The Christmas TV schedule is packed this year – and we have to review it all

There’s always great interest in the Christmas TV schedules – but at least it’s not repeats like last year. TV production is back to normal after the Covid pandemic and lockdowns and now we are spoilt for choice.

The Christmas TV schedule is packed this year – and we have to review it all.

Luckily, we can get hold of screeners early on so that our critics don’t have to be glued to the TV and sacrifice Christmas lunch – or seeing in the New Year – to file reviews.

But with a constant flow of them running over Christmas and the New Year, those manning the culture desk are likely to see more of the office at times than a relative.

Over Christmas we’ve already reviewed BBC Two’s Motherland: Last Christmas; the last ever episode of ITV’s Doc Martin; BBC One’s Mrs Brown’s Boys; Netflix’s The Witcher: Blood Origin; BBC Two’s Detectorists Christmas Special; BBC One’s Mayflies; Netflix’s Treason; ITVX’s new drama Without Sin; and even Channel 4’s Prince Andrew: The Musical.

There’s more coming on New Year’s Day. It’s the return of BBC One’s Happy Valley and Netflix’s Kaleidoscope, a heist drama starring Rufus Sewell that can be watched in any order.

But like last year, with Don’t Look Up – the 2021 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as two astronomers attempting to warn humanity about an approaching comet – the biggest Christmas TV show this year was a Netflix film.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery which began streaming exclusively on Netflix on 23 December and is the sequel to 2019’s Knives Out, stars Daniel Craig who reprised his role as detective Benoit Blanc solving a new case.

The Independent gave it a four-star review when it was released in select cinemas in November – but now you can watch it from the comfort of your own home. As our review says about this murder mystery, “the real trick of Glass Onion is the way it asks audiences to pay careful attention to the clues”. It might be the time of year for party games, but, really, who needs Cluedo?

Yours,

Charlotte Cripps

Senior culture writer