CULTURE 07: Fireside favourites, audio histories, and in a theatre near you
Monthly recommendations from the team behind the TV Foundation and Edinburgh TV Festival.
We can’t seem to take a stroll without seeing twinkling lights or the offerings in shop windows, so it’s no surprise even our Culture Digest is being written in festive spirits. Here are our December recommendations — right as rein(deer).
Fireside Favourites
The holiday season seems to inspire a comfort watch, but whether it’s because of the mood or the weather is anyone’s guess. Don’t have one yet? Some of our favourite holiday-specific watches are A Nightmare Before Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol and… The BBC3 Christmas Rock Opera: AD/BC.
However, plenty of our favourites feature the season more incidentally. If you don’t mind those who say Die Hard is a Christmas movie, perhaps Little Women, Gremlins, or The Holdovers could make your list. With no Thanksgiving celebrations in the UK, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is easily enjoyed a month later. And, Black Doves, a recently released British spy thriller starring Kiera Knightley, makes for an exciting watch.
Or, you can always make time for a holiday television special. Community, Dan Harmon’s sitcom set at a community college, is hilarious and inventive in “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” and “Regional Holiday Music.” The West Wing provides political poignancy with “Noël” and “In Excelsis Deo.” Plus, there’s nothing like a Dr. Who special: “The Christmas Invasion,” “The Snowmen,” and “A Christmas Carol.”
The Media List
There’s plenty of media to be enjoyed from December and the year soon to be in review. Beautifully shot and tightly written, Conclave recently hit theatres. It stars Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, organising the election of the next pope. Grand Theft Hamlet is a new documentary following out-of-work actors as they attempt to shoot an entire production of Hamlet in the world of Grand Theft Auto. Say Nothing is the series adaptation of the 2018 book by Patrick Radden Keefe, detailing four generations in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.
If you want to bring an Italian summer to your winter, La Chimera is concerns itself with its title: an impossible dream. The story follows a British looter with a mystical gift for finding tombs with his grave-robbing friends in Tuscany — while he tries to move on from the woman he lost.
And, from April of this year, The Lonely Island & Seth Meyer Podcast have been sharing the stories behind the making of SNL’s Digital Shorts and discussing their lasting impact today.
Before You Go
Some holiday conversations are best enjoyed on the go. 99% Invisible is a podcast all about the design of our daily lives. This episode covers the three Santas of Slovenia.
Hit Parade’s “The Christmas is All Around Edition” discusses the contest around British Christmas No. 1.
“A Christmas Carol” from The Rest is History follows the hosts as they traverse London and dissect the history of Charles Dickens’ text.
What do you love to watch, read, listen to and enjoy around the holiday season? That’s all from us this year — catch you in 2025!