What's worth watching on Christmas Eve?

It's almost Christmas! The night before is a great opportunity to get cosy and enjoy some heartwarming television – and fortunately, we're spoilt for choice this year.

From quirky competitions to family comedy and period drama to late night frights, there's something for everyone on the box tonight, and a cavalcade of recognisable faces set to appear.

Among the highlights are a team-up for The Inbetweeners' James Buckley and Lenny Rush – the BAFTA-winning breakout star of Am I Being Unreasonable? – who lead a father-son comedy investigating Father Christmas.

Later, Mark Gatiss brings us yet another Ghost Story for Christmas, with the latest edition of this annual favourite enlisting Joanna Lumley (fresh off Wednesday season 2) and Tobias Menzies (F1: The Movie, The Crown).

Here's our top five picks of what's worth watching on TV on Christmas Eve 2025.

The Great British Sewing Bee – BBC One, 7:25pm

None of the four celebrities in this festive special has much sewing experience, but then it’s more fun to be in stitches of laughter over their woeful attempts than to be impressed by their needlework skills. Esme Young namedrops while Patrick Grant makes dreadful puns and new host Sophie Willan keeps the mood light with saucy quips.

There are moments of tension, though: “I might go to the toilet for a cry… just like I do at Christmas,” mutters Lucy Beaumont as she wrestles with a bizarre fancy-dress outfit. Anton Du Beke gives this year’s singalong finale an elegant vibe, and Esme and Patrick aren’t dressed up as elves this time. – Jane Rackham

Finding Father Christmas – Channel 4, 7:30pm

Here’s a cockle-warmer. Chris (the always brilliant Lenny Rush) is 16 and still believes in Father Christmas. His dad (James Buckley) naively explains why Santa can’t exist, but the teenager is undeterred by his dad’s scepticism and sets off to prove him wrong. And what better way than to substantiate it with science?

It’s handy to know this, or spotting Prof Hannah Fry, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Jason Fox’s names in the cast might have you thinking you’ve overdone it on the sherry. And while it’s unlikely the mathematician, space scientist and adventurer will win acting awards any time soon, their cameos are a lot of fun in a touching festive fable. – Frances Taylor

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All Creatures Great and Small – 5, 9pm

With the war only recently over, Darrowby is still more used to blackouts than fairy lights, so the opportunity to make Christmas 1945 feel extra special is ready to be seized. But events are conspiring against the Skeldale House regulars, thanks to lingering memories of battlefields, a national shortage of turkeys and Tristan forgetting to source a pine tree for the Drovers pub.

But this golden glow of a festive special reminds us that happiness can be wrested from what may appear the glummest of circumstances. And indeed, all that’s required is something as simple as a malapropism from a small child — in this case, young Jimmy saying “Hebden” instead of “Heaven” when playing an angel in the Nativity play — to lift everyone’s spirits.

Preceding tonight’s episode is a charming “making of” documentary, All Creatures Great and Small: Behind the Scenes, at 8pm, which is full of insights, the best of which must be the fact that the hoof knife used on set by Samuel West was the exact same one owned by veterinary surgeon Donald Sinclair, the real-life inspiration for Siegfried. – David Brown

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Christmas Fishing – BBC Two, 9pm

Even when they have deep and sad conversations, such as the one about the death of Bob Mortimer’s father-in-law last Christmas, this is still the most heart-warming and life-affirming show. Bob and Paul are fishing the rivers Lyd and Camel in Devon and head out to sea in Cornwall, meeting up with celebrity pals and holding their hilarious annual awards ceremony.

There’s a laughter-filled chat with Dawn French who, while snacking on Bob’s “charcutree” centrepiece, reveals that both men are on her “I’m allowed to” list after her husband dies, while the trip ends in Mousehole with a stirring traditional singsong. “It’s brilliant having a friend like you, Paul,” says Bob. “I feel the same,” he replies. Aww. – Jane Rackham

A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Room in the Tower – BBC Two, 10pm

Recurring nightmares are often attributed to the mind’s attempts to make sense of stress. But what if they weren’t a reflection of unresolved issues, but prophecies? In this adaptation by Mark Gatiss of a story by EF Benson, Roger Winstanley (Tobias Menzies) fears a haunting dream is turning real.

While asleep, Roger imagines spending the night at a friend’s house, only to be sent by its matriarch (Joanna Lumley) to a “room in the tower” where an unseen threat resides. But when his waking life begins to resemble his slumbers, viewers will be left fearing that fate is exerting its grip. – David Brown

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