#24 – The 2024 Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special

17 years on from when the first episode aired, Gavin & Stacey finally comes to a close on Christmas Day. Will Smithy (James Corden) say yes to Nessa (Ruth Jones), who went down on one knee at the end of the last Christmas episode? And will we ever find out what happened on the fishing trip?

#23 – How I Met Your Mother series four episode 11

As beautiful as Christmas is in New York, it proves a little tough for Robin (Cobie Smulders) and Marshall (Jason Segel). Both are feeling homesick for their native Canada and Minnesota, respectively. To cheer her up, Marshall takes Robin to a New York bar that reminds him of home. Things go well, until Robin pretends to be Minnesotan and becomes more popular than him. Bonus points for the rendition of Robin Sparkles’s teen pop classic “Let’s Go To The Mall”.

#22 – Every Christmas special of EastEnders

Around yuletide, things never go well for the residents of Walford. Affairs are revealed, people are killed or flats are set on fire. E20 may also be the only postcode in Britain where it’s normal to get married on 25th December. It’s too difficult to choose just one Christmas or Boxing Day special, so have all of them. 

#21 – The 2008 Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special

Ahead of the final episode airing this Christmas Day, relive the beloved sitcom’s first ever festive special. Highlights include an engagement ring in a cigarette packet and the bombshell revelation that Gavin (Matthew Horne) and Stacey (Joanna Page) are moving back to Barry. There’s also the only-slightly-satisfying moment of Dave (Steffan Rhodri) getting punched.

#20 – Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Foul

Colin Farrell may have stunned this year in The Penguin, but this Christmas, there’s a late entry for the best avian performance of the year. Feathers McGraw is making his return to wreak havoc on Wigan’s best human-dog inventor duo in the second ever Wallace & Gromit feature film.

#19 – How I Met Your Mother series six episode 12

“False Positive” sees Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) take it upon himself to fix the lives of all his friends before going into a screening of It’s a Wonderful Life. Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) are ordered to get pregnant, Robin (Cobie Smulders) to take a career-changing job and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) to… get rid of a suit pinstriped with diamonds. Maybe not as lifechanging, but it’s still progress.

#18 – Mr. Robot series four

The fourth series of Mr. Robot takes place at Christmas, but don’t expect it to get schmaltzy. In the world of the hacker thriller, even the most wonderful time of the year is dark. Office parties are cut short by blackmail schemes, the Santas are drunk and the forces of capitalism rage on. We did say it doesn’t get schmaltzy, right?

#17 – Jerry’s Christmas Party in Parks and Recreation

In this Parks and Recreation festive special, Jerry (Jim O’Heir) throws a Christmas party, without the people in the office who usually bully him. Eventually, though, his tormentors discover that they were invited, and just automatically filter any emails from him into spam. A great reminder that even feel-good sitcoms can have a mean streak.

#16 – Bobby Bacala’s stint as Santa in The Sopranos

Where else do you spend Christmas than the back of a pork store run by mobsters?

In one episode of The Sopranos, a few lucky children get to meet Santa, who looks suspiciously similar to mafioso Bobby Bacala in a beard. Bobby (sorry, Father Christmas) isn't a natural with kids, though, leading to the immortal line “fuck you Santa!” Good will to all men indeed.

#15 – Miranda’s Perfect Christmas

Miranda’s perfect Christmas doesn’t involve her mother’s military level organisation, or best Christmas jumper competitions, so she opts to spend the day at her own flat, with Stevie, Tilly and Gary Preston (swoon). But when her presents don’t show up in time, and her friends begin to argue, the prospect of Christmas with mum starts to feel a bit more tempting… Perhaps a lesson to all, that the true meaning of Christmas is getting wound up by your family.  

#14 – Downton Abbey – A Festive Finale

This Christmas special did a lot of heavy lifting, wrapping up six series of high-society drama, and at the same time setting up the movies.

Thankfully, with a drama that has spanned the Titanic, World War One and the suffrage movement, both upstairs and downstairs get their happy endings. After a decade of hardship, valet Mr Bates and Anna have their baby on New Year's Day, and all the characters gather to welcome in 1925 with a chorus of Auld Lang Syne.

#13 – No turkey

One of the most iconic scenes from Peep Show also says a lot about the toxic friendship at its centre. An unsuspecting Jeremy pulls a harmless Christmas prank on Mark, ‘forgetting’ the turkey, only to unleash a thousand years of pent-up rage at his slothfulness. “That wasn’t very Christmassy,” says a now spiritless Jeremy. But watching David Mitchell fly off the handle was and will always be hilarious.

#12 – It’s the Holiday Armadillo!

In a classic costume store mix-up Ross gets landed with an inexplicably well made armadillo costume. Just as The Holiday Armadillo begins to bonds with his son Ben over being half-Jewish, Santa bursts in and steals the limelight.

What initially becomes a tug of war for the child’s attention winds up with Chandler (Santa, if you hadn’t figured that one out) convincing Ben to listen to the non-denominational Armadillo’s tale of Hannukah.

#11 – The Bear's fork fight

The Bear is both loved and hated for its chaos, but even the most ardent fans will have been white-knuckling the notorious ‘Fishes’ episode.

Mrs Berzatto is teetering on the verge of a nervous breakdown as she attempts to cook a ‘Feast of the Seven Fishes’ for her dysfunctional family. Stressful enough – and Jamie Lee Curtis’ performance was so painfully convincing that she won an Emmy for it. But the tension really bubbles over and the forks literally start flying when Michael and Uncle Lee fall out over nothing at the dinner table. What’s it doing in the calendar? Well, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without a family squabble, but hopefully yours doesn’t end with someone crashing a car into the living room.

#10 – Desperate Housewives’ Boom Clap

Holidays never go smoothly on Wisteria Lane, but this one’s a real doozy.

Bree van der Kamp has been having an affair with her best-friend’s ex-husband Karl, who plans to propose to her via aeroplane banner at Wisteria Lane’s Christmas themed street party. Unfortunately for Bree, this means she must tell her current husband. Unfortunately for everyone, the plane is being flown by co-pilots in the midst of a divorce. The plane loses altitude and crashes right into the gingerbread house that Bree and her love rivals are fighting in (because, don’t forget, this is a Christmas episode). For the sake of word count, there have been several deaths, blackmail, and a ‘stabbing’ omitted. But just know they happened. 

#9 – Regional Holiday Music (Community Christmas Special)

The restlessly inventive Community tended to go all out for Christmas. This makes it hard to pick just one special, but Regional Holiday Music just about takes the pudding. When Greendale’s Glee Club needs a stand-in for its upcoming pageant, the study group are slowly brainwashed into participating in a series of hilarious musical numbers pandering to each of their weaknesses. The perfect parody for anyone who finds Christmas or Glee a bit too, well, gleeful. What the hell are “regionals” anyway?

#8 – A Christmas Carol (Doctor Who Christmas special)

Michael Gambon plays a wealthy but miserable businessman who needs to be shown the error of his ways. Instead of getting a visit from three ghosts, the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) is on hand to soften the miserly man’s heart. Oh, and Katherine Jenkins is there singing. 

#7 – A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter

Music. Special guests. Innuendos. Netflix presents a decidedly raunchier take on holiday specials, with a little help from the queen of your For You Page, Sabrina Carpenter.

She’ll be duetting with the likes of Chappell Roan, Tyla and Shania Twain, all in a special programme blending music, comedy and winding up middle aged men.

#6 – Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire

The first full length episode of The Simpsons is a Christmas special. Money for presents is tight, but just when all hope seems lost, Homer (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) bets on a greyhound and… loses everything. Bart (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) implores him to adopt the dog to save it from a furious owner, and so Santa’s Little Helper comes into the Simpsons’ lives.

#5 – Black Doves

Just what Christmas needed: murder.

Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw star in this anti-Christmas tale of spies trying to get to the bottom of a mystery, one gunfight at a time. Look out as well for a steely Sarah Lancashire and a – brace yourself – beardless Adeel Akhtar.

#4 – The BoJack Horseman Christmas Special

In animated comedy-drama’s reliably sardonic festival special, Todd (voiced by Aaron Paul) is determined to spread Christmas cheer to a supremely reluctant BoJack (voiced by Will Arnett). The two settle on watching a Christmas special from BoJack’s old sitcom Horsin’ Around. Sort of like the play within a play from Hamlet, but with a gag reel.  

​#3 – The Doctor sword fighting in his pyjamas in Doctor Who

David Tennant’s first full-length episode of Doctor Who was the 2005 Christmas special. His first outing as the Doctor saw him foil an alien invasion by, naturally, battering their leader in a sword fight. This takes place mere minutes after the Doctor regains consciousness post-regeneration, meaning he’s in his dressing gown. Don’t question it. Just go with it.

#2 – Del Boy and Rodney ruining a wake in Only Fools and Horses

Of the classic sitcom’s 16 Christmas specials, “Heroes and Villains” is by far the most memorable. Del Boy (David Jason) and Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) arrive at what they think is a fancy dress party kitted out as Batman and Robin, only to find everyone looking sombre in black tie. What a couple of plonkers.

#1 – The Snowman

Everything about this 1982 classic works. The music. The animation. Your dad trying to explain at the start who David Bowie is. It still holds up today, making it the perfect film to kick off Advent, when even the biggest Scrooge has to admit, finally, that it’s Christmas.