Christmas 2023: What films are screening on free-to-air TV this year, from Home Alone to Toy Story 4?

Spare a thought for those during the festive season who do not have access to Sky Cinema or the gamut of streaming services available for Christmas 2023 - while many of us are spoiled for choice regarding our seasonal viewing this year, others have to rely on what they can pick up through their digital aerial or Freeview set-top box. Thankfully, Christmas on terrestrial television always manages to conjure up a stocking’s worth of entertainment from the celluloid world. 

From free-to-air premieres to old classics, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 have a range of films for the whole family this Christmas, from live-action Disney remakes throughout to classic Hitchcokian thrillers. What other time of the year can you flick between “The Secret Life of Pets” and shortly afterwards catch the tail end of Cary Grant in “North by Northwest” without the aid of Prime Video, Netflix or Disney+?

Ahead of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day 2023, NationalWorld takes a look at some of the festive film highlights available on five free-to-air channels available to most homes in the United Kingdom. All the information provided is sourced from both Radio Times and Freeview’s TV guide and is correct as of writing.

What films are screening on free-to-air TV on Christmas Eve?

BBC One

• 11:30am - The Boss Baby

BBC Two

• 1:00pm - White Christmas

ITV

• 1:05pm - The Secret Life of Pets (2016)
• 2:40pm - The Grinch (2018)
• 5:25pm - Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

Channel 4

• 12:30pm - Charlotte’s Web (2006)
• 2:40pm - A Christmas Carol (1984)
• 5:45pm - Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

Channel 5

• 11:30am - Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (1951)
• 1:20pm - The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)
• 3:25pm - The Holiday (2006)
• 11:30pm - Road House (1989)

What films are screening on free-to-air TV on Christmas Day?

BBC One

• 11:15am - Cinderella (2021)
• 12:55pm - The Addams Family 2 (2021)
• 3:10pm - Toy Story 4 (2019)

BBC Two

• 11:15am - Chariots of Fire (1981)
• 3:10pm - Death on the Nile (1978)

ITV

• 4:30pm - Sing 2 (2021)
• 11:25pm - Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Channel 4

• 8:40am - Puss In Boots (2011)
• 10:25am - Kung Fu Panda 2
• 3:10pm - The Italian Job (1969)
• 5:30pm - Home Alone (1990)
• 10:00pm - Forest Gump (1994)

Channel 5

• 3:10pm - The Wizard of Oz (1939)

What films are screening on free-to-air TV on Boxing Day?

BBC One

• 9:50am - Pokemon: Detective Pikachu (2019)
• 11:25am - Abominable (2019)
• 1:15pm - Beauty and The Beast (2017)
• 3:15pm - Peter Rabbit 2 (2021)
• 5:05pm - The Lion King (2019)

BBC Two

• 12:45pm - A Brief Encounter (1945)
• 2:10pm - North by Northwest (1959)
• 10:30pm - The Courier (2020)

ITV

• 3:00pm - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
• 6:50pm - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Channel 4

• 11:40am - Annie (1982)

Channel 5

• 11:50am - My Fair Lady (1964)

What is available on streaming services over the Christmas 2023 period?

For festive features available on streaming services, you can check out our guide to what’s on Netflix, what’s on Prime Video and what’s on Disney+ this Christmas in our separate guides.