23rd December 2025

1100 - Film4

Time to start the day with back to back Doctor Who movies which feel like big colourful daft relics of a different timeline. Seriously, it's wild how they could do these in the cinema whilst it was on TV at the same time. Do love a bit of Cushing as the Doctor though, he’s great value in both of these daft films

1350 - BBC1

As we said before, this is very much the first draft of Wallace and Gromit; the look is like 90% of the way there but it’s missing that technical leap that it takes in Wrong Trousers. You can’t argue with the charm though as that’s there inspades right from the beginning

1445 - Legend

This is the proper stuff; a sweaty Gene Hackman shouting at God whilst climbing through an upside down ocean liner being watched by a just as sweaty Ernest Borgnine. It’s what the Christmas holidays were made for.

1500 - BBC2

Here’s another film that’s ubiquitous for those days when you’re off work and full of Quality Streets; a big old biblical epic full of sandals and the odd sword. Perfect for a big old afternoon doze.

1610 - 5

This is a big old wild swing of a film and no mistake; Spielberg takes on Peter Pan bringing along Robin Williams for the ride. It barely hangs together at the best of times but you have to appreciate the sheer heart and energy put into it. And what a turn from Dustin Hoffman!

1850 - 5 Action

A pair of westerns for you, despite only being a year apart they do feel like they’re from two ends of the spectrum; Rooster has John Wayne as the star as a sequel to True Grit so comes with the baggage you’d expect from one of his films. Josey Wales is much grittier, much more grounded take on the genre. Eastwood managed to re-define the western a few times during his career and this is one of those films.

1900 - BBC4

Nick Berry? Lord, let’s hope the rest of ‘92 picks up from that otherwise my apologies. And if you did watch one of the Doctor Who films earlier here’s an episode of the show from near enough the same time so you can properly compare and contrast.

1900 - ITV4

Smokey and The Bandit II is some ride, being that a lot of it revolves around an elephant. A big elephant in a truck and Burt’s moustache. Yep, it’s some ride. World’s End is the last of the Cornetto films and is alright? There’s just not much it can do to follow two of the best British films of the 2000s in the form of Shaun of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. And if you want it then there’s another Expendables film although the joke was wearing very thin by this point. And sure it was Expend4bles this time around

2100 - Great Action

Now this is a belter; it’s really the best Roger More Bond film that’s been made. It’s got big daft set pieces, proper evil villains with massive underwater lairs, even the hero’s base has a giant water tank in the middle of it. One of the very best big dumb films

2100 - ITV4

Now this seems to be maturing better over time; I remember the instant reaction to it back when it released was negative. Bane’s daft voice didn’t help but it didn’t land like Dark Knight did so felt like a rough end to the trilogy. But a bit of space and it does hold together well, if nothing else Nolan delivers a gorgeous looking film filled with meticulous craft that holds the eye

2335 - Channel 4

A good chunk of Christmases growing up was getting a comedy video, the main ones I remember being Bottom Live or one of the Eddie Izzard’s. So let's replicate that here with a bit of Bill Bailey, can’t remember if this is one of his best ones or not but as a baseline Bill is a hoot so should still be fun

0150 - BBC3

Yeah, you could argue that this is more of a Thanksgiving film rather than a Christmas film but I think we can allow it. Never the biggest John Hughes fan but this is probably my favourite of the films he directed, the great chemistry between the two leads helps to paper over a lot of the schmaltz that sneaks into it