Whilst some call it the most wonderful time of the year, for television junkies like us, Christmas is certainly one of the most packed time of the year! Along with a host of Christmas specials from your favourite tv series, Christmas 2019 includes a stack of great one-off dramas, along with new and returning seasons of some brilliant shows. This is our highlight list of upcoming tv for the 2019 festive period. You can also click here for the full list of Christmas UK TV Premiere Dates in 2019.
Christmas Specials In 2019
As with every festive season, there is a huge selection of Christmas versions of your favourite shows. Over on Sky One, we have ‘A League of Their Own’s Christmas Special’ on Thursday, 19th December 2019 at 9pm, which sees the boys get into the festive spirit, or you can party with Idris Elba as the ‘In the Long Run: Christmas Special’ on Friday, 20th December 2019 at 10pm. If you’re a fan of Romesh Ranganathan, you can see him in the return of ‘Romesh’s Look Back to the Future’, on Tuesday, 17th December 2019 at 9pm, where a comedy panel predicted what would happen in 2019, and again in ‘The Reluctant Landlord Christmas Special’ which premieres on Monday, 23rd December 2019 at 10pm.
Over on Channel 4, you can prep for your feasting with ‘Jamie’s Easy Christmas Countdown’ on Sunday, 15 December 2019 at 8pm, and you can settle down on Christmas Day with ‘The Great Christmas Bake Off’ at 7:10pm. And no festive period would be complete without the return of the ‘Big Fat Quiz of the Year’, which airs Boxing Day at 9pm.
BBC One has a selection of Christmas comedy treats, including the ‘Still Open All Hours Christmas Special’ on Monday, 23rd December 2019 at 8.30pm, ‘Not Going Out: Driving Home For Christmas’ on Christmas Eve at 10pm, along with ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ Christmas Special on Christmas Day at 10.30pm and her New Year’s Special on New Year’s Day at 10.30pm. If you want drama, ‘Call The Midwife’ will return for a special on Christmas Day at 7pm, as a bout of influenza sweeps through Nonnatus House, or for some entertainment, you have ‘Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special’ at 4.40pm Christmas Day, followed by ‘Michael McIntyre’s Big Christmas Show’ at 6pm. Finally, after 10yrs off our screens, we have the return of ‘Gavin & Stacey’ in a Christmas Special airing Christmas Day at 8.30pm.
Christmas One-Off Comedy, Drama, & Children’s Viewing In 2019
For younger viewers on BBC One, ‘The Snail And The Whale’ animated adaptation of the book by the creators of ‘The Gruffalo’ airs 2.30pm on Christmas Day, and ‘Mimi And The Mountain Dragon’, based on Sir Michael Morpurgo’s children’s book, airs 3.20pm on Boxing Day. Channel 4 also has animated fare for younger viewers, with their adaptation of Judith Kerr’s ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’ which premieres Christmas Eve at 7.30pm. In live-action, Mackenzie Crook’s adaptation of the Barbara Euphan Todd novels, ‘Worzel Gummidge: The Scarecrow Of Scatterbrook’, premieres Boxing Day at 6.30pm.
Over on Sky One, David Walliams stars as Prince Charming and Sian Gibson as Cinderella in ‘Cinderella: After Ever After’, where Cinders soon has a rude awakening when she realises married life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, which premieres Christmas Eve at 8pm.
On BBC One, Guy Pearce takes the role of Scrooge in an all-star version of ‘A Christmas Carol’, from ‘Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight, which premieres over three nights, beginning Sunday, 22nd December at 9pm. If you like Christmas ghost stories, you could also check out ‘Martin’s Close’ on BBC Four at 10pm on Christmas Eve, which sees Peter Capaldi star in an adaptation of M.R. James’ chilling short story.
New & Returning TV Series Starting Over Christmas 2019
Whilst the festive period is a time for lots of Christmas-related shows, that hasn’t stopped the launch of a number of new and returning tv series too! One of the biggest is the much anticipated ‘Dracula‘ from ‘Sherlock’ creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat which premieres New Years Day at 9pm on BBC One. The other major BBC show returning is, of course, ‘Doctor Who‘ Season 12, which sees Jodie Whittaker back charge of the TARDIS as Thirteenth Doctor, also on New Years Day at 6:55pm.
Over on Netflix, they are determined to keep you glued to the sofa over Christmas, launching one new and two returning dramas. New drama ‘The Witcher‘ Season 1, which sees Henry Cavill as monster hunter Geralt of Rivia, premieres Friday, 20th December 2019. Once you have binged that, on Christmas Eve, you can move onto Season 2 of ‘Lost In Space‘. Then on Boxing Day, psychological thriller ‘YOU’ also returns for its 2nd Season.
Over on Sky One, the Moomins return in ‘Moominvalley‘ Season 2, which premieres Saturday, 21st December 2019 at 2pm. Then, on Sunday, 29th December 2019, ‘Magnum PI‘ Season 2, ‘NCIS: Los Angeles‘ Season 11 and ‘Hawaii Five-O‘ Season 10 all return from 8pm to 10pm.
This is just a small selection of the masses of television on in the UK over Christmas, but for a full list of the Christmas 2019 TV Shows, click here. Of course, for all the regular UK TV Premiere Dates, you can check out the list here.
