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The 5 best things to watch on TV this Christmas Day

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 23rd December 2021

Christmas Day is a hectic time.

For a lot of us, if the run-up to Christmas wasn’t already busy enough as it is, there’s often not a moment to breathe on the big day itself between presents being opened, travelling to see people, entertaining guests, slaving over a hot stove for hours, and eating plenty of food.

Sometimes though, you may find yourself twiddling your thumbs with some time to spare, and that’s why the distraction of festive TV is so brilliant.

For others, sitting around to watch the TV is an important part of Christmas Day itself.

No matter what your situation is, there’s some cracking things to watch on Christmas Day this year – with classic seasonal films, to festive specials of our favourite shows, and a few family-friendly additions all on the agenda – so we’ve rounded-up the best of the bunch to create our TV guide.

Here’s five of our picks.

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The Snowman & The Snowman and the Snowdog

Channel 4 – 3:55pm

The Snowman and the Snowdog / Credit: Channel 4 & Robin Shaw Illustrator

You can’t have one without the other.

Starting off this list with some classics that so many of us grew up with, and are perfect for all the family to take a break from the hustle and bustle of Christmas Day and sit down and watch.

The Snowman (1982) tells the charming tale of how James – a young boy who wakes up one Christmas Eve morning to the heaviest snows he’s ever seen – rushes out to make a snowman, and then the magic begins. While the sequel, The Snowman and the Snowdog (2012) see a boy’s snowman and snowdog come to life at the stroke of midnight to take him on an adventure to the North Pole, before returning home – where a surprise awaits.

You can catch both The Snowman at 3:55pm, followed by The Snowman and the Snowdog at 4:30pm on Channel 4.

Strictly Come Dancing

BBC One – 5:10pm

Strictly Come Dancing / Credit: BBC & Guy Levy

We’ve all come to expect Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special at this point, haven’t we?

After the iconic ballroom dance competition programme has been bringing us smaller, festive editions of the show we all know and love since 2004, it’s back again this Christmas Day, with celebrity contestants Jay Blades, Fred Sirieix, Mel Giedroyc, Moira Stuart, Anne-Marie, and Adrian Chiles taking to the floor to impress judges the judges and battle it out for the Christmas glitter ball trophy.

The contestants will also be performing a group routine alongside the professional dancers, and there will be musical performances from guests Jamie Cullum and Gary Barlow.

You can catch Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One at 5:10pm.

Call The Midwife

BBC One – 8pm

Call The Midwife / Credit: BBC iPlayer

Beloved BBC drama Call The Midwife is another show that’s become very well-known for its Christmas specials over the years – and 2021 is absolutely no different.

In this episode, the Christmas of 1966 promises to be a memorable one at Nonnatus House, as Lucille and Cyril prepare for their upcoming winter wedding, but the midwives are faced with their busiest Christmas Day ever, with the Maternity Home is filled with expectant mums to be, each with their own challenging case.

You can catch Call The Midwife on BBC One at 8pm.

The Great British Bake Off

Channel 4 – 8pm

The Great British Bake Off / Credit: GBBO & Channel 4

The Great British Bake Off is once again back with a Christmas special for the big day.

Bringing all the drama and baking-related puns we’ve come to know and love from the original series over the years, but just with a little festive cheer, judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, and hosts Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding invite the stars from the award-winning hit drama It’s a Sin to join them in the famous tent to celebrate Christmas.

Olly Alexander, Nathaniel Curtis, Lydia West, and Shaun Dooley will all be competing for the coveted ‘Christmas Star Baker’ title.

You can catch The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4 and 8pm.

Love Actually

ITV – 10:40pm

Love Actually / Credit: Studio Canal

We couldn’t write this list up without including at least one Christmas film.

Although watching Christmas films throughout December in the lead-up to the big day to get into the spirit is often a big part of the festive season for many of us, there’s always room to watch a film one last time on Christmas Day – and this one couldn’t be on at a more perfect time for the grown-ups and hopeless romantics.

Love Actually (2003) is a Christmas-themed romantic comedy film featuring a star-studded cast that delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving people, who all end up being linked to each other as the tales progress.

You can catch Love Actually on ITV at 10:40pm.

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Featured Image – BBC | Studio Canal

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What we know about Oasis’ Heaton Park reunion shows based on their first comeback gig in Cardiff

Danny Jones Danny Jones All the info we know about Oasis Live '25 reunion night 1 Cardiff

Ok, so there’s no more need to pinch ourselves or double-take every time we check our phone: Oasis aren’t just back together, they’ve now kicked off the reunion and following those incredible Cardiff scenes, we’re already thinking about what this means for their Heaton Park homecoming.

There simply isn’t a brick-and-mortar Manchester venue big enough to hold as many Manc fans as want, need and deserve to see them back on stage after waiting all this time, so it’s only fitting that barely a month on from Parklife, the massive outdoor space will welcome us all back to witness history.

Quite literally millions of people tuned into various livestreams on Friday evening to see Oasis return at the Principality Stadium, so lots of you will have already seen plenty from the colossal concert – including that bald bloke balancing a pint on his head – but there was, understandably, a lot to take in.

So, with that being said, here’s what we hope, we think, we know about Oasis’ highly anticipated Heaton Park shows based solely on the details we gleaned from Cardiff night one.

The timings (roughly)

For starters, one of the most important things fans will be hoping to know is when Oasis got back on stage, as well as the set times of the other ‘Live ’25‘ support acts.

Liam, as per usual, was the mouthier of the two Gallagher brothers and let the cat out of the bag early on X (Twitter), before being clearly told off by management and deleting the details shortly after; still, it was confirmed that the main event for Friday and Saturday night gets underway at 8:15pm.

However, these things are always subject to change, as both Richard Aschroft and Cast were slightly premature on night one in Cardiff, and who knows what other arenas will be like for the rest of the reunion tour?

Credit: Oasis (via Instagram)/Dianne Bourne (screenshot via X)

The Live ’25 setlist – or at least on night one

Another big debate online that has raged ever since the Oasis reunion was confirmed is the subject of what they’re going to play from their extensive catalogue.

Obviously, most people could rattle off most of the all-time favourites and cobbble together a pretty decent ‘greatest hits’ of Oasis setlist, but people have been more concerned with what the opener, closing track, and encore will be.

Having watched all of these moments back multiple times already, we can confirm the first track was not the old intro, ‘F***in’ in the Bushes’, as many suspected, but ‘Hello’, rather fittingly.

As for the last track in the main running order, the crowd got to bounce up and down to ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ before the legendary ‘Champagne Supernova’ beckoned the very end of the first night in Cardiff.

They’ll still be reactive

That being said, this inaugural comeback show was somewhat of a pilot for the rest of the ‘Live ’25 world tour, which now totals more than 40 dates, and any good artist knows that tweaking the setlist from show to show can be key to not only to success, but keeping things fresh for you and the audience.

As a result, we wouldn’t be surprised if you see Oasis mix things up as the nights roll on, especially when playing multiple gigs in the same city as they’re doing pretty much everywhere for this reunion.

That flexibility isn’t just limited to song choice either: Liam did his famous twist on the ‘Wonderwall’ lyrics and told the crowd, “There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don’t speak Welsh”, and in case you haven’t seen it already, they also took a moment to honour a late Liverpool star.

Gallagher brothers pay touching tribute to Diogo Jota on first night of Oasis reunion tour
There were lots of little details on night one in Cardiff, but this was a very nice touch from Oasis.

A bigger focus on production than ever

The glimpse at the AV presentation seen above is just a small taster too. From the various clips we’ve seen on social media over the last 24 hours or so, Oasis aren’t just back playing music together, but they’ve levelled significantly in terms of production and stage design.

In fairness, so too has the music indusry as a whole – you’d be hard-pressed to found a tech team that could pull of the pre-gig light-show they put on in the days leading up to night one at the Principality – but it was still cool to see the greatest rock band in the world be given a proper big budget backdrop.

For instance, you can see what flashed on the gigantic screens behind them as they walked out in front of more than 70,000 in Cardiff down below.

What a way to make an entrance…

Blues, through and through

Now, if you’ve ever been to see either of the brothers’ solo shows, you’ll know that football and, more specifically, references to Man City, often feature at some point.

Noel, in particular, has maintained a strong City presence in his set, be it the blue colour palette, the MCFC badge, or even a tall cut-out of manager Pep Guardiola half during most High Flying Birds gigs.

Cardiff night one was no different as his LG instructed the crowd to turn around and do the familiar ‘Poznan’ celebration regularly seen up in the stands of the Etihad Stadium.

The bitterness had turned to banter

It was bits of comedy like this that’s been one of the biggest part we’ve missed about Oasis; both Liam and Noel have always been very humorous in their own ways over the years, but they were never funnier than in those old clips you see of them cracking each other up in their younger days.

Despite being estranged for more than a decade and a half and who knows how many years of bad blood overall, they look to have at least put it to one side and what was once a combative back and forth from a distance has circled back around to brotherly banter – or at least we hope it has.

We’re not going to pretend they absolutely adore all of a sudden, but they’re at least trying and recognising each other’s roles.

They actually seem to like each other again

As you can see, those snaps of them smiling during the first reunion photo shoot back together don’t appear to be just for show.

Seeing the two of them walk out holding hands sent the internet into an absolute frenzy of emotion and had people joking that they were finally going to message their own troublesome relative and at least try to mend fences.

But that was just one small moment.

The duo have always admired and respected their respective talents, but for the first time in even longer than the 16-year hiatus itself, it seems like there’s some genuine love there again. See for yourself:

They’re still as massive as they ever were – if not more so

All this is to say that, in short, Oasis’ first comeback show in Cardiff isn’t just the start of the ‘Live ’25 reunion tour that will span the globe, it’s also confirmation of something people began to question in their lengthy absence…

They really are the biggest and, in so many people’s opinions (including our own), the greatest rock band of all time.

From what we can tell, it feels like one of those watershed music moments where you have be there in person to truly see and believe it – not to be part of some exclusive ‘I was there’ comeback, but because we can’t thing of any other reunion that has had this kind of impact.

Roll on the five nights at Heaton Park and strap in, folks, because you will never forget it.

Read more:

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Oasis (via X)/Finnlay K (via Instagram)

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Gallagher brothers pay touching tribute to Diogo Jota on first night of Oasis reunion tour

Danny Jones Danny Jones Oasis pay tribute to Diogo Jota in Cardiff

It’s official, Oasis are actually back, and during the first date on their reunion tour in Cardiff, the Gallagher brothers paid a touching tribute to Liverpool FC player Diogo Jota.

News of Jota’s passing broke on Thursday morning, after it was confirmed that the Liverpool forward was involved in a car crash along with his brother, Andre Felipe Silva.

Using the iconic track ‘Live Forever’ as the perfect opportunity to pay their respects, the screen behind them flashed up with his shirt.

Here’s the moment it happened:

A lovely touch from the Burnage boys and die-hard Blues, not to mention done rather cleverly given the song choice.

Taken from their legendary debut album, Definitely Maybe, the 1994 track is regularly voted ‘the best British song of all time’ – and moments like these only reaffirm why it connects with people so strongly.

What’s even more moving is the slight swell of noise you hear from the crowd; even on a night where quite literally all eyes were on them and the inaugural night of the ‘Live ’25’ tour, they made sure to shed some light on the bigger picture.

You could even see some fans in the crowd holding up Portugal flags in honour of the late LFC star.

Manchester City themselves – who boast a number of Portuguese players like Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias and Matheus Nune – were among countless clubs who shared their condolences with Liverpool in the aftermath of the 28-year-old’s tragic death.

Scouse support band Cast also dedicated one of their songs to Jota earlier in the evening.

Put simply, Friday, 4 July 2025, at the Principality Stadium was always going to be one that went down as one of the biggest concerts in decades, but this small gesture from a pair of footy fans no doubt made it even more special for any supporters who happened to be in the crowd.

And, indeed, the thousands watching at home, as even before the tidal wave clips began to appear online, there were multiple livestreams of the show on YouTube and various other platforms.

While most of these were ultimately taken down (not before we saw that legend balancing a pint of blue WKD on his head), there was no chance of keeping this one in the building.

We saw the setlist, we heard the noise; we saw them holding hands, and we even saw them hugging as they walked off. On a night were they chose to spotlight family in more ways than one, Oasis and those who are sadly no longer around to see them ‘Live Forever’ in the memory of millions.

Read more:

Transport ‘masterplan’ announced as more than 300,000 fans hit Manchester for Oasis reunion gigs

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Nick Newell/Oasis (via X)

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