Every year the Radio Times magazine releases its TV guide ahead of the festive period; showing what will be on while you’re tidying up wrapping paper and preparing Christmas dinner.
23rd of December
Return to the Yorkshire Dales in All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special at 9pm on Channel 5 or My5. Where wartime means Christmas celebrations will be harder, but the love is still there.
Christmas Eve
On Channel 4 Christmas classic The Snowman is coming back twice this Christmas at 7:50am and 4:15pm.
Beloved and classic Christmas musical White Christmas, (starring Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney) will be on at 2:15pm on BBC Two.
Catherine Tate will present Doctor Who at the Proms on BBC Two and BBC One Wales at 4:10pm at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Where the orchestra will play the soundtrack highlights from the series.
At 2:30pm on ITV, you can gather in the living room and watch the heart-warming It’s A Wonderful Life.
And you can’t have Christmas without Home Alone, which is on Channel 4 at 6:05pm.
Christmas Day
As per the tradition King George V began, King Charles III will make the monarch’s address to the nation at 3pm on BBC One, BBC Two and ITV.
For the Home Alone fans, the memories don’t end with the first film. Kevin McCallister returns Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at 3:10pm on ITV.
The anticipated Doctor Who Christmas special, Doctor Who: Joy to the World brings 15th doctor Ncuti Gatwa and Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan in a Christmas Day adventure. On BBC One at 5:10pm.
After thirteen seasons, the midwives and nuns of 1960s Poplar are going strong in their two-part Christmas special. On Christmas Day, the entourage of characters will be on air at 8pm on BBC One. And on Boxing Day, at 7:30pm.
Last but definitely not least, Wallace and Gromit face Feathers McGraw once again in Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. The film is on BBC One at 6:10pm.
Boxing Day
The Masked Singer Christmas Special on ITV at 7:30pm will feature four stars dressed up in festive costumes in the show’s second Christmas special.
On BBC Two, Richard Osman challenges a group of players in Richard Osman’s Festive House of Games at 7pm.
Also the non-Christmas Christmas movie Paddington starts at 1:50pm on BBC One.
And while it’s not a Christmassy choice, Indiana Jones: The Temple of Doom comes to Channel 4 at 6:40pm. Watching Harrison Ford whip enemies and explore temples could be a fun change of pace.
Hogmany
As the year closes, The Last Leg of the Year on Channel 4 will come to audiences at 9pm. Where hosts will turn current events into comedy.
BBC One New Year’s Eve Fireworks kicks off the new year at 12am.
And to build up to the dawn of 2025, STV’s Bringing in the Bells, the annual show filled with comedy, reflections of the ending year and hopes for the future begins at 11:30pm. And ending with a countdown to 2025.
New Year’s Day
On BBC Two you can watch the New Year’s Day Concert at 10:15am. Performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Riccardo Muti.
And who can forget the quintessential Christmastime classic? BBC One shows Mary Poppins at 3:15pm.
The crew of couch critics are back in the Gogglebox Festive Special on Channel 4 at 9pm.
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Third year journalism student. 2025/2026 Lifestyle and Comment Editor at Brig. Published in The Yucatán Times, Mi Campeche and The Mourning Paper. Host of From the 40s with Air3Radio.
