What to watch this Christmas: films and TV to look out for

Children

On Angel Wings (BBC One, Christmas Eve, 4.15pm) is an animated version of the Nativity based on a book by Michael Morpurgo, with a voice cast that includes Michael Gambon, Juliet Stevenson, Dominic Cooper and Colin McFarlane. A little shepherd boy meets the Angel Gabriel and travels to Bethlehem to meet the newborn king, Jesus.

Harry Hill has been off our screens for far too long. He’s back making his acting debut on TV in The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm (BBC One, Christmas Eve, 8.30pm). He plays the absent-minded inventor oblivious to the chaos his harebrained creations cause. A giddy comedy written by Charlie Higson, based on the classic children’s books by Norman Hunter.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 4

David Walliams's books Gangsta Granny and Mr Stink were huge successes. The Boy in the Dress (above) (BBC One, St Stephen's Day, 6.55pm)

looks just as much fun. It’s the story of Dennis, a 12-year-old who lives in an ordinary house, in an ordinary town, but feels different from other people. When he sees Kate Moss on the cover of a fashion magazine it opens up a world of colour and creativity. Watch out for a cameo appearance by the supermodel.

Comedy

In Lee Mack’s Not Going Out Christmas Special (BBC One, Christmas Eve, 9.30pm)

there’s a wild night out on the town with disastrous consequences, involving a traffic cone, arm-wrestling on a zebra crossing and slow-dancing to a Whitney Houston classic.

The sitcom Birds of a Feather (UTV, St Stephen’s Day, 9pm) ran for nine years in the 1980s and 1990s. It’s back with the same trio – older, wiser and, with luck, as funny – of Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph. It’s an opener to a new series that starts in January.

Documentary

Earlier this year, in the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?, we saw Julie Walters trace her roots in Ireland. Julie Walters: A Life On Screen (BBC Two, Christmas Eve, 9.30pm)

follows the actor and comedian from her beginnings to her film roles.

Roger Corman i gConamara (TG4, St Stephens Day, 11.15pm) tells the improbable story of how the cult B-movie maker Roger Corman set up his Concorde Anois Teo studio in Connemara in the 1990s and made nearly 20 corny, schlocky, low-budget movies in the west. The tales of movie mayhem are legendary.

Music

Hard to believe now, but for decades Top of the Pops Christmas Special (BBC One, Christmas Day, 2pm)

was a highlight: we could finally find out who was number one. This one-hour special includes Ed Sheeran, Take That, George Ezra, Sigma, Rixton and Ella Henderson. And the Christmas number one – not that most people are too bothered about that now.

That Day We Sang (BBC Two, St Stephen’s Day, 9pm), a musical set in Manchester in 1969, is written and directed by Victoria Wood, so expect charm, humour and giant servings of nostalgia. It’s the story of Tubby (Michael Ball) and Enid (Imelda Staunton), two lonely middle-aged people who grab a second chance at life, reconnected by the power of music.

Liam Clancy, Mo Chara (TG4, Christmas Day, 8.10pm) goes beyond the familiar image of the Aran jumper and cap as it charts the life and musical times of one of our most renowned musicians.

If you didn't love Ed Sheeran before the gorgeous moment on The Late Late Toy Show when he surprised, and sang with, a young fan, then you certainly do now. In Ed Sheeran Close Up (RTÉ2, Christmas Day, 6pm)

the singer chats to Eoghan McDermott, with clips from his RTÉ 2FM concert.

Another moment from The Late Late Toy Show was when Ryan Tubridy met Niall Horan of One Direction. It looked a little awkward, so perhaps When Ryan Met Niall (RTÉ One, Thursday, 7.25pm)

is one for the boy band’s legion of fans, as Tubridy catches up with the singer midway through their sold-out stadium tour.

Drama

The big Christmas drama has taken over from the big Christmas movie: the viewing figures prove it’s a formula that works. This year’s line-up is identical to last year’s. There’s the doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) facing their final – very chilly – Christmas in Doctor Who: Last Christmas (BBC One, Christmas Day, 6.15pm). The pair are trapped on an Arctic base under attack from terrifying creatures. Who are you going to call? The original Christmas hero, Santa Claus (Nick Frost).

Call the Midwife (BBC One, Christmas Day, 7.50pm) is back with its regular deliveries of nostalgia, warm characters, chilly 1950s poverty and, of course, babies. Starring Miranda Harte and, in a cameo, Vanessa Redgrave, who plays Jennifer Worth, the writer on whose experiences the drama is based.

A bit like sprouts, it may be traditional, but Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special (RTÉ One, Christmas Day, 10pm; BBC One, 10.05pm)

isn’t to everyone’s taste. It’s the usual mayhem in the Brown household, with the potty-mouthed matriarch at the centre of it all and a giant talking Christmas tree in the corner. As sex toys are the source of most of the gags, it may not be one for all the family.

In the Downton Abbey Christmas Special (UTV, Christmas Day, 9pm; TV3, St Stephen’s Day, 9pm)

the action moves to an even grander house than the Grantham family’s digs, as they decamp in all their finery to Rose’s magnificently disapproving nouveau in-laws, who have rented Brancaster Castle, in Northumberland, for a shooting party. The servants are still at Downton, and there is tension over whether Anna will end up behind bars forever.

Religion

St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford has risen, magnificently, from the ashes after being destroyed by fire in 2009. The Most Rev Colm O’Reilly, retired bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, celebrates Midnight Mass (RTÉ One, Christmas Eve, 11.10pm)

from there, plus Mass the following morning, in Mass for Christmas Day (RTÉ One, 10am). Live coverage of Urbi et Orbi (RTÉ One, Christmas Day, 11am), Pope Francis’s Christmas message from St Peter’s Square in Rome, comes with English translation and commentary by Fr Thomas McCarthy. It is followed by Christmas Eucharist (RTÉ One, 11.30am), with Canon Susan Green leading the service, with prayers, readings and carols from the pupils and staff of Kilkenny College.

In A Christmas Message from the Archbishops of Armagh (RTÉ One, Christmas Day, 12.15pm) Archbishops Richard Clarke and Eamon Martin share their thoughts and prayers for the season.

The list of carol services includes the perennial favourite Carols from King’s (BBC Two, Christmas Eve, 5.25pm),

from the candlelit splendour of King's College Chapel in Cambridge. As in 1954, the programme begins as a solo chorister sings the first verse of Once in Royal David's City. Then there's Christmas Carols (UTV, Christmas Eve, 11pm), with Aled Jones joining the congregation of St Mary's Church in Prestwich, Manchester, for its traditional service.