The very best of the week ahead
Sunday The Girl Before BBC ONE, 9PM
Another in the long line of recent bestsellers with The Girl… in the title, JP Delaney’s hit thriller is perfect for TV adaptation, partly due its characters’ obsession with sleek, cool and supremely filmable minimalist modern architecture. Still, what really makes this four-part drama work is the superb cast, led by Gugu Mbatha-Raw and David Oyelowo. The plot revolves around Mbatha-Raw’s grieving Jane, who believes she’s found a place to heal and move on when she comes across an architectural masterpiece, 10 Folgate Street, available to rent at a surprisingly affordable rate. There is, of course, a catch. Because apart from its architect-owner’s (Oyelowo) stringent interview process and strict rulebook for living there, the house appears to have a tragic history that only slowly begins to emerge. What, for instance, is the story behind Emma (Jessica Plummer), and her boyfriend Simon, (Ben Hardy), who initially appear to be also moving into the house? Airing nightly until Wednesday. Gerard O’Donovan
Beauty and the Beast: A Pantomime for Comic Relief BBC TWO, 9PM; NOT NI
Lily James plays Rose as big names of stage, screen, comedy and music get together for an adaptation – by comedy scribes the Dawson Bros – of the popular panto. Joining in the fun are Pam Ferris, Miranda Hart and Celia Imrie. GO
Monday Two Doors Down: Christmas Special BBC TWO, 9.30PM; NI, 10.30PM
The fifth season of this his Glasgowset domestic comedy y continues with a festive episode e that reminds us of all the awkward Christmas moments we’ll endure re this week. The residents of Latimer Crescent pop round to Michelle and Alan’s (Joy McAvoy and Graeme Stevely) for a drink; embarrassing conversations ensue as Michelle plies them m with inedible canapés. és. True, the set-up borrows rows heavily from classics such as Abigail’s Party and The Royle Family and isn’t quite as sharply observed as either, but it’s still a winning comedy with a few amusingly sour moments. What gives the piece extra oomph is a faultless ensemble cast that includes Elaine C Smith as Christine, delivering selfpitying deadpan monologues about the death of “Pat from over the back”, and Doon Mackichan as the brittle Cathy, drowning her suburban ennui with prosecco. Vicki Power
Christmas University Challenge BBC TWO, 8.30PM
With the students student on Christmas break, noted graduates gra subject themselves to fierce quizzing in this 10-episod episode competition. Just don’t expect Jeremy J Paxman to play Father Fath Christmas – the questions questio are as tricky as ever as a Edinburgh grads, including inclu comedian Miles Mile Jupp and Wahaca founder fou Thomasina Miers, Mi take on Leicester Le alumni, including inc Dallas Campbell, Ca the science presenter, prese and Jeffrey Boakye, the author. aut VP
Tuesday Philip: Prince, Husband, Father
ITV, 9PM
This is a suitably admiring tribute to the late Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April this year, that puts his own words – drawn from rare film and audio recordings spanning 80 years – front and centre. There’s not much content about his early life, other than a remark that he regarded himself as “stateless” until the Royal Navy took him in, aged 17, sparking an enduring love for the service. It features footage that has been colourised for the first time, including the moment Philip was formally introduced to the public, on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, following his engagement to the then Princess Elizabeth. Much of the focus is on their relationship, its occasional ups and downs and the Duke’s struggle to find a role as the husband of a young Queen following the unexpected death of her father in 1952. As with all such programmes the footage is accompanied by endless talking heads but what emerges most fully is Prince Philip’s unique voice, forthright and occasionally gaffeprone but also warm-hearted, devoted to duty and entirely his own man within the Firm. GO
Agatha Raisin: Kissing Christmas Goodbye SKY MAX, 8PM
More high-camp crime comedy from MC Beaton’s inimitable Ms Raisin
(Ashley Jensen). In this festive edition, Agatha and best pal Roy (Mathew Horne) are called in to protect an eccentric landowner from Satanicseeming locals and her resentful offspring. “It’s a Christmas mystery in an English country manor. How could I possibly refuse?” asks Agatha. GO
Wednesday The Great British Sewing Bee: Celebrity Christmas Special
BBC ONE, 8PM
Sara Pascoe takes over as permanent host of the Sewing Bee, following the departure of Joe Lycett, for this first in two seasonal specials. Anneka Rice, Coronation Street’s Antony Cotton, Ghosts and Stath Lets Flats star Kiell Smith-Bynoe and the Reverend Kate Bottley face the scrutiny of Esme Young and Patrick Grant. There is plenty of enthusiasm but, despite Cotton’s mother being a couture dressmaker, nothing to suggest any of them should switch vocations. As they rustle up Christmas jumpers, fancydress outfits and festive frocks, Bottley’s “deranged Baby Jesus” and Smith-Bynoe’s box without armholes are particular standouts. Stakes are low, fun levels moderate to high. Gabriel Tate
Emily in Paris
NETFLIX
The second series of this featherweight drama doubles down on everything loved and loathed about its first, so expect plenty of surface and precious little depth; there is at least slightly more attention paid to the French characters, and Emily herself (Lily Collins) is a marginally more compelling protagonist, feeling guilty about her tête-a-tête with Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) as British expat Lucien Laviscount arrives to stir things up. GT
Thursday Ghosts BBC ONE, 8.30PM
This joyous sitcom’s Christmas special is graced by Jennifer Saunders as Lady Fanny’s mother, her appearances in flashback explaining how the Button family fell on hard times. In the present day, Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) are preparing for a cosy Christmas – just the two of them and their ghostly houseguests. Their plans are, of course, disrupted: peasant Mary (Katy Wix) and caveman Robin (Laurence Rickard) contrive to challenge Alison and Mike’s ownership of the house and scoutmaster Pat (Jim Howick) becomes obsessed with the Christmas quiz. Most pressingly, noblewoman Kitty (Lolly Adefope) becomes convinced that the homeless man camping on the grounds of Button House is Father Christmas – he is called Nicholas, after all. GT
Blackburn Sings Christmas with Gareth Malone
BBC TWO, 9PM
A guaranteed cockle-warmer, Gareth Malone’s ad hoc choral gatherings reliably melt the most cynical of hearts. Tonight’s special brings together Blackburn’s amateur singers and musicians for a concert to celebrate the city’s key workers. GT
Friday A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Mezzotint
BBC TWO, 10.30PM
This half-hour period drama offers a shot of horror as bracing as a stiff whisky. Continuing the BBC’s annual ghost story strand that’s run on and off since 1971, Mark Gatiss adapts and directs yet another paranormal chiller by Victorian author MR James following 2013’s The
Tractate Middoth and Martin’s Close in 2019. In an old English college in 1922, Edward Williams (Rory Kinnear) receives a mezzotint on approval from an art dealer to consider a purchase for the university museum he runs. Williams is unimpressed by this depiction of an English mansion, until he realises that each time he looks at it, the picture has changed in a sinister way. Due to Covid restrictions, Gatiss wrote it as a drawing-room drama, but the claustrophobic feel and close-ups of Kinnear’s growing fear only serve to heighten the growing sense of dread. It’s a marvellous antidote to saccharine Christmas dramas. VP
Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas
BBC ONE, 6PM
Mischievous sheep Shaun causes Christmas mayhem in this new Aardman animation full of mindboggling animation and whizz-bang action. When he inadvertently leads Timmy the lamb astray, an odyssey for all the farm’s sheep ensues.