No channel has published its Christmas 2026 dates or times yet, but the line-up is already big. BBC One has Christmas specials of Ludwig, Amandaland and The Cleaner, three new episodes of The Other Bennet Sister, the Call the Midwife prequel Sisters in Arms and a new Julia Donaldson animation. BBC Two has its annual ghost story, Channel 4 a new Mog film, and ITV has festive editions of The Masked Singer, The Chase and Bullseye. Boxing Day brings seven Premier League matches and the King George VI Chase, and the World Darts Championship runs right through the holiday.
Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday. Boxing Day is a Saturday and Monday 28 December is the substitute bank holiday, so the schedules effectively run across a four-day weekend.
Last checked: 12 October 2026. We check for new announcements every day.
Christmas TV has been on since August. GREAT! Christmas went live on Freeview 52 on 26 August, its earliest launch yet, and we’ve counted at least 900 hours of Christmas TV on Freeview since then, channel by channel.
How we label each show
- Confirmed: announced by the broadcaster, or reported by trade press from the broadcaster’s announcement.
- Reported: in the press, but not yet announced by the channel.
- Expected: it happens every year, but there’s no 2026 announcement yet.
Nothing on this page has a date or time unless we say so. Those normally arrive in early December.
BBC One, BBC Two and iPlayer
| Programme | Channel | What we know | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ludwig Christmas special | BBC One | A locked-room murder at a snowed-in Yorkshire hotel. December | Confirmed |
| Amandaland Christmas special | BBC One | Hour-long. Amanda throws a last-minute Christmas Eve party | Confirmed |
| The Cleaner (Christmas special, working title The Cleaner In Italy) | BBC One | Hour-long. Wicky goes walking in the Dolomites | Confirmed |
| The Other Bennet Sister | BBC One | Three new half-hour episodes in December | Confirmed |
| Call the Midwife: Sisters in Arms | BBC One | Three-part prequel set in Poplar in 1939 | Confirmed |
| The Baddies | BBC One | Half-hour animation of the Julia Donaldson book | Confirmed |
| Strictly Come Dancing final | BBC One | Saturday 19 December | Confirmed |
| Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special | BBC One | Usually Christmas Day afternoon | Confirmed, no date |
| A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Bride’s Chamber | BBC Two | Mark Gatiss adapts Dickens, with Martin Freeman and Jim Broadbent | Confirmed |
| Mandy: The Mandy Who Knew Too Much | BBC Two | The Diane Morgan special pulled from Christmas 2025 | Reported for 2026, no date |
| EastEnders | BBC One | Christmas Day episode | Expected |
| The King’s Christmas message | BBC One, ITV1 | 3pm on Christmas Day | Expected |
Shows the BBC brings back most Christmases, such as QI, Would I Lie to You?, Richard Osman’s House of Games, Christmas University Challenge, Top of the Pops, Carols from King’s and Jools’ Annual Hootenanny on New Year’s Eve, are expected but have not been announced for 2026. Gavin & Stacey and Ghosts have both finished, so don’t expect either.
ITV1 and ITVX
| Programme | What we know | Status |
|---|---|---|
| The Masked Singer Christmas special | Four celebrities in festive costumes, all unmasked in one episode, ahead of the new series in January. Joel Dommett hosts | Confirmed |
| The Celebrity Chase Christmas special | Bradley Walsh with a festive celebrity line-up | Confirmed |
| Bullseye Christmas special | Freddie Flintoff hosts again. Last year’s special drew around seven million viewers | Confirmed |
| Coronation Street and Emmerdale | Christmas Day episodes | Expected |
| ITV Racing | Four days in a row, 26 to 29 December, including the King George VI Chase | Confirmed |
ITV normally publishes its Christmas brochure between late October and mid November. We’ll add the rest of its line-up then.
Channel 4 and Channel 5
| Programme | Channel | What we know | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mog’s Bad Thing | Channel 4 | Hand-drawn sequel to Mog’s Christmas, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy | Confirmed |
| Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas | Channel 4 (daytime) | Kirstie Allsopp’s crafting contest returns for five episodes | Confirmed |
| All Creatures Great and Small Christmas special | Channel 5 | Filmed as part of series 7, which is airing now. Last year’s went out on Christmas Eve at 9pm | Confirmed, no date |
| The Great Christmas Bake Off, The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, Taskmaster New Year Treat | Channel 4 | Annual staples | Expected |
Christmas sport on TV
| Event | When | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa v Leeds | Saturday 26 December, 12.30pm | TNT Sports |
| King George VI Chase, Kempton | Saturday 26 December, afternoon | ITV (exact channel and time to be confirmed) |
| Hull City v Liverpool | Saturday 26 December, 5.30pm | Sky Sports |
| Newcastle v Manchester City | Saturday 26 December, 8pm | Sky Sports |
| More ITV Racing, including the Welsh Grand National | 27 to 29 December | ITV |
| PDC World Darts Championship | 11 December to 3 January, with a break over Christmas | Sky Sports |
What football is on TV on Boxing Day?
The Premier League has gone back to a full Boxing Day: seven matches on Saturday 26 December, up from just one in 2025. Three are live on TV, as listed above. The other four (Everton v Sunderland, Fulham v Brighton, Ipswich v Brentford and Tottenham v Bournemouth) kick off at 3pm and are not televised, because of the Saturday 3pm blackout. All three live games are on pay TV, not Freeview. Our Premier League on TV page has every televised fixture, and football on TV today lists each day’s games.
When is the World Darts Championship?
From Friday 11 December to Sunday 3 January, live on Sky Sports. It’s the first time the final has been on a Sunday, and the tournament moves from the West Hall at Alexandra Palace into the much bigger Great Hall. There’s no live darts on Freeview; without Sky, a NOW Sports pass is the cheapest way to watch. More in our darts on TV guide.
Is the King George VI Chase on ITV?
Yes. It’s the main race of Kempton’s Christmas meeting on Boxing Day, and ITV is covering four days of racing in a row from 26 to 29 December. ITV hasn’t said yet whether the race will be on ITV1 or ITV4, or its exact time. See horse racing on TV today for the daily cards.
The big shows, one by one
Is there a Ludwig Christmas special?
Yes. The BBC announced it in September, while series two was still airing. David Mitchell, Anna Maxwell Martin and Dylan Hughes return. The family’s escape to a festive hotel in Yorkshire goes wrong when a power cut and a blizzard leave the guests stranded overnight with a murderer among them. Sir David Suchet, who spent 25 years as Poirot, plays one of the suspects, alongside Jason Flemyng, Joe Wilkinson, Cathy Tyson and Kiell Smith-Bynoe. It’s on BBC One and iPlayer in December. Our Ludwig guide has the series so far.
Is there an Amandaland Christmas special?
Yes, an hour long, on BBC One in December. Lucy Punch is back as Amanda. After bumping into an old school friend, Millie (Daisy Haggard, from Breeders), she drops her plans for a quiet Christmas Eve and decides to host a lavish party with less than a day to organise it. Samuel Anderson, Rochenda Sandall, Ekow Quartey and the rest of the regular cast return. Last year’s Amandaland special was the BBC’s biggest comedy of 2025.
Is The Cleaner on at Christmas?
Yes. Greg Davies made the show’s first hour-long special in the Dolomites in July, with Wicky on a walking holiday that goes badly wrong. Robert Webb, Peter Serafinowicz and Zita Sattar guest. It’s billed for BBC One and iPlayer “over the festive period”, and the working title is The Cleaner In Italy.
Is The Other Bennet Sister back for Christmas?
Yes, for three half-hour episodes in December on BBC One and iPlayer. The original ten-part series ended with Mary Bennet engaged to Tom Hayward. The specials pick up after the wedding and follow the pair into married life. Ella Bruccoleri and Dónal Finn lead, with Ruth Jones back as Mrs Bennet. Sarah Quintrell has written all three, and this time the story is new rather than taken from Janice Hadlow’s novel.
Is there a Call the Midwife Christmas special in 2026?
Not the usual one. For the first time since 2012 there is no regular Christmas special. The festive slot goes to Sisters in Arms, a three-part prequel written by Heidi Thomas that winds the clock back to September 1939, when Sister Julienne and Sister Evangelina were young nuns and Sister Monica Joan was in her prime. Helena Wilson plays the young Julienne, and Jenny Agutter narrates as the older one. Filming finished in the summer.
Some outlets say it starts on Christmas Day. The BBC itself has only said “this Christmas”, so we’ll treat the date as unconfirmed until the schedule is out.
What is The Baddies on BBC One?
The BBC’s Christmas animation for 2026, made by Magic Light Pictures, the studio behind The Gruffalo and Stick Man. A troll, a ghost and a witch compete to steal a girl’s spotty handkerchief and discover she is cleverer than all three. Rob Brydon voices the Ghost, Alison Steadman the Witch and Hammed Animashaun the Troll, with Sheridan Smith narrating. It runs for half an hour. Magic Light’s films have a habit of being the most-watched thing on Christmas Day, and BBC One usually shows them on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, but the 2026 slot isn’t confirmed.
What is A Ghost Story for Christmas this year?
The Bride’s Chamber, on BBC Two. Mark Gatiss has adapted and directed a little-known Charles Dickens tale from 1857, written with Wilkie Collins, about a rejected suitor who marries a young woman for her money and pays for it in the afterlife. Martin Freeman and Jim Broadbent star, with Adrian Scarborough. It was filmed at Ingatestone Hall in Essex and is Gatiss’s ninth festive ghost story.
What’s on ITV at Christmas?
So far ITV has confirmed three entertainment specials:
- The Masked Singer: four celebrities in Christmas costumes, all unmasked by the end of the night. It’s a warm-up for the new series in January.
- The Celebrity Chase: Bradley Walsh’s festive celebrity edition.
- Bullseye: Freddie Flintoff hosts, after last year’s Christmas special pulled in around seven million viewers.
ITV’s dramas and the rest of its Christmas schedule usually come in its festive brochure, which has gone out between late October and mid November in recent years.
When is Mog’s Bad Thing on Channel 4?
At Christmas 2026; Channel 4 has not given the date yet. It follows Mog’s Christmas and is adapted from another of Judith Kerr’s books. Mog spoils the family’s garden cat show and hides in the attic. Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy voice Mr and Mrs Thomas, with Adjoa Andoh narrating. It plays in cinemas in a double bill with Mog’s Christmas before it reaches television.
Is All Creatures Great and Small on at Christmas?
Yes. Channel 5 has a Christmas special as part of series 7, which started in September, directed by Andy Hay. The date isn’t out yet. Last year’s special went out on Christmas Eve at 9pm.
Is there a Doctor Who Christmas special in 2026?
No. This one catches people out, because a 2026 special was announced in October 2025. In June 2026 the BBC cancelled it, saying it would rather move straight on to the show’s next era than fill the gap with a one-off. Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf have left and the BBC is putting Doctor Who out to competitive tender. It is the first year since 2004 with no new Doctor Who on television.
When is the Strictly final?
The BBC has confirmed Saturday 19 December for the 2026 final, the Saturday before Christmas. The Christmas special, which features a separate group of celebrities, is confirmed to return but has no date yet. In recent years it has gone out in the late afternoon on Christmas Day. Our Strictly guide covers how to watch every live show between now and the final.
Not on this Christmas
- Doctor Who: special cancelled in June 2026.
- The usual Call the Midwife special: replaced by the Sisters in Arms prequel.
- Gavin & Stacey and Ghosts: both have finished.
Christmas on the streaming services
Netflix has its usual run of festive films, starting before December:
- A Dog’s Perfect Christmas (4 November): Dennis Quaid and Mary Steenburgen in a family drama based on W. Bruce Cameron’s work.
- Guarding Stars (18 November): Jared Padalecki and Leighton Meester in a bodyguard romcom set at a family ranch over the holidays.
- In a Holidaze (2 December): Maddie Ziegler stuck in a Christmas time loop, with Rob Lowe.
Fans of Art Detectives get a two-part special on the Acorn TV streaming service in December. No UK TV channel has announced it yet. Sky, Disney+, Prime Video and Apple TV+ haven’t announced any Christmas originals so far.
When will the Christmas 2026 TV schedules be out?
Based on how the channels have done it in recent years:
- Late October to mid November: ITV’s Christmas brochure.
- Last week of November: the BBC’s Christmas highlights, usually without times.
- Early December: full channel schedules for Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day, with times. The Radio Times Christmas double issue goes on sale around the second week of December.
- About a week before: the times reach the on-screen Freeview guide. It only looks around seven days ahead, so Christmas Day usually appears in your TV’s guide from roughly 18 December.
We update this page at each of those stages. Until then, anyone claiming to know what is on BBC One at 8pm on Christmas Day 2026 is guessing.
Christmas Eve: Thursday 24 December
2026 times: not yet announced.
Christmas Eve is usually a mix of family films in the afternoon, a big drama or a festive special in the evening and carols late on. In 2025 Channel 5 put its All Creatures Great and Small Christmas special on Christmas Eve at 9pm. The darts takes its Christmas break from the 24th.
We’ll add the Christmas Eve line-up here as soon as the channels publish it.
Christmas Day: Friday 25 December
2026 times: not yet announced.
What you can plan around:
- The King’s Christmas message at 3pm. It has gone out at 3pm on Christmas Day for decades, on BBC One and ITV1 at the same time, plus radio and online. It runs for around ten minutes.
- The afternoon and evening are where BBC One and ITV1 put their biggest shows. Typically BBC One runs an animated film or two in the morning, a family film at lunchtime, the King at 3pm, then the Strictly special, a soap and a big drama into the evening. ITV1 tends to answer with quiz and game show specials.
- EastEnders on Christmas Day is a fixture, usually in the evening and often split into two parts. With Christmas Day on a Friday, a night EastEnders normally skips, the BBC will have to rearrange the week around it. Coronation Street and Emmerdale normally have Christmas Day episodes on ITV1 too.
Of the shows confirmed so far, the likeliest Christmas Day candidates are the Strictly special, The Baddies, Mog’s Bad Thing and one of the BBC comedy specials, but none has a date yet. We’ll add the full Christmas Day schedule for BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel 5 as soon as it is published.
Boxing Day: Saturday 26 December
TV entertainment times: not yet announced. Sport: confirmed.
Boxing Day is a Saturday this year, and the sport is already fixed:
- 12.30pm: Aston Villa v Leeds, TNT Sports
- Afternoon: the King George VI Chase from Kempton, ITV
- 3pm: four Premier League games, not televised
- 5.30pm: Hull City v Liverpool, Sky Sports
- 8pm: Newcastle v Manchester City, Sky Sports
Boxing Day evening is traditionally the second-biggest night of the holiday, with a fresh round of specials and a big film on most main channels. We’ll add the Boxing Day TV line-up here once it is announced.
Christmas week: 27 to 30 December
2026 times: not yet announced.
ITV Racing continues every day to the 29th, with the Welsh Grand National from Chepstow, and the darts resumes at Alexandra Palace after its Christmas break. Elsewhere, repeats and film marathons fill most of the daytime schedule, and it is a good week to check the smaller Freeview channels. Talking Pictures TV, GREAT! Movies and Legend all lean on older films over the holiday. We explain why the schedules look the way they do in why are there so many repeats on TV.
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
2026 times: not yet announced.
New Year’s Eve is a Thursday this year and New Year’s Day 2027 a Friday. In recent years BBC One has carried the countdown to midnight and the London fireworks, with music shows either side and Jools Holland’s Hootenanny on BBC Two. New Year’s Day tends to bring another drama special or two. The darts final follows on Sunday 3 January.
We’ll add both nights here once the schedules are out.
Christmas films on Freeview
The 2026 Christmas film schedules have not been published, so we can’t list them yet. What we can tell you is where to look. Film4 shows more films than any other free channel and leans heavily into Christmas titles in December. BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1 and Channel 4 all put their biggest film premieres over the holiday, and GREAT! Movies and Legend run festive films for most of the month.
Our films on TV this week page lists every film on the main Freeview channels for the next seven days, rebuilt daily, so it will show the Christmas films as soon as they reach the guide.
How to record or catch up on Christmas TV
Christmas is the one time of year two big shows land on rival channels at the same time. Your options:
- Record it. A Freeview recorder with two or more tuners lets you record one channel while watching another. See our best Freeview recorders if you are buying one before Christmas.
- Catch up afterwards. Nearly everything from BBC One, ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel 5 goes on to BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4’s streaming service and 5 after it airs, and some shows are released on the streaming service first. How to get them on your TV is in how to watch Freeview channels online.
- Use the +1s. If you miss the start of something, the +1 channel shows it an hour later. Not every channel has one; the full list of Freeview +1 channels has the details.
BBC iPlayer requires a TV licence. ITVX, Channel 4 and 5 are free with adverts.
Find your channel
Christmas is also when people at someone else’s house can’t find the right channel number. Our Freeview channel guide lists every number, and for the children’s channels see CBeebies and CBBC channel numbers.
Until the Christmas schedules arrive, our daily guides have tonight covered:
- What’s on TV tonight
- BBC One TV guide · BBC Two TV guide · ITV1 TV guide · Channel 4 TV guide · Channel 5 TV guide
- CBeebies TV guide · CBBC TV guide
Christmas TV FAQ
What is on TV at Christmas 2026?
Confirmed so far on BBC One: Christmas specials of Ludwig, Amandaland and The Cleaner, three new episodes of The Other Bennet Sister, the Call the Midwife prequel Sisters in Arms, the animation The Baddies and the Strictly final. BBC Two has A Ghost Story for Christmas, Channel 4 has Mog’s Bad Thing and ITV has Christmas specials of The Masked Singer, The Chase and Bullseye. Dates and times are not out yet.
When is the Christmas TV schedule for 2026 released?
Not yet. ITV and the BBC usually reveal their Christmas highlights between late October and late November, and full schedules with times follow in early December. The Freeview on-screen guide only reaches about a week ahead, so Christmas Day times normally appear there around 18 December.
Is there a Ludwig Christmas special?
Yes. The BBC confirmed a Ludwig Christmas special in September 2026, with David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin back and David Suchet among the guest cast. It airs on BBC One in December; the date is not out yet.
Is there an Amandaland Christmas special in 2026?
Yes, an hour-long special on BBC One and iPlayer in December. Lucy Punch’s Amanda scraps a quiet Christmas Eve to throw a party for an old school friend, played by Daisy Haggard. No date yet.
Is The Other Bennet Sister back at Christmas?
Yes, with three half-hour episodes on BBC One and iPlayer in December 2026, following Mary and Tom’s married life. Dates are not out yet.
Is there a Doctor Who Christmas special this year?
No. The 2026 special announced in October 2025 was cancelled in June 2026, when the BBC decided to put the show out to tender. It is the first year since 2004 with no new Doctor Who on TV.
Is there a Call the Midwife Christmas special?
Not in the usual form. The BBC is showing a three-part prequel, Sisters in Arms, at Christmas 2026 instead. Some reports say it starts on Christmas Day, but the BBC has not confirmed a date.
What football is on TV on Boxing Day 2026?
Three of the seven Premier League games on Saturday 26 December are live: Aston Villa v Leeds at 12.30pm on TNT Sports, Hull City v Liverpool at 5.30pm on Sky Sports and Newcastle v Manchester City at 8pm on Sky Sports. None is on free-to-air TV.
When is the World Darts Championship 2026/27?
Friday 11 December 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027 at Alexandra Palace, live on Sky Sports. It moves to the venue’s larger Great Hall this time.
What time is the King’s speech on Christmas Day?
Traditionally 3pm, on BBC One and ITV1 at the same time, as well as radio and online. The 2026 slot hasn’t been formally announced, but 3pm has been the fixed time for decades.
What day is Christmas Day 2026?
A Friday. Boxing Day is a Saturday, Monday 28 December is the substitute bank holiday and New Year’s Day 2027 is a Friday.
When is the Strictly final?
Saturday 19 December on BBC One. The Christmas special has been confirmed but has no date yet.
Is EastEnders on Christmas Day?
It has been every year for decades, and the 2026 time will be confirmed with the BBC’s Christmas schedule. Christmas Day is a Friday this year, a night EastEnders does not normally air, so the usual week will be rearranged. For normal soap times see when the soaps and big shows are on.
How do I catch up on Christmas TV I missed?
BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4’s streaming service and 5 carry most Christmas programmes after broadcast. All are free with a Freeview TV, though iPlayer needs a TV licence.
Related on TV Radar: What’s On TV Tonight · Premier League on TV · Darts on TV · Films on TV This Week · Freeview Channel Guide · Best Freeview Recorders
Confirmed details come from broadcaster announcements, club and governing-body fixture lists, and trade press reporting of those announcements, and are checked before they go on this page. Anything without a date will be filled in as the channels publish their Christmas 2026 schedules.
