David Farnor | On 01, Dec 2021

BBC iPlayer is lining up more than 1,000 box sets for streaming this festive season, a new record for the Beeb’s catch-up service.

Christmas will see the arrival of a number of new shows, including A Very British Scandal, starring Claire Foy and Paul Bettany, psychological thriller The Girl Before, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and David Oyelowo, Around the World in 80 Days, starring David Tennant, and others.

The first episodes of the latter will be available from Boxing Day, and it will be a box set on BBC iPlayer in the new year. Also in the new year, BBC iPlayer will have mystery thriller The Tourist available as a box set. There will also be festival specials from Doctor Who, Call the Midwife, Death in Paradise, Ghosts, Mandy and Not Going Out.

Other new shows airing in the run-up to Christmas include psychological thriller You Don’t Know Me and the new season of period detective drama Vienna Blood.

Drama box sets available include submarine thriller Vigil, Sean Bean’s prison drama, Time, and Line of Duty. Superhero series Superman & Lois will also be landing, joining Australian comedy drama Bump and the new season of US smash hit Gossip Girl, plus favourites such as Peaky Blinders, Killing Eve, Luther, Happy Valley, I May Destroy You and Normal People.

Comedies will include The Outlaws, Starstruck, The Cleaner, Ghosts, In Her Skin, Back to Life, What We Do in the Shadows and Dave, plus recently added classics such as The Office, dinnerladies and Keeping Up Appearances.

Family favourites will include new festive special Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas, plus the full Shaun the Sheep box set, the new Julia Donaldson short film Superworm, joining other adaptations already available, including The Gruffalo, The Snail and the Whale, and Zog and the Flying Doctors.

For older children, Nova Jones follows an interplanetary pop star managed by her best friend and sister, plus there’s a new season of young footballer drama Jamie Johnson and Enid Blyton adaptation Malory Towers, as well as New Zealand-set drama Mystic.

As well as two new programmes from Sir David Attenborough over the festive period – Attenborough’s Wonder of Song and Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard – natural history fans can enjoy box sets including The Mating Game, narrated by Sir David, Professor Brian Cox’s Universe, Wonders of the Celtic Deep, and Prince William and Sir David Attenborough exploring ideas to help save the world in The Earthshot Prize.

Viewers can delve into some of the year’s most dramatic documentary box sets, including Blair and Brown: The New Labour Revolution, The Hunt for Bible John, and Fever Pitch: The Rise of the Premier League, as well as 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room, Four Hours at the Capitol, Reclaiming Amy and Ian Wright: Home Truths, plus a collection of Louis Theroux, Stacey Dooley and Storyville films.

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