What's On TV Tonight: Sunday 21st December 2025

Strong Sunday. Sky Atlantic's new Amadeus looks like a proper treat, Oppenheimer finally hits BBC Two (clear your evening), and Russell T Davies wraps up his Doctor Who spin-off with rising oceans. If you're after something lighter, Beyond Paradise has gone full festive with a man glued into a snowman costume. Yes, really.

Table of Contents

Quick Picks: Tonight's Best

• Oppenheimer - Three hours of Cillian Murphy looking haunted. Worth every minute (9pm, BBC Two) ⭐
• Amadeus - Paul Bettany versus Will Sharpe in 18th-century Vienna. Stylish and fun (9pm, Sky Atlantic)
• Beyond Paradise Christmas Special - Festive detective drama with a man stuck in a wheelie bin (9pm, BBC One)
• The War Between the Land and the Sea - Russell T Davies's Doctor Who spin-off finale (8:05pm, BBC One)

Early Evening: Family Viewing (7pm - 8pm)

The Royal Variety Performance 2025 - ITV1, 7:05pm

Jason Manford hosts the annual gala evening at the Royal Albert Hall, attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Paddington the Musical - the newest show to light up the West End - gets a showcase, alongside Jessie J, the cast of Dead Ringers, and Strictly's Johannes Radebe doing a number from Kinky Boots. It's the Royal Variety, so you know what you're getting: a mixed bag of acts, some standing ovations, and at least one celebrity looking mildly uncomfortable on camera.

Wild Horses, the Rockies and Me - BBC Two, 7pm

Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan heads to Canada's Rocky Mountains to gain the trust of wild horses. Apparently, no one has ever attempted this on camera before. Take that with a pinch of salt, but the footage should be stunning regardless. Buchanan's always good company in these things, and there's something calming about watching someone spend weeks building trust with animals who couldn't care less about deadlines.

London Zoo at Christmas - Channel 4, 7:15pm

Behind the scenes at London Zoo during the festive season. If you've got kids, or you just like watching penguins, this will do nicely for Sunday teatime.

Prime Time (8pm onwards)

The War Between the Land and the Sea - BBC One, 8:05pm

Russell T Davies's allegorical Doctor Who spin-off reaches its conclusion, and things are about to get wet. With Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) apparently lost, Barclay (Russell Tovey) is potentially facing the final battle alone, traitors are on manoeuvres, and the oceans are rising. Can humanity survive?

If you've been following this since it started, tonight's the payoff. Davies knows how to build to a climax, and Mbatha-Raw and Tovey have been excellent throughout. Not one to drop into halfway through.

Game of Wool: Britain's Best Knitter - The Final - Channel 4, 8pm

We've reached the final of Tom Daley's knitting contest, so the already impressive standard is higher than ever. First, the three finalists form a team to transform a post box with yarn. Then, it's time for the final solo challenge - a showpiece hat.

Look, it's competitive knitting hosted by an Olympic diver. It shouldn't work, but somehow it does. The finalists are genuinely talented, and there's something unexpectedly tense about watching someone race against the clock to finish a cable pattern.

Victoria Wood: The Secret List - BBC Two, 8pm

A tribute to the late, great Victoria Wood. If you're a fan, you know how much she's missed. If you're not familiar, this is a decent place to start understanding why she was so beloved.

Amadeus - Sky Atlantic, 9pm

This breathless romp, adapted by Joe Barton from Peter Shaffer's play, casts the 18th-century Viennese court as a place of intrigue, power games and debauchery. Into this milieu arrives a prodigy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Will Sharpe), who's about to make staid elder statesman Antonio Salieri (Paul Bettany) look rather dull. Soon, Salieri's feverish jealousy towards "this repulsive creature" is leading him down a dark path.

Sharpe was excellent in The White Lotus, and Bettany knows how to play tortured intellectuals in period costume. The trailer suggests something more playful than the 1984 film - less dusty drama, more stylish fun. Worth a look if you fancy something different.

Beyond Paradise Christmas Special - BBC One, 9pm

A hungover man is found inside a wheelie bin, glued by mischievous chums into a snowman costume. Yes, it can only be Beyond Paradise at Christmas. Meanwhile, a person with dementia is discovered on the police station steps, clutching a surprising object. As Humphrey says, "I'm a little bit confused as to why you have a photograph of me in your pocket."

It's cosy, it's festive, it's not exactly taxing. If you like your Sunday night murder mysteries mild and your Cornish scenery pretty, this delivers exactly what you'd expect.

Oppenheimer - BBC Two, 9pm ⭐

Christopher Nolan's three-hour epic about the scientist who brought us the atomic bomb finally gets its terrestrial premiere. Cillian Murphy won the Oscar for playing J. Robert Oppenheimer - a man who changed reality for all of humanity with his devastating weapon, then was haunted by the fact for the rest of his life.

It isn't actually that big a shift for Nolan from the physics-defying plots and tormented heroes of films like Inception. This is still about a brilliant, complicated man wrestling with forces beyond his control. Robert Downey Jr as his nemesis, admiral-turned-politician Lewis Strauss, provides the wider context for his world-shattering actions.

Here's the thing: yes, it's three hours. But it earns them. The Trinity test sequence had me holding my breath in the cinema, and it'll still hit hard on a smaller screen. Clear your evening.

Late Night: For Night Owls (10pm onwards)

John Wick: Chapter 4 - ITV1, 10:10pm

Keanu Reeves fights his way through what feels like the entire population of Paris in this gloriously excessive fourth instalment. The staircase fight alone is worth staying up for. Nearly three hours of beautifully choreographed violence. If you've seen the other three, you know what you're getting. If you haven't, start at the beginning.

Die Hard 2 - BBC One, 11pm

John McClane does it again, this time at an airport. Not as good as the original (nothing is), but still solid action fun. The "is Die Hard a Christmas movie?" debate continues, but BBC One seems to have made up its mind.

The Gilded Age - Sky Atlantic, 10pm

Following on from Amadeus, more period drama from Sky Atlantic. Julian Fellowes's American Downton explores wealthy New York in the 1880s. Good if you like your costumes lavish and your social climbing vicious.

If You're Not Into Drama

Live Sport

Premier League Football: Aston Villa v Manchester United kicks off at 4:30pm on Sky Sports Main Event. From Villa Park, where United will be hoping to turn their season around. Whether they actually do is another matter.

Live AFCON: Morocco v Comoros is on E4 from 6:30pm. The hosts play the opening match of the African Cup of Nations in Rabat, led by PSG's star defender Achraf Hakimi. The tournament proper begins here.

Match of the Day follows at 10:30pm on BBC One with all the day's Premier League highlights.

What's on Streaming

Netflix - Still waiting for that Boxing Day binge? Might be worth holding off.

Disney+ - More Star Wars, more Marvel. The usual.

ITVX - If you miss any of tonight's ITV programming, it'll be there.

The Viewing Schedule Table

Final Verdict

Sunday's stacked. Oppenheimer's the obvious event - three hours of Nolan at his most ambitious, finally on terrestrial telly. But there's plenty more: Amadeus looks like fun if you've got Sky, The War Between the Land and the Sea wraps up for RTD fans, and Beyond Paradise offers gentler festive crime-solving. If you're staying up late, John Wick 4 and Die Hard 2 have you covered. Four days until Christmas. Settle in.

Nick Bain writes about television for TVRadar.co.uk