’s spirits
Kate Winslet will deliver a reading for Royal Carols — Together at Christmas
DIA DIPASUPIL/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES
Those looking to see in Christmas with song can enjoy the tradtional Carols from King’s at 5.45pm on BBC2. Later, Royal Carols — Together at Christmas (ITV1, 7.25pm) is a Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey hosted by the Princess of Wales, with members of the royal family among a 1,600-strong congregation celebrating “love in all its forms”. There will be musical performances and readings from Hannah Waddingham, Dan Smith, Kate Winslet and Chiwetel Ejiofor. TG
A Christmas TV cracker: Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley in Amandaland
NATALIE SEERY/MERMAN/BBC
Christmas DayCritics’ choiceAmandaland
BBC1, 9.15pm
It’s the first time Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders have appeared together since their Ab Fab days, but this festive reunion couldn’t cast them in characters further from the Bolly-swilling besties of Edina and Patsy. Here they play polar-opposite sisters, a messy, jolly countrywoman and an elegant urban sourpuss. Excited by the prospect of “a traditional Christmas”, Amanda (Lucy Punch) accepts her aunt’s invitation to spend it in the Cotswolds, and Mal (Samuel Anderson), Anne (Philippa Dunne) and a Scrooge-like Felicity (Joanna Lumley) all end up enjoying or enduring Joan’s (Jennifer Saunders) hospitality too. While the big-name reunion initially threatens to upstage the show’s titular lead, a family mystery involving Mick Jagger neatly restores her centrality, and an effervescent script gives everyone a moment to shine. JD
• Jennifer Saunders: ‘I don’t think people really know who I am’
Call the Midwife
BBC1, 8.15pm
When the midwives battled to save a South African clinic in the 2016 Christmas special, the drama was dominated by the challenges they faced there. Here, Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) leads a similar Nonnatus House mercy mission to Hong Kong, after a local disaster. But the approach is different, with the two-part special shuttling between Hong Kong and Poplar, where a younger team do their best to cope. The interweaving is deftly done, with parallels between two poor, crime-ridden communities, but cramming in two sets of storylines entails too many bitty scenes. Still, there’s no shortage of memorable ones, from a difficult birth in a caravan to Julienne confronting a Triad gangster, and from a Caribbean carnival in the East End (in December?) to a poignant search for May’s (April Rae Hong) birth mother. Part two is tomorrow. JD
The King
3pm, ITV1, BBC 1 & 2
There’s no shortage of topics to reflect on, being rather an annus horribilis for the Firm, forced to clean house (or palace) with the public defenestration of a certain Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. His Majesty may touch on the war in Ukraine, clashes in Gaza and the persecution of Christians in Africa. It is also likely the King will draw on the health battles of both himself and Princess Catherine across the last year as a source of inspiration and strength. HS
Strictly Come Dancing
BBC1, 5.30pm
The recent series has felt like a lot of little goodbyes, but it’s finally time to bid fond farewell to the hosting double act that has steered Strictly Come Dancing for the past 11 years. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, ever the professionals, will no doubt do their best to keep the attention on the competitors: Scarlett Moffatt, Melanie Blatt, Brian McFadden, Babatunde Aleshe, Nicholas Bailey and Jodie Ounsley (aka the Gladiator Fury). HS
• The new Strictly Come Dancing curse: why celebrities are staying away
The Great Christmas Bake Off
C4, 8pm
A round of applause, please, for the Bake Off bookers, who have managed to tempt the Oscar-winning Olivia Colman into the tent on the pretext of reuniting her with her Peep Show colleagues David Mitchell, Isy Suttie, Matt King and Sophie Winkleman. HS
An enchanting tale for all the family
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Scarecrows’ Wedding comes to life
PA
The Scarecrows’ Wedding
BBC1, 3.10pm
Rob Brydon, Jessie Buckley, Domhnall Gleeson and Sophie Okonedo lead the voice cast of this beloved Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler children’s story. Just like The Gruffalo, Stick Man and Room on the Broom before it, this truly enchanting tale of Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay’s wedding is another hit. Followed by more fun with Shaun the Sheep — Fleece Navidad (BBC1, 4.35pm). TG
• Julia Donaldson: JK Rowling? I am the bestselling author in the UK
The Repair Shop experts Becky, Dom and Lucia with Helen Mirren
NICKY JOHNSTON/RICOCHET/BBC
Boxing DayCritics’ choiceThe Repair Shop
BBC1, 7.30pm
If the craftsmen and women are wearing cosy jumpers and the production company has bought in a job lot of fake snow, it must be the Christmas edition of BBC1’s ever popular restoration programme. Emotions are close to the surface as Helen Mirren (who gives us her Bafta-ready “bbbrrrrrr” to demonstrate just how cold and wintry it is) brings a cello that was smashed to pieces by Nazi soldiers bullying a 14-year-old boy escaping on the Kindertransport. He protected it all the way to the UK and grew up to be a beloved London theatre impresario, but can Becky the instrument specialist bring it back to life? Rob Brydon and the author Julia Donaldson indulge in a bit of cross promotion of their annual animated projects as her childhood play farmhouse is cleaned up for donation to a children’s hospice. HS
Big Fat Quiz of the Year
C4, 9pm
The quiz was filmed on December 9, so Jimmy Carr will be fervently hoping that global politics hasn’t taken any peculiar turns since then. Jonathan Ross, his profile given a boost by Celebrity Traitors, makes a triumphant return accompanied by the ever-Faithful Nick Mohammed (an overnight sensation as himself, despite a CV boasting Ted Lasso and his own Mr Swallow character). Stalwart Channel 4 makers of mischief Richard Ayoade, Roisin Conaty, Katherine Ryan and Lou Sanders complete the talent roster. Now a traditional festive season format, it’s less a legitimate news quiz than an hour-long childish squabble, but rarely fails to deliver on its promise of decent laughs. If all else fails, one can rely on the children of Mitchell Brook Primary School to add some relish to our Boxing Day turkey sandwiches. HS
Would I Lie to You?
BBC1, 7pm
Thanks to the laser-like core trio of David Mitchell, Lee Mack and Rob Brydon, this quiz remains a jewel among panel shows. Joining the team captains for this Christmas-based edition are the Hootenanny maestro Jools Holland, the radio presenter Swarzy Shire, the Call the Midwife star Helen George and the comedian and children’s author David Walliams. The only sadness is that there’s no appearance from Bob Mortimer to amplify the goodwill. VS
The Festive Pottery Throw Down
C4, 7.45pm
“Right, here we go! Origami!” the comedian Tim Vine declares as he enters the workshop alongside his fellow celebrity potters Sarah Hadland, Colin Murray and Amber Gill. “I haven’t got it wrong again, have I?” No worries — this Siobhán McSweeney-hosted show runs perfectly to (slightly wobbly) form, from the reindeer drinking bowls challenge to Keith Brymer Jones becoming weepy over the North Pole scene “main makes”. VS
Fawlty Towers — The Play
U&Gold, 6pm
Filmed during the show’s sell-out West End run, this fantastic stage adaptation of the classic sitcom from the orginal star John Cleese brings together three of the best episodes; The Germans, Communication Problems and The Hotel Inspector into one new story. VS
• How I made Fawlty Towers — the amazing inside story by John Cleese
Unwrapping a treat for celebrity spotters
Maya Jama is a panellist on The Masked Singer
KIERON MCCARRON/BANDICOOT TV
The Masked Singer
ITV1, 7.30pm
Now that celebratory chocolates have left their shiny wrappers, it falls to television to provide something sweet and ridiculously enrobed in the form of randomly costumed celebrities of varying vocal talent in this Christmas special. Joel Dommett is once again at the helm, with familiar panellists Jonathan Ross, Maya Jama, Davina McCall and Mo Gilligan, ably assisted by the British pantomime stalwarts Su Pollard, Christopher Biggins and Lesley Joseph, who might, if asked nicely, offer the audience some clues. Oh yes they will. HS
Judi Dench turns detective to solve a mystery in her family’s past in Shakespeare, My Family and Me
ORANGE TREE/PA
Saturday 27 DecemberCritics’ choiceShakespeare, My Family and Me
C4, 9pm
Judi Dench is perhaps Britain’s greatest Shakespearean actress. Could it be that one of her ancestors met her hero, William Shakespeare, in the 17th century? In this one-off, hour-long programme she turns history detective as she uncovers clues buried deep in the Danish public archives. Her theory is that her eight-times-great-grandfather, Anders Bille, may have met the Bard in 1606, a year of plague and the Gunpowder Plot trial when he wrote three of his most famous plays — Macbeth, King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra. Dench, who has played almost every key female part in the Bard’s canon, said: “All the years I’ve spent playing Shakespeare and feeling a genuine, genuine passion for him and his work, to be on a journey where you might be stepping closer to him, it’s beyond my wildest dreams.” TG
• Dame Judi Dench: ‘I remember reams of Shakespeare, but am losing the plot’
Nordic Train at Christmas
C4, 8pm
Christmas is a time to rest, relax and reflect on a year past and look forward to the next 12 months. What better way to do that than with some slow TV of the highest order? After 2024’s Alpine Train on the Bernina Express, which reached an aggregated audience of more than three million, Channel 4 takes another scenic wintry trip. Viewers follow the Bergen-Oslo railway, which includes the Bergen Line. Hugh Bonneville narrates a gentle journey past fjords, snow-capped mountains and spectacular vistas as the train travels to its final destination (on a route that takes seven hours) in the vibrant Norwegian capital, Oslo. Along the way we meet railway staff, train passengers and residents who live along the mountain plateau route that Norwegian State Railways calls “the roof of the world”. TG
Prunella Scales night
BBC4, from 9pm
The actor Sam West introduces a night of TV celebrating the life, talents and works of his mother, who died in October at the age of 93. He shares his thoughts on her greatest roles, including her unforgettable portrayal of Sybil in Fawlty Towers. At 9.15pm Prunella Scales — Funny Women further explores a fascinating career, followed by A Question of Attribution (9.45pm) and Looking for Victoria (10.55pm). TG
• My mother, Prunella Scales, by Samuel West: I don’t know who I am without her
Biggest Night of Musicals
BBC1, 6.45pm
Jason Manford hosts a glittering event at the AO Arena, Manchester, celebrating 30 years of national lottery arts support. Among the guests are Daniel Mays, who joins Manford for a special number, Layton Williams with a turn from the West End show Titanique, and Marisha Wallace performing Maybe This Time from Cabaret. Other highlights include Vicky McClure’s Our Dementia Choir and songs from Mary Poppins and Mean Girls. TG
Limitless Win
ITV1, 8.30pm
Ant and Dec may have hung up their Saturday Night Takeaway hats, but ITV’s golden duo are keeping busy. There’s a new series of this game show coming in 2026. Until then, here they surprise two deserving audience members — famous faces help them to take on the money-making ladder to bank money in this festive special. TG
Eight-episode series that has been a US hit
The Hunting Wives: Malin Akerman, Brittany Snow and Katie Lowes
LIONSGATE/ITV
The Hunting Wives
ITV1, 9.30pm/10.35pm
Based on May Cobb’s 2021 novel of the same name, this glossy drama follows the story of Sophie O’Neil (Brittany Snow), who moves with her husband, Graham (Evan Jonigkeit), from Massachusetts to the (fictional) town of Maple Brook in East Texas. When she’s drawn into the dangerous world of a wealthy socialite, Margo Banks (Malin Akerman), and her elite “Hunting Wives” clique she becomes entangled in a deadly web of lies. TG
James Baxter and Pearl Mackie as Gavin and Karen in Death in Paradise
PHILIPPE VIRAPIN/RED PLANET PICTURES/BBC
Sunday 28 DecemberCritics’ choiceDeath in Paradise
BBC1, 8.30pm
Viewers who love this murder mystery for its Caribbean landscapes might be slightly disconcerted to find this 90-minute special begins on an industrial estate in Swindon. It’s worth it for the complicated two-centre plot, though, as four colleagues on a work trip to Saint Marie discover a dead stranger in their pool. Josie Lawrence, Pearl Mackie and Kate Ashfield provide the guest star power, while Don Gilet celebrates his first full year as Saint Marie’s Detective Inspector Mervin Wilson. He seems to have settled into his island home well, here sharing an emotional backstory that explains his fondness for The Great Escape and forging his own relationship with the resident lizard Harry. No spoilers, but for the full crossover experience, try to watch the Christmas Beyond Paradise episode in advance. VS
Torvill & Dean — The Last Dance
ITV1, 8.30pm
“We never set out to be famous,” says Christopher Dean at the start of this programme, “we just set out to be the best in the world.” It’s been more than 41 years since Dean and his ice-dancing partner Jayne Torvill won the gold medal for their routine to Ravel’s Boléro at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics. In 2025 they embarked on a career-spanning farewell tour. Filmed over six months, this documentary vividly reveals how hard the couple have worked to keep themselves on the ice, overcoming the physical strain, the aftermath of falls and — on one harrowing occasion — the effects of food poisoning. The film also catches something of their stoic, unflashy partnership over the decades, and the inescapable emotional impact of calling time on a life’s work. “We’ll miss it,” Dean says, “but we’ll always be besties.” VS
Titanic Sinks Tonight
BBC2, 9pm
After the 1997 James Cameron film and Julian Fellowes’s 2012 ITV series, is there scope for yet another drama about the Titanic disaster? This four-parter (to Wednesday) at least has the fresh approach of focusing on the night when the liner sank in April 1912. In this first part, some of the passengers talk excitedly about the voyage and their plans, but then a lookout spots a “black mass” that could be an iceberg… JD
• Could Titanic have survived? Digital scans show how close it came
Antiques Roadshow
BBC1, 7.30pm
These days Antiques Roadshow venues don’t just have to generate enough material for two shows apiece, they’re required to provide extra stuff for Unseen Treasures episodes such as this too. Fiona Bruce is based at Trentham Gardens in Staffordshire, but another four places from series 48 also come up with back-up items ranging from an Indian sword to pottery, a bill signed by Beatles to a silver trolley. JD
Dexter Procter — the 10-Year-Old Doctor
BBC1, 11.35am
Written and created by Adam Kay, the This Is Going to Hurt Bafta winner, this children’s medical two-parter follows a ten-year-old paediatrician trying to solve medical mysteries, while keeping his job and attempting to find his place in the world. JD
Epic voyage through time and lots of space
Maggie Aderin-Pocock delivers three lectures on the theme Is There Life Beyond Earth?
ABINAYA RAJENDRAN/BBC
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
BBC4, 7pm
Conceived by the chemist and physicist Michael Faraday in 1825 as an entertaining and informative way of talking about science, in this anniversary year the leading space scientist and BBC Sky at Night presenter Maggie Aderin-Pocock delivers three Royal Institution lectures on the theme Is There Life Beyond Earth? Joined by guests including astronauts and astronomers, she will help to explain the science and the breakthroughs that have revolutionised our understanding of the universe. TG
Mike Soutar, Alan Sugar and Karren Brady sift jingles from jangles in The Celebrity Apprentice
RAY BURMISTON/BBC
Monday 29 DecemberCritics’ choiceThe Celebrity Apprentice
BBC1, 9pm
Tasked by Alan Sugar with creating gingerbread biscuits, 12 celebrities — or rather 11 well-known entertainers and presenters, plus Sugar’s pet geezer Thomas Skinner — are sent abroad to produce them in the first of two specials that are also belated Children in Need shows. In a realm that we’re told is Lapland they do all the usual Apprentice things. Rob Rinder and JB Gill from JLS are chosen as project managers, and the squabbling begins as soon as the baking and branding get under way, with AJ Odudu and Legend from Gladiators the stroppiest rebels. Making jingles is the task handled competently; and, similarly, pitching their cookies to retailers could well prove to be the only challenge that’s not a disaster (drawing on their performance skills) when they’re back in the UK in tomorrow’s part two. JD
• Lord Sugar: I told my staff, ‘Get back to work. If you don’t like it, sod off!’
Midsomer Murders
ITV1, 8.30pm
One reason for this show’s enduring appeal is its hilariously inventive deaths — whether it’s a cheese wheel or an exploding gazebo. So you know you’re in for something special when an episode is called The Devil’s Work and one of your key characters is an avant-garde ceramicist called Lucian (Peter Serafinowicz) and the setting is a stately home. When tensions surrounding Lucian’s plans for the pile emerge and family hatreds involving Lucian’s brother, Francis (Alex Macqueen), and his wife, Davina (Agni Scott), bubble over, death is not far away. The scriptwriters have pottery tools at their disposal to fashion something grisly. Still, no plot is too fiendish or dastardly to escape a solution from Neil Dudgeon’s Inspector Barnaby and his sidekick DS Jamie Winter (Nick Hendrix). Ben Dowell
MasterChef Festive Extravaganza
BBC1, 8pm
There’s much to enjoy in this face-off between previous winners of the hotly contested cookery competition, as Natalie Coleman (2013), Thomas Frake (2020), Chariya Khattiyot (2023) and Brin Pirathapan (2024) re-enter the kitchen to compete in a festive culinary showdown. To help them decide the winner, the judges Grace Dent and John Torode will be joined by the restaurant critic Tom Parker Bowles.
Murder at the Post Office
Sky Documentaries, 9pm
In 2010 Diana Garbutt was found dead at her flat above the post office she ran with her husband, Robin. While he claimed her death had been caused by an intruder who had attacked her, he was later sentenced to life imprisonment. He maintains his innocence. This true crime documentary shines a light on a case that included key evidence around the Horizon IT system and asks whether it could have led to a wrongful conviction.
Only Connect
BBC2, 8pm
The Doctors Matthews go head to brainy head with the Worker Bees tonight. It is a tense affair as we are in the knockout stage of the competition. The ever-capable Victoria Coren Mitchell leads from the front, a witty and warm presenter with the skills to calm her contestants. HS
Classical extravaganza celebrates special year
Bryn Terfel is a guest performer for the Classic FM 25th Anniversary Concert
Classic FM 25th Anniversary Concert
Sky Arts/Now, 9pm
The Bournemouth Symphony orchestra and chorus, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, take to the stage at the Royal Albert Hall for a special concert. Handel’s Zadok the Priest, Parry’s Jerusalem and Puccini’s aria Nessun dorma are among the highlights. There are guest performances from the bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and the composer John Rutter. Others in the line-up include the violinist Esther Abrami, the tenor Pene Pati, Classic FM’s composer in residence Debbie Wiseman, and Diana Newell, winner of Channel 4’s The Piano. TG
• The 7 best classical albums of 2025 — ranked by our critic
Ricky Gervais tackles life, death and the state of the world in Mortality
MATT CROSSICK/PA
Tuesday 30 DecemberCritics’ choiceRicky Gervais — Mortality
Netflix
“If you liked my other stand-up specials, you will love Mortality,” Ricky Gervais announced last month. “If you didn’t like my other stuff, you will f***ing hate it. Seriously. Don’t watch it. It will make you sad and angry. You have been warned.” His advice to detractors? Watch Doctor Who instead. Yet his fans will be delighted in this fourth Netflix special, which follows the popular Humanity, Supernature and the phenomenally successful 2023 recording of Armageddon. As for the jokes? Well, he’s right. Those who were able to get a ticket to the tour cackle heartily at his cleverly constructed savagings of some of the lowest-hanging fruit in popular culture. This will be another huge hit for the 64-year-old overgrown lad from Reading, and those who don’t fancy it can take shelter in the nearest Tardis. HS
• Why is Ricky Gervais’s 20-year-old podcast top of the charts again?
DIY SOS
BBC1, 8pm
“I got emotionally involved, to be perfectly honest,” the presenter and former housing estate kid Nick Knowles confesses to a colleague, explaining his promise to build Cherry Tree Community Centre some premises on the edge of a park in Beverley, East Yorkshire. The council has granted planning permission, but it’s a full-on challenge — no sewerage, no electricity, not a great deal of money. However, with hungry children showing up each week to congregate around a fragile gazebo, there’s clearly a need. What follows is classic DIY SOS, a tried-and- tested TV formula of manufactured jeopardy and emotional manipulation, of swelling chords and barely held-back tears. It’s a hopeful, useful, ambitious project, demonstrative of the skills of the trades and generosity of good neighbours, and some Gladiators show up to add muscle. HS
John le Carré night
BBC4, from 9pm
The second series of The Night Manager begins on New Year’s Day, but fans of international espionage wanting to build anticipation before then can immerse themselves in this evening of John le Carré-related programmes. There are interviews with the author at 9pm and 11.50pm, while at 10pm the first two episodes of the BBC’s 1979 adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy are introduced by the actor Michael Jayston. VS
Live at the Apollo
BBC2, 10pm
Mo Gilligan — the comedian, podcaster and judge on The Masked Singer UK — comperes tonight’s edition of the BBC’s enduring comedy showcase from Hammersmith, London, bringing a little shot of live energy into sleepy holiday households. He will be introducing the stand-up comedian Laura Smyth, who won the 2019 Funny Women award, and the panel show stalwart, writer and Paralympic Games presenter Josh Pugh. VS
The Vietnam War
PBS America, from 1.40pm
Here’s a chance to see all ten episodes of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s eyewitness-rich 2017 documentary series about the war in Vietnam. Burns’s favourite actor Peter Coyote again narrates. An indication of its meticulousness: the first episode is titled 1858-1961. VS
Grizzly tale that is filled with affection
Hercules the Bear is the focus of a new documentary
ALAMY
Hercules the Bear — A Love Story
BBC2, 6pm
“He looked like a wee pyjama case,” says Maggie Robin, who became “mum” to a cute bear cub purchased from a wildlife park in the Highlands of Scotland. She and Andy, her former wrestling champion husband, turned him into a 9ft tall, 70st grizzly international superstar. No marmalade sandwiches for him, Herc preferred cooked sausages and beer, a characteristic that did him much credit when he escaped to roam the Western Isles and ate not a single creature. HS
You can stay in and still see in the new year with a bang
GETTY IMAGES
New Year’s EveCritics’ choiceNew Year’s Eve viewing
Whether it’s a horror of being trapped on public transport on the drunkest night of the year or a deep-rooted fear of being roped into an enforced bout of close-contact Auld Lang Syne, there are always reasons to stay close to your sofa and outsource your new year’s festivities to television. Sensible home-based revellers can open their crisps and prosecco knowing they can tonight rely on The Graham Norton New Year’s Eve Show (BBC1, 10.30pm) for entertainment. Tom Hiddleston will discuss the second series of The Night Manager, Will Arnett and Laura Dern explain their roles in the comedy drama Is This Thing On? and Carey Mulligan and Tim Key talk about their hit film The Ballad of Wallis Island. That’s followed by Ronan Keating and Friends — New Year’s Eve Party (BBC1, 11.30pm/12.15am), before the annual New Year’s Eve Fireworks (BBC1, midnight). VS
Here We Go
BBC1, 8pm; not showing in Scotland
A fractious car journey, an unexplained facial injury, a misplaced item — if you are a fan of Tom Basden’s endearing family sitcom, the portents of escalating chaos will be clear from the first scenes of Our New Year’s Fireworks Fantasaganza. Led by the chaotic energies of Paul (Jim Howick) and Rachel (Katherine Parkinson), the Jessops are heading to Devon for New Year’s Eve with baby Atlas — offspring of Basden’s Robin and Tori Allen-Martin’s Cherry — in noisy tow. The story’s fuse is lit on Guy Fawkes Night, though, igniting a set-up that includes unlicensed explosives, a sauna and Sue (Alison Steadman) and her Slimming Club. There’s bickering, there’s exasperation, there’s another one of Paul’s health issues — but there’s also enough love and warmth to see you through this most sentimental night of the year. VS
First Born Daughter
Sky Comedy/Now, 9pm
This is not, as the title might suggest, a reworking or continuation of Katherine Ryan’s 2020 sitcom The Duchess, which (loosely based on her own situation then) was about an artist with a young daughter. Instead it’s a stand-up comedy special — the successor to Missus — from her 2024-25 Battleaxe tour in which the first-born daughter is Ryan herself. Topics include marriage, motherhood and media scandals. JD
Talking Pictures: Jaws
BBC4, from 8.15pm
The archive show belatedly marks the 50th anniversary of the horror blockbuster (released in June 1975) with a clip compilation. The prize exhibit is a Film 74 report from the shoot, including interviews with its young director, Steven Spielberg — this was his break-out hit — and cast members such as Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider. Followed by a sharkathon of Jaws (9pm), Jaws 2 (11pm) and the documentary Jaws @ 50 (12.50am). JD
• How we made Jaws, the ‘dumb shark movie’ that changed Hollywood
The Last Leg of the Year
C4, 9pm
The hosts are joined by a terrific line-up: comedy is represented by Maisie Adam, Lenny Henry and Phil Wang, sport by Lucy Bronze and Hannah Botterman, and music by Pete Doherty and Alex James, with an unnamed star from The Celebrity Traitors also promised. JD
Ring in the new year with a musical medley
Jools Holland returns for his annual New Year’s Eve Hootenanny
MICHAEL LECKIE/BBC
Hootenanny
BBC2, 11.30pm
Part of the reason that this show has become a New Year’s Eve institution is the joy people take in complaining about it, even as they race to switch it on. Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra welcome guests Olivia Dean, Imelda May, the Kooks, Ronnie Wood and Craig David alongside Lulu, Heather Small, Joe Webb and Jessie J. It can be a confusing and turbulent night. In the warm arms of the Hootenanny, though, you know exactly where you are and what to expect — awkward conversation, Ruby Turner and a lot of boogie-woogie. VS
Diego Calva, Camila Morrone and Tom Hiddleston in The Night Manager
DES WILLIE/INK FACTORY/BBC
New Year’s DayCritics’ choiceThe Night Manager
BBC1, 9.05pm
Now going by the name Alex Goodwin, not Jonathan Pine, Tom Hiddleston’s spy is still a night manager in the sequel to the hit 2016 adaptation of John le Carré’s novel. But only in the sense that he runs a nocturnal surveillance team at MI6, where Rex (Douglas Hodge) alone knows about his undercover operation against Hugh Laurie’s arms dealer Richard Roper, who (ostensibly) died five years ago. What compels Pine to go back into the field — in Latin America eventually this time — is spotting a Roper fixer in CCTV footage; that leads him in the opener to Barcelona and a first confrontation with Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), the new arch-villain from Colombia. Olivia Colman’s Angela is officially due to return, but will Roper rise Lazarus-like from the grave? Laurie is credited as executive producer, which is unlikely to be just for flashbacks filmed long ago. JD
• Hayley Squires: ‘The Night Manager exposes the nastiness in the upper echelons’
The Traitors
BBC1, 8pm
Exactly a year on from the start of series three — and just two months after Alan Carr’s crowning as the first winner of The Celebrity Traitors — another 22 contestants are inducted at Ardross Castle, with a potential pot of £120,000 up for grabs. Claudia Winkleman, who will again combine her contrasting roles as ice queen indoors and cheerleader in the challenges, must be hoping that there’ll be no dropping off in ratings for the star-free “civilian” series now that the celebrity version is up and running. Despite Carr’s victory as a Traitor in November, the omens in the main show still favour the goodies over the baddies — a Traitor (Harry Clark) won series two, but Faithfuls shared the pot in series one and three. Ed Gamble’s The Traitors — Uncloaked follows on BBC2 at 9.05pm, with former contestants and “any murdered or banished players” on his sofa. JD
Red Eye
ITV1, 9pm
The scriptwriter Peter A Dowling’s thriller was a hit last year and ITV recommissioned it swiftly. Jing Lusi returns as DS Hana Li, up against Martin Compston as Clay Brody, the new head of security at the US embassy in London, a casting decision that Dowling backs up with a pithy “to answer your question, I have dual citizenship”. The pair have history, but right now their priority is the murder of an American courier who has lost his diplomatic bag. HS
Wild London
BBC1, 6.30pm
David Attenborough has spent a lifetime travelling the world in search of exotic animals, but at 99 he’s content to demonstrate the wealth of nature that exists at home. He is in good form, whether sitting on a camp chair waiting for urban foxes to come out to play or lying on the ground watching a hedgehog. The camerawork dazzles, capturing Tube-travelling pigeons, fighting foxes and swooping peregrine falcons using skyscrapers as cliff faces. HS
New Year’s Day Concert
BBC2, 10.15am
The Canadian conductor and pianist Yannick Nézet-Séguin makes his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic in a live broadcast from the orchestra’s home, the neoclassical Musikverein. The BBC Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny will be on hand as your guide. HS
Tension in Hawkins is turned up to Eleven
Joe Keery and Maya Hawke are back for the final series of Stranger Things
TINA ROWDEN/NETFLIX
Stranger Things
Netflix
The Duffer brothers’ 1980s sci-fi horror exploded on to our screens in 2016 to become one of the most-watched shows on Netflix and a poster child for the streaming revolution, and at 1am UK time on New Year’s Day we finally get to see how it all ends — in series five, volume three. Will good triumph over evil or will our young heroes fall as the dastardly Vecna takes over the world? It’s going to be emotional. TG
• The 10 best Stranger Things episodes — by the Duffer brothers and our critic
Plumes of smoke from wildfires across Altadena in California
CHANNEL 4
Friday 2 JanuaryCritics’ choiceThe Year from Space
C4, 7.30pm
While we are busy getting on with our lives down on Earth, up in space satellites are capturing images of what we do. In what is becoming a tradition on Channel 4 each new year, this programme brings a whole new perspective on the events of the past 12 months. Using images from space combined with archive footage, witness testimonies and news reports, the show captures the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, the battlefronts of eastern Europe being redrawn in Ukraine, hundreds of millions of people gathering for a festival by the confluence of three sacred rivers in north India and the vast scale of the human displacement in Gaza. Spy satellite’s capture weapons crossing borders and in the natural world the health of the wildebeest and walrus populations are monitored from high, high above. TG
Pole to Pole
5, 9pm
“I’ve never seen as many shades of white, or grey,” says the much travelled singer Jane McDonald of the magnificent Antarctic landscape that emerges to meet her after more than four days of travel from her Yorkshire home. “There is nothing like a shop, a bar, a building. There is nothing.” She’s accustomed to jazzier views, certainly, but the Wakefield Nightingale is determined to expand her horizons as she journeys (in the relative luxury of a moderately sized cruise ship) ever upwards to the North Pole in this six-part series, with any existential dread offset by her natural inclination to entertain. The mix of practical and wonderful are as ever utterly beguiling — tips on packing a ski suit and a taste test of a new teabag sit side by side with an encounter with a minke whale and catching sight of a calving iceberg. HS
Taskmaster
C4, 9pm
“Who doesn’t like to see people doing things they shouldn’t be doing?” Greg Davies asks as this New Year’s Treat featuring non-comedians begins. Rose Ayling-Ellis, Jill Scott, Sam Ryder, Susie Dent and Big Zuu are therefore forced to caper through ridiculous challenges for the Taskmaster’s pleasure, including devising an inspirational “something-a-thon”, something confusing with dice and finding “the most wonderful thing to whack”. TG
Would I Lie to You?
BBC1, 7.30pm
Rob Brydon once again welcomes back the team captains David Mitchell and Lee Mack as the fun kicks off and the assembled players attempt to convince one another that they are telling the truth and it’s not just another tall story. For this new run, the actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, the comedians Chris McCausland and Harriet Kemsley and the presenter Yinka Bokinni will see if they can sort the fibs from the facts. TG
Greek Job
BBC1, 9.35pm
“Another dump, another poo on the floor, another sense of doom,” says Alan Carr, forlornly surveying the raw materials of his fourth renovation project with Amanda Holden. This time the cackling Abigail’s Party version of Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp are in Corfu. VS
Comedy star’s life put under the microscope
Sky Documentaries looks back at the life and career of the actor and comedian Chevy Chase
PROPOGATE DISTRIBUTION/BUTTERMILK WEST
I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not
Sky Documentaries/Now, 9pm
Like Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, Chevy Chase made being part of the original 1970s Saturday Night Live line-up his springboard for movie stardom. He made a string of 1980s comedies such as Caddyshack and the National Lampoon’s Vacation series, but (unlike the younger Robin Williams) never graduated to less larky roles. With interviews with family, friends and co-stars, this documentary — which takes its title from an SNL catchphrase — tries to do justice to his combination of “outsized gifts and striking flaws”. JD
• Read more TV reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews
Readers’ views on recent TV
Strictly Come Dancing should be binned among the worst TV of 2025, according to one reader
GUY LEVY/BBC
Best TV of 2025
Blue Lights (iPlayer) was excellent.
Polly Andrews
Gone Fishing, The City Is Ours (both iPlayer) and Match of the Day. C4 has the occasional outstanding programme — Grand Designs for one.
Brian A Darvell
Celebrity Traitors (iPlayer) was absolutely riveting. Brilliant editing ensured an exciting ride. The Gilded Age (Sky/Now) plunged me into a life of glamour and I enjoyed every minute. Great plots and costumes. Real escapism.
Stephanie Morris-Rowland
Out There (ITVX) starred Martin Clunes as the sturdy, traditional Welsh farmer trying to keep his head above water. His son, played by the superb Louis Ashbourne Serkis, gets involved, unwittingly, in organised crime and we then get dunked into a world of county lines, corporate greed, control and family dynamics wrapped in a father’s protective love for his teenage tearaway. I absolutely loved it, and hope there is another series.
Nancy Kirk
When This City Is Ours (iPlayer) came out my wife and I didn’t fancy more drug dramas. But then the reviews came in, so we tentatively watched the first episode. We were hooked! Fantastic, nail-biting plot, brilliant acting, particularly from James Nelson-Joyce.
Peter Bryant
Mortimer & Whitehouse — Gone Fishing (iPlayer), Pete Wicks — For Dogs’ Sake (U), The Dog House (4), Play for Today (5), most documentaries and travel progs, Countryfile (iPlayer) and The Repair Shop (iPlayer).
June Gowland
A hidden gem was The Newsreader (iPlayer). The final series of this Australian drama set in a 1980s newspaper office aired this year. Loved every minute of it, with a special mention for Lindsay, the newspaper boss. What a character.
Kenneth Taylor
Blue Lights (iPlayer). Utterly gripping, relentless pace and emotionally exhausting. Just brilliant.
Jeremy Edden
Prisoner 951 (iPlayer) — the beautifully directed and acted dramatic telling of the true events of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s unlawful arrest and imprisonment in Iran, and her husband Richard’s determined and unceasing fight until she was released. It is impossible to watch it without being in tears for much of each episode, but wiping them away in order not to miss a single word.
Rosemary Mathew
Surely I’m not the only person who thought that Riot Women (iPlayer) was utterly, mind- blowingly, off-the-wall fantastic?
Gill Ager
Trespasses (Channe 4) is by far the BEST.
Stewart MacPherson
I was glued to Ellis on 5. The best thing I saw this year. The partnership was realistic and the acting of the two leads was superb.
Elaine Robinson
Subtle, subversive, simply superb — but never, ever, slow. Slow Horses (Apple TV) with Jackson Lamb malodorously out-spooking Spooks at every turn is a television triumph of this or any other year.
Nigel Taylor
Well done to the BBC for the heartwarming, uplifting and joyful Sewing Bee and Glow Up. We see contestants supporting and consoling each other while demonstrating incredible creativity and imagination.
Ruth Hill
Frauds (ITV1) — showing how leading actresses can take over from the men and keep it action-packed and just fun.
Patti Page
Worst TV of 2025
Strictly Come Dancing and I’m a Celebrity should be permanently binned.
Vivian Steer
Anything with obtrusive music or filmed mainly in the dark.
Nicholas Russell
The BBC’s retelling of the Norman Conquest.
Simon Garrard
It’s the background “music” that is mentioned almost every week that ruins most programmes.
Yvonne Newman
Hated everything in the dark with crude and unnecessary bad language.
Francesca Ingamells
The preposterous adaptation of Murder Before Evensong (5). Story changed, characterisation changed, horribly (Amanda Redman? Oh, please!) miscast. I love Richard Coles’s books and this travesty made me want to cry.
Anne Dove
Naked Attraction (C4), any reality TV, Ant & Dec and Claudia Winkleman in anything, too many game shows and repeat, repeat, repeats.
Bernice Cook
The Forsytes (5), a mangling of The Forsyte Saga.
Annette Payne
Any show with “Celebrity” in the title.
Anhony Knifton
I’m a Celebrity has run it’s course and should be pensioned off.
James Nix
Trigger Point (ITV1) was scarcely believable. Shetland (BBC1), aptly, has a character called Tosh — and what a load of it is
John Lewis
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