A comprehensive(ish) who’s who, when’s when and how’s how on all the best films on UK TV this Christmas. After the BBC swept all before them with the festive TV schedule of 2024, 2025’s Christmas telly can look like a bit of a letdown. On the film front, though, the week leading up to New ... The films worth watching on Christmas TV in 2025
A comprehensive(ish) who’s who, when’s when and how’s how on all the best films on UK TV this Christmas.
After the BBC swept all before them with the festive TV schedule of 2024, 2025’s Christmas telly can look like a bit of a letdown. On the film front, though, the week leading up to New Year’s Day looks as action-packed (and comedy-packed, drama-packed, thriller-packed etc) as ever.
As a rule of thumb, if you expect a film to be on terrestrial TV over Christmas, it is. The BBC has Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy (now a festive TV staple in the UK), all the Back To The Futures, Paddington and Paddington 2, and Lawrence Of Arabia. ITV has Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Shrek 2. Channel 4 has Home Alone, Mission: Impossible and every Muppets movie except, apparently, the one that you’d expect to be on TV in December.
But there are a few un-Christmassy gems and surprise hits lurking in the listings as well. Take the BBC’s strangely high-quality morning film output over the next week or so, which includes Double Indemnity, Citizen Kane and the uber-sweet 2021 stop-motion mollusc movie, Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (alongside every Wallace and Gromit film, obviously). Or Channel 4, which continues its trend-bucking remit by showing indie masterpieces like The Worst Person In The World alongside its tasty catalogue of Film4 awards hits.
In the selection below, we’ve tried to pick a bit of everything (alongside a few of the older flicks available, since terrestrial TV seems the last place you can reliably watch films from before 1970). It’s not completely extensive, but should you find yourself trapped without a smart TV or a DVD-player this Christmas, it might just save your sausages-wrapped-in-bacon.
(Special mention also goes to BBC Two, for showing both The Great Escape (1963) and 2023 Michael Caine vehicle The Great Escaper on Boxing Day. I enjoyed that.)
Tuesday 23rd December
Wallace And Gromit: A Grand Day Out 13:50, BBC ONE
Spartacus, 15:00, BBC TWO
Cutthroat Island, 16:25, FILM4
The Dark Knight Rises, 21:00, ITV2
Slumdog Millionaire, 22:30, BBC TWO
John Wick: Chapter 4, 22:40, ITV1
Sexy Beast, 23:20, FILM4
Wednesday 24th December
Citizen Kane, 09:00, BBC TWO
Meet Me In St. Louis, 13:25, BBC TWO
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, 13:35, ITV1
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, 14:55, BBC ONE
Paddington, 17:30, BBC ONE
Cowboys and Aliens, 18:45, FILM4
Thursday 25th December
Roald Dahl’s Matilda: The Musical, 13:00, BBC ONE
Frozen 2, 15:10, CHANNEL 4
Battle Of The Bulge, 15:10, ITV4
The Devil Wears Prada, 18:50, FILM 4
Jaws, 21:15, BBC TWO
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story (Documentary), 23:15, BBC TWO
When Harry Met Sally, 23:35, BBC ONE
Friday 26th December
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, 15:20, BBC ONE
2001: A Space Odyssey, 15:45, ITV4
Paddington 2, 17:20, BBC ONE
The Great Escape, 16:45, BBC TWO
Moonfall, 18:25, FILM 4
The Great Escaper, 21:30, BBC TWO
Four Weddings And A Funeral, 22:15, BBC ONE
Saturday 27th December
Double Indemnity, 10:05, BBC TWO
Little Women (2019), 11:00, FILM 4
Romancing The Stone, 1:40, FILM 4
Elvis, 19:45, BBC ONE
Unforgiven, 21:00, BBC TWO
Snowpiercer, 21:10, ITV4
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, 23:05, BBC TWO
Sunday 28th December
Chicken Run, 10:15, BBC ONE
One Million Years BC, 16:45, FILM 4
Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle, 18:45, CHANNEL 4
Godzilla VS Kong, 18:45, ITV2
The Godfather, 22:00, BBC TWO
Monday 29th December
Shakespeare In Love, 00:15, BBC ONE
The Worst Person In The World, 1:05, FILM 4
Back To The Future, 14:40, BBC ONE
Rear Window, 16:10, BBC TWO
Gangs Of New York, 22:15, CHANNEL 4
Clueless, 23:00, BBC ONE
Tuesday 30th December
Rocketman, 21:00, CHANNEL 4
See How They Run, 21:00, FILM 4
Last Night In Soho, 22:55, FILM 4
Wednesday 31st December
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, 09:35, BBC ONE
Funny Girl, 10:50, BBC TWO
Steel Magnolias, 12:25, CHANNEL 4
The Black Swan, 14:35, FILM 4
Thursday 1st January
The Straight Story, 12:50, FILM 4
Lawrence of Arabia, 14:35, BBC TWO
The Sound Of Music, 15:15, BBC ONE
Stormbreaker, 17:10, FILM 4
