Christmas is almost upon us once more, a time where families across the country come together for a special festive celebration. But don’t worry, you’ve now got the perfect reason to ignore yours – the BBC has just announced they’re soon dropping over 100 box sets on iPlayer.
From 12th December a variety of drama, factual, comedy and kids shows from the BBC vaults will be available to watch.
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And that means a lot of choice. So, to make things easier you can see our best picks from each genre first or scroll on down for the full (and very long) list.
Drama
House of Cards
No, not that one. This is the 1990 miniseries that inspired the Netflix hit, a UK-set political thriller that follows Francis Urquhart, a fictional Tory Chief Whip as he attempts to grab power.
A show packed with twists, it was written by Andrew Davies, the man behind BBC’s upcoming Les Misérables adaptation.
The Musketeers
Never taking itself too seriously, this drama set on the streets of 17th-century Paris gives a fun, contemporary and sometimes brilliantly silly take on Alexandre Dumas’ classic story of the fighting trio.
Stars Tom Burke (who went on to play the lead in Strike) and Luke Pasqualino (Our Girl).
Factual
Life and Death Row
Okay, it’s hardly a show packed with festive cheer, but this critically-applauded BBC3 doc-series explores America’s murky capital punishment process through the eyes of young people whose lives have been shaped by it.
It’s a gloriously unflinching guide to a nation’s moral maze.
The Blue Planet
David Attenborough managed to launch a war against plastic after Blue Planet II aired in 2017, but we forget this feat was built on the achievements on the show’s predecessor, 2001’s The Blue Planet.
Although the eight-part series is light on the environmental dangers facing the ocean, it still explores the hardships and wonders of water life in everything from frozen seas to the unknown depths of the ocean.
Comedy
Uncle
This under-appreciated sitcom starring Nick Helm follows unemployed sloucher and musician Andy after he’s forced to babysit his nephew Errol, a socially-awkward and nerdy 12-year-old – imagine a cross between Nicholas Hoult’s character from About a Boy and a laugh-track-free version of Sheldon from Big Bang.
Stewart Lee
Angry, embittered and slightly smug, stand-up comedian Stewart Lee (well, Stewart Lee’s apparent on-stage persona) delivers doses of spot-on scepticism about the unquestioned mediocrity of modern life. Particularly modern comedy: Lee brilliantly takes aims at many Mock The Week stars in his sets, deconstructing and playing on the nuts and bolts of their stand-up.
Unmissable comedy – if you can handle his penchant for uncomfortable repitition.
Children’s
Gansta Granny
With The Midnight Gang making its way on the box this Christmas, the BBC are giving viewers the chance to catch another adaptation of David Walliams’ best-selling kid’s books. First broadcast in 2013, this film follows Ben, a young boy who discovers his seemingly boring Granny is – would you believe it – a secret gangster.
Stick Man
This charming story of a wooden stick who becomes separated from his family home was one of the biggest shows of Christmas 2015. An adaptation of Julia Donaldson children’s book of the same name, it features the voices of Martin Freeman, Jennifer Saunders and Rob Brydon
The complete list of box sets available on BBC iPlayer this Christmas
Drama
54 Hours
A Very English Scandal
Bleak House
Bodyguard
Class
Clique
Collateral
Death and Nightingales
Doctor Who
Father Brown (series 6)
House of Cards
In the Flesh
Informer
Killing Eve
Little Dorrit
Little Drummer Girl
Long Song
Luther
McMafia
Mothers’ Day
Mrs Wilson
Musketeers
North and South
Our Girl
Overshadowed
Press
Pride and Prejudice
Roots
Sense and Sensibility
Silent Witness (series 17-21)
Small Island
Snowfall (series 2)
The Fades
There She Goes
Trust
Wanderlust
War and Peace
Watership Down
Factual
A Tattoo to Change Your Life
Africa
Asian Provocateur
Bangkok Airport
Blue Planet II
Britain’s Forgotten Men
Civilisation
Civilisations
Dictatorland
Drugs Map of Britain
Drugsland
Dynasties
Frozen Planet
Killer Magic
Life
Life and Death Row
Louis Theroux
Love and Drugs on the Street
Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema
Misfits Like Us
Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing
Our World War
Planet Earth
Planet Earth II
Professor Green
Segregated America: A School in the South
Sex Map of Britain
Sex, Drugs and Murder
Simon Reeve
Snow Chick – A Penguin’s Tale
Snow Babies
Stacey Dooley
Stacey Dooley Investigates
The Blue Planet
The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan
Unsolved
Comedy and Entertainment
Bad Education
Blackadder Goes Forth
Bluestone 42
Citizen Khan
Cuckoo
Enterprice
Extras
Flat TV
Fleabag
Gavin & Stacey
Hold the Sunset
I’ll Get this
Inside Number 9
League of Gentlemen
Man Like Mobeen
Mighty Boosh (series 1)
Miranda
Mrs Brown’s Boys (Christmas specials)
Outnumbered
People Just Do Nothing
Pls Like
Politics for bitches
Pramface
Rent a Cop
Siblings
Stewart Lee
Still Game (series 7-8)
Still Open All Hours
Sunny D
The Young Offenders
This Country
Tourist Trap
Top Gear (series 22-23)
Two Doors Down
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
Uncle
Upstart Crow
Vic & Bob’s Big Night Out (2017-2018)
Childrens
64 Zoo Lane (series 4)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Alice in Wonderland
Billionaire Boy
Bob the Builder (series 9)
Boy in a Dress
CBeebies Prom
CBeebies Prom: A Musical Journey
Gansta Granny
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Grandpa’s Great Escape
Gruffalo
Gruffalo’s Child
Highway Rat
Mr Stink
Patchwork Pals
Peter Pan
Puss in Boots
Rastamouse (series 1)
Room on the Broom
Something Special at the Proms
Stick Man
The Elves and the Shoe Maker: A CBeebies Ballet
The Snow Queen
The Tale of Mr Tumble
The Tempest
The Tortoise and the Hare: A CBeebies Ballet
The Ugly Duckling
Three Little Pigs: A CBeebies Ballet
from Radio Times https://ift.tt/2rq36kQ
