Christmas and New Year TV programming always offers a feast of entertainment celebrating the countryside. It's a time of family gatherings, with shows to please even the fussiest telly goers.
Once you've finished your winter stomp, sit back and relax this festive season with our guide to the best TV airing over Christmas 2024.
We will continue to update this page as more transmission details are released.
Best TV to watch over Christmas 2024
Charlie Cooper’s Myth Country: Winter Solstice
BBC Three, 20th December, 10pm
Charlie Cooper’s Myth Country returns with an alternative Christmas special. After the popular first series, Charlie is back in his yellow van exploring winter festivals across the country – from barrel burning in Devon to Morris dancing in Gloucestershire.
A Countryfile Christmas at Highgrove
BBC One, 22nd December, 5.30pm
For the first time ever, the Coronation Pavilion at Highgrove is being turned into a festive Christmas grotto complete with magical fairy lights, willow sculptures, festive wreaths and a pair of huge nutcrackers! Presenters Matt Baker, Margherita Taylor, and Adam Henson join in the festivities – adding the final touches to the Christmas tree, gathering mistletoe from the gardens, and helping trim the giant topiary Christmas pudding.
- Who is Matt Baker? Everything you need to know about the television presenter
- Everything you've wanted to know about Countryfile's Adam Henson
All Creatures Great and Small Christmas special
Channel 5, 23rd December, 9pm
The drama based around vet James Herriot's life returns for a Christmas special, with it set during Christmas 1941.
- Where is All Creatures Great and Small filmed? A guide to the filming locations of this much-loved TV series
- Where is The Yorkshire Vet filmed? A guide to the well-loved TV series
As the war continues, preparations for Christmas (and Jimmy’s first birthday) are a little different at Skeldale House. Mrs Hall has figured out how to deliver the ideal Christmas, but her world is rocked by a worrying news bulletin. Plus, a young boy arrives at the surgery with an abandoned fox cub and Mrs Hall can’t help feeling a connection with the animal.
The Repair Shop at Christmas
BBC One, Christmas Eve, 8.15pm
The team of experts are back, spreading joy and creating more Christmas magic. Through the barn doors this year are two giant Puffins gifted to a very special children’s bookshop. These Puffins have welcomed generations of children and have been at the centre of the Christmas celebrations for over 50 years.
Meanwhile, Will, Kirsten and Mark are facing their own festive challenge of reviving an enchanting miniature Christmas Village that lights up a family home where over 30 foster children have been looked after.
Gone Christmas Fishing
BBC Two, Christmas Eve, 9:15pm
This year's Christmas special takes Paul and Bob to the sunnier climes of Cahors in south France where they celebrate another eventful year of fishing together. Under the warm autumnal sun, they fish the river Cele and the Lot in search of Mediterranean Bass and French Carp.
The annual awards ceremony holds more unusual surprises (including a special guest) – but will Ted the dog make it across the channel and through border control in time to join the party?
Doctor Who
BBC One, Christmas Day, 5.10pm
Join The Doctor for a time-hopping trip through the history of Earth. The festive episode introduces Joy (played by Nicola Coughlan (from Bridgerton fame), who checks into a London hotel in 2024, only to discover that her 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. 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?
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
BBC One, Christmas Day, 6.10pm
Wallace & Gromit make their long-awaited return with a new feature-length adventure this Christmas.
After a recent crime wave of stolen garden goods from across the region, Wallace and his 'smart gnome', Norbot, are the main suspects. While Wallace protests his innocence, it’s up to Gromit to battle sinister forces – or Wallace will never invent again! Feathers McGraw – the villain last seen in 1993’s The Wrong Trousers – is back with a vengeance.
Call the Midwife Christmas specials
Part 1: BBC One, Christmas Day, 8pm
Part 2: BBC One, Boxing Day, 7.30pm
For the first time, Call the Midwife will celebrate Christmas with a two-part special – complete with cliff-hanger!
All the familiar faces will return for a Poplar Christmas set in 1969, where the Nonnatus midwives are busy delivering babies. The funfair comes to the borough, adding a burst of colour and excitement to the frosty landscape, but there are other visitors too – including influenza and the Hong Kong flu. Add in news of an escaped prisoner, a Blue Peter Christmas appeal, and a mince pie competition – and you have a recipe for the perfect festive duo!
Beyond Paradise Christmas special
BBC One, 27th December, 9pm
It’s Christmas time in Shipton Abbott, where Humphrey and the team find themselves wrapped up in two festive cases.
When a recent widow is ordered to leave his home by a vision of his late wife, he's thrown into emotional turmoil. Unsure whether the ghostly visions are a manifestation of grief or something more sinister, Humphrey and Esther get to work unravelling the mystery.
Fletchers Family Farm at Christmas
ITV1, 29th December, 7pm
Kelvin, Liz and the family return for a seasonal special where they journey to Finland, visiting another family farm thriving in the harsh conditions of the Arctic Circle. The Fletchers dive into the magic of a Nordic winter by enjoying traditional activities and meeting the animals that flourish in this frosty wilderness.
Vera
ITV1, 1st January and 2nd January 2025
Brenda Blethyn makes an emotional return for the 14th and final series of the popular crime drama. Spanning two feature-length episodes, the new stories intertwine gripping murder mysteries with the heartfelt narrative of Vera’s personal journey.
In the first episode, DCI Vera Stanhope is called to the banks of the Tyne where the body of a young man has been discovered by anglers. A tangled web of grudges, regret, and fraud soon begins to emerge.
The final episode brings Vera back to a familiar place when a body is found at the foot of legendary local stones The Dark Wives. With memories of childhood dwelling in her mind, Vera must uncover the mystery of why a bright young student would be violently attacked and left so far from home.
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