Tea With Judi Dench<\/p>\n
9pm, Sky Arts
A wickedly funny and hugely moving hour spent with Judi Dench and her longtime friend Kenneth Branagh. They share a pot of tea in Dench\u2019s country home (complete with an \u201cI\u2019ve been expecting you Mr Bond\u201d doormat), where one minute she\u2019s introducing her potty-mouthed parrot and the next she\u2019s reminiscing over her career, beloved husband and starry friends who have gone. It\u2019s made even more poignant as the actor recently announced she cannot work any more due to worsening health problems. Hollie Richardson<\/p>\n
Celebrity MasterChef: Christmas Cook Off<\/p>\n
8pm, BBC One
A show that was cancelled last year amid the Gregg Wallace furore is back in a subtly new guise: rather than previous contestants returning, this is more like a Strictly special where rookies have a one-off tilt at winning a Golden Whisk. Reality TV star GK Barry, actor Kola Bokinni, presenter Nikki Fox and standup comedian Iain Stirling compete. Jack Seale<\/p>\n
Amanda and Alan\u2019s Spanish Christmas<\/p>\n
9pm, BBC One
Keep feeding us Alan Carr on a drip! The Traitors hero reunites with his best mate, Amanda Holden, in their Spanish renovation to throw a party for the locals. How badly will they clash over tinsel? Will Amanda\u2019s nan\u2019s boozy trifle go down well? Will they brave a pre-feast skinny dip? Before all that, they start with a public rendition of Feliz Navidad. HR<\/p>\n
Secrets of the Conclave<\/p>\n
9pm, BBC Two<\/p>\n
Secrets of the Conclave. Photograph: Vatican Pool\/\/BBC\/Wag Entertainment Limited\/Getty<\/p>\n
\u201cSpondeo, voveo ac iuro \u2026\u201d That\u2019s a promise to be entirely confidential made by the 133 papal conclave members this year, which led to white smoke signalling Pope Leo XIV\u2019s election (incidentally, months after the film Conclave cleaned up at the Baftas). There\u2019s exclusive footage from inside the Vatican, as some of those involved speak about the process. HR<\/p>\n
Taskmaster: Champion of Champions 2025<\/p>\n
9pm, Channel 4
There are now 20 comics with a shonky gold representation of Greg Davies\u2019s noggin in their toilets. In this special, five recent winners get to go one better and prove themselves worthy of being called Champion of Champions. Andy Zaltzman, John Robins, Maisie Adam, Mathew Baynton and Sam Campbell are the contenders. Phil Harrison<\/p>\n
Mammoth Christmas Special<\/p>\n
10pm, BBC Two
Deer, oh deer: this special episode of the nostalgia-fuelled comedy sees back-from-the-dead PE teacher Tony Mammoth (Mike Bubbins) lambasted for a racy rendition of Deck the Halls. Suspended from his job and on the brink of wrecking his first Christmas en famille since his homecoming, can he turn things around? Hannah J Davies<\/p>\n
Film choice<\/p>\n
Challengers (Luca Guadagnino, 2024), 10.40pm, BBC One<\/p>\n
Zendaya in Challengers. Photograph: Collection Christophel\/Alamy<\/p>\n
Luca Guadagnino\u2019s love-triangle drama set on and around the tennis court teases and thrills, with the game itself never filmed so creatively before. Zendaya stars as the woman in the middle, Tashi, a former player who coaches her husband, Art (Mike Faist), to grand slam success. Josh O\u2019Connor is a smash as Art\u2019s estranged best mate Patrick, who is more talented but less focused than his old partner. A challenger tournament match-up provides them with the chance to replay old entanglements and resolve long-held animosities as the temperature rises. Simon Wardell<\/p>\n
The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018), 11.05pm, Film4
With Kinds of Kindness and now Bugonia, Yorgos Lanthimos seems intent on retreating to the more cerebral end of his film-making spectrum. However, The Favourite shows how much fun he is when he simply tries to be human. A glorious pile-up of wigs, jealousy and rabbits, The Favourite is a fevered retelling of the 18th-century court of Queen Anne. Olivia Colman teeters on the verge of a breakdown throughout, while Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz vie for her attention. Historical dramas don\u2019t get any more sumptuous, vicious or absurd than this. Stuart Heritage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tea With Judi Dench 9pm, Sky Arts A wickedly funny and hugely moving hour spent with Judi Dench…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-329523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}