festive telly
The 10 shows you must watch this Christmas – chosen by The Sun’s TV Mag experts
TV Mag gives you an early look at the biggest shows coming to our screens this festive season
THIS Christmas is chock full of festive TV programmes for viewers to sink their teeth into.
The Sun's TV Mag experts have chosen the 10 shows you must watch over the festive period.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl - BBC1
10
As we know, Christmas is all about the kids, and both big and small are catered for with two brilliant brand-new animations.
First is the epic return of Wallace And Gromit for the first time since 2008, in a feature-length film featuring Wallace’s new invention Norbot - who helps with “gnome improvement” around the house and garden - and their famous foe Feathers Mcgraw.
Meanwhile, the latest adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s children’s books hits the screen.
Tiddler is a beautiful fishy tale about the power of the imagination and is narrated by Hannah Waddingham.
Read more on Christmas telly
Outnumbered - BBC1
10
We’ll all be uttering Great Aunt Mabel’s favourite phrase - “Haven’t they grown!” - when the Brockman family return for a festive special.
We last saw dad Pete (Hugh Dennis) and mum Sue (Claire Skinner) and their offspring back in 2016, but now the kids are all grown up and there’s even a grandchild in tow.
However, the clan’s Christmas gathering ends in typically chaotic fashion when everything including hyenas gets in the way…
Doctor Who - BBC1
10
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a Doctor Who monster, and fans will be delighted to hear this year’s special features the return of the Silurians.
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The episode, which is called Joy To the World, also features Bridgerton's Nicola Coughlan as main character Joy, whose life is changed forever when she meets the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa).
He has a habit of doing that!
Three EastEnders star appear in Doctor Who Christmas special
Call The Midwife - BBC1
10
Here’s an unexpected gift in your stocking - we have not one but two visits to Poplar this festive season for the first time ever.
It’s 1969 and while Trixie is delighted to go back to Nonnatus House and see her brother and Violet hosts a mince pie competition, influenza, Hong Kong flu and an escaped prisoner all add to the drama of delivering babies.
Celebrity Gladiators - BBC1
10
Celebrities… ready! Gladiators… ready!
After that hugely successful return of the strong men and women donning leotards and whacking each other with giant cotton buds on towering podiums comes this star-studded version for Christmas.
The question is: do the likes of Rob Beckett, Joel Dommett, Louise Minchin and Ellie Taylor have what it takes to beat the Gladiators?
Well, we’ve seen Joel's muscles on Instagram, so we wouldn’t bet against it!
Bullseye - ITV1
10
“You can’t beat a bit of Bully!” says Freddie Flintoff, the former cricketer and Top Gear host who takes the helm in this reboot of the 1980s classic.
In it, teams of ‘knowers’ and ‘throwers’ answer general-knowledge questions and throw some darts in a bid to win big prizes.
And just like when comic Jim Bowen hosted back in the day, one of those prizes is a speedboat!
All Creatures Great And Small - Channel 5
10
You can always count on James Herriot and his merry band of vets to bring some festive joy and cheer to the season, and this year’s Christmas special of the much-loved series delivers better than Santa on Christmas Eve!
As all at Skeldale House prepare for baby Jimmy’s first birthday, Mrs Hall is on tenterhooks waiting for news of her son Edward, whose ship, HMS Repulse, has been sunk.
When an abandoned fox cub is brought into the surgery injured, Mrs Hall puts all her might into getting Siegfried to treat it.
Can he perform a Christmas miracle?
Death In Paradise - BBC1
10
We’re back in paradise this Christmas for another crime caper on the island of Saint Marie and there’s a new face in town as EastEnders star Don Gilet arrives as the latest fish-out-of-water detective, DI Mervin Wilson.
And there’s another cracker for fans of the franchise to look forward to as Beyond Paradise also returns to BBC1 with a special, as Humphrey and Martha look forward to their first Christmas as foster parents.
Strictly Come Dancing - BBC1
10
Tess and Claudia will be announcing who has waltzed off with this year’s glitterball as the final of 2024’s competition approaches in a couple of weeks.
And then it’s time for the ballroom to be bedecked with pine and snow, Craig Revel Horwood to dust off his finest panto dame outfit, and this year's batch of six brave celebs to partner up with their pros to perform a special Christmas routine to entertain us all on the big day.
Will comedian Josh Widdicombe prove to be the jingle bell of the ball with his partner Karen Hauer, or will he play it for laughs?
Gavin & Stacey: The Finale BBC1
10
Here’s what’s occurring: after five very long years, James Corden and Ruth Jones have finally decided to release us from the agony of that cliffhanger.
Nessa proposed to Smithy in the 2019 Christmas special of this brilliant sitcom.
Gavin and Stacey's Best Moments
With the news that the show is set to make an exciting return to screens, let's take a look at some of the comedy programme's biggest and best moments...
- Smithy and Rudi's American Boy rap - No one will ever forget when James Corden and Sheridan Smith rapped perfectly word for word the Kanye West and Estelle hit American Boy as they walked across the car park on the phone to Gavin.
- Pam's Vegetarian faux pas - Despite loving a cheesburger, Pam found herself caught up in a web of unexpected lies when she claimed to be Vegetarian. She is forced to keep up the secret throughout the entire show and uses hubby Mick to help her scoff meat. She is later rumbled when Stacey catches her in the act as she scoffs ham in the kitchen. Stacey says to her: “Is that ham, Pam!?… “I’ve seen you, Pam. A scotch egg here, a bit of bacon there, putting those regular sausages into the Linda McCartney box”.
- THAT fishing trip - It remains one of the biggest mysteries in Gavin and Stacey history as to just exactly what did happen on the ill-fated fishing trip. Bryn appears to be hiding a secret as to an occurance between him and his nephew Jason which has left relations fractures. Ness' on-off boyfriend, Dave, is the only other person to know the whole truth. Bryn did appear to allude to him and Jason lying together naked to keep warm as he said to Dave: “We’re going to have this out, once and for all, man to man, you may know what happened, David, but you don’t know why it happened! It was freezing cold, it was! And when you are that cold…”
- Islands in the Stream - No one can ever forget the classic Karaoke performance of Islands in the Stream. Nessa and Bryn performed the track in front of all their nearest and dearest. It saw the whole pub burst into some line-dancing as they enjoyed a boozy night out.
- The Xmas special proposal - In 2019, fans were left overjoyed when the show made a comeback but it ended on the ultimate cliffhanger. Nessa asked Smithy if she would marry him as she finally laid bare her feelings for him. Fans were gutted as the show then cut straight to the credits as they never found out just how Smithy answered. Will all be revealed in the brand new episode?
So, did he say yes?
Well, it's a closely guarded secret that we’ll all have to wait until 25 December to find out, but what we do know is that they will return in this last-ever episode, along with Gavin and Stacey, Mick and Pam, Gwen and Bryn and many other familiar faces.
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