Screen Babble Podcast Episode 55: Christmas special including The Heist Before Christmas and Brassic

Yay! It's here, the Screen Babble Christmas TV and streaming preview. Kelly, Benjii and Steven will take you through the best of film and TV that will be coming to the small and big screens in the coming weeks.

First up Steven talks about films including Sky Original “The Heist Before Christmas,” “It's a Wonderful Knife” (Shudder) and one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year, “Wonka” (cinemas from 8 December). Kelly gives us the low down on kids' TV including the annual return of the Julia Donaldson/Axel Scheffler book-based animation. This year “Tabby McTat” will grace our screens, much to the delight of many kids and adults around the country.

The annual CBeebies panto also returns with all your favourite CBeebies presenters and characters. This year the gang takes on Robin Hood - always a fun watch for the whole family. Both BBC productions have not yet had their broadcast dates announced but will air in and around Christmas. The team will update you on Weekend Watch once the dates are confirmed. Another great family watch this year is “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” which is coming to Netflix on December 15.

Benjii takes on the big guns and tells us about this year's Christmas specials; “Call The Midwife” returns as ever as well as a new addition for this year - “A Very Brassic Christmas”. Benjii tells us all about these two very different programmes as well as the Dr Who Christmas Special which is also hotly anticipated when we may or may not see the Dr transform into his new guise.

Finally, Kelly takes us through a Christmas institution - the soaps and the big storylines they run over the Christmas period and in particular on Christmas day. There is plenty of food for thought for your viewing pleasure this festive season - so get the planner out now!

How to watch this week's shows

• Wonka is out in cinemas on December 8 2023
• Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is in cinemas on December 8 before arriving on Netflix on December 15
• Tabby McTat airs on BBC One on Christmas Day at 2:35pm
• The Heist Before Christmas screens on Sky Max on Christmas Eve at 8pm
• Call The Midwife screens on BBC One on Christmas Day eve
• A Very Brassic Christmas plays on Sky Max on December 21 at 10pm
• CBeebies Panto: Robin Hood screens on CBeebies on December 9 at 9:25am
• It's A Wonderful Knife is available on Shudder

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