Our choice of the best movies and TV shows for Christmas 2024

There’s something cosy and old school about watching a movie on the telly – and we’re not talking about any of that Netflix or Prime Video business. Casually flicking through the channels and stumbling upon an old favourite in the wild is special. You didn’t know you needed to watch Die Hard and yet, there it is – brandishing a machine gun in a sweaty vest, beckoning you in. It takes the whole painful business of choice out of your hands and replaces it with two hours of pure enjoyment and a handful of stolen detonators. 

But what if you don‘t have to idly flick through the channels in the hope of finding something great to watch? What if, say, someone compiled a bumper list of the best movies on the UK’s terrestrial TV stations between Saturday and New Year’s Day? Well, hello there! We’ve scoured the networks and cherry-picked the finest in free film viewing this Christmas: everything from Christmas classics to, well, regular classics. Red-button all of them and you’ve got your own Criterion cupboard for the year ahead. And if you’d rather hit the streamers, check out the newest festive fare on Netflix, Prime Video and the like here instead.

Saturday, December 21

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

2.15pm, Sat Dec 21. ITV1

What’s Up, Doc? 

3.20pm, Sat Dec 21. BBC2

Stardust

3.30pm, Sat Dec 21. Channel 4

Apocalypse Now: Final Cut

Midnight, Sat Dec 21. Channel 4

Pan’s Labyrinth

12.45am, Sat Dec 21. BBC2

Sunday, December 22

A Christmas Carol (1951)

10.55am, Sun Dec 22. Channel 5

Chariots of Fire

12.30pm, Sun Dec 22. BBC2

Ron’s Gone Wrong

3pm, Sun Dec 22. Channel 4 

The Holiday

6.30pm, Sun Dec 22. Channel 5

Die Hard

9pm, Sun Dec 22. Channel 4

Quadrophenia

11.45pm, Sun Dec 22. BBC2

Monday, December 23

Meet Me In St Louis

11.05am, Mon Dec 23. BBC2

Coco

3.15pm, Mon Dec 23. BBC1 

Ghostbusters

4.50pm, Mon Dec 23. BBC1

The Haunting (1963)

11.20pm, Mon Dec 23. BBC2

Tuesday, December 24 (Christmas eve)

Great Expectations (1946)

9.50am, Tue Dec 24. BBC2

White Christmas

2.15pm, Tue Dec 24. BBC2

A Christmas Carol (1984)

2.10pm, Tue Dec 24. Channel 4

Moana

2.20pm, Tue Dec 24. BBC1

It’s a Wonderful Life

2.30pm, Tue Dec 24. ITV1

Catch Me If You Can

4.35pm, Tue Dec 24. Channel 5

Home Alone

6.05pm, Tue Dec 24. Channel 4

Beetlejuice

10.45pm, Tue Dec 24. BBC2

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

11.25pm, Tue Dec 24. Channel 4

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

12.15am, Tue Dec 24. BBC2 

Wednesday, December 25 (Christmas Day)

High Society

11.05am, Wed Dec 25. BBC2

Toy Story 3

11.20am, Wed Dec 25. BBC1

Some Like It Hot 

3.10pm, Wed Dec 25. BBC2

North By Northwest

5.05pm, Wed Dec 25. BBC2

Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

5pm, Wed Dec 25. Channel 4

Doctor Who: Joy to the World

5.10pm, Wed Dec 25. BBC1

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

6.10pm, Wed Dec 25. BBC1

Raiders of the Lost Ark

8.20pm, Wed Dec 25. Channel 4

Gavin & Stacy: The Finale

9pm, Wed Dec 25. BBC1

Notting Hill

10.35pm, Wed Dec 25. Channel 4

Thursday, December 26 (Boxing Day)

Inside Out

9.55am, Thu Dec 26. BBC1

The Big Sleep

10.55am, Thu Dec 26. BBC2

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers

12.10pm, Thu Dec 26. Channel 5

Casablanca

12.45pm, Thu Dec 26. BBC2

Paddington

1.50pm, Thu Dec 26. BBC1

The Magnificent Seven

2.25pm, Thu Dec 26. BBC2

Grease 

3pm, Thu Dec 26. ITV1

Zulu

3.50pm, Thu Dec 26. Channel 4

Matilda (2022)

5.40pm, Thu Dec 26. BBC1

Gladiator

9pm, Thu Dec 26. BBC2

Point Break

12.10am, Thu Dec 26. BBC1

Friday, December 27 

Big

10.25am, Fri Dec 27. ITV1

Oliver!

11.25am, Fri Dec 27. Channel 4

Brief Encounter

12.10pm, Fri Dec 27. BBC2

West Side Story (1961)

1.35pm, Fri Dec 27. BBC2

Jurassic Park

3.30pm, Fri Dec 27. ITV1

The Hunt for Red October

3.40pm, Fri Dec 27. Channel 4

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 

6.45pm, Fri Dec 27. Channel 4

Beyond Paradise

9pm, Fri Dec 27. BBC1

I, Tonya

11.15pm, Fri Dec 27. BBC2

The Naked Gun

12.55am, Fri Dec 27. Channel 4

Saturday, December 28

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

9.30am, Sat Dec 26. Channel 5

The Incredibles

1.40pm, Sat Dec 28. BBC1

A Hard Day’s Night

11.25am, Sat Dec 28. BBC2

Cast Away

7pm, Sat Dec 28. Channel 4

The Godfather

9.45pm, Sat Dec 28. Channel 4

Sunday, December 29

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

1.05pm, Sun Dec 29. Channel 5

The Firm

1.30pm, Sun Dec 29. Channel 5

The Sound of Music

3.45pm, Sun Dec 29. BBC1

Witness for the Prosecution

12.55pm, Sun Dec 29. BBC2

Gosford Park

10pm, Sun Dec 29. BBC2

Slumdog Millionaire

11.55pm, Sun Dec 29. Channel 4

Don’t Look Now

12.15am, Sun Dec 29. BBC2

Monday, December 30

The Titchfield Thunderbolt

12pm, Mon Dec 30. BBC2

The Goonies

1.15pm, Mon Dec 30. ITV1

Whisky Galore!

5.25pm, Mon Dec 30. BBC2

Rocketman

9pm, Mon Dec 30. Channel 4

When Harry Met Sally…

11pm, Mon Dec 30. BBC1

Tuesday, December 31 (New Year’s Eve)

The Famous Five 

10.20am, Tue Dec 31. BBC1

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

11.40am. Tue Dec 31. BBC2

The Railway Children

1.05pm, Tue Dec 31. BBC1

Grease

1.15pm. Tue Dec 31. ITV1

The Big Country

1.20pm. Tue Dec 31. BBC2

The Guns of Navarone

2.05pm. Tue Dec 31. Channel 4

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

6.40pm. Tue Dec 31. Channel 4

Black Panther

8pm. Tue Dec 31. BBC1

The Godfather Part II

11.05pm, Tue Dec 31. Channel 4

Wednesday, January 1 (New Year’s Day)

Top Hat

8.35am, Wed Jan 1. BBC2

Lawrence of Arabia

12.20pm, Wed Jan 1. Channel 4

The Searchers

1.15pm, Wed Jan 1. BBC2

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

1.55pm, Wed Jan 1. BBC1

The Man Who Would Be King

3.10pm, Wed Jan 1. BBC2

Mary Poppins

3.15pm, Wed Jan 1. BBC1

The Traitors (series)

8pm, Wed Jan 1. BBC1

SAS Rogue Heroes (series)

9pm, Wed Jan 1. BBC1

The Untouchables

10pm, Wed Jan 1. BBC2

La La Land

11.55pm, Wed Jan 1. BBC2

This list was curated by Time Out’s film editor Phil de Semlyen.  

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