The best of Cable & Satellite

MUSIC

Jingo bells, jingo bells, jingoism all the way on MTV this season, with Oasis unplugged on 21 Dec (10pm), and a whole Britpop Day running from dawn till dusk on Christmas Day itself. Kula Shaker kick off at 9.30am with their wildly popular brand of pseudo-hippiness, but things improve with a rash of home-pride pop: Blur (3pm), Suede "Live and Loud" (8.30pm), and heroes of the hour, Jarvis Cocker (left) and Pulp (7pm), All right, so there's Take That - Where Are They Now? (6pm), but there are always a few disappointments in the Christmas stocking.

FILM

Tom Hanks fans will be able to catch both Philadelphia (27 Dec 12.10pm Sky Movies) and Forrest Gump (Christmas Day 8pm Movie Channel). And, depending on the severity of your hangover on New Year's Day, you may find yourself weeping over Lassie (2pm Movie Channel) or relishing the ice-bound rivalry between Tonya and Nancy (9pm UK Living). You'll also be able to study Jim Carrey's plastic-faced repertoire in Dumb and Dumber (23 Dec 10pm Sky Movies), Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (24 Dec 6.30pm Movie Channel) and The Mask (Christmas Eve 8pm Sky Movies). If all that moving-picture promiscuity makes you giddy, why not limit yourself to a diet of Ian Fleming? ITV used to dust off one old Bond film on Boxing Day afternoon, but the extra- terrestrial explosion means today's couch potatoes can indulge in a wall- to-wall weekend of the stuff. Starting at 11.30am on 28 Dec with Moonraker (Movie Channel), there is A View to A Kill (1.35pm Movie Channel), Live and Let Die (3.50pm Sky Movies), License To Kill (5.50pm Movie Channel), and Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (8pm Sky Movies Gold). A few winks later, on 29 Dec, watch The Man with the Golden Gun (9.55am Movie Channel, right), Octopussy (11.55am Sky Movies), The Spy Who Loved Me (2pm Movie Channel), Thunderball (4pm Sky Movies), and (groan) end your Bondathon with Goldfinger (6.10pm Sky Movies).

SPORT

A midweek Christmas is good news for footie fans - Premiership games continue without being interrupted by all that family togetherness stuff. On 22 Dec there's live coverage from Villa Park of Aston Villa v Wimbledon (3pm Sky Sports 1), while the next day there's Newcastle v Liverpool (including Robbie Fowler, below right) at St James's Park (7pm Sky Sports 1). On Christmas Eve, there are profiles of boxer Prince Naseem Hamed (3.30pm Sky Sports 1) and footballer Eric Cantona (9pm Sky Sports 1). On Chrissy day itself a Football Special highlights 1996's best goals and funniest mishaps (1pm Sky Sports 1), while live football is back on Boxing Day for Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal (5pm Sky Sports 1). And for cricket followers, why not relax (?) with live coverage of England's Test Matches against Zimbabwe (21-22 Dec and 26-30 Dec, 7.30am Sky Sports 1).

SCI-FI

Noel nerds frustrated by earthling festivities can leave those predictable rituals behind for a spot of interplanetary exploration. Along with film classics like The Day the Earth Stood Still (21 Dec 6pm Sky Movies Gold) and It Came From Outer Space (27 Dec 9.30am Sci-Fi Channel), there is a seven- hour Star Trek extravaganza on 21 Dec. Running from 1-8pm on Sky 1, the marathon features choice cuts from Voyager, Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation. On New Year's Day more "mature" sci-fi fanatics can enjoy Douglas Adams's The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (left, throughout the day UK Gold ). Away from all this nostalgia, the other plum in the TV pudding must be X-Files creator Chris Carter's new chiller, Millennium (22 Dec 10pm Sky 1). Lance Henrikson stars as an ex-FBI agent tracking serial killers through visceral visions in this spookily implausible series.