TV shows you don't want to miss this Christmas.....
Doctor Who
BBC1, Christmas Day, 6.15pm
The sci-fi show's customary festive outing, Last Christmas, has been described by Dr Who supremo Steven Moffat as "scary, tense and claustrophobic" with monstrous creatures attacking a scientific base at the North Pole and Nick Frost's Father Christmas in the mix too. There are also appearances from Michael Troughton (son Patrick Troughton, the second doctor) and former Coronation Street star Natalie Gumede alongside Peter Capaldi's Christmas debut as the Doctor.
Call The Midwife
BBC1, Christmas Day, 7.50pm
The popular series returns for a special feature-length episode with a festive blend of snow, babies, nuns and carol-singing children. As Christmas approaches, Chummy (Miranda Hart) is putting her unlikely choir through their paces for a festive concert but has to interrupt rehearsals to visit an intimidating home for unwed mothers having babies who will be put up for adoption. Expect tears and laughter in this suitably emotional edition.
Downton Abbey
ITV, Christmas Day, 9pm
The Christmas special of the Julian Fellowes' period drama takes us first of all to a rather awkward shooting party at the home of the cold-hearted Lord Sinderby before taking us back to Downton Abbey for a rather more heart-warming bout of carol-singing in front of a grand tree in what is a poignant two-hour episode.
Birds Of A Feather
ITV, Boxing Day, 9pm
Long before Towie became the clichéd view of Essex, there was Birds Of A Feather, the sitcom about Sharon and Tracey from Chigwell. A hit series in the late 1980s and 1990s, it was revived earlier this year by writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. In this first episode of a new series, Dorien is taking Sharon and Tracey on holiday to the Canary Islands but before they even leave the UK, the shenanigans start. Bawdy is probably the best way to describe the humour.
The Haunting Of Radcliffe House
Channel 5, Saturday,
December 27, 9.35pm
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a good ghost story and here's a real chiller from writer/director Nick Willing. The Hamiltons move to a remote old house on the Yorkshire Moors that they're renovating for the absent owners and it's not long before they're experiencing strange goings-on; doors that shut themselves, lights going on and off, unconnected phones ringing. Suitably spooky and with a cast that includes Olivia Williams and Matthew Modine.
Homeland
Channel 4, Sunday,
December 28, 9pm
It may have had its ups and downs in previous series, but season four has seen US thriller Homeland back on top form mixing action, intrigue and emotion in the build-up to this finale which is bound to be explosive (perhaps literally). Clare Daines' Carrie has been assigned to the CIA station in Kabul, Afghanistan, taking on extremists there and in Islamabad where they've targeted the US embassy. Expect a tense, nerve-shredding end to a gripping series.
Mapp And Lucia
BBC1, Monday,
December 29, 9.05pm
This three-part series of the 1930s comic novels by EF Benson have been adapted for the screen by Steve Pemberton (The League Of Gentlemen) and revolve around Mapp, the doyen of social and cultural life in the small seaside town of Tilling. Mapp's ascendancy is threatened by new arrival Lucia, a glamourous widow who's more than a match for her as they go into battle over the bridge tables of the town. Miranda Richardson and Anna Chancellor play the warring ladies in this over-the-top comedy.
The Snow Wolf Family And Me
BBC2, Monday,
December 29, 9pm
Gordon Buchanan is back with this lovely nature series from the remote Arctic island of Ellesmere where he's following the trial and tribulations of a pack of wolves. The pack is on the move so Buchanan follows them on his quad bike and as they get to know each other, the barrier between human and wild animal softens. A charming and revealing documentary that continues on Tuesday.
Charlie Brooker's 2014 Wipe
BBC3, Tuesday, December 30, 10pm
If you want an antidote to all the festive cheer and merriment, Charlie Brooker is the man to provide it with his satirical look back on the year in the news, media and culture. He'll be getting the knives out for the pompous, the powerful and the downright ridiculous but amid the serious points expect plenty of dark humour too.
New Year's Eve celebrations
BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4, New Year's Eve
If staying in is the new going out you're spoilt for choice on New Year's Eve with four terrestrial channels offering a variety of entertainment to see in 2015. Jools Holland returns with his usual bout of music and chat with the Hootenanny 2014 (BBC2, 11.20pm) with guests including Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, Paolo Nutini and Wilko Johnson. On ITV, 2014 is rewound in Funny Old Year (9pm) while Channel 4 does something similar with 50 Funniest Moments 2014 (11.05pm). BBC1 (11.15pm) brings in the New Year in style as Queen (with guest singer Adam Lambert) playing live next to Big Ben as the fireworks go off.
Roald Dahl's Esio Trot
BBC1, New Year's Day, 6.30pm
A warm-hearted if slight romantic tale elevated by two starry leads. Dustin Hoffman plays Mr Hoppy, a lonely chap who's had a long-term but secret love for his lively neighbour Mrs Silver, played by Judi Dench. The two are on friendly terms and Mr Hoppy thinks he has a chance of wooing her until she bestows her affections on her new pet tortoise, Alfie.
The Musketeers
BBC1, January 2, 9pm
Those dashing, swashbuckling types are back for a second series after an impressive run earlier in 2014 which was a fun mix of action, comedy and romance. Peter Capaldi's villainous cardinal may be dead but there's a new adversary for the Musketeers to take on in this first episode, Marc Warren's Comte de Rochefort. He accompanies them on a mission to free a French general from a Spanish jail but can they trust him?
And a few films.....
Puss In Boots
BBC1, Christmas Day, 3.10pm
A spin-off from the Shrek films (showing in order on BBC3 from December 22), Chris Miller's movie about the roguish cat character has lots to recommend it. The Antonio Banderas-voiced swashbuckler's solo adventure sees him on the run after being wrongly imprisoned and looking to use Jack and Jill's magic beans to grow a beanstalk and get hold of the Golden Goose. There is plenty of playing about with fairytale conventions in this funny, stylish film.
Avengers Assemble
BBC1, Boxing Day, 8.30pm
Marvel's superhero films have been huge successes in recent years and here the biggest and best of them gets a network premiere. Joss Whedon's rip-roaring adventure sees the various bickering super-powered characters - Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor and Hawkeye - join forces to see off the threat of an alien invasion orchestrated by Thor's evil brother Loki. Brilliant action scenes, likeable characters and cracking dialogue make Whedon's film a thrill ride from beginning to end.
ET: The Extra Terrestial
ITV, Sunday, December 28, 3.20pm
There's a Spielberg fest on the small screens today with Jurassic Park on ITV2 at 12.25pm and Raiders Of The Lost Ark on BBC1 at 3.45pm, but for a warm-hearted family movie you can't go far wrong with the director's touching tale of a little boy's friendship with an alien stranded far from home. As much a family drama about relationships and loyalty as it is a sci-fi/action movie, ET unashamedly tugs at the heart strings as the bond between Henry Thomas' Elliott and the extra-terrestial is threatened by the intervention of earthbound authority figures.
The Dark Knight
ITV, New Year's Day, 9pm
The second instalment in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is as notable for the remarkable performance of the late Heath Ledger as the villainous Joker (he won a posthumous Oscar for the role in 2009) as it is for the epic drama of the story. Christian Bale returns as Batman who struggles to cope with the psychological games and ingenious schemes of The Joker thrusting Aaron Eckhart's District Attorney Harvey Dent into the spotlight as a symbol of law and justice. Epic in scale and dark in tone, Nolan's film plays like a crime thriller where the main players just happen to wear funny costumes.
