Ricky Gervais: Mortality leads our Top 10 TV shows to watch this Christmas
Top 10 Best Christmas TV Shows to Watch in 2025: The Ultimate Festive TV Guide
Christmas isn’t just about gifting, delicious food and time with loved ones — it’s also the perfect moment to unwind with amazing TV. If you’re wondering what to watch over the 2025 festive period, we’ve rounded up this year’s must-see Christmas specials, dramas and comedy events. Here’s your definitive Top 10 Christmas TV guide.
1. Ricky Gervais: Mortality
Watch on Netflix from 30 December
Ricky Gervais returns with a raw, fearless and darkly hilarious stand-up special filmed at the iconic London Palladium. Mortality sees the Emmy and Golden Globe winner take on life, death and everything in between with his trademark brutal honesty.
2. Amandaland Christmas Special
Watch on BBC One and iPlayer
The hit series returns with a festive episode featuring the fabulous Jennifer Saunders as Aunt Joan — the spirited, countryside-loving sister of Felicity (Joanna Lumley). This episode marks the first scripted on-screen reunion for Saunders and Lumley since Absolutely Fabulous, making it unmissable Christmas television.
3. A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Room in the Tower
Watch on BBC Two and iPlayer
Mark Gatiss continues the beloved Christmas ghost story tradition with a chilling adaptation starring Tobias Menzies and Dame Joanna Lumley. The story follows Roger Winstanley, plagued for 15 years by a recurring nightmare that begins to bleed into reality. As Gatiss says, “The Room in the Tower has been prepared for you.”
4. Amanda and Alan’s Spanish Job — Christmas Special
Watch on BBC One and iPlayer
Fresh off Alan Carr’s Celebrity Traitors victory, he reunites with Amanda Holden for a festive edition of their makeover adventure series. Expect laughs, charm and creative chaos as the duo return to transform another Spanish property.
5. Irish Blood
Watch on Sky TV and NOW
This gripping six-part murder mystery stars Alicia Silverstone as Fiona, whose life is upended when a message from her estranged father (Jason O’Mara) drags her back to Ireland. What she discovers overturns everything she believed about her family, forcing her into a dangerous search for the truth.
6. The Great Peep Show Christmas Bake Off
Watch on Channel 4
Peep Show fans, rejoice — the original cast (David Mitchell, Olivia Colman, Isy Suttie, Matt King and Sophie Winkleman) reunite for the first time since 2015. This time, they’re swapping Croydon flats for the Bake Off tent, battling festive baking challenges under the eyes of Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith. Expect chaos, nostalgia and huge laughs.
7. All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special
Watch on Channel 5
Set during 1945’s first peacetime Christmas, this heartwarming special sees James juggling the Darrowby Nativity play as Helen falls ill, while Siegfried finds himself once again outwitted by the ever-mischievous Hilda the goat. Comfort TV at its finest.
8. Dear Father Christmas
Watch on Channel 4
This touching one-off festive drama stars Lenny Rush, James Buckley, Greg Davies, Stephen Fry, Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock and more. The story follows 16-year-old Chris, who still believes wholeheartedly in Father Christmas — until his dad tries to break the truth to him. Chris sets out on a wild mission to prove Santa is real, leading to heartfelt and hilarious consequences.
9. Amadeus
Watch on Sky TV and NOW
A bold, cinematic re-imagining of Peter Shaffer’s legendary play, this five-part drama stars Will Sharpe as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Paul Bettany as Antonio Salieri. Set in vibrant 18th-century Vienna, the series dives deep into genius, jealousy, obsession and the rivalry that reshaped music history.
10. The Apprentice: Christmas Celebrity Specials
Watch on BBC One and iPlayer
Lord Sugar returns with two festive celebrity editions of The Apprentice in support of BBC Children in Need. Stars including AJ Odudu, Rob Rinder, Shazia Mirza and JB Gill head to Lapland to create and market their own gingerbread products — complete with adverts, jingles and a sprinkle of Christmas magic. But who will rise to the challenge, and who will crumble?
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