Festive films and Christmas favourites to get you in the festive mood
Zootropolis
Saturday Christmas Eve, 6.00pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
One of the sharpest animated movies for years, this shows just how much Disney has learned from Pixar (the company they own) about how to make a high-end family movie.
Set in a world where predators and prey have set aside their differences to live together, this follows the story of Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin), the first rabbit cop in the city of Zootropolis.
She becomes involved with a wisecracking fox, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), and together they uncover a huge conspiracy.
The jokes aim for adults as well as kids and have bullseye precision, while the animation is simply stunning. A cracker!
Birds of a Feather
Saturday Christmas Eve, 8.00pm, ITV
Hold on to your suitcases! Birds is going abroad for the first time in 18 years for this jolly special.
Tracey, Sharon and Dorien jet off to Morocco in search of Tracey’s son Travis, who’s gone missing on his gap year. Cue a fun caper packed with stunts, mishaps and mayhem plus the welcome reappearance of Vince (Martin Kemp), last seen romping with Dorien in the back of a hearse at Darryl’s funeral!
Will the ladies find Travis, and get back to Chigwell by Christmas?
Gogglesprogs
Saturday Christmas Eve, 8.00pm, C4
Welcome back, Gogglesprogs, we’ve missed you!
The junior version of Gogglebox returns for a Christmas special, looking back at the US presidential election as well as some festive films and programmes including Strictly Come Dancing and Planet Earth II.
If you want to watch something that will give you a warm glow this Christmas, then look no further than the wise and wonderful sayings of this little lot.
David Walliams Celebrates Dame Shirley Bassey
Saturday Christmas Eve, 9.00pm, BBC1
Dame Shirley Bassey turns 80 in January and to celebrate she joins friend and fan David Walliams for a chat about her life in showbiz.
She shares fantastic stories about meeting JFK and Elvis in the 1960s, her 1970s TV specials, and conversations with the Queen over the years, plus there are fun sketches with David. And, of course, Shirley belts out a few of her classic songs, plus a performance with vocal trio Blake that ends up gate-crashed by David.
Plenty of glitz and sparkle for Christmas Eve!
Grantchester
Saturday Christmas Eve, 9.00pm, ITV
Christmas is a busy time for any vicar, but when the love of your life is living round the corner, pregnant with another man’s child, it’s difficult to get into the spirit of the season.
Luckily for Sidney, Geordie is on hand with a murder to investigate. Alarm bells ring when a groom doesn’t turn up to his wedding, and when his body is found, Geordie is reminded of an unsolved case.
It’s not doom and gloom for us viewers though: the village of Grantchester is pretty as a picture, James Norton and Robson Green are on superb form and Leonard’s ambitious nativity play is sure to raise a few smiles.
And with Amanda heavily pregnant, it looks like there might be a Christmas baby on the way…
