The festive period is the most wonderful time of the year for several reasons — the fizz on tap, lazy days spent cosying up by the fire with your favourite people among them — but the best thing about Christmas has to be the TV. You can spend the entire year avoiding watching the small screen but as soon as the official countdown to Christmas Day begins, all bets are off — we’re snuggled up, remote control in-hand and ready to watch.
And this year there’s no shortage of stellar shows and festive flicks to feast your eyes upon during the holiday period. From Richard Curtis’ (yes, the Richard Curtis) newest Christmas film with Melissa McCarthy to the final four episodes of The Crown, this is ELLE’s guide to the must-watch TV you simply can’t miss this Christmas. Happy watching!
The Crown
The second and final instalment of Peter Morgan’s award-winning The Crown will grace Netflix just in time for the festive period. While ‘Part 1’ focussed on the final days of Princess Diana’s life in the 1990s, 'Part 2' takes the form of a quartet of episodes, which will take viewers into the new millennium. It will cover the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles and the genesis of Prince William and Kate Middleton's love story, which took place while they were both students at University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
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The Crown Season 6 Part 2 will premiere on Netflix on December 14.
Genie
From the king of Christmas himself, Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director Richard Curtis, comes a laugh-out-loud comedy film starring Melissa McCarthy as Flora, a genie trapped for more than 2,000 years inside an antique jewellery box because of one teeny-tiny little misunderstanding with a sorcerer back in 77 B.C. When Flora is accidentally called to grant the wishes of Bernard Bottle, played by I May Destroy You’s Paapa Essiedu, whose life appears to be crumbling around him, the true feel-good festive teachings of love and friendship prevail to teach both Bernard and Flora a thing or two.
Genie will be available to watch on Sky Cinema and Now TV on December 1.
Doctor Who
While details of Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor Who debut remain tightly under-wraps, the festive episodes - the show is also celebrating its 60th anniversary with a trilogy of specials, which will air on Disney+ - will be ones to watch. The limited information we do have of this year's festive episode is that it will feature Gatwa as the fifteenth doctor and his new companion Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson. We’re even hearing rumblings of a Davina McCall cameo and, after Doctor Who creator and showrunner Russell T Davis himself called this year's Christmas special 'thrilling' and 'exciting', we need no more convincing. We'll be all eyes and ears.
Doctor Who Holiday Special: The Church on Ruby Road will air on BBC One and Disney Plus.
The Heist Before Christmas
Starring Timothy Spall and James Nesbitt, The Heist Before Christmas is a new, original Christmas film to bookmark for during the Crimbo limbo. It tells the story of 12-year-old Mikey Collins who’s dirt-poor and hates Christmas. Mikey finds two Santa Clauses in the woods; one who just pulled off a bank heist, played by Nesbitt, and is on the run with the cash, the other Santa, played by Spall, claims to have fallen out of his sleigh. Mikey has no time for Spall’s Santa and instead becomes hyper-focussed on stealing Nesbitt’s Santa’s stolen cash, convinced that this is the answer to giving his family the Christmas they all crave. The lesson, as with all stellar Christmas films, is in finding the extraordinary in the ordinary and realising that the spirit of Christmas really is all around, after all.
The Heist Before Christmas will be available to watch on Sky Max and NOW TV. Release date TBC.
Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas
In something of a Ted Lasso reunion, Hannah Waddingham is bringing all of the festive sparkle a person could possibly bring in a musical extravaganza. During the performance, which sees Waddingham perform her favourite songs in an array of twinkly dresses, she's joined on-stage by Eurovision 2022 runner-up Sam Ryder and her Ted Lasso family, many of whom make the cutest cameos throughout the show. Expect all the festive feels.
Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas is available to watch now on Apple TV+.
Dodger
Bridgerton's Nicola Coughlan is staying in her period era niche by starring as Queen Victoria in the upcoming Christmas special of award-winning Oliver Twist prequel, Dodger. This year's festive special, which also stars Paul Whitehouse and Simon Callow, will see Fagin, played by Christopher Ecclestone, and his gang attempt their biggest heist yet — stealing Queen Victoria's crown from her coronation ceremony. Expect a laugh-out-loud, family-friendly spoof.
Dodger's Christmas special will air on CBBC on December 3.
Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
