Your Christmas TV Guide: Julia Donaldson’s Tabby McTat tops invoice

Julia Donaldson’s bittersweet story about busking cats involves life…  

Tabby McTat

Christmas Day, 2.35pm, BBC1

Julia Donaldson’s kids’s tales have change into Christmas Day staples on BBC1 – and this 12 months’s tells the bestselling writer’s most private story but. 

It’s the deceptively easy story of busker’s cat Tabby McTat who will get parted from his beloved proprietor, but it surely echoes the story of each human rising up, torn between their mother and father and shifting on. 

And it is significantly private for Julia as a result of she met her husband Malcolm after they had been buskers and it was written in the dead of night interval after their son Hamish, who had schizoaffective dysfunction, took his personal life aged 25.

One day, after Tabby flirts with one other feline, his proprietor Fred, a busker, has a fall and leads to hospital. The pair, who sing collectively, are parted, and by the point they’re reunited Tabby has change into a dad. 

‘It’s a basic story of somebody being separated from their dad or mum, discovering the dad or mum once more, however coming to the tough realisation that issues have moved on,’ says Rob Brydon, who’s starred in each adaptation of Julia’s books and voices Fred on this brief movie. Tabby is voiced by Gangs Of London‘s Sope Dirisu, and their single The Tabby McTat Song is now accessible to obtain for charity.

Former Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker is the narrator. ‘There are massive themes within the movie – there is a sense that one thing that seems like a loss is usually a acquire,’ she says. 

‘There’s a lot heat and celebration of household in it, however there are additionally moments of worry and grief. It’s a tear-jerker for certain.’

Certainly the ending just isn’t what you would possibly guess. ‘It’s a couple of character who has two totally different lives that may’t co-exist,’ says Julia. 

‘With most image books you recognize what the principal needs and the place they are going to find yourself however on this one there may be extra uncertainty. But I feel there are in all probability numerous kids who do must make selections and are torn; there will likely be kids whose mother and father are separated they usually’re torn between two properties. 

‘I feel that is one thing they are going to relate to.’

But Tabby can also be a nod to the completely satisfied occasions Julia shared with Malcolm. ‘We’d pay for each vacation by busking,’ she remembers. 

‘We’d camp or keep someplace low cost and earn sufficient to dwell by singing. We’d spend the morning practising, swimming, sightseeing and within the evenings we might go busking. 

‘It was a superb method to make buddies. At one level we bought paid to carry out an everyday slot on the Lido in Venice.’

Both Julia and her illustrator Axel Scheffler personal cats and the story faucets into that friendship between people and felines. ‘I’ve two, Tabitha and McTat, they usually blow cold and warm,’ says Julia. 

‘I really feel they are much nicer to guests.’

The cats had been each born on Boxing Day final 12 months and so will probably be a double celebration within the Donaldson family. But will the household be tuning into Tabby McTat? 

‘My youngsters and grandkids aren’t with us this Christmas so we’ll be having a grown-up one,’ says Julia. ‘But we’ll nonetheless watch Tabby, in fact.’

Nolly 

Wednesday 27-Friday 29 December, 9pm, ITV1

Russell T Davies’s bighearted tribute to Crossroads star Noele ‘Nolly’ Gordon includes a implausible efficiency by Helena Bonham Carter because the actress who was dubbed the ‘Queen of the Midlands’ throughout the peak of her Nineteen Seventies fame.

Strictly Come Dancing Christmas particular

Christmas Day, 4.40pm, BBC1

BBC Breakfast’s Sally Nugent and rugby participant Danny Cipriani are among the many celebs taking to the ground for a festive feast of dance. It’s hosted by Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly.

Mog’s Christmas 

Christmas Eve, 7.45pm, Channel 4 

Judith Kerr’s cheeky cat is the star of this charming animation that includes the voices of Claire Foy and Benedict Cumberbatch. 

Imagine… French and Saunders 

Wednesday 27 December, 10.30pm, BBC1 

An completely fabulous profile of Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French, one in all our most profitable double acts of the final 40 years. As presenter Alan Yentob finds, theirs is a model of comedy based mostly on satire, silliness and, above all, a agency friendship. 

Murder Is Easy 

Wednesday 27-Thursday 28 December, 9pm, BBC1 

In this splendid two-part Agatha Christie adaptation, Penelope Wilton is the aged Miss Pinkerton, who’s satisfied there is a killer on the unfastened in her quiet village. 

Ghosts Christmas particular 

Christmas Day, 7.45pm, BBC1 

This is it then, the ultimate ever episode of the spectral comedy, and it is a Christmas cracker. Mike’s mum Betty has come to remain and she or he quickly suspects there’s one thing terribly incorrect at Button House. 

But when she decides to make the home protected, she endangers the existence of the ghostly residents… 

Toy Story 4 

Christmas Day, 3.10pm, BBC1 

Woody, Buzz and the remainder of the gang are again for one more pleasurable journey, but it surely’s new boy Forky who steals the present.

Christmas with Katherine Jenkins

Saturday 23 December, 7.10pm, BBC2

A heartwarming vacation particular with the Welsh marvel – formally the UK’s biggest-selling classical artist of the century – filmed final month at Swansea Arena. Katherine will kindle the festive spirit with carols, duets and company together with singer Jack Savoretti, Wynne Evans from the Go Compare adverts, pianist Chloe Flower and actor Michael Sheen. 

She additionally visits individuals and locations near her coronary heart akin to Cardiff’s Royal Marines to honour her position as a supporter of the Armed Forces and Swansea’s Ty Olwen Hospice, the place her father handed away when she was 15.

Mica Paris: A Gospel Christmas

Saturday 23 December, 8pm, Sky Arts

If you’ve got had your fill of Christmas pop songs on limitless loop within the outlets, strive some vacation classics by Britain’s personal queen of soul Mica Paris. This live performance was held at St Alfege Church in London’s Greenwich and includes a gospel choir with a four-piece band and showcases Mica’s gorgeous voice on a mixture of gospel classics and festive favourites together with I’ll Be Home For Christmas and O Holy Night.

The Weakest Link Christmas particular 

Saturday 23 December, 8.10pm, BBC1 

Romesh Ranganathan hosts a vacation version of the quickfire quiz through which contestants heartlessly vote one another off. Celebrities in panto costume competing for charity embody The One Show’s Alex Jones, Loose Woman Coleen Nolan and comic Dane Baptiste. 

Ranganathan shows a attribute lack of Christmas spirit as he chastises the contestants for his or her errors – a refreshing antidote to the extra syrupy festive specials.

Blankety Blank Christmas particular 

Saturday 23 December, 9pm, BBC1 

Host Bradley Walsh is serenaded onto the stage by a Christmas choir on this particular as he welcomes superstar panellists Brian Blessed, Rob Beckett, Ainsley Harriott, AJ Odudu, Katherine Ryan and Gemma Collins. Winning contestants famously obtain paltry prizes so the stakes are low, and which means Bradley and company can lark about with cheery banter – it is like a raucous Christmas get together after just a few sherries.

The Hills Are Alive with the Kanneh-Masons 

Christmas Eve, 5.40pm, BBC2

What do Dr Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason and her husband Stuart have in frequent with Captain Von Trapp? Seven musically gifted kids, that is what, and that similarity serves because the raison d’etre for this second Christmas documentary with the exceptional household of virtuosos. 

The Kanneh-Mason kids grew up watching The Sound Of Music each Christmas, and right here they make a journey to Salzburg, Austria, with their mother and father to go to the film’s gorgeous areas and carry out their very own preparations of songs from the soundtrack.

James Martin’s Christmas Day

Christmas Day, 12noon, ITV1

The Saturday Morning chef invitations a number of superstar buddies and cooks to his house for a celebration of meals with a musical finale. Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham, Denise Van Outen and pianist Alexis Ffrench take pleasure in his prawn cocktail, roast hen, salmon mousse and the last word Christmas cheese board whereas cooks Galton Blackiston and Paul Ainsworth whip up particular dishes.

Michael McIntyre’s Christmas Wheel

Christmas Day, 6.50pm, BBC1

The celebrities on this particular version of the sport present are all ‘consultants’ on vacation themes: Carol Vorderman (so named as a result of her birthday is on Christmas Eve) takes on (what else?) carols, Nigel Havers is on pantos, Aled Jones on The Snowman and DJ Scott Mills on Christmas pop hits. The contestants are stars too, with Nicole Scherzinger, Peter Crouch and Rylan Clark making an attempt to win cash for charity.

Ant and Dec Present: Murder at Bigwig Manor

Saturday 30 December, 5.05pm, ITV1

The homicide thriller spoof proven in five-minute bursts this 12 months on Saturday Night Takeaway has been stitched collectively into one present. Ant and Dec go to the house of a TV bigwig (One Foot In The Grave’s Richard Wilson) to audition as hosts for his sport present, solely to search out different stars already there together with Davina McCall and Dermot O’Leary. 

When they begin dying, it is as much as Ant and Dec to determine whodunnit.

The Festive Pottery Throw Down

Christmas Day, 7.30pm, Ch4 

Four celebrities get caught into claybased competitors on this particular hosted by Derry Girls’ Siobhan McSweeney. Actor and comic Hugh Dennis, stand-up Sophie Duker and TV presenters Alice Levine and Joe Swash all obtain fundamental coaching earlier than diving into the problem of making Christmas chook homes and as many meals bowls as they’ll in 25 minutes.

One of them seems to be a pure, and choose Keith Brymer Jones wells up as common. 

Ricky Tomlinson Remembers… The Royle Family 

Christmas Day, 9pm, BBC2 

Caroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy 

Christmas Day, 10.25pm, BBC2 

BBC2 devotes the night to the genius of the late Caroline Aherne with two new programmes and repeats of her best-loved exhibits. Ricky Tomlinson takes a fond look again at his time working with the gifted comedy author and performer in The Royle Family, which she co-wrote with Craig Cash. 

Then an Arena particular traces her journey from childhood in Manchester to the highest of the comedy tree, with a raft of her starry friends singing her praises. 

A magical midwife miracle: There’s a double bundle of pleasure for one fortunate mom on this 12 months’s tear-jerking particular

Call the Midwife Christmas particular 

Christmas Day, 8.15pm, BBC1 

Call The Midwife has change into such a beloved staple of the Christmas Day schedules that some issues are assured: Fred will gown up as Santa, snow will fall, there will be plenty of infants, a touch of heartache – and viewers will find yourself weeping, usually greater than as soon as. And this 12 months will probably be no totally different because the BBC’s standard interval drama, which pulled in 7.8 million viewers with its festive episode final 12 months, reaches the top of 1968 and there are new challenges to face in addition to previous ones. 

The motion begins just a few weeks earlier than Christmas when the world is watching the Apollo 8 rocket launch, mankind’s first journey to the Moon. Meanwhile we see how technological advances have impacted the East London neighborhood when a girl who’d struggled to conceive lastly does so due to new fertility medicine. 

‘There’s an exploration of a brand new remedy for fertility and in consequence a mom is anticipating twins, which is fantastic,’ says Jenny Agutter, who performs Sister Julienne. ‘The start occurs somewhat excitingly in an ambulance, and it was fairly one thing to movie. 

‘We’ve generally been away to totally different locations for Christmas however I feel there’s one thing particular about telling the tales of the local people and how everybody weaves collectively. And it is beautiful for us understanding individuals are watching us over Christmas.’ 

Trixie, in the meantime, is having fun with her first Christmas as a newlywed, along with her brother Geoffrey (Christopher Harper) making a shock look. ‘Christmas and Geoffrey simply go collectively very well,’ says Helen George who performs Trixie. 

‘It’s a really particular time for all of them because it’s the primary time they’ve actually come collectively as a household unit.’ 

Family is on the coronary heart of most of the tales. For the Turners there’s the problem of a number of animals being placed on the kids’s Santa lists, whereas Nurse Nancy Corrigan and her daughter Colette transfer into their first house collectively – inside Nonnatus House. 

‘The second we filmed Colette and Nancy seeing their flat was truly the primary time the 2 of us noticed it, so that you get that actual stunned look on our faces,’ says Megan Cusack, who performs Nancy. ‘It was a really candy second – beautiful.’ 

But change is not all the time for the higher. In one of many more durable storylines Nurse Lucille’s husband Cyril befriends a proud man who all of a sudden finds himself homeless when slum clearance work will get underway. 

‘What Cyril sees rocks his world,’ says actor Zephryn Taitte of his character. ‘People are shedding their properties and these aren’t waifs and strays – they’ve contributed to society, to the struggle effort. 

‘It’s exhausting for Cyril to see what’s occurring up shut. He needs to have the ability to repair it regardless that he cannot do a lot.’ 

The miracle of childbirth, the marvel of modernity, the grime of city poverty – Call The Midwife has them multi function completely wrapped Christmas package deal.

Beyond Paradise Christmas particular

Christmas Eve, 9pm, BBC1

The Death In Paradise spin-off was one of many UK’s most profitable drama launches of 2023 and followers are in for an additional deal with with this particular, through which Kris Marshall as DI Humphrey Goodman investigates a spate of weird burglaries with an surprising connection. Sally Bretton returns as Humphrey’s girlfriend Martha and the 2 are seen getting nearer than ever. 

Could or not it’s time for them to lastly tie the knot? Vicar Of Dibley legend James Fleet visitor stars within the cosy crime thriller which guarantees a really particular seasonal story.

Vera

Boxing Day, 8pm, ITV1

A feature-length episode of one of many nation’s hottest crime dramas, this case takes indomitable DCI Vera Stanhope to the tidal holy island of Lindisfarne. A gaggle of lifelong buddies reunites there each 5 years however when one in all them is discovered useless, Vera rapidly discovers the crime is related to the group’s first reunion. 

This is the ultimate outing for Vera’s sidekick DS Aiden Healy (Kenny Doughty), and likewise one which places her in actual hazard. ‘She will get afraid for herself,’ says Brenda Blethyn, who performs Vera. 

‘But she is aware of the worth of the worry and the way far to go when it comes to the danger to her.’

The Castaways

Boxing Day, Paramount+

Celine Buckens and Sheridan Smith play sisters Erin and Lori on this thrilling new five-part thriller. On their method to a particular vacation they row and get separated, with Lori boarding a flight to Fiji on her personal. 

But the aircraft by no means arrives there. Months later, with the whereabouts of the aircraft nonetheless unknown, Erin is shocked to study that Lori’s bank card has been used, with CCTV footage exhibiting the person was the doomed flight’s pilot. 

Over two timelines, we slowly uncover what has occurred to Lori as Erin desperately tries to search out her.

Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy

Wednesday 27-Thursday 28 December, 9pm, BBC1

Industry’s David Jonsson stars as Luke Fitzwilliam, a navy attaché newly arrived in England from Nigeria to take up a job in Whitehall on this sensible retelling of Agatha Christie’s 1939 novel, now set in 1954 and given a contemporary twist. His world is upended when he meets Miss Pinkerton (Penelope Wilton) on a prepare, and she or he tells him she’s on her method to Scotland Yard as a result of a killer is on the unfastened in her village and nobody regionally is keen to analyze. 

Fitzwilliam decides he should discover the killer earlier than they strike once more. Douglas Henshall and Tamzin Outhwaite additionally star.

Only Fools and Horses: Greatest Christmas Moments

Christmas Eve, 9pm, Channel 5

Weekend readers voted it the best present of all time in our current ballot, and right here Del Boy himself, Sir David Jason, reveals his favorite festive episode. He’ll additionally share why a match of giggles value the BBC a packet, and the way a bathe cap impressed one of many sitcom’s most iconic scenes.

Ricky Gervais: Armageddon

Christmas Day, Netflix

The funnyman’s newest tour bought out 85 venues and introduced in a box-office return of greater than £25 million. This efficiency recorded at The London Palladium sees Ricky (proper) expressing opinions on the evolution of mankind, oversensitivity, political correctness, funerals, synthetic intelligence, snails and household weddings.

Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas particular

Christmas Day, 10.45pm, BBC1

Mrs Brown’s Boys New Year particular 

New Year’s Day, 10pm, BBC1

Brendan O’Carroll performs Agnes Brown, who, within the festive particular, is determined for a quiet Christmas however is unlikely to get it. The New Year episode sees a mysterious customer arriving in her clan’s house city.

Ronnie Corbett: My 30 Funniest Moments

Boxing Day, 8pm, Channel 5

Celebrate the life and profession of the well-loved star, who died in 2016, with this two-hour particular. Ronnie’s profession spanned six a long time so there’s loads of hilarious materials to mine, together with movie roles, Sixties satirical sketches, sitcom Sorry!, quite a few panel exhibits and, in fact, The Two Ronnies. 

It will likely be a very good evening with him…

Alan Carr: Regional Trinket

Saturday 30 December, 9pm, Sky Comedy

Lockdown wasn’t the happiest interval in Alan’s life – he was caught on a farm and placed on three stone – however he capitalised on the expertise in a smash-hit world tour. Brilliant anecdotes embody reminiscences of the comic’s star-studded wedding ceremony in singer Adele’s backyard.

Go wild in Santa’s again backyard: Meet the wildlife thriving within the magical Nordic far north

Wild Scandinavia

New Year’s Eve, 8.25pm, New Year’s Day-Tuesday 2 January, 9pm,BBC2 

Reindeer sure via snowy forests in the hunt for tasty lichen. Puffins combat on frosty cliffs for one of the best nesting websites. Tiny wolf spiders tip-toe via sizzling springs. 

These are simply a number of the enchanting sights on supply in Wild Scandinavia, BBC2’s three-part festive season wildlife deal with. ‘We’re exhibiting you the pure historical past of Santa Claus’s again backyard,’ says producer Tuppence Stone. 

‘The sequence incorporates a beautiful wintry dose of lovely animals surviving within the snow and even exploiting it.’ 

Narrated by Mission: Impossible actress Rebecca Ferguson, who’s Swedish, the sequence seems at each wildlife and human tales from the Nordic international locations. So we meet all kinds, from a girl who basejumps off mountains in Norway to fulfill her ‘friluftsliv’, or love of the out of doors life, to a male lynx, Europe’s greatest cat, that roams as much as 30 miles a day to go away its scent on bushes within the hope of attracting a accomplice. 

The brutal climate usually hampered the shoot. Crew who ventured to the distant Norwegian island of Hornoya to movie a number of the 80,000 seabirds that breed there have been snowed in by a blizzard. 

Eventually, the climate cleared and the crew captured gorgeous footage of puffins. ‘Puffins combat to find out who wins one of the best breeding burrows beneath the cliffs,’ explains Tuppence. 

‘I requested our scientist, ‘Do the ladies combat too?’ She mentioned they did not know, so we checked out our footage and located a puffin in a combat with a hoop ID that recognized her as a feminine. So we proved females participate within the fights.’ 

Another first was filming wolf spiders surviving Iceland’s -20°C winters. Experts weren’t certain if they’re dormant in winter, however the filmmakers bought the first-ever magical footage of those tiny spiders trying to find prey within the chilly months by tip-toeing via volcanic sizzling springs. 

Big or small, these creatures all reside in an surroundings that retains a wildness most of Europe lacks. ‘Scandinavia nonetheless has predators like wolves, bears, ospreys, humpbacks and orcas,’ says Tuppence. 

‘But it is bought a wider forged of characters too. Because it is Europe it would not really feel so distant, however on the identical time it is greater and grander. It’s like Scotland on steroids.’

Songs of Praise: Carols for Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, 1.15pm, BBC1

‘Tis the evening earlier than Christmas and inside Sheffield City Hall the BBC’s annual non secular live performance ushers within the season. National treasures Michael Ball and Katherine Jenkins lend their voices to the heartwarming live performance hosted by Aled Jones, who will lead the congregation of greater than 2,000 in a choice of carols. 

Also on the invoice is Strictly Come Dancing’s lead vocalist Tommy Blaize.

Antiques Roadshow at Christmas

Christmas Eve, 7pm, BBC1

The Roadshow workforce together with Fiona Bruce collect at a Christmassy Uppark House in West Sussex to mirror on their highlights of current years and discover out what occurred subsequent in some contributors’ tales. One tear-jerker comes from a girl born in Hong Kong who was deserted as a child – amongst her few childhood mementos was a photograph of the stewardess who held her throughout her flight to the UK to be adopted, and at Uppark she lastly meets the stewardess’s household. 

Another section seems on the menu for a festive dinner held by Scott of the Antarctic.

Countryfile: A Cumbrian Christmas

Christmas Eve, 6pm, BBC1

One of the present’s surprising stars of 2023, teen farmer Katie from Appleby, returns on this particular episode. Viewers had been stuffed with reward for the 16-year-old when Countryfile visited her earlier this 12 months and she or he described juggling schoolwork with chores on her household’s 250-acre farm. 

Sammi Kinghorn and Joe Crawley be part of Katie’s household as they have an inclination to animals, take images of Herdwick sheep for his or her Christmas card and make mulled cider. Meanwhile, Adam Henson attends the annual Sheepy Christmas Tractor Run, a parade of embellished tractors in Warwickshire.

Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby

Christmas Eve, 8pm, BBC2

Hosts Monica Galetti and Rob Rinder test in to the Panorama Hotel Hubertus in Italy’s South Tyrol for a splendidly snowy version of the high-end motels present. The structure is totally fashionable, in distinction to the standard chalet-style buildings that dominate the Alpine panorama, with placing options like a 25-metre Sky Pool that juts out from the constructing and supplies unfettered views of the Dolomite peaks. 

Rob and Monica roll up their sleeves and get caught in to cleansing the pool and main mountain treks.

Inside Classical: The Hound of the Baskervilles

Christmas Day, 8.30pm, BBC4

Mark Gatiss and Sanjeev Bhaskar show you do not want particular results and a creepy location to make one in all literature’s most chilling tales come frighteningly to life. This manufacturing of Arthur Conan Doyle’s basic Sherlock Holmes story a couple of black beast that stalks Dartmoor is carried out at London’s Barbican Theatre to an exciting soundtrack by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. 

Gatiss and Bhaskar star because the detective and his sidekick as they head to Baskerville Hall, 200 miles away from 221b Baker Street.

Masterchef: Battle of the Critics 2023

Thursday 28 December, 8pm, BBC1

Jay Rayner and Grace Dent are amongst these courageous sufficient to drag on an apron for the primary MasterChef contest that includes meals critics. Grace and Jay are joined by Leyla Kazim, William Sitwell and Jimi Famurewa in making an attempt to impress John Torode, Gregg Wallace, former MasterChef champs Ping Coombes and Kenny Tutt, and MasterChef: The Professionals winner Nikita Pathakji.

The Nineteen Seventies Dinner Party

Thursday 28 December, 9pm, Channel 5

The celebrities gathering around the eating desk for a slice of culinary nostalgia are Play School legend Johnny Ball, Bucks Fizzer Cheryl Baker, Imagination singer Leee John, Strictly star Debbie McGee and ‘Allo ‘Allo!’s Vicki Michelle. Debbie hosts whereas former TV-am chef Rustie Lee rustles up retro recipes – count on 70s staples akin to prawn cocktail and Black Forest gateau.

Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Hogmanay Fishing

Friday 29 December, 9pm, BBC2

Where higher to see out the ultimate days of 2023 than Scotland, and who higher to do it with than lovable duo Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse, plus Ted the canine? This hour-long Hogmanay particular sees them fishing for salmon within the rivers Tay, Ericht and Dee, which holds poignant reminiscences for Paul because it’s the place he used to fish together with his father. 

The present’s get together and awards ceremony additionally characteristic, with a efficiency by Clare Grogan and her band Altered Images.

Planet Earth III: Wonders of Nature

New Year’s Day, 4.30pm, BBC1

This celebratory episode of the landmark pure historical past sequence distills its finest moments for us to take pleasure in once more. Relive the excessive drama of ostrich mother and father in Africa’s Namib Desert making an attempt to maintain their chicks protected from predators, leopards leaping from treetops so their prey by no means see them coming, and Cape fur seals working collectively to see off hungry nice white sharks round South Africa’s Robberg Peninsula.