In the run-up to Christmas, it’s a tradition to rewatch all your favourite festive classics, from It’s A Wonderful Life to Love Actually – but it’s easy to forget that there are also all sorts of other films shown on the TV over Christmas week itself.
Every year, the major terrestrial channels pull out all the stops to feature both classic staples from yesteryear and more recent movies, with a great selection of family films, romcoms, action flicks, musicals and much more making it into the schedules.
And that’s no different this year: from modern classics like Paddington to all-timers like Some Like It Hot, there are loads of great viewing options to give you some extra joy on your days off.
We’ve put together a list of some of the best movies to watch for free on TV this Christmas and New Year, separated by genre – take a look below to find out what’s on at no cost.
Best free family films on TV this Christmas and New YearWallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Animated comedy adventure featuring the voices of Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter. As the annual Giant Vegetable Competition approaches, enterprising Wallace and Gromit cash in with their humane pest-control outfit, “Anti-Pesto”. But business turns sour when a huge, mysterious beast begins destroying every garden in the area.Saturday 21st December, BBC One, 3pm
Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon
When an alien crash-lands near the farm, Shaun has to help her return home before the Ministry of Alien Detection discovers her.
Sunday 22nd December, BBC One, 9:55am
Detective Pikachu
Part-animated fantasy adventure starring Justice Smith and featuring the voice of Ryan Reynolds. Tim teams up with an unlikely partner to solve the mystery of his father’s death. But there’s a slight complication: this partner is a talking Pokémon creature who only Tim can hear.Monday 23rd December, BBC One, 9:55am
Coco
Coco Animated adventure featuring the voices of Anthony Gonzalez and Gael García Bernal. A young boy wants nothing more than to become a musician, but his family forbids him from pursuing his dreams. When he plays a guitar hanging in the crypt of a famous singer, the boy is transported to the magical Land of the Dead, where he embarks on a quest to uncover the truth about his roots.Monday 23rd December, BBC One, 3:15pm
Chicken Run
Animated comedy adventure, with the voices of Julia Sawalha, Jane Horrocks, Miranda Richardson and Mel Gibson. A clutch of hens, led by head chick Ginger, suffers life on a grim 1950s egg farm. When the avaricious owners decide to move into the meat-pie business, the chickens fear the worst. With the help of American rooster Rocky, the birds start to plan a prisoner-of-war-style escape.Christmas Eve, BBC One, 10am
Home Alone
Comedy starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister’s wish to be free of his family is realised when they accidentally set off without him for a Christmas break in Paris. Suddenly finding himself home alone, Kevin’s efforts to cope with the household chores are hindered by two inept criminals attempting a robbery.Christmas Eve, Channel 4, 6:05pm
Toy Story 3
Animated comedy adventure sequel, with the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. The toys are put away when Andy goes to college, but Woody is set apart, and it’s up to him to rescue the others when they’re accidentally donated to a day-care centre.Christmas Day, BBC One, 11:20am
Inside Out
Disney Animated comedy adventure from Pixar, featuring the voices of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith and Mindy Kaling. 11-year-old Riley is having a tough time adjusting to moving from the Midwest to San Francisco. Maybe that has something to do with her inner emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness – who guide Riley in her everyday life. As her emotions literally begin to run wild, the effects on Riley have worrying consequences.Boxing Day, BBC One, 9:55am
Paddington
Comedy starring Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins and Nicole Kidman, and featuring the voice of Ben Whishaw. A young bear from Peru with a love of all things British travels to London, but he soon finds himself lost and alone. He’s taken in by the kind Brown family; however, not everyone in the big city is quite so welcoming.Boxing Day, BBC One, 1:50pm
The Incredibles
Animated comedy adventure from Pixar, featuring the voices of Craig T Nelson, Holly Hunter and Samuel L Jackson. A family of superheroes struggles to fit in to normal suburban life after its amazing powers are outlawed. But the temptation to fight crime proves too strong for Mr Incredible.Saturday 28th December, 1:40pm, BBC One
Shrek 2
Sequel to the hit animated fantasy, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz. On returning from their honeymoon, Shrek and Princess Fiona are invited to stay with her parents in the kingdom of Far Far Away. But King Harold is less than enchanted by his new son-in-law, and the Fairy Godmother has good reason to want the ogre out of Fiona’s life. Cue assassin-for hire Puss-in-Boots…Saturday 28th December, 6:05pm, BBC One
The Railway Children
Railway Children Studio Canal Classic period drama based on the novel by E Nesbit, starring Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett and Gary Warren. When a government official is arrested on suspicion of treason, his wife and three children are forced to leave their London home and move to a small cottage in Yorkshire. While their mother fights for her husband’s release, the children have marvellous adventures.New Year’s Eve, 1:05pm, BBC One
Finding Dory
Pixar’s animated sequel to Finding Nemo, featuring the voices of Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks. Dory, a friendly blue tang fish with short-term memory loss, embarks on an epic quest to find her long-absent parents. Friends Nemo and Marlin join Dory on a perilous mission that ultimately teaches everyone the true meaning of family.New Year’s Day, 10:30am, BBC One
Mary Poppins
Classic musical fantasy starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. London banker George Banks’s search for a no-nonsense nanny to take care of his two naughty and unhappy children comes unstuck when the practically perfect Mary Poppins and her magic umbrella glide into their lives. Featuring the classic songs Chim Chim Cheree, A Spoonful of Sugar and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.New Year’s Day, 3:15pm, BBC One
Best free action films on TV this Christmas and New YearTenet
Sci-fi adventure starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh. A former CIA operative is recruited to help save the world from a dangerous arms dealer who has access to a device that can reverse time. In order to foil this threat, our hero must master the act of chronological “inversion” – but is it already too late?Sunday 22nd December, BBC One, 11:50pm
The Equalizer
Crime thriller based on the hit US TV series, starring Denzel Washington. On the face of it, Robert McCall is just an ordinary guy who works at a DIY store and leads a quiet life. But when McCall befriends a young girl controlled by ruthless Russian gangsters, he’s unable to stand idly by and resorts to using skills from his shady former career.Sunday 23rd December, ITV1, 10:25pm
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis. SEACAction adventure starring Harrison Ford and Karen Allen. Indiana Jones’s outrageous exploits take him around the world in search of the legendary Ark of the Covenant, a religious artefact of unspeakable power wanted by the Nazis. With the help of an old flame, Indy takes on his enemies in a terrifying and death-defying battle to the finish.
Christmas Day, Channel 4, 8:20pm
Gladiator
Period epic starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. Rome, the second century AD: dying emperor Marcus Aurelius chooses the city’s beloved general, Maximus Decimus Meridius, as his successor – a decision that results in a bitter power struggle with Aurelius’s son Commodus, who sentences Maximus and his family to death. The general escapes, but he and Commodus are destined to meet again.
Boxing Day, BBC Two, 9pm
Live Free or Die Hard
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?Boxing Day, ITV1, 10:15pm
Point Break
Action thriller set among California’s surfing community, starring Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves. Novice FBI agent Johnny Utah is assigned with partner Angelo Pappas to track down a gang of four bank robbers, who carry out their raids wearing masks of former American presidents. In the belief that the gang are surfers, Utah goes under cover to learn surfing skills and encounters the mysterious Bodhi.Boxing Day, BBC One, 12:10am
Best free romcoms on TV this Christmas and New YearWhat’s Up Doc?
Screwball comedy starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal. When four identical suitcases get mixed up in a San Francisco hotel, it produces a series of crazy events which revolve around a zany girl and a shy... Read More Details
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