Whatever your reason for the season, there is so much to love about this time of year. From quality time spent with family, to long overdue catch ups with friends, an endless selection of delicious food, or soaking up all the festive vibes with a chilled evening in, SBS On Demands has the perfect accompaniment. And if you aren’t feeling festive, there are some less predictable titles in there (, we’re looking at you!), and favourites like bringing the laughs.
Here's a selection from the collection:
Family
If your idea of the perfect Christmas season is time spent making memories with family then light up the tree, get the shortbread cookies ready, and add the following to your household viewing schedule.
London Zoo at Christmas
It's a festive time for all in 'London Zoo at Christmas'. Credit: IWC
London Zoo at Christmas airs 7.35pm Monday 18 December on SBS, and will then be streaming at SBS On Demand for 30 days.
Northpole & Northpole: Open for Christmas
If you’ve managed to get all the family together to watch a Christmas film, you might as well make it a double feature! Northpole is set in Santa’s magical home, a huge city that runs off global Christmas spirit and festive cheer, but with holiday happiness on the decline, the city is in trouble. Can Kevin, a young boy determined to help his mum find the Christmas spirit again, change the hearts of many? Follow it up with Northpole: Open For Christmas and find out if Santa’s elves can help Mackenzie save her aunt’s once-majestic hotel. Keep an eye out for a few Hollywood faces along the way including Dermot Mulroney, Tiffani Thiessen and Bailee Madison.
Northpole is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Northpole
adventure • fantasy • 2014
adventure • fantasy • 2014
Northpole: Open for Christmas is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Northpole: Open for Christmas
fantasy • holiday • 2015
fantasy • holiday • 2015
Bush Christmas
Nothing could put you in the mood for a classic Aussie Christmas quite like 1980s outback adventure Bush Christmas. The resourceful Thomson kids, Helen (Nicole Kidman) and John (Mark Spain), would do anything to get their family out of debt, and their decision to enter a horse in the lucrative New Year’s Day Cup could be the answer to their problems. When their horse Prince is stolen by thieves in a Christmas robbery just a week before the race, the Thompson’s plan could be over before it began. With the help of farm worker and local Indigenous man Manalpuy, however, the pair decide to hunt down the culprits themselves and set off on a quest that is guaranteed to capture the imaginations of young and old alike.
Bush Christmas is streaming now at SBS On Demand. The movie also airs 7.30pm Friday 22 December on NITV.
Friends
If fun evenings in with friends are more your thing during the festive period, then these Christmas comedy specials are the perfect addition to set the tone for your ‘friendmas’ celebration.
Bad Education Christmas Special
Bad Education. Credit: Adam Lawrence
The Bad Education Christmas Special will be streaming at SBS On Demand from 14 December.
Wellington Paranormal Christmas Special
It’s Christmas Eve, and our favourite crime fighting duo Minogue and O’Leary are on shift and ready to catch any Christmas cons that dare disrupt the celebrations. But those they apprehend are far from the usual suspects. There’s something supernatural about the shenanigans going on at the shopping mall, a mysterious meat theft afoot at a Christmas barbecue, and an office Christmas party that is about to enter a whole new dimension thanks to a paranormal photocopier. If you have friends that like their Christmas a little less conventional, you can’t go wrong with adding this episode to your festive viewing. This is Wellington Paranormal after all; you never know what might be around the corner.
The Wellington Paranormal Christmas special is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
The Family Law
The Law family might be best known for being slightly dysfunctional, but to be fair, isn’t every family dysfunctional when there’s a Christmas celebration to be organised? Benjamin is on a mission to cook the Christmas lunch to end all Christmas lunches, but with relationships on the rocks, new partners being debuted, and family members chasing stardom, questionable turkey could be the least of his problems. Tensions are on the rise and what ensues is a hilarious and all too accurate depiction of the heightened emotions that so often accompany these holiday get togethers. Get your own friends together and prepare for an evening of laughs with our favourite Chinese-Australian family.
The Family Law Christmas episode is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
Food
Are you hosting the celebrations this year? Love a festive canapé? Or are cooking shows your ultimate in holiday viewing? There’s a whole collection just for you. Here’s a taste of what’s waiting in at SBS On Demand. Also look out for, with Jamie Oliver, Rick Stein, Gordon Ramsay, Adam Liaw and more, Friday nights in December from 7.30pm, and a special festive marathon from 10.30am on Saturday 23 December and Sunday 24 December.
Jamie’s Easy Christmas Countdown
Looking for Christmas recipes that are simple yet impressive? Jamie Oliver is your guy. In Jamie’s Easy Christmas Countdown the British celebrity chef prepares for a festive feast, counting down with a simple yet impressive menu of foolproof recipes you will want to add to your repertoire. Think smoked salmon pâté, goose fat potatoes, and a pork stuffing that would be welcome on any Christmas table.
Jamie's Easy Christmas Countdown is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
Ainsley’s Christmas Good Mood Food and Festive Flavours
Celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott knows how to cater for a celebration, and in Ainsley’s Christmas Good Mood Food, he shares the best canapés, cocktails, and crowd-pleasing recipes to take you from Christmas to Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and beyond. Joined by British presenter, friend, and wine expert Olly Smith, and with special guests popping in along the way, this is Christmas culinary cheer in its purest form. And if you want more of the smiling, singing chef, there’s Ainsley’s Festive Flavours, another special where Harriott opens his kitchen to friends old and new and cooks up delicious dishes.
Ainsley’s Good Mood Food Christmas airs 8.30pm 22 December on SBS Food and will then be streaming at SBS On Demand. Ainsley’s Festive Flavours is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
Dishing It Up - Christmas Special
Celebrity chefs so often provide the inspiration for our festive feasts, but can ordinary Australians really do the recipes of these culinary giants justice? In this one-hour special, our favourite home cooks from Dishing It Up attempt to replicate stand out dishes from the likes of Jamie Oliver, Rachel Khoo, Adam Liaw and Marco Pierre White. As they try everything from a turducken terrine to a popstar pavlova, it’s all the food, fun, and festivity you need to give your Christmas spirit a boost.
Stream free On Demand
Dishing It Up Christmas Special 2022
program • cooking • 2022
PG
program • cooking • 2022
PG
Festive Vibes
As much was we love a celebration, the Christmas-New Year period can be hectic, and sometimes there’s nothing more festive than some solo time in front of the television. Put your feet up and get stuck into some serious comfort viewing with these picks.
Christmas Carols from the London Coliseum
Christmas Carols from the London Coliseum. Credit: Factory Films
See Christmas Carols from the London Coliseum 7.30pm Friday 22 December on SBS, and then streaming at SBS On demand.
Britain’s Scenic Railways at Christmas
Source: SBS
Britain’s Scenic Railways at Christmas airs 8.40pm Tuesday 19 December on SBS, and will be streaming at SBS On Demand after it airs.
Europe’s Greatest Christmas Market
Nowhere does a Christmas market quite like Europe and when it comes to finding the best one, the competition is fierce. English broadcaster and host Gregg Wallace is up for the challenge, however, and in Europe’s Greatest Christmas Market he immerses himself in the streets of Copenhagen, home to festive themed markets that are picture perfect. As he explores the city, Gregg discovers a light show that is one in a million, a bakery that has transcended time, the beauty of the Tivoli Gardens, and, most importantly, an array of Danish Christmas markets that have to be seen to be believed. It’s armchair travel at its festive best.
Join Gregg Wallace for Copenhagen: Europe's Greatest Christmas Market, 9.35pm Tuesday 19 January on SBS and then streaming at SBS On Demand for 30 days.
Explore the full . And look at for more festive viewing across the SBS Network, including Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, 10pm Christmas Day on NITV; Kiwi Christmas, 7.30pm Friday 29 December on NITV; Tis the Season: The Holidays on Screen, premiering 7.30pm Sunday 24 December on SBS; A 'Quizmas' Jeopardy! marathon on SBS VICELAND from 9.30am on December 24; and Nadiya's Party Feast, a new series starting 7.30pm Friday 29 December on SBS Food.
