We pick the Christmas Eve TV highlights including The Madame Blanc Mysteries

Jean (Sally Lindsay) and Dom (Steve Edge) are sitting on the sofa in Jean's house in their pyjamas, opening Christmas presents. Jean has bought Dom an armillary sphere, which he is admiring.
(Image credit: © Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited / Clapperboard Productions)

Here are the Christmas TV highlights for Christmas Eve including The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special and much much more... (we also have a Christmas TV guide with all the shows on over the festive season).

The Madame Blanc Mysteries, Channel 5, 9.15 pm

Patrick (Tony Robinson), Jean (Sally Lindsay), Dom (Steve Edge) and Gloria (Sue Vincent) sit around a table outdoors, toasting with glasses of wine. Each of them is wearing a paper hat from a Christmas cracker, and there is a Christmas dinner on the table in front of them.

(Image credit: © Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited / Clapperboard Productions)

Father-and-son children's entertainers Frederick (Pavel Douglas) and Christian (Philippe Spall) have delighted the kids of Sainte Victoire for many years with their traditional Guignol shows but their performance comes to a premature end this Christmas when Frederick is killed with his own puppet. (It makes sense in context, trust us!) Naturally, this is a perfect case for Jean (Sally Lindsay), who manages to tear herself away from her giddy secret romance with best pal Dom (Steve Edge) to use her unparalleled antiques knowledge to sniff out Frederick’s killer. Meanwhile, Judith (Sue Holderness) receives a distressing message that threatens to ruin her entire Christmas — can her friends save the day?

The Repair Shop at Christmas, BBC One, 8.15 pm

The Repair Shop logo dressed for The Repair Shop At Christmas 2023

(Image credit: BBC/Ricochet/Cody Burridge)

Step into the twinkly repair barn for a feel-good special, as the busy expert elves weave their magic to bring some yuletide treasures back to life. Among the much-loved items is an enchanting miniature Christmas village belonging to foster carers, who have looked after more than 30 children in need of a home. Other festive fixes include a donkey saddle that's been handed down through four generations of farmers, a pair of giant puffins that have welcomed generations of children to a very special bookshop and a 100-year-old magic lantern projector, which has been at the centre of one family’s Christmas Eve tradition for decades. As warming as a log fire and a cup of cocoa…

The Great Christmas Bake Off, Channel 4, 8 pm

The bakers for the The Great British Bake Off Christmas specials 2024

(Image credit: Mark Bourdillon/Love Productions)

’Tis rarely the season to be jolly in the nation's soaps, so it's wonderful to see some famous faces swerve the usual divorce, death and disaster storylines, and grab a joyous break in the twinkly Bake Off tent instead. With no worse than a soggy bottom to worry about, EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy takes on her former screen sibling, Dean Gaffney, as well as Emmerdale’s Chris Bisson and Sheree Murphy and former Corrie star Shobna Gulati. The yule logs prove easy, the meringue Christmas trees are as tricky as they sound and the festive biscuit soap scene showstopper is deliciously amusing. Don’t miss!

Woman of Stone, BBC Two, 10.15 pm

Woman of Stone

(Image credit: BBC/Adorable Media/Rory Mulvey)

Writer E. Nesbit is best known for her children's books, most notably "The Railway Children", but she also wrote ghost stories, and Mark Gatiss has adapted her chilling tale "Man-Size in Marble" for this year's A Ghost Story for Christmas. Set in the 1880s, it centres on troubled newly weds Jack (Eanna Hardwicke) and Laura (Phoebe Horn), who move to a cottage in the country, where their housekeeper Mrs Dorman (Monica Dolan) tells them of a disturbing local legend. On Christmas Eve, a pair of marble knights rise from their slabs in the village church and come back to their old home — the couple's cottage...

See our TV Guide for full listings.

David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!

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