5 movies and TV series to watch over the Christmas break

It's fair to say that nobody will be having the Christmas they want this year. What with COVID looming large over the festive season, many are choosing (or have been forced) to isolate from their families and just generally try to make the best of it. What we can still do, though, is watch stuff. So put on your big woolly jumper, open the chocolates, make a cup of tea and get stuck into this lot!

Here we present one movie, one comedy special, and three TV series to gorge on over Christmas. (Admittedly, you do have to leave your house to watch The Matrix, but you can't have everything.)

It’s been 18 years since we last saw Neo on the big screen, but now he’s back for a trench-coated, tech-ridden ride through various shades of black and green code. Reviews for Lana Wachowski’s fourth instalment in the franchise have been mixed, but let’s face it, was anyone actually thinking that, ahem, resurrecting these characters after a near two-decade hiatus was going to yield the same impact as before? No. But is there a legion of fans across the world who just want to exist in that industrialised near-future one more time, regardless of the outcome? Yes. In these ongoing endtimes, clinging to nostalgia for bullet-time and different coloured pills is all we have. Might as well plug into it one more time.

In cinemas now.

The often brutal and perpetually bleak documentary series Dark Side Of The Ring aired its third season in the United States earlier this year, but the first half (seven episodes) is now available in the UK on All 4. Investigating the true, often traumatising stories that are strewn the blood-stained history of professional wrestling, this latest series turns its gaze to the tragic stories of Brian Pillman, The Ultimate Warrior and The Dynamite Kid through revealing interviews, as well as a gruesome look at deathmatch fighter Nick Gage’s career and much more. Even if you’re not a fan of the graps and think it’s all a bit daft, this eye-opening series is a harsh reminder that there are real people and real consequences behind the spotlights.

Out now on All 4.

It’s actually happening. After The Mandalorian took the world by storm, we’re finally getting a standalone Boba Fett series. Taking place not long after the events of The Return Of The Jedi, in this seven-episode offering we find Boba and his assassin pal Fennec Shand making names for themselves in the seedy, savage world of bounty hunting, and attempting to take control of the territory the once belonged to sweaty sluglord Jabba The Hutt. It’s going to be great.

On Disney+ from December 29.

Following last year’s wrap-up to the shit show of 2020, the Charlie Brooker-produced mockumentary is back for another reflection on the past 12 months through a series of fictional cultural commentators and academics played by the likes of Hugh Grant, Tracey Ullman and Lucy Liu, as well as an incredible turn from Stranger Things’ Joe Keery as an insipid influencer. When the world around you makes you want to cry or be sick or both, it’s good to be able to poke fun at the apocalypse from your sofa.

On Netflix from December 27.

We’re not sure what else you want us to say, other than the most wholesome and emotional show in the world is back for another round on New Year’s Eve. The Fab Five of Antoni, Tan, Karamo, Bobby and Jonathan hit Texas for another season of make-overs and generally improving the lives of everyone they meet. Considering how fragile everyone’s mental state is at the moment, you’re definitely going to need a box of tissues on standby, and maybe a direct line to your mum.

On Netflix from December 31.