TV Christmas Specials: Our top picks of the very best classic offerings you can stream this festive season
Ah, the good old Christmas special... Whoever you are, festive offerings from the finest TV shows in the land have probably always made up a big part of your Yuletide enjoyment. It's fair to say – and we've had plenty of feedback – that for some, modern telly efforts can sometimes be a bit lacking in ringing in the cheer over Christmas. With this, we're taking a look here at some of the very best classic crimbo specials you can get stuck into on the box this year via streaming. Eat, drink and be telly...
Gavin and Stacey – Christmas Special 2008
It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid...
Is it even possible anymore to hear Do They Know It's Christmas? without belting out your finest 'Gav and Smithy'? We doubt it...
Though the 2019 Christmas comeback was a fantastic effort, the Barry-Billericay crew will never top the 2008 Christmas special for festive hilarity.
As the Welsh contingent make their way to Essex for Christmas, Mathew Horne's Gavin faces the tough job of telling both his mum and his best mate that he is taking a new job in Cardiff and moving far from home. All hell breaks loose, with one member of the gang being called 'Scrappy Doo', and another being punched in the face. Standard Christmas Eve stuff, right? Comedy gold.
-Available to stream via BBC iPlayer
Blackadder's Christmas Carol
A splendid parody of the classic Dickens tale from the Blackadder crew.
Narrated by Hugh Laurie and starring Rowan Atkinson as Ebenezer Blackadder, this special episode from the gang revolves around the story of the nicest man in England, who is taken advantage of by almost everyone he meets. When visited by the Spirit of Christmas however, he learns the very clear lesson that bad guys have all the fun!
Typically brilliant stuff from Atkinson and the team, this one is a Christmas classic of no mistaking.
-Available to stream via BritBox
The Vicar of Dibley – The Christmas Lunch Incident
One of the most iconic episodes in British comedy, this one proved once and for all that Christmas dinner is a marathon not a sprint... and then three more marathons after that.
Dawn French's Geraldine Granger faces a popularity crisis when she is almost literally force-fed four festive feasts in one day. We'll never look at sprouts the same way again...
-Available to stream via BBC iPlayer
Friends – The One With The Holiday Armadillo
The guys and gals from Friends delivered us a lot of Christmas magic over the years, yet perhaps no episode more funny or memorable than 'The One with the Holiday Armadillo'.
With David Schwimmer's Ross desperate to give his son Ben a Christmas to remember, but struggling to track down an appropriate seasonal fancy dress costume, we are treated to the introduction of the hilarious 'Holiday Armadillo'. Joined by Matthew Perry's Chandler as Santa and Matt LeBlanc's Joey as Superman, what's not to love?
-Available to stream via Netflix
Father Ted – A Christmassy Ted
An absolute classic of an episode from one of the greatest sitcoms of all time.
In this one we were treated to the Craggy Island contingent being unable to escape the lingerie section of a department store, along with a hilarious Ballykissangel dream sequence. Festive comedy perfection from Ireland's finest.
-Available to stream via All4
