Genuinely good Christmas TV shows to watch during the festive season
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We watched some of the biggest series arriving on our screens over the next couple of weeks, from ‘Lockerbie: A Search for Truth’ to ‘Squid Game’ season two, and here’s what we thought…. Christmas television, it must be said, can be extremely hit and miss. With TV bosses trying to please everyone, from age four to 104, sometimes they end up pleasing no one and it’s best just to nap through it all.
![[Old pals Dave and Si]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/20/13/495932.jpg)
But there can be some true gems out there. Our top pick this year has to be Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, a Sky Atlantic drama starring Colin Firth as Jim Swire, a man whose daughter was one of 270 people who died in the UK’s deadliest terror attack. What it lacks in Christmas cheer it makes up for in stellar performances, and the series’ makers are hoping it could be as agenda-setting as last new year’s offering, Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
![[Ellis-Bextor is ringing in 2025]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/20/12/newFile-2.jpg)
Lockerbie is not arriving until 2 January, but from the finale of Gavin & Stacey to season three of The Traitors, there’s a lot more on the schedules before then. Here’s what you can expect on your screens this festive season, and our verdict on what is and isn’t worth watching….
![[Rosalind Eleazar and Ashley Walters in ‘Missing You’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/20/11/MY_101_Unit_02000_RT.jpg)
The Hairy Bikers: You’ll Never Ride Alone. BBC Two, 23 December. If you’ve been on a journey with Hairy Bikers Dave Myers and Si King since their TV debut in 2004, you’ll want to strap in and grip the handlebars one last time. Dave’s death earlier this year, at the age of just 66, was a gut punch, but this is an unfettered celebration. It is a union of private and public grief that conspires to give fans and family a last chance to say thank you, and allows the Hairy Bikers to ride off, together, into the sunset. Nick Hilton.
