Festive Broadcaster 2025

Ho, ho and indeed ho, it’s almost Christmas time and this proved quite interesting and useful last year so now the schedules are out, or will be out properly soon anyway, we can point you to things likely to be of interest during the festive fortnight. Right now this list is subject to change, nearer the time it will be pinned to the top so you’ll be able to find it easily.

The work-a-day stuff we’re probably not going to bother with, but if it’s a special or worthy of note I’ll include it.

This has been inspired by Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis’ Festive Forecaster, but thanks as ever to the Herodotus of Game Shows Daniel Hurst (play with his House of Games on X) for making the mental leap and coming up with the name. The list will be under a cut.

Right now, whilst the BBC have put their full schedules for the period up, we’re having to rely on highlights for ITV, C4 and C5 as such we will update this nearer the time when more has been revealed.

Pre-period:
The Festive Finish Line, a week of celebrity Finish Line specials, airs from Monday 15th December from 5:15pm.
The Big Quiz returns with Stephen Mulhern back on duty on Monday 15th December, 9pm on ITV1
What’s In The Box? Neil Patrick Harris attempts to beat the shiny floor curse on Netflix from 17th December. We’ll have a Show Discussion Post for it in due course.

Saturday 20th December

6:20pm: Blankety Blank Christmas Special (BBC1)
7pm: Strictly Come Dancing: The Final (BBC1)
9:10pm: Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel (BBC1)
9:10pm: The 1% Club Christmas Special (ITV1)

A strong night for BBC1 here, although Mickey Mac directly against Lee Mack ought to be fun. Would expect The Wheel to be ahead on the night, but given BARB just adds up numbers these days and The 1% Club has an Xmas Day primetime repeat, perhaps don’t be surprised if it catches up or even overtakes in +7.

Sunday 21st December

6:05pm: The Chase Bloopers (ITV1)

Look, work hasn’t finished yet.

Monday 22nd December

7pm: Richard Osman’s Festive House of Games (BBC2)
7:30pm: Celebrity Mastermind (BBC2)
8pm: Celebrity Masterchef: Christmas Cook-Off (BBC1)
8pm: Only Connect S21E23 (BBC2)
8:30: University Challenge: Christmas 2025 (Durham vs Manchester) (BBC2)
9pm: Taskmaster Champion of Champions (C4)

The first day of almost two straight weeks of quiz on BBC2, taking a break on Christmas Day (with the displaced shows going out on the Sunday instead). Taskmaster feels wrong on a Monday, but here it is anyway.

There are Celebrity Bridge of Lies and Pointless Celebs repeats weeknightly but I’m not bothering to list all of those.

Tuesday 23rd December

7pm: Richard Osman’s Festive House of Games (BBC2)
7:30pm: Celebrity Mastermind (BBC2)
8pm: Only Connect S21 (The Only Connect Pub Quiz) (BBC2)
8:30: University Challenge: Christmas 2025 (UCL vs Leeds) (BBC2)
10pm: Sally Lindsay’s Christmas Quiz Night (C5)
22:30pm: Slumdog Millionaire (BBC2)
11:25pm: Have I Got News For You (2025 compilation special, repeat)

The first Only Connect special of the year – four new ones dropped in amongst the standard episodes on Mondays and repeats on Thursdays and Fridays. Channel 5 turning Big Fat Sally Lindsay Quiz into a franchise, and why not?

Wednesday 24th December (Christmas Eve)

5:55pm: The Chase Celebrity Special (ITV)
7pm: Richard Osman’s Festive House of Games (BBC2)
7:25pm: The Great British Sewing Bee: Celebrity Christmas Special 2025 (BBC1)
7:30pm: Celebrity Mastermind (BBC2)
8pm: Only Connect S21 (Christmas Special) (BBC2)
8:30: University Challenge: Christmas 2025 (Keble, Oxford vs Hull) (BBC2)
9pm: 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Christmas Special (C4)

The big main channels have basically given up on Christmas Eve but thankfully the minor channels are taking the slack.

Thursday 25th December (Christmas Day – a Bank Holiday)

3:35pm: Gladiators Celebrity Special (BBC1)
4:45pm: The Weakest Link Christmas Special (BBC1)
5:30pm: Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special (BBC1)
6:45pm: Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel Christmas Special (BBC1)
7:40pm: The Great Celebrity Bake Off Christmas Special (C4)
8:15pm: Bullseye Christmas Special (ITV1)
9:15pm: The 1% Club Christmas Special (rpt) (ITV1)
10:15pm: Romesh Ranganathan’s Parents’ Evening Christmas Special (ITV1)

The big day is full of good shows and yet very little that screams “must-watch”. Gladiators at half three feels like it’s been done a bit dirty, although I know it’s weird at Christmas and it will probably be fine. This will be Tess and Claudia’s final Strictly presumably, so I’d expext it to go out with a bang. ITV can’t work out if it wants to be a destination on Xmas Day or not, a repeat of The 1% Club sandwiched between an Xmas Special of Bullseye which frankly hasn’t done very much as a series but is lucky to have I’m a Celeb dragging it up – as predicted – and Parents’ Evening, which is fine and we like it but feels more Boxing Day.

Friday 26th December (Boxing Day – a Bank Holiday)

3pm: Bullseye Christmas Special (rpt) (ITV1)
7pm: Would I Lie To You at Christmas 2025 (BBC1)
7pm: Richard Osman’s Festive House of Games (BBC2)
7:30pm: Celebrity Mastermind (BBC2)
7:30pm: The Masked Singer Christmas Special (ITV1)
7:45pm: The Great Festive Pottery Throwdown (C4)
8pm: Only Connect S19 (Boxing, rpt) (BBC2)
8:30pm: University Challenge: Christmas 2025 (Trinity, Cambridge vs Bristol) (BBC2)
9pm: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Celebrity Special (ITV1)
9pm: The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year (C4)

Whereas ITV on Boxing Day might be quite entertaining, they should probably have swapped those schedules around although doubtless they’ll have their reasons. There’s a Big Fat Quiz of Telly coming as well, date TBD, but Nick Mohammed’s only gone and done the double this year, Big Fat Quiz AND You Bet. Big Fat Quiz will probably outrate Millionaire.

Saturday 27th December

5pm: Alan Carr’s Picture Slam (S2E2 rpt) (BBC1)
6:30pm: You Bet! On Tour Christmas Special (ITV1)
7:30pm: Wheel of Fortune Christmas Special (ITV1)
8:30pm: Ant and Dec’s Limitless Win Christmas Special (ITV1)

ITV providing something to watch, so that’s nice.

Sunday 28th December

7pm: Richard Osman’s Festive House of Games (BBC2)
7:30pm: Celebrity Mastermind (BBC2)
8pm: Only Connect S20 (Books, rpt) (BBC2)
8:30pm: University Challenge: Christmas 2025 (Exeter, Oxford vs Trinity Hall, Cambridge) (BBC2)

Thanks to the birth of baby Jesus there’s something for quiz fans to watch on the 28th.

Monday 29th December

7pm: Richard Osman’s Festive House of Games (BBC2)
7:30pm: Celebrity Mastermind (BBC2)
8pm: The Celebrity Apprentice pt1 (BBC1)
8pm: Only Connect S21E24 (BBC2)
8:30: University Challenge: Christmas 2025 (St Hilda’s, Oxford vs Edinburgh) (BBC2)

Is saving The Celebrity Apprentice for Twixmas a sign of confidence or a sign of it being buried a bit? There’s not much else on.

Tuesday 30th December

7pm: Richard Osman’s Festive House of Games (BBC2)
7:30pm: Celebrity Mastermind (BBC2)
8pm: DIY SOS Gladiators Special (BBC1)
8pm: Only Connect S21 (Law Special) (BBC2)
8:30: University Challenge: Christmas 2025 (Middlesex vs Lancaster) (BBC2)
9pm: The Celebrity Apprentice pt2 (BBC1)

It’s a DIY SOS special where the Gladiators help build a youth club.

Wednesday 31st December (New Year’s Eve)

6:40pm: The Weakest Link Party Special (BBC1)
7pm: Richard Osman’s Festive House of Games (BBC2)
7:30pm: Celebrity Mastermind (BBC2)
8pm: Only Connect S21 (Third Place Play-Off Play-Off Special) (BBC2)
8:30: University Challenge: Christmas 2025 (Semi One) (BBC2)
Midnight: Fireworks (BBC1, let’s face it)

The last new Only Connect special might be the most Only Connect of them all.

Thursday 1st January (New Year’s Day – a Bank Holiday)

Sometime during the morning: The annual “they should do a series joke” (on Twitter and the BB Discord)
2pm: The Proms: The Traitors at the Proms (BBC1)
6pm: Time is Money – NEW (ITV1)
7:05pm: Richard Osman’s Festive House of Games (BBC2)
7:35pm: Celebrity Mastermind (BBC2)
7:40pm: The Great New Year Bake Off (C4)
8pm: The Traitors (new series) (BBC1)
8:05pm: Only Connect S20 (Singles, rpt) (BBC2)
8:35: University Challenge: Christmas 2025 (Semi Two) (BBC2)
9:05pm The Traitors Uncloaked (BBC2 and BBC Sounds)

Someone should get Cliff to re-record “Saviour’s Day” as “Traitors’ Day” as to all intents and purposes that’s what this is. However we’ve also got Sara Davies’ Time is Money launching today in the now traditional ITV-give-a-new-daytime-quiz-a-New-Year-shop-front-slot, we’ll have a Show Discussion post for this.

Friday 2nd January (a Bank Holiday for viewers in Scotland only)

7pm: Richard Osman’s Festive House of Games (BBC2)
7:30pm: Would I Lie To You? (new series) (BBC1)
7:30pm: Celebrity Mastermind (BBC2)
8pm: The Traitors (BBC1)
8pm: Only Connect S20 (Transatlantic Special, rpt) (BBC2)
8:30pm: University Challenge: Christmas 2025 (Final) (BBC2)
9pm*: Taskmaster New Year’s Treat pt 1 (C4)
9:05pm: The Traitors Uncloaked (BBC1 and BBC Sounds)

We’re putting an asterisk on that Taskmaster time, their Facebook implies it’s going out 2nd and 3rd (Taskmaster on a Saturday!) and it’s usually 9pm. We’ll put a CONFIRMED in capital letters when we know for sure.

And that’s as far as the schedules go, although we know there is more Celebrity Mastermind to go out and the original BBC press release had episode 3 of The Traitors down for Saturday, but they removed that so who knows. Jan 2nd is also when the UKGameshows/Bother’s Bar Poll traditionally launches and ought to be doing so even if UKGameshows isn’t on its feet yet.

Phew! Is there anything we’ve missed?