The BBC has announced an unmissable line-up of favourites on TV and iPlayer from Doctor Who to Call the Midwife, designed to bring people together this Christmas in a way that only the BBC can.
There are a feast of programmes to entertain all the family over the festive fortnight, from a range of specials, blockbuster movies, thrilling drama and hilarious comedy alongside the very best arts, documentary, music and religious programming.
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Wallace & Gromit make their long-awaited return with a brand new feature-length adventure on the BBC this Christmas.
After a recent crime wave of stolen garden goods from across the region, Wallace and his pre-programmed smart gnome, Norbot, are the main suspects. While Wallace proclaims his innocence, it’s up to Gromit once again to battle sinister forces, or Wallace will never invent again!
But who could possibly be behind such evil actions?! Rightfully behind bars for all this time, Feathers McGraw – last seen in 1993’s BAFTA and Academy Award winning short The Wrong Trousers – is back with vengeance.
Tiddler
Adapted for the BBC from the hugely successful picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Tiddler is the story of a little fish with a big imagination who gets lost in the deep wide ocean until he’s saved by his own storytelling.
Every day Tiddler tells a different story to his teacher and his friend Johnny Dory about why he’s late for school. His stories stretch from riding on seahorses or swimming around a shipwreck to being captured by a squid! His stories are so great that word of mouth helps them travel through the ocean and so, when Tiddler gets lost, he realises they may help him find a way home.
Doctor Who
The Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, returns this Christmas for a time-hopping trip through the history of Earth.
The episode introduces Joy, starring Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton, Derry Girls), who checks into a London hotel in 2024, only to discover that her quiet stay is anything but ordinary. When Joy opens a secret doorway to the Time Hotel, she discovers danger, dinosaurs and the Doctor. But a deadly plan is unfolding across the Earth, just in time for Christmas.
Where has the Doctor been? What is going on in Joy’s hotel room? An old enemy of the Doctor’s is lurking in the wings and all of human history hangs in the balance. Can the Doctor save Christmas, everywhere, all at once?
And one of Doctor Who’s classic tales is to receive a spectacular new colourisation.
Originally aired in 1969, The War Games marked the end of an era for the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), following him and his companions Zoe and Jamie as they land in a battlefield that appears to be a World War I military zone – but all is not as it seems. They soon discover that soldiers from different historical periods have been abducted and are being manipulated in a cruel game. As they work to uncover the mystery behind the War Lord and his twisted experiments, the Doctor faces one of his most difficult challenges.
For the first time, these original episodes have been meticulously colourised and enhanced with updated visual effects edited into a new, 90-minute feature-length experience with updated sound and a new score.
Call The Midwife Christmas Specials
For the first time ever, this year Call The Midwife will deliver not one but two Christmas specials – complete with a Christmas cliffhanger!
It’s Christmas 1969 and the Nonnatus midwives are in their element, all busy delivering babies and doing the job they are most dedicated and committed to. The funfair comes to Poplar, adding a burst of colour and excitement to the frosty landscape but there are other visitors to the borough – including influenza and the Hong Kong flu.
As Poplar also prepares for a carol concert, the neighbourhood is gripped by the news of an escaped prisoner and fears grow that he may be in the local area after a spate of break-ins.
EastEnders
Secrets and lies are set to throw a wrecking ball into the Beale family festivities this year as the shocking truth about Cindy is revealed in spectacular fashion on Christmas Day.
The incriminating evidence captured on tape will expose Cindy’s true love for ex-husband George and her scandalous affair with his son, Junior. Cindy has nowhere to hide as all hell breaks loose in the Beale and Knight families, with fury and accusations flying on all sides.
Across the Square, Denise Fox will be getting an unexpected Christmas present courtesy of an unlikely gift-bearer and find herself enjoying a very different day from the one she had last year.
But, elsewhere as the yuletide warmth stokes up old feelings for some, for others, ghosts of Christmas past return…
Strike: The Ink Black Heart
Tom Burke and Holiday Grainger return in the hit crime series based on J.K. Rowling’s best-selling novels written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
When frantic, desperate Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn’t know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie’s true identity.
Robin informs Edie that the agency is too busy to take on her case and thinks nothing more of it until a few weeks later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.
Gavin & Stacey: The Finale
It’s five years since we left Nessa down on one knee declaring her love for Smithy and asking him to marry her. And a lot has happened in those five years.
In Barry, Bryn’s packing the Picasso in readiness for a trip to Essex; Stacey and Gavin are looking for new ways to spice up their seventeen year marriage and Gwen is behaving most strangely. Nessa’s started a new business venture and Neil the Baby’s about to begin an apprenticeship with his dad.
Over in Billericay Pam is stressing out at the prospect of playing hostess, not helped by a newly retired Mick practicing his golf swings in the living room and there have been more ups and downs in Pete and Dawn’s relationship. Join us on the journey to Barry and Billericay as we catch up with the Shipmans and the Wests for the very last time and maybe find out what exactly did happen on that fishing trip.
Images © BBC
See also: First Look At Casualty Epic Christmas Special
