Christmas TV guide: 20 of the best films to watch
BBC One, 4.15pm A rare instant classic, this take on Michael Bond’s stories could not brim more fully with good nature and bristly cheer. Hugh Grant’s villainous Phoenix Buchanan is more charming than most heroes. “Why are you in it so much?” Grant’s unappreciative children apparently said to him recently. “I make them like it now. They have to watch it every night and tell me how good I am, otherwise they don’t get fed.” One of the best sequels.
Casablanca
RTÉ One, 2.15am Why not? You’ve seen it 1,000 times, but the most quotable film from Hollywood’s golden age still hooks you in from the first busy moment. Could it be an allegory for nations’ quandaries in the second World War? Humphrey Bogart is the wavering Americans. Claude Rains is the Vichy French. Paul Henreid and Ingrid Bergman are the Resistance. Conrad Veidt is the Nazis. It’s all there if you look.