Outnumbered Christmas Special
9.40pm, BBC One
In news guaranteed to make you feel old, Sue and Pete Brockman (Claire Skinner and Hugh Dennis) are now grandparents. Eight years after we last visited the family, the whole gang are back together. However, the course of family Christmas never runs smooth, and this one is no exception, with celebrations menaced by neighbours, hyenas and that old festive favourite, the replacement bus service. Phil Harrison
Expedition Killer Whale
6pm, BBC Two
Their synchronised party trick of bulldozing tasty seals off Antarctic ice made orcas the breakout stars of Frozen Planet II. But how do pods communicate during hunts? This film shadows a team of scientists as they strive to locate then observe how these lifelong family units led by hardy matriarchs work, feast and play. Graeme Virtue
The Masked Singer: Christmas Special
7.30pm, ITV1
What better way to spend the evening than confusing your relatives with The Masked Singer? Turkey Crown, Christmas Cracker, Star and Nutcracker all take to the stage, while Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders join the regular judges. Hollie Richardson
Blankety Blank Christmas Special
9pm, BBC One
Doctors have discovered Rudolph’s red nose is actually an allergic reaction to … what? And what might vegans say in family photos instead of “cheese”? Bradley Walsh puts questions to the likes of Jane McDonald, Oti Mabuse and Jonathan Ross, with a star prize of a break in Brussels – and a waffle-maker. Ali Catterall
The Serial Killer’s Wife
9pm, Channel 5
A dark thriller (first shown on Paramount+) in which Beth Fairchild is shocked when her doctor husband Tom is arrested for murder. Beth assumes it’s all some sort of tasteless practical joke, but it turns out there’s plenty she doesn’t know about Tom … Annabel Scholey, Jack Farthing and Luke Treadaway star. PH
Dark Winds
10pm, U&Alibi
Zahn McClarnon’s understated but expressive central performance as the stoical police lieutenant Joe Leaphorn has continued to underpin this noirish US crime drama. As season two concludes, Leaphorn and his former deputy Jim Chee discover evidence that connects their cases. PH
Film choice
Paul McCartney and Wings: One Hand Clapping (David Litchfield, 1974) Boxing Day, 9pm, Sky Arts
Now that the stream of archive Beatles content is reducing to a trickle, it’s time to get crate-digging into the solo work of the Fab Four. This rarely seen 1974 video film was created to preserve Paul McCartney’s then lineup of Wings for posterity during recording sessions at Abbey Road. While not at the level of Peter Jackson’s Get Back, it’s a great deal more fun, as the band rattle through post-Beatles standouts including Jet, Maybe I’m Amazed, Band on the Run and, with a full orchestra, Live and Let Die. And McCartney, particularly in the short one-man epilogue The Backyard, is at his nonchalant, amiable best, conjuring up rock’n’roll classics at will. Simon Wardell
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical (Matthew Warchus, 2022), Boxing Day, 5.40pm, BBC One
This screen take on the Dennis Kelly/Tim Minchin musical is a heady mix of chocolate cake and child abuse. Alisha Weir (available elsewhere this week as a bloody vampiric killer in Abigail) is only “a little bit naughty” here as the titular downtrodden girl determined to change her life for the better. Emma Thompson and Lashana Lynch play, respectively, her nemesis and saviour: sadistic, child-chucking Miss Trunchbull and sweet but browbeaten Miss Honey. Embedded in imaginative dance routines, Minchin’s songs – witty, wordy, supremely catchy – make this an instant classic. SW
Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000), 9pm, BBC Two
The dream that is Rome may have been revived in Ridley Scott’s 2024 sequel/rehash, but – apologies to Paul Mescal – there is really only one gladiator. In the 2000 original, Russell Crowe takes on all-comers as the general turned slave turned top-billed fighter who defies Joaquin Phoenix’s weaselly new emperor. The spirit of the old sword’n’sandals epics lives on in the lavishly created historical locations, the brutal scenes of combat in the Colosseum and the political machinations that surround Crowe’s Maximus as he fights his way to vengeance. SW
Live sport
Premier League Football: Man City v Everton, 11.30am, Prime Video
Plus a full programme of fixtures, with Chelsea v Fulham at 2.30pm and Liverpool v Leicester at 7pm.
