Christmas Carole
Christmas Eve, Sky Max, 8pm
It’s a heartwarming Christmas advert full of kindness and joy, but business tycoon Carole is having none of it. “If I wanted sickly-sweet sentimental garbage I’d have got John Lewis to make it,” she barks at her terrified staff. Carole has made a fortune from selling cheap and cheerful Christmas stuff but she hates the season and pretty much everything else.
If anyone needs a visit from a certain three ghosts to show her the error of her ways it is Carole. I know, I know, if you never see another version of Dickens’s tale it will be too soon.
But this one has a sharp script by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto, a couple of big-name guest stars, and an appearance by Morecambe and Wise (or a version of them). But the so-naughty-she’s-delightful fairy on top of the tree is Suranne Jones as Carole.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
BBC1, Christmas Eve, 4.55pm
You’ve seen the trailers and the station idents, now watch in full this gorgeously realised animated film from the bestselling children’s book by Charlie Mackesy.
Jude Coward Nicoll plays the unnamed Boy who is lost and alone on a freezing winter’s night. He wants to go home, but where is home and what is home?
Accompanying him on his quest are the titular mole (voiced by Tom Hollander), a fox (Idris Elba) and a Horse (Gabriel Byrne).
Directed by Peter Baynton and Charlie Mackesy, there’s a touch of mystery about the tale that’s sure to make it stay in the mind long after the four amigos have reached their destination.
The King’s Christmas broadcast
Christmas Day,
BBC1/BBC2/ STV, 3pm
The title really should be The King’s Speech, but a certain four Oscars-winning film starring Colin Firth got there first. Watch history in the making as King Charles III takes over from his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, in delivering the annual address.
Ghosts
Christmas Day, BBC1, 7.25pm
The comedy about a couple’s efforts to turn a haunted country pile into a chi-chi hotel upped its game this year. A word-of-mouth hit initially, fans knew Alison, Mike, and their gang of ghosts (which only Alison can see) could do the knockabout, silly stuff. But who knew Ghosts could be deep and meaningful, and still funny, to boot? The Christmas special continues in the same fashion as Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) finds what seems like the perfect presents for the ghosts. Scout leader Pat (Jim Howick), the one with an arrow through his neck after a dreadful breach of health and safety regulations, takes a sneak peek at his gift, only to regret his decision.
Call the Midwife
Christmas Day, BBC1, 7.55pm
Heidi Thomas’s drama has become as much a part of Christmas Day tradition as boiling sprouts to death. All human life is to be found down Poplar way, most of it poor and female and pregnant. Never fear though; miracles happen when the nurses and nuns of Nonnatus House are around. This year’s cases include a young woman just out of prison who can find no room at any inn, and a mother whose last baby was affected by Thalidomide. Oh, and Fred has decided the place needs cheering up after the train crash, and sets up a talent contest with a title so punningly awful he should have been arrested for it. Ladies, gentlemen, and nuns, we give you Poplartunity Knocks.
Doc Martin Christmas Special
Christmas Day, STV, 9.05pm
The millions of viewers who waved cheerio to the world’s grumpiest GP in the autumn will be delighted to have him back for this one-off special. Portwenn has transformed itself into a winter wonderland, complete with Santa’s Grotto. But Santa has an itch the Doc (Martin Clunes) doesn’t like the look of, so the Grotto is shut down. Just when it looks as though the rest of Christmas is going the same way, Santa (Ron Cook) resolves to show Martin “the true magic of the season”. He has a job on his hands as flashbacks take us back to the Doc’s boyhood and much is explained about the man he became. But never fear, the good folk of Portwenn, and in particular the doc’s wife (Caroline Catz), are here to make things right. Brace yourselves for Mrs Tishell taking off her neckbrace. PS On December 29, STV is showing the documentary Farewell Doc Martin.
Detectorists
Boxing Day, BBC2, 9pm
A mark of a television classic is that it can go away for a while, come back, and not miss a beat, so strong are the characters and set-up. So it is with Mackenzie Crook’s Bafta-winning little treasure, which hit the pause button five long years ago. Crook and Toby Jones play detectorists (NOT metal detectors) Andy and Lance, two mates who share a love of spending sunny days searching for items long-buried. Life is busy and complicated and stressful, but out here it’s just them and the long gone past. The dream is to find the big one, the hoard that will make them rich, but while they are waiting for that to happen they, and the rest of the Danesbury Metal Detecting Club, are happy pottering along.
Mayflies
BBC Scotland, December 27-28, 10pm; BBC1, December 28-29, 9pm
Remember the first time you saw The Crow Road and thought, “Oh, now this is good”? I had the same feeling with Mayflies, an adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s novel starring Martin Compston and Tony Curran.
The pair play lifelong pals Jimmy and Tully, two Scottish lads born to run in the best Springsteen fashion. Jimmy is now a successful writer, married and living in London; Tully is a teacher married to Ashley Jensen’s Anna. The pair are heading happily enough towards 50, still determined never to be the men their reluctant fathers were.
Then a dirty great pothole appears in life’s road, and nothing will ever be the same again. Directed by Peter Mackie Burns, this is a Glasgow of tall ceilings and trendy interiors, where the streets are clean and the sun shines a fair bit. Superb performances from all in this beautifully written heartbreaker of a tale.
Hogmanay
BBC1, STV, BBC2, times vary
How to see the new year in this time? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to spend Hogmanay flipping through the channels in search of something that appeals.
STV has Bringing in the Bells from 11.30pm, where the guests of hosts Jean Johansson and Grado include Scottish sporting royalty Liz and Eilish McColgan, Judy Murray and “the other Murray brother”, Duncan Murray, aka the comedian Chris Forbes. On BBC Scotland it’s Edith Bowman doing the honours.
Dropping in are Emeli Sandé, Texas, plus Doon Mackichan, left, late of Two Doors Down, Emun Elliot from hit drama Guilt and Louise McCarthy from The Scotts and Scot Squad.
There will also be appearances from Scotland’s national football heroes John McGinn and Billy Gilmour. Or go old school with Jools Annual Hootenanny on BBC2 at 11.30pm.
Happy Valley
New Year’s Day, BBC1, 9pm
It has been six long years since this Bafta-winning, Yorkshire-set, all-round belter of a crime drama kept viewers gripped. When last we saw long-suffering sergeant Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) she was just about keeping life together for herself and her family, chief among them her grandson Ryan.
With the wicked Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) still banged up far away, Catherine is quietly looking forward to her retirement in seven months, one week and three days (not that she is counting). Will the fates allow her some happiness at last?
Under threat of a stint in TV critics’ jail (all porridge no Wagon Wheels), I can give away nothing of the plot.
But put it this way: for this Sunday and the next five, you will not be answering the phone between 9pm and 10pm.
Romantic Getaway
Sky Comedy, New Year’s Day, 9pm
It’s a brave time to be launching a new comedy series with so many of the classics being given another airing. So kudos to Katherine Ryan and Romesh Ranganathan who play Allison and Duncan, a couple desperate for one last try at a baby through IVF. With the biological clock ticking they come up with a plan involving their dodgy boss (Johnny Vegas) that has danger and disaster stamped all over it in big red letters.
There are more wry smiles than flat-out laughs to be had in the first episode, but the cast has some of the best comedy track records around.
Stonehouse
(STV, January 2-4, 9pm)
Most readers of a certain age will remember the cautionary tale of John Stonehouse, a working-class lad who rose through the ranks of Harold Wilson’s government to become a minister.
He had flair, and flares, a way with the ladeez, and a taste for the expensive life. How did it all end in a pile of carefully folded clothes on a Miami beach?
Now there’s a true tale that Scots director Jon S Baird (Stan and Ollie, Filth) and writer John Preston have a fun time telling in this new three-part drama. Matthew Macfadyen plays Stonehouse with real-life spouse Keeley Hawes as his wife.
Everything is perfectly rendered, from the naffness of the 1970s to the central character’s many flaws.
A very British tragedy done with wit and no little compassion. The Real Stonehouse, a documentary, airs on STV, January 5, 9pm
Dogs in the Wild: Meet the Family
BBC1, January 4, 8pm
Chris Packham makes the introductions to the canids, “one family, 37 different faces” whose members include wolves, foxes, jackals and, of course, dogs.
The first ones we meet are the Tibetan foxes on their home turf in the Himalayas, followed by the dholes of southern India, famous for the way they “chatter” to each other. Magnificent photography and some seriously cute youngsters, with the usual warning that there are scenes of hunting.
Another word to the wise: think twice before you let your own hound watch. Someone might start getting (even more) ideas above their station.
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