It’s the most wonderful time. We refer, of course, to eagerly opening the bumper festive TV listings and realising there’s not much you want to watch. Bah humbug! Don’t despair. Simply fill the gaps with some judicious archive rummaging and revisit the best Christmas specials of the past. From tinsel-draped drama to cracker-pulling comedy, from snow-blanketed animation to fairylit entertainment, there is something to thaw the heart of any small-screen Scrooge. Here’s our advent selection of the 25 all-time best – and where to stream them …
A Charlie Brown Christmas (Apple TV+)
Ice-skating. Adorable animation. A soundtrack of jazz and carols. There are few 25-minute treats more festive than this 1965 staple. Gloomy about the commercialisation of Christmas, our hero tries to cure his holiday blues by putting on a play. In the process, he recaptures the season’s true meaning – symbolised by a tiny tree.
Gavin & Stacey (BBC iPlayer)
The last ever episode is the TV event of this Christmas. Warm up by reliving the Anglo-Welsh sitcom’s first festive special from 2008. As Stacey’s family travel from Barry to Billericay to celebrate with the in-laws, proposals are made, punches are thrown and drama queen Pam (Alison Steadman) pretends to be vegetarian. Again.
The Snowman (Channel 4)
A yuletide must-watch. The Bafta-winning 1982 adaptation of Raymond Briggs’s tale of a boy befriending a snowman retains all its magical charm. Dialogue-free but utterly enchanting. All together now: “We’re walking in the air … ”
EastEnders (BBC iPlayer)
“Happy Christmas, Ange.” That’s what Queen Vic landlord Dirty Den famously snarls as he hands wife Angie her surprise present: divorce papers. Watched by a record-breaking 30 million people – nearly half the nation – in 1986, it set the tradition for festive misery in soapland. Christmas editions haven’t been remotely merry since.
The Simpsons: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (Disney+)
The Springfield institution’s debut episode introduced TV’s favourite dysfunctional family at Christmas 1989. Delinquent Bart gets a tattoo, forcing mum Marge to blow the festive budget on having it removed. Dad Homer takes a side-hustle as a shopping mall Santa and bets his wages at the dog track (D’oh!) before it’s all wrapped up in a waggy ending.
Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (BBC iPlayer)
The stop-motion duo and their beady-eyed nemesis Feathers McGraw return this Christmas for a long-awaited sequel. What better time to reacquaint yourself with the 1993 original? The villainous penguin uses Wallace’s techno-trousers to steal a diamond. Can clever canine Gromit outwit the 3ft-tall criminal mastermind?
Christmas With the Royle Family (BBC iPlayer)
The landmark comedy about a bickering family slumped in front of the telly comes into its own over Christmas. Can’t think why. The New Sofa from 2008 is also a belter but we’ve gone for its first festive special, from 1999. As the Mancunian clan watch Noel’s Christmas Presents, drink snowballs and criticise Barbara’s turkey, pregnant Denise’s waters break and dad Jim comforts her on the bathroom floor. Poetry.
Black Mirror: White Christmas (Netflix)
Charlie Brooker’s dystopian anthology shook up the formula like a snowglobe for this 2014 special. Rafe Spall wakes up in a snowy cabin with no idea how he got there. Enigmatic housemate Jon Hamm is his only hope of working out why. To pass the time, the pair regale each other with festive stories that are the opposite of feelgood. Wizzard will never sound the same again.
The Office Christmas Specials (BBC iPlayer)
Even the most cynical sitcom deserves a happy ending. In 2003, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s mockumentary masterpiece came to a two-part Christmassy climax. Chilled-out entertainer David Brent found a date for the annual Wernham Hogg party and finally stood up to frenemy Finchy. Yazoo’s Only You soundtracked Tim and Dawn finally kissing. Air punches nationwide. No notes.
Schitt’s Creek: Merry Christmas, Johnny Rose (Netflix)
There are few festive specials more heartwarming than the cosy Canadian comedy’s 2018 episode. Proud patriarch (Eugene Levy) tries to throw a lavish Christmas Eve party like the ones the family hosted before bankruptcy. He eventually learns that Christmas is about loved ones, not luxury.
Only Fools and Horses: The Jolly Boys’ Outing (ITVX)
For two decades, the lovely-jubbly sitcom was the centrepiece of the BBC’s Christmas schedules. Early effort Thicker Than Water has its devotees but we’ve plumped for the 1989 romp where the Trotters and the Nag’s Head gang go for a day beside the seaside in Margate. Cue disastrous dinners, punch-ups, an exploding coach – and Del rekindling his lost love. Cushty.
The X-Files: How the Ghosts Stole Christmas (Channel 4/Disney+)
This bottle episode, with a cast of four on a single set, sees agents Mulder and Scully stake out a haunted house – only to discover a couple of lovelorn ghosts, hellbent on proving how lonely Christmas can be. The will-they-won’t-they FBI duo’s climactic exchange of gifts is among their loveliest moments.
The Good Life: Silly, But It’s Fun (ITVX)
“The Ooh-Ah Bird is so called because it lays square eggs.” The suburban sitcom’s 1977 special is a cosy retro joy. After a bust-up with the delivery driver, well-to-do Margo and Jerry are left with no decorations, food or drink. Self-sufficient neighbours Tom and Barbara invite them round for pea-pod burgundy and parlour games.
The Bear: Fishes (Disney+)
This chaotically intense, double-length flashback episode won four Emmys. Carmy flies back from Copenhagen for a Berzatto family Christmas but past beefs resurface and things spiral out of control. A combustible Jamie Lee Curtis leads a star-studded guest cast. Yes, chef. Just don’t ask “Are you OK?”, chef.
Christmas at Downton Abbey (ITVX/Netflix)
The upstairs-downstairs costume drama signed off its second series with a delightful dose of seasonal soapiness – all climaxing with a marriage proposal in the snow. Irresistibly romantic and elegantly done. Just don’t press play on the 2012 special afterwards if you don’t want to wind up a sobbing mess.
Knowing Me, Knowing Yule With Alan Partridge (ITVX)
North Norfolk’s finest put the final nail in the coffin of his chatshow with this festive fiasco. Attractions include the world’s biggest cracker, a genuine virgin called Mary and Mick Hucknall carol-singing. Proceedings end with Alan being told he’ll never work in TV again and punching his boss with a partridge on his fist. Textbook.
Friends: The One With the Holiday Armadillo (Netflix)
The globe-conquering sitcom is better know for its Thanksgiving episodes but this Christmas one came during its imperial phase. Fighting a losing battle to teach his son Ben about the magic of Hanukkah, Ross realises the costume shop has run out of Santa suits. Solution? Dressing up as “the Holiday Armadillo”, Santa’s part-Jewish pal.
Peep Show: Seasonal Beatings (Channel 4)
Sunny Delight and cava cocktails all round as codependent flatmates Mark and Jeremy share a family Christmas from hell. Yuletide delights include Dobby denial, shouty charades, Super Hans gatecrashing as “Father Spliffmas” and Mark putting his dad’s dinner through a paper shredder. Remind us: is cauliflower traditional?
Victoria Wood’s Mid Life Christmas (Apple TV+)
The late comic genius described her first sketch show for nine years as “a whole night’s telly crammed into one hour”. Cue a Babycham-fuelled cavalcade of TV parodies (Lark Pies to Cranchesterford, anyone?), celebrity cameos and an audience with diva Bo Beaumont, the actor behind soap star Mrs Overall.
Blackadder’s Christmas Carol (ITVX)
This Dickens reversal sees Ebenezer Blackadder start out as “the nicest man in England”. When a ghost gives him glimpses of his cunning past and sci-fi future, he changes his ways. Hugh Laurie narrates, while Miriam Margolyes, Jim Broadbent and Robbie Coltrane make cameos.
The 1971 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show (BBC iPlayer)
The light entertainment era peaked with Eric and Ern’s nation-uniting festive extravaganzas and 1971 is the true classic. The all-singing, all-dancing duo are joined by Glenda Jackson, Shirley Bassey and Andre “Preview” Previn. Eric plays all the right notes, of course. Just not necessarily in the right order.
Father Ted: A Christmassy Ted (Channel 4)
Christmas on Craggy Island? Ah, go on. While the hapless priests get stuck in Ireland’s biggest lingerie department, Father Jack teaches toddlers to swear and Mrs Doyle pratfalls while putting up the decorations. But who let Father Dougal officiate a funeral?
The OC: The Best Chrismukkah Ever (ITVX)
He returned this year in romcom Nobody Wants This but Adam Brody first charmed his way into viewers’ hearts in the 00s teen drama. As nerdy Seth Cohen, he introduces adopted brother Ryan to his Christmas-Hanukkah hybrid, AKA “the greatest super-holiday known to mankind”. An endearing tale of interfaith togetherness.
Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (BBC iPlayer/Disney+)
We’re also partial to Voyage of the Damned (starring Kylie) and The Next Doctor (starring David Morrissey) but this slice of Dickensian sci-fi edges it as the Time Lord’s finest festive special. Michael Gambon is the Scrooge-like miser in a fairytale involving crashing space liners, flying sharks and a cryogenically frozen Katherine Jenkins.
The League of Gentlemen: Yule Never Leave (BBC iPlayer)
The surreal horror sitcom’s 2000 portmanteau special finds vicar Bernice hearing three disturbing Royston Vasey confessions, involving voodoos, vampire and cursed monkey testicles. Blackly hilarious and totally terrifying. You’re my wife now.
