TV guide: 39 of the best shows to watch this week, beginning tonight

The Royal Variety Performance 2021
Sunday, Virgin One, 9pm/ITV, 7.20pm
If he hadn't already realised it, Alan Carr has made it into the big league – he's the host of this year's Royal Variety Performance. Receiving such an honour really is the seal of approval from the showbiz world, not to mention the house of Windsor — the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were in attendance when the event took place at the Royal Albert Hall on November 18th. It was a special moment for the charity behind it: 2021 marks 100 years of royal patronage. Among those who take to the stage are Rod Stewart, Ed Sheehan, Anne-Marie, Years and Years, James Blunt, Bill Bailey, Josh Widdicombe, and the casts of Matilda the Musical and Cirque du Soleil.

The Girl Before
Sunday, BBC One, 9pm

Nothing like a good psychological thriller to get you in the mood for the Christmas headwreck, and all the guilting, shaming and gaslighting that goes with it. This four-parter stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Jane, a young professional who thinks she’s landed in her dream home. No 1 Folgate Street is a minimalist heaven designed by enigmatic architect Edward Monkford (David Oyelowo), and is the perfect haven to help Jane get over a recent trauma. But Monkford has some rather exacting rules the occupants of the house must abide by, and things take a sinister turn when Jane learns the story of the previous occupant.

Junior Eurovision Final
Sunday, TG4, 3pm

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The main event is finally here: After months of auditions and six weeks of televised heats, 14-year-old Maiú Levi Lawlor from Greystones, Co Wicklow takes to the Junior Eurovision stage in Paris. Competing against 19 other countries, Maiú will be hoping that his Irish-language song Saor will win the prestigious event for Ireland. Saor is about teenagers emerging from the struggles of Covid lockdown and how they will now live life to the full. Can Maiú go on and claim Eurovision glory for Ireland?

Mná na bPíob
Sunday, TG4, 9.30pm

This documentary follows renowned musician Louise Mulcahy on a journey to uncover the neglected stories of a group of incredible female pipers who were airbrushed out of Irish cultural history. Mulcahy will meet fellow musicians and scholars for their insights into these women and the challenges they faced during the testing times they lived in from the middle of the 19th century, right up to the 1950s and beyond. Incredible musical performances play homage to their music and lives and celebrate their brilliance.

The Restaurant Christmas Special
Sunday, Virgin Two, 7pm
The Restaurant invites a celebrity chef into a real restaurant kitchen to cook a three-course meal. The amateur is supported by three professional chefs team and commis chefs. The food is served to a room full of invited diners and to three critics. Neither critics nor diners know the identity of the celebrity chef, but throughout the evening they can try to identify him/her through the food. At the end of the evening, the celebrity chef is revealed and each critic gives feedback on each course – and then the celebrity chef is handed an envelope with their star rating.

The Amazing Mr Blunden
Monday, Sky Max & NowTV, 7pm
Here's a ghost story for Christmas with a time-travelling twist. Teenagers Jamie and Lucy find themselves living in a spooky old country house after a strange, charismatic old fellow named Mr Blunden (Simon Callow) offers their mum the job of caretaker. The house is rumoured to be haunted and, sure enough, Jamie and Lucy soon encounter the spirits of two children from the early 19th century, But these ghosts seem oddly corporeal; it turns out they're alive, and have travelled forward in time to ask for help. Jamie and Lucy must find a way to travel back to 1821 to foil the murderous plans of the wicked Mr and Mrs Wickens (Mark Gatiss and Tamsin Grieg). Perhaps Mr Blunden can help...

Mary Berry's Festive Feasts
Monday, BBC One, 7.05pm
Can three truly hapless cooks create a fantastic Christmas Feast? Dame Mary Berry thinks so and invites a trio of kitchen novices into her home to share their ambitions for and tell her all about the deserving person they want to spoil with a festive banquet. Berry will demonstrate tricky techniques and give her pupils some pointers pointers. But once they wave goodbye and head home, it's up to them to practice in their own kitchens. Luckily for them, Mary has enlisted the help of celebrity elves Alex Jones and Patrick Grant to add an extra sprinkle of Christmas magic.

Have Yourself a Mary Little Christmas
Monday, RTÉ One, 10.30pm
For 27 years, Mary Kennedy presented the annual Carols show on RTÉ One, featuring a rich variety of Irish musical talent performing in beautiful settings all around the country. Here she revisits some of her favourites from those shows, including performances by Enya, Johnny Logan, Sinéad O'Connor, Mick Flannery & Susan O'Neill, Donal Lunny, Ralph McTell, Imelda May, Loah & Lisa Hannigan and Eimear Quinn.

The Big Soap Quiz: Coronation Street vs Emmerdale
Monday, ITV, 9pm; Wednesday, Virgin One, 9pm
The annual grudge match between ITV's biggest soaps returns as the stars of Corrie and Emmerdale to the test. Last year Emmerdale again claimed victory, making it three wins on the trot now – the farm soap lot pipped their rivals by just two points, 20-22, so Team Corrie need to up their game tonight. Mark Charnock leads the Emmerdale contingent of Sally Dexter and Emile John. They will be hoping to see off Corrie captain Jack P Shepherd and his colleagues Jane Danson and Tanisha Gorey.

Dating Amber
Tuesday, RTE2, 9.35pm

In his three-star review of this charming 2020 Irish film, IT critic Donald Clarke wrote: “One could teach a class on romantic-comedy structure using director David Freyne’s agreeable second feature as sole template. The trick here is that Eddie (Fionn O’Shea) and Amber (Lola Petticrew) are not really a couple. The two students are gay and – the original, better title was Beards – fake a relationship to deflect the bullies’ attention. The film, set in the 1990s, is a little tonally insecure, but the delightful performances spark the action throughout.” Sharon Horgan and Barry Ward costar.

Catherine Celebrates Christmas
Tuesday, RTÉ One, 7pm

Covid is once more casting a huge shadow over Christmas, but you can be sure celebrity chef Catherine Fulvio won’t be glum – and she certainly won’t be cancelling her Christmas dinner plans and just getting in a takeaway. In her latest special celebrating the season that’s in it, Fulvio displays a positive attitude that’s more infectious than coronavirus, and going all out for that Christmassy feeling. “I love all the traditions around Christmas, from the comforting smell of the Christmas tree to the holly with berries, from the cheesy Christmas crackers and their jokes to all those amazing festive flavours on the dining table,” she says. She’ll be preparing fab Christmas food with a twist and meeting various artisan producers, among them nut farmer Cathal Regan, and Gerry Ginty, founder of Powerscourt Estate Distillery.

How to Cook Well at Christmas with Rory O'Connell
Tuesday/Wednesday, RTÉ One, 8.30pm

It wouldn’t be Christmas without chef Rory showing off his prodigious Christmas dinner-making skills and making the rest of us feel completely inadequate. But this year O’Connell is passing on the big meal and instead showing us how to make Christmas brunch – which he reckons can be a far more relaxing and convivial affair. That’s probably because family members are still a bit bleary and haven’t had time to sharpen their knives, and your embarrassing uncle hasn’t had time to get sozzled yet. The downside is you might have to get up extra early to create the kind of fabulous brunch Rory has in mind. In the second of this two-parter, he prepares a Christmas picnic. Sure, sounds strange having a picnic in the dead of winter, but once you taste his Christmas trifles in the snow, you’ll feel all warm inside.

Celebrity MasterChef Christmas Cook-Off
Tuesday/Thursday, BBC One, 8pm
It's Christmas , time to get together with old friends. So deck the halls and break out the Christmas fizz as 10 of the most memorable celebrities from past series return to the MasterChef kitchen for two festive-themed specials. Tonight, judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode welcome the first five competitors back. They are Strictly Come Dancing pro Oti Mabuse, reality star Joey Essex, former footballer Neil Ruddock, comedian Judi Love, and Hi-de-Hi actress Su Pollard. The quintet must create a dish using ingredients found in an advent calendar and then cook something they would like to eat over the festive period.

Tommy Fleming: 30 Years of Song
Tuesday, TG4, 9.30pm

A reflection of 30 years in the music industry, expertly compiled by Tommy Fleming, Ireland’s premier male performer. Live concert recordings from the past 30 years include Morning Has Broken, Amazing Grace, Danny Boy, Hard Times, The West’s Awake and many more classics.

Amazing Spaces: George's Icelandic Adventure
Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm
George pulls on his woolly socks and gloves and heads to magical Iceland for some winter wanderlust, joined by friend and master craftsman Will Hardie. Together they explore the best of Iceland's architecture, from a cool, contemporary lake house and a traditional home made out of turf to a treetop hotel room inspired by a Christmas bauble and a stunning, modernist build in the snowy wilderness. But they get to grips with more than just inspirational design, including mysterious elves, majestic horses, geothermal baths and wild camping.

Battle of the Christmas Lights
Tuesday/Thursday, Virgin One, 7.30pm
This two-part special pits twp families against each other in a battle to pull off the best Christmas displays, from the Christmas table to the all-important tree to the festive dinner delights, all culminating in a head to head competition to pull of the best outdoor lights display on their homes.

Gordon, Gino & Fred's Roadtrip Christmas Special
Tuesday/Thursday, Virgin One, 9pm; Wednesday/Thursday, ITV2, 9pm
Gordon Ramsay, Gino D'Acampo and Fred Sirieux are hitting the highways of Europe and the US on a most outrageous foodie roadtrip featuring extreme adventures, sumptuous feasts and their own brand of playful ego-bashing.

The Toy Shop
Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.30pm

You might think toys are just something Santa delivers down the chimney, but this documentary is out to show that toys are a lot more than a yoke under the tree. Toyshop owners around the country talk about the importance of their magical merchandise in people’s lives, how toys can spark the imagination and ambitions of young people, and trigger cherished memories in older folk. It also might serve as a tiny reminder before you click that “go to checkout” button that there are still physical places out there that stock actual toys, so maybe take the trouble to visit your local shop and give them your custom rather than throw your money down the black hole of Bezos’s bank account. Among the stores featured are Nimble Fingers in Dublin, Bear Essentials in Co Cavan, Tinney’s Toys in Letterkenny, Wooden Heart in Galway, Little Ones in Ennis, and Pinocchio’s in Cork.

Ace My Space Christmas Specials
Wednesday/Thursday, RTÉ2, 5.25pm
In these two special Christmas episodes, Sean and MC are visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, who give our presenters some important missions in Ballymun and Wexford. Equipped with lights, garlands and a whole lot of tinsel, Sean, MC and the Ace Team help two lucky groups transform two dull rooms into amazing spaces, just in time for Santa's sleigh. Join Sean and MC as they take on their biggest challenge yet – but will all their Christmasses come at once or will they get a frosty reception?

The Great British Sewing Bee: Celebrity Christmas Special
Wednesday, BBC One, 8pm
When Sara Pascoe appeared in The Great British Christmas Sewing Bee this time last year, she must have had the time of her life. In fact, the comedian enjoyed herself in the haberdashery so much, she has agreed to take over as the show's new presenter. Before Pascoe gets to work on a full series next year, she will be hosting two celebrity specials over the festive season. Expect glitter, sequins and plenty of Christmas touches as former Goggleboxer and radio host Rev Kate Bottley, Coronation Street actor Antony Cotton, Ghosts star Kiell Smith-Bynoe, and broadcaster Anneka Rice take to the Sewing Room tonight. Under the watchful eye of judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young, the four brave celebrities follow a pattern for a Christmas jumper. They then transform a charity shop bundle into fancy dress outfit and create dresses from Christmas past.

The Hairy Bikers Go North for Christmas
Wednesday, BBC Two, 8pm

Dave Myers and Si King are back on the road, and this time their sights are set on creating the most fabulous festive feast. The duo hail from opposite sides of northern England and feel it’s been far too long since their families have been together around one table for a proper celebration. So they’ve hatched a plan to ride the backbone of the north, the Pennines, and meet, taste and be inspired by the best food artisans and producers around. Afterwards they’ll then create a Christmas dinner using ingredients they find. Among the unusual dishes they rustle up are turkey doner kebab, gourmet marshmallows and award-winning Christmas Puds that contain an incredible 21 ingredients.

Madame Tussauds: The Full Wax
Wednesday, ITV, 9pm
Founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud in 1835, the wax museum is now one of the world's most famous tourist attractions. Filmed across a year at its locations in London and Blackpool, cameras follow the creation and launch of some of the latest wax figures, including Little Mix and Dan TDM. It also reveals how staff decide which celebrities and pop culture icons should be given their own wax Doppelgängers, and the painstaking work that goes into creating them.

Our Victorian Christmas
Wednesday, Chanel 5, 9pm
One-off programme that sees a family experience Christmas as it would have been 150 years ago, while historians and experts provide revealing insights into the era. It charts the transformation of Christmas over the course of the Victorian age, as it went from 12 days of feasting, drinking and partying to a far more family friendly celebration focused on Christmas Day. The family work their way through a Christmas to-do list as they prepare to celebrate the big day as their 19th-century ancestors would have done.

Not Going Out Christmas Special
Thursday, BBC One, 10pm

Lee Mack is back in his most celebrated role – basically playing himself – in what is now the longest-running sitcom still on air. In this umpteenth festive special, Lee and Lucy (Sally Bretton) are actually going out (to a panto) but Lee is not looking forward to it, as the star is the object of Lucy’s teenage fantasies: Jason Donovan. How can Lee compete with the Aussie heartthrob? Get his mug printed on a pillow and give it to Lucy for Christmas? The prospect of Lucy dumping him for a former soap star has Lee so wound up he has a nightmare before Christmas...in which he, Lucy and the gang join Donovan onstage at the panto.

The Weakest Link Christmas Special
Thursday, BBC One, 6.30pm
New host Romesh Ranganathan may be a cuddly teddy bear next to Anne Robinson, but he promises to take no prisoners as he quizzes eight celebrities (Kym Marsh, Gemma Collins, Hugh Fearnley-Whittignstall, Christopher Biggins, Rev Kate Bottley, Bonnie Langford, Olly Smith and Danny John-Jules), all of whom will be dressed up in their festive finery, not to mention their Christmas thinking caps. They'll have to work as a team to win the £50,000 prize for their chosen charity, and you can bet that Ranganathan will be trying to pit the celebs against each other and trip them up with some stinkers.

Amazing Grace
Thursday, TG4, 10.30pm

In his five-star review of Sydney Pollack’s long-lost concert film, IT film critic Donald Clarke wrote in August 2019: “Brilliant documentary on the recording of the late Aretha Franklin’s 1972 gospel classic Amazing Grace. The release was delayed initially by a technical error and then as a result of legal action from Ms Franklin. Its eventual arrival provides the authors of online listicles a permanent starting point when considering the 10 greatest concert films of all time. The music is transcendent. The editing is perfectly paced. The congregation offer a vital snapshot of a time and place. A masterpiece of its type.”

Ghosts
Thursday, BBC One, 8.30pm
Forget Charles Dickens's spectres of Christmases Past, Present and Future: we're happy to welcome the spooks at the centre of this charming show after its third series wrapped in the autumn. We catch up with Button House's residents in the run-up to the festive season, and Kitty is convinced that Santa Claus has made an early stop when a man is found living in a tent in the grounds. The ghosts' advice on how to deal with him leaves much to be desired, but eventually Mike and Alison learn that they have more to offer this Yuletide than they realised. Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe head the cast, but watch out for a scene-stealing Jennifer Saunders guesting as Lady Fanny's mother.

One Night in the Natural History Museum
Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm
Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe are joined by comedian Aisling Bea to run wild and free for one night only inside London's Natural History Museum. The trio enjoy a game of hide-and-seek, muck about in the lavish exhibitions, raid the gift shop, and explore the museum's off-limits areas, stumbling across the strange and spectacular basement Tank Room. This creepy experience in the bowels of the building only increases their giddy delirium, and they eventually hit a wall of tiredness. But who can sleep?

Adam Saves Christmas
Christmas Eve, RTÉjr, noon

I think it’s fair to say that little Adam King saved Christmas 2020 when he melted our hearts with his virtual hugs on The Late Late Toy Show. Now Adam, who has a brittle bone condition, is ready to save Christmas once again in this special festive animation – the first time (and hopefully not the last) a wheelchair user has been the lead character in an Irish animation. The Northern Lights have mysteriously gone out, and Santa can’t find his reindeer in the dark. It’s up to Adam and his crew to discover what happened to the Aurora Borealis and restore the light in time for Christmas. But there’s a scary bit: Santa looks and sounds eerily like Ryan Tubridy in a red suit. Aargh!

Christmas Carols: Christmas in St Patrick's
Christmas Eve, RTÉ One, 8.15pm

This year Dublin’s St Patrick’s Cathedral was given a €9.4 million facelift (and roof restoration) in time for its 800th anniversary. The newly refurbished cathedral is showcased in this festive extravaganza, featuring some of Ireland’s finest musicians and artists, and presented by Dáithí Ó Sé. This special gathering will feature performances from Andrea Corr, Tolu Makay, Declan O’Rourke, Lisa O’Neill and Ultan O’Brien, along with opera star Sinead Campbell Wallace, David Brophy’s Frontline Choir, the Choir of St Patrick’s Cathedral and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

A Kids' Country Christmas
Christmas Eve, RTE2, 3.35pm

Everybody loves kids, everybody loves country music and everybody loves Christmas. This special brings them all together – it features Irish children who are already making their mark on the country music scene as they sing a variety of country classics. They include Tyrone’s Caillin Joe, Donegal’s Wild Atlantic Wains, and yodeller Rachel O’Donnell from Cashel, Co Tipperary.

The Greatest Snowman
Christmas Eve, Channel 4, 8pm
Sue Perkins hosts an epic snow-building competition from an Alpine mountainside, as Johnny Vegas, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Dani Dyer, Liam Charles and Cherry Healey go head-to-head across three tough rounds that challenge them to build incredible structures from tonnes of snow and ice. Supported by world-class ice sculptors, engineers and snow builders, the celebs must design and make the most extraordinary snow creations before the final round and an attempt to create the greatest snowman.

Top Gear: Driving Home for Christmas
Christmas Eve, BBC One, 8.30pm
Brace yourselves for the mother of all secret Santas as Chris Harris, Paddy McGuiness and Freddie Flintoff choose cars for one another. After unwrapping their presents in Bethlehem (the one in Wales, obvs), the trio travel across Britain, playing the traditional Christmas game of "high speed visual charades" and delivering 1,000kgs of Norway Spruce to the city of Bath. Then it's time for the presenters to head to the Top Gear test track, transformed into a winter wonderland of speed.

Gardeners' World Winter Special
Christmas Eve, BBC Two, 9pm
Monty Don embraces the festive spirit as he creates a winter container filled with seasonal favourites at Longmeadow. Florist and social media sensation Arthur Parkinson joins Rachel de Thame to make Christmas decorations with plant material sourced from the garden. Comedian Joe Lycett talks to Carol Klein about his new love of gardening. And Adam Frost looks at ground-cover plants. Advolly Richmond learns about the history of the topiary gardens at Levens Hall in Cumbria while Sue Kent makes some festive gardening gifts.

All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special
Christmas Eve, Channel 5, 9pm
It really wouldn't be Christmas without a dose of festive nostalgia. We join the community of Darrowby on Christmas Day. James and Helen are in a bit of a pickle: they never agreed where they would eat on the big day and they're expected both at Skeldale by Hrs Hall and at Heston Grange by Jenny. Sadly, their dilemma throws up awkward questions about their future, and a card from James' father doesn't help. Meanwhile, Helen feels like a fifth wheel at the Skeldale Christmas party after a local pet falls ill. Luckily for her and the unfortunate creature, local farmer Dave Kitson may have all the answers. Plus, Tristan has some important news.

ON DEMAND

Being the Ricardos
From Tuesday, Amazon Prime

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were married for 20 years. Many people felt they knew the couple thanks to their starring roles in the hugely popular and groundbreaking sitcom I Love Lucy, which ran from 1951-1957. Ball and Arnaz played a married duo who shared some of their real-life characteristics, their company also made the series, and Arnaz acted as executive producer. This feature-length drama takes place over the course of one critical week during the making of the show. We get an insight into the often turbulent relationship between its central couple, as well as the pressure on the writers tasked with making sure the laughs came thick and fast. Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem play Ball and Arnaz.

Emily in Paris
From Wednesday, Netflix

It was Netflix’s biggest comedy success of 2020: Viewers sought escapism in a fairytale version of Paris, where every week was fashion week and the Eiffel Tower has the uncanny ability to pop up in the background no matter what part of town you were in. We were so enchanté by Darren Star’s fluffy new series, it was inevitable that it would flounce back for a second season. (“She’s back for amour and coming in haute,” goes the awful punning tagline.) Lily Collins returns as the eponymous Emily, who is getting well settled in her new home – although she still has trouble getting her American head around those quirky French ways. But her work at the marketing firm Savoir is more of a challenge, and the sexual politics are getting more confusing. “Ever since I moved to Paris, my life has just been chaotic and dramatic and complicated,” she confides. “Emily, you’re getting more French by the day,” comes the reply.

The Wonder Years
From Wednesday, Disney+
In 1988, The Wonder Years became a major hit in the US and ran for five years. It provided a look back at life in the 1960s and 1970s for one ordinary suburban American family, as seen through the eyes of Kevin Arnold, the youngest of three children. Fred Savage, who played him, is now one of the executive producers of this reboot; he also directs several episodes. Like its predecessor, the new show also begins in the late 1960s, but this time features a Black family from Montgomery, Alabama. Elisha "EJ" Williams plays 12-year-old Dean Williams, who lives with his parents and sister. Don Cheadle narrates as an older version of Dean. The programme's mix of comedy, drama and nostalgia has been well received in the US.

Don't Look Up
From Christmas Eve, Netflix

Oscar-nominated writer-director Adam McKay, whose previous films include The Big Short, Vice and Anchorman, is the brains behind this all-star black comedy, which also has elements of sci-fi and satire. It focuses on two astronomers (played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) who discover evidence that a comet is approaching Earth and if it hits, will destroy all life on the planet. Unfortunately, being rather low in status in the stargazing world, they find it hard to convince other members of the community of the impending danger, so embark on a media tour to alert the public to their impending doom. Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothee Chalamet, Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett also appear.

Contributing: PA