David Farnor | On 04, Dec 2018

BBC iPlayer is unwrapping a bumper binge-watching gift for Christmas 2018, with over 100 box sets being made available for streaming during the festive season.

As the BBC seeks to compete with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others, it has increasingly looked to keep new programmes around or longer or bring back old favourites, and that tactic has more than paid off: last Christmas, BBC iPlayer gave us a sleigh-load of box sets to stream, driving the platform to some of its busiest months on record. Now, it’s doubling down once again for the cold winter nights.

Comedy box sets include all the series of Outnumbered returning especially for Christmas – along with every series of hit comedies Man Like Mobeen, This Country and Young Offenders.

The biggest dramas of the year, such as Bodyguard and McMafia, will also be available to binge during the festive break. And, in the build up to Andrew Davies’ new adaptation of Les Misérables, fans can revisit a wide range of his classics including Sense And Sensibility, House Of Cards, War and Peace, Little Dorrit and Bleak House.

For all the family, there are great box sets from Julia Donaldson including The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child, Stick Man and Room On The Broom, and from David Walliams, Gangsta Granny, The Boy In The Dress, Billionaire Boy and Mr. Stink.

A collection of David Attenborough‘s natural history programmes will also be available, including both series of Blue Planet and Planet Earth, Africa, Life and Frozen Planet, plus his new series, Dynasties. For those craving even more documentary action, celebrations of Billy Connolly, Andrew Davies and Raymond Briggs will all be available, alongside more natural history programmes such as Spy in the Snow, Gordon Buchanan’s Bringing Up Grizzly, Chris And Michaela Under The Christmas Sky and Snow-Wolf: A Winter’s Tale.

For kids, there will be Zog and The Midnight Gang, plus a host of CBeebies and CBBC favourites.

These join an existing library of impressive box sets already available on BBC iPlayer, from BBC Three comedies People Just Do Nothing and Gavin and Stacey to dramas Killing Eve and Informer, plus the whole of Luther and the Colin Firth classic Pride And Prejudice, as well as every series of Doctor Who since 2005 – including the latest one starring Jodie Whittaker. Some of these box sets have been extended to run over the festive period, others were already available to stream long into next year. The majority of box sets will be available on BBC iPlayer from 12th December.

Charlotte Moore, BBC director of content says: “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without finding an extra little something beneath the tree and this year we want to offer something for everyone, with more than 100 box sets just waiting to be unwrapped. It’s a very special collection of British programming that we know people will love and a chance for everybody to spoil themselves with some real treats over the Christmas period.”

Here’s the full list of what will be available:

Drama

54 Hours: The Gladbeck Hostage Crisis
A Very English Scandal
Bleak House
Bodyguard
Class
Clique
Collateral
Death And Nightingales
Doctor Who
Father Brown (Series 6)
House Of Cards
In The Flesh
Informer
Killing Eve
Little Dorrit
The Little Drummer Girl
The Long Song
Luther
McMafia
Mothers’ Day
Mrs Wilson
Musketeers
North And South
Our Girl
Overshadowed
Press
Pride And Prejudice
Roots
Sense And Sensibility
Silent Witness (Season 17 to 21)
Small Island
Snowfall (Season 2)
The Fades
There She Goes
Trust
Wanderlust
War And Peace
Watership Down

Factual

A Tattoo To Change Your Life
Africa
Asian Provocateur
Bangkok Airport
The Blue Planet
Blue Planet II
Britain’s Forgotten Men
Civilisation
Civilisations
Dictatorland
Drugs Map Of Britain
Drugsland
Dynasties
Frozen Planet
Killer Magic
Life
Life And Death Row
Louis Theroux
Love And Drugs On The Street
Mark Kermode’s Secrets Of Cinema
The Misadventures Of Romesh Ranganathan
Misfits Like Us
Mortimer And Whitehouse: Gone Fishing
Our World War
Planet Earth
Planet Earth II
Professor Green
Segregated America: A School In The South
Sex Map Of Britain
Sex, Drugs And Murder
Simon Reeve
Snow Chick – A Penguin’s Tale
Snow Babies
Stacey Dooley
Stacey Dooley Investigates
Unsolved

Comedy and Entertainment

Bad Education
Blackadder Goes Forth
Bluestone 42
Citizen Khan
Cuckoo
Enterprice
Extras
Flat TV
Fleabag
Gavin & Stacey
Hold The Sunset
I’ll Get This
Inside No. 9
The League Of Gentlemen
Luisa Omielan’s Politics For Bitches
Man Like Mobeen
The Mighty Boosh (Season 1)
Miranda
Mrs Brown’s Boys (Christmas Specials)
Outnumbered
People Just Do Nothing
Pls Like
Pramface
Rent A Cop
Siblings
Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle
Still Game (Season 7 and 8)
Still Open All Hours
Sunny D
The Young Offenders
This Country
Tourist Trap
Top Gear (Season 22 and 23)
Two Doors Down
Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps
Uncle
Upstart Crow
Vic & Bob’s Big Night Out (2017-18)

Children’s

64 Zoo Lane (Season 4)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Alice In Wonderland
Billionaire Boy
Bob The Builder (Season 9)
The Boy In The Dress
CBeebies Prom
The Elves And The Shoe Maker: A CBeebies Ballet
Gangsta Granny
Goldilocks And The Three Bears
Grandpa’s Great Escape
The Gruffalo
The Gruffalo’s Child
The Highway Rat
Mr Stink
Patchwork Pals
Peter Pan
Puss In Boots
Rastamouse (Series 1)
Room On The Broom
Something Special At The Proms
Stick Man
The Snow Queen
The Tale Of Mr Tumble
The Tempest
Three Little Pigs: A CBeebies Ballet
The Tortoise And The Hare: A CBeebies Ballet
The Ugly Duckling

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