Best films to watch on TV today, tonight and this week

NOTE: This page is on pause over the festive season, but you can find our extensive list of the best films showing on TV this Christmas and New Year here.

There may be plenty of movies available on streaming platforms and being released weekly in cinemas, but nothing quite beats the feeling of finding a hidden gem while flicking through the TV.

With such a raft of options – old and new – to pick from this weekend, it can often feel like a bit of an insurmountable task to find one that really tickles your fancy. But that's where we come in to do the hard work for you, picking out some of the most stellar options available to tune into.

This weeks selection includes everything from Christmas films like Miracle on 34th Street and the Holiday to cult classic musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. There's something for everyone and if you're wondering where to find some of the best films on the terrestrial channels this week, we've got you sorted.

Read on for an expertly compiled list of the best flicks airing across the next seven days.

Friday 12th December

Animal Farm - 1:05pm, Film4

Animated political satire based on the novel by George Orwell. Farmer Jones's animals revolt against their cruel, drunken owner and, led by pigs Napoleon and Snowball, begin running the farm on their own. But what starts as a democracy gradually develops into a dictatorship in which the pigs become the elite, with the powerful and corrupt Napoleon as their leader. Read our full review

American Gangster - 9:10pm, Film4

Biographical crime drama starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Following the death of his mentor, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one distributor of heroin in the US by coming up with a unique new method of importing. But then he attracts the attention of dogged Newark detective Richie Roberts. Read our full review

Get Carter - 11pm, BBC Two

Crime thriller starring Michael Caine as ruthless London gangster Jack Carter, who travels to the North East to shed light on the mysterious death of his brother. He uncovers a conspiracy involving blue movies, the local villains and certain "respectable" citizens. When he learns enough, Carter plans his revenge. Read our full review

The Proposal - 11:30pm, BBC One

Romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Uptight Manhattan book editor Margaret Tate treats her assistant Andrew like dirt. So when she's threatened with deportation to her native Canada because of an expired visa, she pressurises him into marrying her. But just as the authorities question the validity of their relationship, Margaret is invited to spend a weekend with Andrew's family. Read our full review

Saturday 13th December

Holiday Affair - 10:05pm, BBC Two

Seasonal romantic drama starring Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh. Connie, a war widow devoted to her small son, Timmy, intends to marry the dependable Carl in order to achieve security. However, on a trip to find Timmy a Christmas present, Connie meets Steve, a Californian drifter, who proceeds to woo Connie through her little boy's desire for a train set. Read our full review

The Assasination Bureau - 2pm, Legend

Period black comedy starring Oliver Reed and Diana Rigg. Europe, 1906: the Assassination Bureau is a secret society that only kills people who really deserve it. A mysterious, beautiful woman decides to put out a contract - for the head of the bureau himself. Read our full review

The Day After Tomorrow - 6:45pm, Film4

Disaster movie from Independence Day director Roland Emmerich, starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal. When climatologist Jack Hall tries to warn Washington that the planet is facing an imminent, catastrophic climate shift, government officials fail to take him seriously. But, when the Earth abruptly plunges into a new ice age, it soon becomes clear that the human race is facing extinction. Read our full review

The Batman - 10:25pm, ITV1

Mystery thriller starring Robert Pattinson. When members of Gotham City's political elite are picked off by a serial killer, masked vigilante Batman - aka troubled young billionaire Bruce Wayne - investigates. In following the killer's carefully planted string of riddles, Batman is drawn into a murky conspiracy involving the city's criminal underworld, and finds himself targeted. Read our full review

Paris, 13th District - 12:45am, BBC Two

Romantic drama starring Lucie Zhang, Makita Samba and Noémie Merlant. New flatmates Emilie and Camille begin a no-strings-attached sexual relationship, but run into complications when she starts to fall for him. After they part ways, he begins seeing a new partner, Nora, while also trying to rekindle his friendship with Emilie. Read our full review

Sunday 14th December

Miracle on 34th Street - 4:45pm, Channel 4

Christmas fantasy starring Richard Attenborough and Elizabeth Perkins. Going against the wishes of her divorced mother, a sceptical young girl asks a mysterious department-store Santa Claus for the family she has always wanted. Read our full review

The Naked Spur - 6:55pm, 5 Action

Western directed by Anthony Mann, starring James Stewart and Robert Ryan, and featuring Janet Leigh. Howard Kemp, a veteran of the Civil War, is on the trail of killer Ben Vandergroat, determined to claim the $5,000 reward offered for him, dead or alive. Read our full review

The Holiday - 8:30pm, BBC Two

Romantic comedy starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black. After breaking up with her boyfriend, Los Angeles workaholic Amanda is in need of a holiday. An online search persuades her to exchange her California home over Christmas for the remote Surrey cottage of journalist Iris, who has just found out her ex is getting married. But the transatlantic swap soon leads to more romantic entanglements for the two women. Read our full review

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande - 9pm, Film4

Comedy drama starring Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack. Widowed for two years and now recently retired from teaching religious studies, Nancy Stokes decides she wants to have good sex and so hires young sex worker Leo Grande to meet her at a London hotel to explore her desires. But is this really what she wants? Read our full review

Crazy Rich Asians - 10:35pm, BBC Two

Romantic comedy starring Constance Wu, Henry Golding and Michelle Yeoh. New Yorker Rachel Chu travels to Singapore with her partner, Nick, for a friend's wedding, and discovers that Nick's family is hugely wealthy. They also expect him to remain in Singapore to inherit their hotel business - a plan that, as Nick's imperious mother Eleanor makes quite clear, does not involve Rachel. Read our full review

Monday 15th December

Richard III - 2:40pm, BBC Two

Classic film version of Shakespeare's play directed by and starring Laurence Olivier, co-starring Ralph Richardson, Claire Bloom and John Gielgud. The scheming Richard will stop at nothing in his quest to become King of England. Read our full review

Hell or Hell Weather - 11pm, BBC Two

Crime drama starring Ben Foster, Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges. Toby and his loose-cannon brother Tanner put aside their differences to carry out a series of robberies. They target branches of the Texas Midlands Bank, an institution that is threatening to foreclose on their family farm. However, the predictable nature of the thefts allows a veteran ranger to second-guess their moves. Read our full review

Everything Everywhere All at Once - 11:10pm, Film4

Sci-fi action comedy starring Michelle Yeoh. Evelyn Wang has reached a crossroads in her life. Her business is failing, her marriage is crumbling, she doesn't get along with her daughter or her father and the IRS is auditing her accounts. When a rift in the multiverse suddenly opens, revealing a plethora of parallel realities, Evelyn is plunged into a high-stakes battle against a terrifying force - one that is surprisingly close to home. Read our full review

Tuesday 16th December

Laura - 3:50pm, BBC Two

Classic film noir starring Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews. Detective Mark McPherson investigates the brutal murder of a young woman. As he begins interviewing suspects, including a sardonic newspaper columnist and a debonair playboy, he finds himself becoming strangely attracted to the victim. Read our full review

The Wrong Arm of the Law - 5:15pm, Talking Pictures TV

A criminal mastermind joins forces with Scotland Yard and the best of Britain's crime bosses to stop a gang of Australian crooks disguised as policemen from taking over the London underworld. Comedy, starring Peter Sellers, Lionel Jeffries, Nanette Newman, Bernard Cribbins, Dennis Price and John Le Mesurier. Read our full review

Bridget Jones’ Diary - 10:40pm, BBC One

Romantic comedy adapted from the bestselling novel by Helen Fielding, starring Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. Weight-obsessed 30-something Bridget Jones is busy lamenting her lack of a good man when two come along at once: her flirtatious boss Daniel Cleaver and uptight childhood friend Mark Darcy. Unfortunately, in typical world-of-Bridget style, the two men have met before, and she finds herself thrust from being a wallflower to the centre of a bizarre love triangle. Read our full review

Wednesday 17th December

The Colditz Story - 2:55pm, Film4

Second World War drama starring John Mills and Eric Portman. The heavily guarded Colditz castle in Germany is considered escape-proof by the Nazis. But the Allied prisoners of war, all veterans of other escape attempts, refuse to admit defeat. Read our full review

Pulp Fiction - 9pm, Great Action

Quentin Tarantino's award-winning, multi-stranded crime drama, starring John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson and Uma Thurman. Downtown LA: lovebirds Honey Bunny and Pumpkin plan to hold up a diner. Washed-up boxer Butch is paid to throw his last fight, but has other ideas. "Fixer" the Wolf has to get hitmen Vincent and Jules out of a sticky situation. And Vincent is nervous when he has to escort his boss's wife for the night - with good reason. Read our full review

Die Hard 4.0 - 11:25pm, ITV1

Action thriller starring Bruce Willis. When a rogue former government agent threatens to bring the United States computer infrastructure to its knees, it falls to cop John McClane and a young hacker to prevent potential disaster. But can the mix of old-school, tough-guy policing and modern computer expertise foil a group that will stop at nothing? Read our full review

Thursday 18th December

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - 3:15pm, BBC Two

Drama based on Tennessee Williams's play, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Burl Ives. Strained emotions mark the birthday celebration of southern plantation owner and patriarch Big Daddy. Read our full review

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris - 9pm, Film4

Period comedy drama starring Lesley Manville. Working as a cleaner in 1950s London, war widow Ada Harris sets her heart on a client's Christian Dior dress. When she comes into some money, she travels to Paris with the intention of purchasing one of the designer gowns, but will she be able to win over the snobby House of Dior? Read our full review

Zola - 1:40am, Channel 4

Black comedy drama based on a true story, starring Taylour Paige and Riley Keough. Zola, a Detroit waitress who works part-time as a stripper, befriends fellow dancer Stefani, who invites her along to a supposedly lucrative job in Florida. However, after arriving in Tampa, things take a turn for the chaotic when Zola discovers that she and Stefani are being pimped out for sex. Read our full review

Friday 19th December

The Lavender Hill Mob - 3:10pm, Film4

Classic Ealing crime comedy starring Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway. Meek, respectable Henry Holland supervises gold bullion deliveries to the bank where he is a trusted employee. But behind his modest exterior lurks a criminal mind harbouring unbounded ambition. His dream of stealing one million pounds worth of gold bars starts to assume reality when he teams up with foundry owner Pendlebury and two professional crooks. Read our full review

Strangers on a Train - 3:30pm, BBC Two

Classic Hitchcock thriller starring Farley Granger, Ruth Roman and Robert Walker. An obsessive playboy strikes up a conversation with a tennis player he encounters on a train. The playboy, who hates his father, reveals to the sportsman that he knows of his wife's refusal to grant him a divorce and proposes a double murder to solve both their problems. Read our full review

Mission: Impossible – Fallout - 10:55pm, Film4

Action spy thriller starring Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson and Henry Cavill. Ethan Hunt is sent to Berlin to buy three stolen plutonium cores before a terrorist group can get a hold of them. But after a hostage crisis leads to the failure of the mission, Hunt is targeted by a CIA assassin who could derail the IMF for good. Read our full review

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - 11:05pm, BBC Two

Cult musical satire starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick. Sweethearts Brad Majors and Janet Weiss find themselves drawn into a bizarre and weird world when their car breaks down during a storm and they are forced to spend the night at a nearby gothic mansion. Read our full review

If you have Netflix, we have rounded up the best movies on Netflix and the best series on Netflix to watch now – and Disney Plus viewers can check out our best movies on Disney Plus guide. Got Prime Video? We also have the best movies on Amazon Prime.

Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.