A New ‘Doctor Who’ for Christmas, Ricky Gervais Delivers ‘Armageddon,’ NFL Action Day and Night, ‘Midwife’ and ‘Madame Blanc’ Holiday Specials

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With a grin that won’t quit and the infectious enthusiasm we like in our Time Lords, Ncuti Gatwa wins us over immediately in his first adventure as the Fifteenth Doctor, introduced like so many before him in an evocative Christmas-themed special. (The series resumes in the spring.) His fate is linked with that of the spirited Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), who 19 years earlier was abandoned outside a church in the snow on Christmas Eve. “Bad luck has just been following me around,” she laments to her friends, but her destiny quickly changes when the Doctor enters her life and exposes the mischievous goblins who’ve been bedeviling her. These ghoulish creatures have a thing for newborns, and after the Doctor and Ruby follow them into the skies, our time-traveling hero finds himself going back to the night of Ruby’s birth to avert disaster. It’s the beginning of what promises to be a wonderful partnership and a seamless transition, thanks to returning showrunner Russell T Davies.

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The former star/creator of The Office, Extras, and many more doesn’t appear to be in much of a holiday spirit in his third comedy special for the streamer (home of his wonderful series Afterlife). In keeping with the apocalyptic title of his set, filmed at the London Palladium, Gervais riffs on the end of humanity (“We’re not meant to live this long”), funerals and Artificial Intelligence, among other mordant topics. Expect his barbed humor to linger with a rather bitter aftertaste.

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9/8c

In advance of next year’s Season 13, the popular period drama about the midwives of Nonnatus House takes us to December 1968 for the annual holiday special. The upcoming Apollo 8 launch has everyone looking to the skies, though Sister Monica Joan (the great Judy Parfitt) is convinced this is her last Christmas and she’ll never live to see a man walk on the moon. Closer to Earth, while the nuns and midwives rally to raise her spirits, a treacherous snowfall threatens to upend everyone’s celebrations.

The cozy light-mystery series gets in the Christmas spirit, staging a holiday murder-mystery party at a French hotel with a spooky reputation. You’d think hosts Judith and Jeremy Lloyd James (Sue Holderness and Robin Askwith) would know to expect the worst when they invite antiques dealer and amateur sleuth Jean White (Sally Lindsay) to attend, and sure enough, on a dark and stormy night, the game turns deadly when someone is killed. Leave it to Jean to expose the killer, who might be linked to the sordid history of Hotel Sanguinet.

Nickelodeon NFL Nickmas Game (1 pm/ET, Nickelodeon, also on CBS): Those yearning to have their gridiron action accompanied by slime are in luck with a special simulcast edition of the Christmas Day game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs, where the professional commentators will be joined by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Raphael (voiced by Brady Noon), with sideline reports from Donatello (voiced by Mikah Abbey) and a Nick-oriented halftime show. The regular broadcast is available on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. For more football faceoffs, Fox presents the New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles (4:30 pm/ET) and ABC airs the Monday Night Football contest (8:15/ET) between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers.

INSIDE MONDAY TV:

• Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade (10 am/9c, 9 am/PT, ABC): Mickey Mouse, Goofy and all the fan-fave characters put on their holiday best for the 40^th annual march down Main Street at Florida’s Walt Disney World. Hosts Derek and Julianne Hough are among the performers, joined by the Smashing Pumpkins, This Is Us star Chrissy Metz and the Broadway and touring casts of Aladdin.
• NBA Basketball: A full day’s lineup on ESPN includes the Milwaukee Bucks at New York Knicks (noon ET), Golden State Warriors at Denver Nuggets (2:30 pm/ET, simulcast on ABC), Boston Celtics at L.A. Lakers (5 pm/ET, simulcast on ABC), Philadelphia 76ers at Miami Heat (8/7c) and Dallas Mavericks at Phoenix Suns (10:30 pm/ET).
• The Floor (8/7c, Fox): Before its premiere next week, Fox provides an eight-minute tease of its new quiz show, hosted by Rob Lowe. The setting looks like an outtake from Squid Game, with 81 players standing on squares on a 9X9 giant game board. Head-to-head visual trivia battles decide who’s eliminated and who gets to take over another square on the board. The season’s winner gets $250,000.