BBC Films celebrates Christmas with Four premieres including Saving Mr. Banks on BBC Two over the festive period

• Festive treats will include television premieres of Saving Mr. Banks, The Lady in the Van, Pride and What We Did On Our Holiday

• Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa and Great Expectations both enjoy repeat showings this Christmas

BBC Films is to celebrate Christmas with four film premieres on BBC Two over the festive period. The seasonal offering promises to deliver treats for all the family with Saving Mr. Banks, The Lady in the Van, Pride and What We Did On Our Holiday all enjoying their television premieres.

The BAFTA and Academy Awards® nominated Saving Mr. Banks will premiere on Friday 23rd December at 20:30. Saving Mr. Banks tells the heartwarming account of Walt Disney’s twenty-year pursuit of the film rights to P.L. Travers’ popular novel, Mary Poppins, and the testy partnership the upbeat filmmaker develops with the uptight author during the project’s pre-production in 1961. The film stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as P.L. Travers, John Lee Hancock directs the film from a screenplay written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith.

Nicholas Hytner’s big screen adaptation of Alan Bennett’s iconic memoir The Lady in the Van premieres on BBC Two on Saturday 24th December at 21:00. The film tells the true story of the relationship between Alan Bennett and the singular Miss Shepherd, a woman of uncertain origins who ‘temporarily’ parked her van in Bennett’s London driveway and proceeded to live there for 15 years. Their unique story is funny, poignant and life-affirming. Maggie Smith won Best Actress at London’s Evening Standard Film Awards and received both BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for her role as Miss Shepherd.

Multi-award winning Pride will premiere on BBC Two on Monday 26th December at 22:30. Directed by Tony Award winning theatre director Matthew Warchus and set in the summer of 1984 the film tells the extraordinary story of two seemingly alien communities, a group of gay and lesbian activists and a mining village in deepest Wales, who form a surprising and ultimately triumphant partnership. The films large ensemble cast is led by Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton with the other roles played by a host of well-known British actors including Dominic West, Paddy Considine, Joseph Gilgun and George MacKay as well as relatively new faces such as Ben Schnetzer, Faye Marsay.

From the creators of the hit BBC comedy series Outnumbered, What We Did On Our Holiday is set to premiere on BBC Two over the New Year. Starring David Tennant, Rosamund Pike and Billy Connolly the film is a hilarious journey through an unforgettable family holiday as a couple attempts to keep their impending divorce secret from their extended family.

BBC Films enjoying a repeat showing on BBC Two this Christmas include Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa on Thursday 22nd December at 23:00 and Great Expectations on Sunday 25th December at 23:10.

About BBC Films
Recent releases include Ken Loach’s winner of the 2016 Cannes International Film Festival Palme d’Or I, Daniel Blake, Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie, Ricky Gervais’ David Brent: Life on the Road, Phillipa Lowthorpe’s Swallows and Amazons, Mandy Fletcher’s Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie and Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom.

Upcoming releases include Mick Jackson’s Denial, Ritesh Batra’s The Sense of an Ending, Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House, Lone Scherfig’s Their Finest, James Marsh’s The Mercy, Steve Cantor’s Dancer, and Pete Travis’ City of Tiny Lights.