It wouldn't be Christmas Eve without some traditional spooky ghost stories. If you're of the faint of heart, fear not, Bradley Walsh and his son Barney are on hand to provide some laughs and adventure, or the veterinary gang at Skedale House are hosting a Christmas Party in All Creatures Great and Small.
The Amazing Mr. Blunden
Sky Max, 7pm
Mark Gatiss’ adaptation provides a modern twist on Antonia Barber’s 1969 fantasy novel The Ghosts, with London teenagers Lucy (Tsion Habte) and Jamie (Jason Rennie) uncovering a supernatural Christmas adventure when a mysterious old man, Mr Blunden (Simon Callow), offers their mother a caretaker role at a decrepit country house believed to be haunted.
When the siblings encounter a couple of ghostly children in the neglected grounds of the house, they soon discover that the pair have travelled forward in time to seek help from the wicked Mr and Mrs Wickens (Mark Gatiss and Tamsin Greig), who they believe are trying to murder them. As the mystery unfolds, Lucy and Jamie’s strange visitor Mr Blunden seems to be the key to it all.
All Creatures Great and Small
Channel 5, 9pm
The residents of Skeldale House are preparing for their holidays, but a mix-up between newly engaged couple James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph) and Helen Alderson (Rachel Shenton) leaves them with no concrete plans on where to spend Christmas day.
Siegfried (Samuel West) hosts a Christmas Eve party, but the vets become preoccupied when Tricki, the dog of Mrs Pumphrey (Patricia Hodge), gets worryingly ill.
Bradley and Barney: Breaking Dad at Christmas
ITV, 9pm
Actor Bradley Walsh and his 24-year-old son Barney are up to snow good as they head to Iceland for a freezing trip involving snowmobiling, winter sports, glacier climbing and a dip in a geothermal pool.
A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Mezzotint
BBC Two, 10:30pm
Mark Gatiss offers up another spooky tale on Christmas Eve with this adaptation of MR James’ supernatural story set in 1922. Rory Kinnear (Years and Years) stars as Dr Edward Williams, the curator of a university art museum who receives an engraving of an unidentified country house for his college’s collection.
However, each time he or his colleagues gaze at the picture, the image changes slightly. Ultimately, the disturbing backstory of the house is revealed through the shape shifting engraving.
Robert Bathurst (Cold Feet) stars as Garwood, with Nikesh Patel (Starstruck) playing Nisbet and Frances Barber (Whitstable Pearl) playing Mrs Ambrigail.
