Will Smith and Mena Massoud in Aladdin. Image: Disney

LONG gone are the days of a blockbuster Christmas TV where the BBC and ITV present heavyweight schedules to outbox each other on the viewing figures.

Our multimedia world means it’s no longer the case of waiting for a dated James Bond film to start, so here is a round-up of various festive – and non-festive – films, shows, podcasts and radio to consume over the coming week…

On a sweltering June day, my son requested we did not go to Parliament Hill Fields again and instead watch a film. He chose The Christmas Chronicles – wonderfully unsuitable viewing for the circumstances. Kurt Russell’s 2018 comedy is a Christmas masterpiece, one of the funniest in the genre and Russell is the Father Christmas all genuinely good children and adults deserve. Find it on Netflix.

Strange World, Certificate PG, Cinemas

Jake Gyllenhall and Dennis Quaid voice this hugely original animated adventure with a subtle yet important message that if heeded could make your Chrimbo perfect. Quaid is Jaeger, an adventurer who traverses the globe in search of new discoveries. His son Searcher (Gyllenhall) is expected to follow in his dad’s footsteps – but Searcher is more interested in being a gentle farmer rather than a cartoon version of Bear Grylls. This is a lovely allegory about fatherhood, family, generations, the way humans have murdered our planet, and generally offers a message of loving what is around you.

Christmas Eve film picks

King of Kings, BBC2, 9.55am.
After the global smash-hit Ben Hur, MGM was looking for another swords and sandals historic epic. It was known in Hollywood that producer director John Farrow had been working on a biopic of Jesus Christ – and MGM wanted in. King of Kings is a three- hour telling of JC’s life, starring Jeffrey Hunter as the man himself. It met with mixed reviews, but was a massive box office success and is an accessible screen take on the New Testament.

North By North West, BBC 2, 1.40pm.
Hitchcock’s oeuvre is littered with grand film experiences. N by NW is the story of the New York ad man mistaken for a secret agent – and has to draw on an unlikely skill set for such a professional to throw enemy spies off his trail. Cary Grant wears the best suits in human history. Be prepared to feel shabby, out of shape, and three degrees uglier as you watch this ultimate Hollywood lead in action.

Christmas Day film picks

Aladdin, BBC1, 3.10pm
With Will Smith as the genie, this is a live-action remake of Disney’s cartoon version that starred the much-missed Robin Williams. It was panned when released in 2018, but ask an under-10 what they make of it – the demographic it is aimed at – and they will answer in the affirmative. The songs alone are worth the effort. If your children need some me-time (or you do) midway through Christmas Day, you could do much worse than plonking them down in front of this.

Gentleman Prefer Blondes / Some Like It Hot, BBC 2, 3.10pm and 4.40pm
Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell and Charles Coburn are directed by Howard Hawks in the musical comedy Gentleman Prefer Blondes. There’s a beautifully innocent feel about it – a trip to a long-lost Hollywood – and the same feeling is there with Some Like It Hot, arguably Monroe’s best film, co-starring the wonderful Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. If your children haven’t been exposed to this yet, now is the chance.

Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins

Boxing Day film picks

Mary Poppins, 2.25pm BBC2
At this point in the holidays, you may well be wishing for a talented nanny to drift down from above and take charge of things. Julie Andrews is practically perfect in every way as the lead.

Chaske Spencer and Emily Blunt in The English. Photo: Diego Lopez Calvin-Prime Video © Amazon Content Services LLC

Series

If you haven’t yet caught The English, starring Emily Blunt, your coming days off mean you have no more excuses. This western on the BBC iPlayer has all you want from the genre – dastardly baddies, gorgeous heroes, and a landscape that offers a sense of green and pleasant lands, long lost by rampant exploitation.
Blunt stars as the well-heeled aristo making her way across the USA in search of revenge – and helped on her mission by a Native American, played by Chaste Spencer. It’s packed with turns by the likes of Toby Jones, Rafe Spall, Ciaran Hinds and Nichola McAuliffe, whose character, Black-Eyed Mog, is a creation of staggering, intriguing ingenuity, and deserves a spin-off series.

Nat King Cole who features in the BBC Christmas Sounds playlist

Radio and online

The BBC has bravely put together a festive movie mix tape to prance about round the kitchen to as you baste the turkey. It’s a big ask, as many Christmas songs are crimes against the senses and have fooled us into accepting them because they have bells in and lines about peace and mistletoe. But the curators have done their thing and trawled the golden age of crooners to bring us something that is musically acceptable – Otis Redding, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole are featured in the 90-minute playlist. See Christmas Sounds on BBC Sounds. If you want something on a different plane of cheesiness, Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Christmas Kitchen Disco – also on BBC Sounds – hits the pop stratosphere for tunes you genuinely love but are sworn to never tell anybody at risk of loss any cool-yule kudos you may possess.

Podcasts

In the summer of 2014 we had a number of phone calls and messages to the CNJ, alleging a huge satanic paedophile ring had been operating in a Camden school. We knew the school well, we knew parents and teachers there, and at first glance the accusations seemed utterly outrageous, dangerous and incredible.
We immediately verified what it wasn’t – that there was no truth at all in the allegations – and we spent a fair few man hours explaining to a number of readers who firmly believed in a murderous conspiracy involving 150 people was simply not true. The story behind it was so tragic that it was in the public interest was to explain the allegations had been proven to be nonsense, and we would be careful not to fan the flames of a damaging conspiracy theory.

Journalist Alexi Mostrous became interested in how something online had grown out of control and caused some real damage to those involved.

His podcast, Hoaxed, tells a fascinating – and horrendously sad – story with a lesson contained that can be applied to the various populist conspiracy theories that have unfortunately become a characteristic of a cut-throat information age.

In a similar vein, reporter Gabriel Gatehouse’s The Coming Storm on BBC Sounds, tracks the story of the QAnon conspiracy in the United States – and how such a poorly formed, easily debunked idea led to an attempted coup by Donald Trump and his supporters.

Gatehouse shows how the landscape that allowed Trump to become president has its roots back in to the 1990s – and tells a story of the failure of sensible politicians to counter a narrative that is attractive to the disenfranchised and dispossessed, as well as those who have plenty and will go to great lengths to protect that.