Paul Flynn on what to watch this Christmas
Crack open the Quality Street, sit back and tuck into Grazia’s pick of the best festive TV
THE FAMILY FAVOURITE... LES MISÉRABLES Ahead of her taking over as the Queen in the next series of The Crown, Christmas 2018 has officially turned into Olivia Colman season. The nation’s favourite is joined by Lily Collins and Dominic West in a tunes-free version, going back to the Victor Hugo novel. Begins 30 December, 9pm, BBC One THE TIME TRAVELLER... DOCTOR WHO Firstly: Jodie Whittaker. What a year. Smashing the previous ratings slump of our illustrious timelord into oblivion, the all new woman Doctor arrived dressed as Mork and Mindy and promptly got into bother for being ‘too PC’. Like that’s a problem? The genial success of Whittaker’s Doctor era is a story of charm and good will itself. Eschewing the traditional Christmas Day outing, they’ve opted for a New Year’s Day special, which feels suitably, subtly rule-breaking, in common with the good Doctor herself. 1 January, 7pm, BBC One THE WEEPY... WATERSHIP DOWN Second outing for Ms Colman for the holidays, this time in a remake of the animation, during which it is quite impossible not to shed a tear. The cast list below gets starrier and starrier still: Gemma Arterton, James Mcavoy, Nicholas Hoult, John Boyega and Peter Capaldi all finding their inner leporine to channel a bit of sad bunny. Oh, but bring the tissues. Bright eyes and floppy ears have never burned more like fire. Begins 22 December, 7pm, BBC One THE WHODUNNIT... THE ABC MURDERS The fundamentally fabulous John Malkovich steps into the role of Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s most distinguished and debonair sleuth, for an
exquisite seasonal murder mystery. Already causing high controversy on account of his British (not Belgian) accent, expect the high mind of Twitter to find the all-new Poirot a deft metaphor for Brexit (or something). For the casual viewer, however, this is the pick of festive telly: classy, accomplished, with a dash of the overwrought. Begins Boxing Day, 9pm, BBC One THE SERIOUS DRAMA... THE LONG SONG Serious subject matter alert. Amid the breathless fantasia, romcom and seasonal good cheer arrives a beautifully rendered remodelling of Andrea Levy’s last-days-of-slavery-novel. Tamara Lawrence leads the cast as young slave July, while Hayley Atwell steps into the role of a Jamaican plantation owner. Sir Lenny Henry is part of the supporting cast in this prime BBC drama, with awards season written all over it. Begins 18 December, 9pm, BBC One THE GONE GIRL- ISH PSYCHO DRAMA... YOU Remember Dan Humphrey from Gossip Girl? Well he’s back, sort of. Penn Badgley takes the lead as Joe Goldberg, a bookshop manager who has a psychologically damaging attraction to student/writer Guinevere (Elizabeth Lail), a regular at his shop. It’s sort of You’ve Got Mail for the Gillian Flynn generation, and arrives to dismantle the tinsel after Christmas. Boxing Day, Netflix THE NEW FAVOURITE... CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA: A MIDWINTER’S TALE The return of the irrepressible teenage witch, now in a slightly darker, more maudlin incarnation has been one of the highlights of the autumn schedule. The second season has already been confirmed, with the full cast returning for 2019. In the meantime, here’s a solstice fable sculpted to bring a touch of sorcery to Christmas viewing. This one-off story, well told, confirms Kiernan Shipka as a new generational icon. Streaming on Netflix now THE RETURNING CLASSIC... LUTHER Looking a little further ahead, the first week of January will see the return of the BBC’S most-hyped detective. Stepping back into familiar East End haunts and turning the path of crime into a cul-de-sac is official ‘sexiest man alive’ and they’d-be-mad-not-to possible future James Bond, Idris Elba. The trailing will be heavy between seasonal programming for this one. Rightly so. It’s the best of British TV, exported to a worldwide audience, and it’s turned one of our most arresting screen presences into a proper rock star. Begins New Year’s Day, 9pm, BBC One