The movies that are always on TV at Christmas

Aaaah... Christmas. You've got to love it, haven't you? Whether you're religious or not, you can't deny that it's a magical time of year. Magical mostly because it gives you a bona fide excuse to slump into an armchair after a huge dinner, drunk on three pints of Baileys, and watch as many films as your cranberry sauce-addled brain can handle.

We're already looking forward to it and that got us to thinking about the sorts of films we can look forward to this year. Now we all know the kind of films shown on the box over Christmas, but we wanted to find out exactly which ones get the most repeat viewings. Is ‘The Great Escape’ actually on every year...? So we set an afternoon aside, dug out the last decade's worth of TV listings magazines and sifted through them, counting up how often films are shown (now that's what we call dedication!) between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. And here are our results. The most repeated movies on BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel Four and Five from the past ten years...

THE WINNERS!
With six showings each, these two movies are clear Christmas victors. Perhaps somewhat aptly, there's a visit from 'The Santa Clause' at the top of the (Christmas) tree. Tim Allen's 1994 family film is certainly a Christmas staple and we can see why – it's festive, suitable for all ages and surprisingly funny. We say 'surprisingly' because, well, it does star Tim Allen. Joining 'The Santa Clause' at the top is somewhat of a shocker, it's the big screen adaptation of a certain friendly ghost, 'Casper'. True, it's a charming family movie with some impressive CGI trickery, but to be screened more than any other film over the festive period (except 'The Santa Clause', of course)? When it's not even set at Christmas time? Haunting.

RUNNERS-UP:
Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' has been adapted a good few times, but it seems that it's the Patrick Stewart version that's really struck with people (well, television schedulers, at least). This 1999 version, along with all these other 'runners-up', have amassed four repeats on terrestrial telly over the past ten Christmases. Mel Gibson as poultry doesn't sound that festive (he's not a turkey, after all), but 'Chicken Run' is a reliably fun family flick that also racks up the repeats. Tim Allen's second outing as Saint Nick's replacement in 'The Santa Clause 2' is also popular for the same reason the original is. Also getting the repeated nod is Dudley Moore's elf in 'Santa Claus: The Movie', a truly festive treat. Classics like 'My Fair Lady' and 'Mary Poppins' are also popular as well. 'The Railway Children' from 1970 may look a little twee by modern standards, but fits the bill nicely as a relaxing Christmas movie. There are four repeat screenings of the high concept animation 'The Polar Express', as well as for the slightly less high concept animation 'Ruldolph the Reindeer & The Island of Misfit Toys'. There's room for comedy too, with Chevy Chase hilarious (yes, actually) 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation' racking up four showings too. 'Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone' also features and we somehow get the impression that we'll be seeing a lot more of the bespectacled wizard for quite a few Christmases yet...

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
A true classic here, with three appearances over the last ten years is the Bing Crosby-starrer, 'White Christmas'. Packed full of festive Irving Berlin numbers, there's not many classic movies that encapsulate this time of year quite so well. The same can't really be said for the final, and most surprising inclusion on our list... With more showings on British telly than 'E.T', 'The Great Escape' and, incredibly, 'It's a Wonderful Life', it's – wait for it... * ahem * 'Steptoe and Son Ride Again'! That's right, the second film of the classic Galton & Simpson sitcom, featuring rag n' bone man Albert Steptoe and his dirty ol' man dad Harold is one of TV's most popular movies at Christmas. For some reason.

So there you have it. Shocked 'The Great Escape' didn't make the list? Which other films are you surprised didn't make it into the top 15 most repeated on TV? Get talking below (oh, and Merry Christmas!)...