What to watch
BBC ONE, 8.00PM
One suspects that this beautiful adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s much-loved coming-of-age novel (published in 1868) was due a less prominent airing until the BBC had to shelve its flagship festive Agatha Christie adaptation Ordeal by Innocence due to sexual assault allegations against one of the stars. That seems no great loss now, as this sparkling gem of a drama – scripted by Call the Midwife creator Heidi Thomas – more than deserves a Boxing Day prime-time slot.
Told in three parts, it follows the lives of the March sisters – Jo (Maya Hawke), Meg (Willa Fitzgerald), Beth (Annes Elwy), and Amy (Kathryn Newton) – as they progress from adolescence to adulthood under the protective eye of their mother, Marmee (Emily Watson), while their father is away in the American Civil War.
As life-affirming a tale as you could want this time of year, it’s full of high spirits and loving kindness. There are nice cameo performances by Michael Gambon and Angela Lansbury but, in the opening part, the acting laurels go to Hawke for her spot-on portrayal of tomboyish protofeminist Jo, and Jonah Hauer-king, as boy next door Laurie Laurence. Gerard O’donovan Gordon Buchanan’s festive offering focuses on Santa’s favourite quadruped. In Lapland, Buchanan settles in with the nomadic Sami people to learn the ways of the herder, before setting off to capture the Northern Lights as they’ve never been filmed before. GO