TV Week's 12 Treats Of Christmas

The latest series of the motoring show screeches to a close with a big, juicy foreign challenge: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May must race each other across the length of Vietnam in 8 days. Catch 1? They only have a budget to buy two-wheeled transport. Catch 2? The finishing line is in the middle of the ocean! Okay, it doesn't sound very seasonal, and it's a shame they couldn't do something like the excellent Winter Olympics special, but it's still worth tuning in for. 28 December – BBC2, 8pm

Monty Python legend Michael Palin's career took an unexpected left-turn thanks to travel documentary Around The World In 80 Days, shown back in 1988. In the classic BBC series, Palin re-enacted the titular novel's journey around the globe (in the modern age) and quickly became a cultural icon for a whole new generation. Since then, Palin's brand of likeable-Englishman-abroad presenting has seen him go Pole To Pole, Full Circle around the Pacific, follow Ernest Hemingway's African steps, cross the Sahara, scale the Himalayas, and investigate the eastern countries of "new Europe". This special celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Jules Verne-inspired adventure that started it all, with Palin retracing the most difficult part of the journey: Dubai to Bombay. 30 December – BBC1/BBC HD, 9pm

It's not particularly festive (this show marks the end of "goodwill to all men", let's be honest), but I'm sure millions of people will be tuning in to see which celebs have agreed to embarrass themselves in the hope of staging a showbiz comeback. The line-up isn't known at time of writing, but rumoured to be involved are: MP Lembit Opik (very likely), Georgina Baillie (Andrew Sachs' granddaughter, cynically cashing-in on the Ross/Brand furore), Whitney Houston (seriously?), Verne Troyer (Austin Powers' Mini Me), octogenarian astronomer Patrick Moore, Paris Hilton (unlikely), Ian Wright (a dead cert?), and Sir Cliff Richard (who seems to have pulled out over toilet issues!) Davina McCall returns to screech and gurn in fake enthusiasm outside the BB house. 2 January – Channel 4, 9pm

Andrew Davies' adaptation of Sarah Waters' second novel, about two very different Victorian women: grieving widower Margaret (Anna Madeley) and clairvoyant prisoner Selina Dawes (Survivors' Zoe Tapper), who is serving time for assaulting a young girl during a séance. A tale of sexual repression and the supernatural, this spooky gothic romance should provide a chilly tale to snuggle up to on the sofa. 28 December – ITV1, 9pm

It's been 15 years since Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer created their anarchic, surreal celebrity gameshow. To celebrate that milestone, BBC2 are offering an evening's retrospective on the cult '90s series – which gave us catchphrases ("we really wanna see those fingers!"), an early role for Matt Lucas (as drumming baby score-keeper George Dawes), and Ulrika Jonsson something to do in-between shagging Gladiators' Hunter. We start with "The Inside Story", featuring unseen sketches and interviews with everyone involved, and then follow it with the main course: a brand new anniversary edition of the show – featuring Ulrika and Jack Dee as team captains. Worth watching? Eranu! 30 December – BBC2, 9pm 

After two successful series, the BAFTA-winning Gavin & Stacey returns for a Christmas special – sure sign that a sitcom has "made it". This seasonal special is possibly the last episode that will ever be made, too -- well, unless writers Ruth Jones and James Corden fail to come up with a decent follow-up. Either way, G&S fans will be eager to see what happens to the eponymous couple. This two-hour special finds Gavin and Stacey's families converging on Billericay for Christmas Day, as Gav debates moving to Cardiff for work and to be closer to his wife. A behind-the-scenes documentary will also be shown on Christmas Day at 11.30pm on BBC3. Christmas Eve -- BBC1, 10pm

Stephen Fry's amusingly clever quiz show has achieved such popularity that it's transferring from BBC2 to BBC1, starting with this Christmas special. "Fire and ice" is the episode's theme, with Alan Davies, Clive Anderson, Rob Brydon and QI newbie Dom Joly ready to test their comedy wit and general knowledge. 22 December -- BBC1, 9pm

David Renwick finally bows to fan pressure, to write another bizarre mystery for Jonathan Creek (Alan Davies). In this haunted house special, illusionist sleuth Creek is joined by psychic investigator Joey (Sheridan Smith), and together they spend the night in an attic that has claimed the life of everyone who has stayed there. Stephen King's 1408, anyone? New Year's Day – BBC1, 9pm

Mark Gatiss (The League Of Gentlemen) writes and stars in this three-part chiller, about a man who finds an antique door knocker, takes it to a museum, and is told by the curator that it belonged to a house that attracts "unpleasantness". The trio of nightly tales starts with a story set in 1786, about an entrepreneur who starts hearing strange noises coming from his house's wood panelling. 22-24 December -- BBC4, 10.30pm (Omnibus edition on 28 December)

Big-budget adaptation of the popular John Buchan novel, made famous by Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 movie. Spooks' Rupert Penry-Jones tempts typecasting by playing another spy – Englishman Richard Hannay, fresh back in London from Rhodesia. Hannay is recruited by a freelance spook, who has uncovered a plot by a German cabal called "Black Stone" to assassinate Greece's Prime Minister. After his contact is killed, Hannay finds himself forced on the run to Scotland, chased by German spies and the British police. 28 December – BBC1/BBC HD, 8pm

Nick Park's beloved clay characters return for their fifth adventure. Cheese-obsessed inventor Wallace (Peter Sallis) and his trusty dog Gromit have now set-up business as bakers, and Wallace falls in love with Piella Bakewell (Coronation Street's Sally Lindsay). Incidentally, the duo's movie Curse Of The Were-Rabbit is being shown earlier at 4.30pm. Christmas Day – BBC1/BBC HD, 8.30pm

It's only been going four years, but the annual Doctor Who Christmas Special is already a great British TV tradition. Russell T. Davies' final festive adventure for The Doctor (David Tennant) has him battling Cybermen in snowy Victorian London -- helped by another "Doctor" (David Morrissey) and hindered by the sinister Miss Hartigan (Dervla Kirwan). It's sure to be a ratings magnet for the Beeb, and fans are desperate to learn what Morrissey's character is all about: is he a Doctor from a different dimension? A future incarnation unwisely crossing timelines with his younger self? Or just a crazy imposter acting out a fantasy? Christmas Day – BBC1/BBC HD, 6pm