What's On TV Tonight: Monday 29th December 2025

Monday's telly brings celebrity chaos to the boardroom, creative murders in the Cotswolds, and Kenneth Branagh's magnificently moustachioed Poirot. Plus four MasterChef champions battle it out, the Titanic continues its slow descent, and Blue Planet II reminds us octopuses are smarter than we thought.

Table of Contents

• Quick Picks: Tonight's Best
• Early Evening: Family Viewing
• Prime Time: Drama & Competition
• Late Night: Arts & Documentary
• If You're Not Into Reality TV
• Tonight's Viewing Schedule

Quick Picks: Tonight's Best

• ⭐ The Celebrity Apprentice: Christmas Special (BBC One, 9pm) - Rob Rinder, AJ Odudu and Eddie Kadi make gingerbread in Lapland
• Midsomer Murders (ITV1, 8:30pm) - Peter Serafinowicz and creatively gothic pottery deaths
• Murder on the Orient Express (Channel 4, 8pm) - Branagh's Poirot with an all-star cast
• MasterChef Festive Extravaganza (BBC One, 8pm) - Four past champions cook for royalty

Early Evening: Family Viewing (6:30pm - 8pm)

Celebrity Escape to the Country - BBC One, 6:30pm

Nicki Chapman takes broadcaster Angellica Bell and her husband Michael Underwood - yes, he of CBBC fame, now a teacher - house hunting in Devon. If you've ever wondered what it'd be like to have a BBC budget helping you find your dream country pile, this scratches that itch. Easy viewing while you work out what to do with the leftover turkey.

Richard Osman's Festive House of Games - BBC Two, 7pm

Alex Brooker, Rhys Darby, Joanna Page and Molly Rainford take on Richard's quiz in the second week of the festive edition. If you haven't caught House of Games before, it's panel show meets pub quiz with increasingly daft rounds. Rhys Darby is always good value on these things.

Nicola Benedetti & Friends - Sky Arts, 7:30pm

The violinist performs at Belfast's Ulster Hall. If you want something calmer than reality TV chaos, this delivers. Benedetti's always worth watching.

Prime Time: Drama & Competition (8pm - 10pm)

MasterChef Festive Extravaganza: Champion of Champions - BBC One, 8pm

Four MasterChef winners - Natalie (2013), Thomas (2020), Chariya (2023) and Brin (2024) - return to cook something "fit for royalty." Tom Parker Bowles does the judging, which is about as close to actual royalty as the show can get. The good news: no pink chicken or burnt disasters this time. These lot actually know what they're doing.

Murder on the Orient Express - Channel 4, 8pm

Kenneth Branagh directs and stars as Poirot in this 2017 adaptation. Some prefer Sidney Lumet's 1974 version (it was on BBC Two Sunday if you missed it), but Branagh's has a theatrical swagger that works for holiday viewing. The moustache alone deserves an award. Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley and Derek Jacobi round out the cast. Branagh admitted he found "standing up in front of Judi Dench and telling them my plans was a little intimidating." Fair enough.

Blue Planet II: Oceans of Wonder - BBC Four, 8pm

A feature-length compilation of Blue Planet II's greatest hits. It's been long enough since 2017 that you've probably forgotten the best bits. The sequence where an octopus outsmarts a pyjama shark is genuinely incredible - those eight arms hiding tricks we never imagined. There's also sperm whales sleeping vertically, which is as weird and wonderful as it sounds. Soothing, stunning, and a reminder the ocean is far stranger than any sci-fi.

Only Connect - BBC Two, 8pm

The Doctors Matthews face the Worker Bees. Victoria Coren-Mitchell asks the questions. You'll feel incredibly smug if you get the connections before the teams do. You probably won't.

Midsomer Murders - ITV1, 8:30pm

Peter Serafinowicz guest stars as a ceramicist at a country pile where family arguments over inheritance take a deadly turn. Look, part of the joy of Midsomer is seeing how creatively they'll dispatch people, and let's just say pottery tools lend themselves surprisingly well to murder. The deaths are "sculpted with a more gleefully gothic touch than many we've witnessed previously" according to Radio Times. What more do you need to know? There's a second episode Tuesday at 8:30pm.

⭐ The Celebrity Apprentice: Christmas Special - BBC One, 9pm

Has Lord Sugar been visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future? This two-part festive special finds the usually Scrooge-esque mogul in surprisingly buoyant form - he even phones Father Christmas at the start. Rob Rinder, AJ Odudu, Angela Scanlon, Sarah Hadland and Eddie Kadi must make and market gingerbread biscuits. Despite their starry status, they fall into every Apprentice pitfall: bickering, burning their bakes, and coming up with flavour combinations like bubblegum and pepper. Karren Brady says in her 10 years on the show, she hasn't seen a brainstorm quite like theirs. It's all for Children in Need, and the finished biscuits are now on sale if you want to taste-test whether bubblegum pepper was inspired or ghastly. Concludes tomorrow at 9pm.

Titanic Sinks Tonight - BBC Two, 9pm

Part two of the docu-drama that relives the Titanic's final hours through first-hand testimonies. Tonight: Captain Smith realises his ship is doomed, the wireless operators can't reach the nearby SS Californian because their radio operator is asleep, and the awful truth dawns that there aren't enough lifeboats for everyone aboard. Gripping, sombre stuff.

Late Night: Arts & Documentary

Classic FM Live: 25th Anniversary Concert - Sky Arts, 9pm

Recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in October with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. The programme doesn't hold back on crowd-pleasers: Handel's Zadok the Priest, Parry's Jerusalem, Nessun Dorma. Guests include Bryn Terfel and Channel 4's The Piano winner Diana Newell.

Murder at the Post Office - Sky Documentaries, 9pm

A true crime documentary about a 15-year-old murder case that divides opinion. Postmistress Diana Garbutt was found dead in 2010; her husband Robin was convicted but has always maintained his innocence. A key part of the prosecution involved the Horizon IT system. Yes, that Horizon IT system. Could faulty tech have contributed to a wrongful conviction?

Imagine: Tom Stoppard - A Charmed Life - BBC Four, 10pm

Repeated as a tribute following the playwright's death in November. This 2021 profile reveals a writer who didn't like to self-analyse - "We're not surely reduced to showing my wedding photographs?" he asks, preferring to show his first editions of Pride and Prejudice. The then 84-year-old opens up about becoming "emotionally armour-plated" after losing his father in WWII. Shakespeare in Love follows at 11:30pm.

If You're Not Into Reality TV

Not fussed about celebrity gingerbread disasters? Here's your alternative evening:

Want mystery? Murder on the Orient Express (Channel 4, 8pm) - classic Agatha Christie with style

Want nature? Blue Planet II: Oceans of Wonder (BBC Four, 8pm) - David Attenborough's underwater greatest hits

Want music? Classic FM Live (Sky Arts, 9pm) - Jerusalem, Zadok, and Bryn Terfel at the Albert Hall

Want true crime? Murder at the Post Office (Sky Documentaries, 9pm) - Horizon IT system meets murder investigation

Tonight's Viewing Schedule

Final Verdict

Monday's got something for everyone. The Celebrity Apprentice brings the chaos you want from reality TV - watching celebrities argue about bubblegum-flavoured biscuits is strangely therapeutic. Midsomer Murders delivers the cosy-but-creative deaths the show does best. If you'd rather avoid reality telly, Murder on the Orient Express is lush Christmas viewing, and Blue Planet II never disappoints. The late-night tribute to Tom Stoppard is worth staying up for if you're an arts fan. A solid Twixmas evening.

All times shown are UK times. Schedule may vary by region.