Elf

ITV, 6pm, today

When Santa (Edward Asner) discovers he’s accidentally picked up a baby during a visit to an orphanage, he decides to take the infant in and raise him as an elf.

But as Buddy (Will Ferrell) grows ever taller and fails to develop his toy-making skills, it becomes necessary to tell him the truth, and

Shane

Film4, 4.35pm, Monday A farmer and his family face losing their home and their livelihood when a ruthless cattle baron threatens to force them off their land.

Luckily, help arrives in the form of a mysterious gunfighter, who wins the admiration of the farmer’s son – and wife. he sets off to New York City to find his real father.

However, Buddy’s yellow tights, pointy hat, and childlike Christmas cheer means he sticks out just as much in the Big Apple as he did in the North Pole.

Ferrell is on top comic form in this hugely enjoyable comedy.

It may seem a little simplistic to cynical modern viewers but it’s also more involving than any number of later Westerns.

Alan Ladd is fine as Shane, but is often upstaged by the supporting cast, including Jack Palance, who positively exudes menace as the movie’s bad guy.

Die Hard With A Vengeance

The third film in the franchise sees loose-cannon cop John Mcclane (Bruce Willis) return to duty following an explosion at a New York City department store.

The perpetrator, who calls himself Simon (Jeremy Irons), contacts the police and tells them that unless Mcclane and

BBC1, 11.45pm, Tuesday bystander Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson), who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, carry out a series of instructions, more bombs will be detonated.

Not up to the standards of the original, and not quite as festive, but it’s still a lot of fun.

(Showing at 10.45pm in England)