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What a viewChristmas TV 2021: Netflix romcoms, holiday food and a bit of Mariah Carey

Foodies Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay and friends star in culinary capers this Christmas, while Mariah Carey belts out tunes on Apple TV+

Jimmy O. Yang and Nina Dobrev star in festive Netflix romcom Love Hard, and the pick of this year’s ghostly tales on BBC is taken from the works of Oscar Wilde

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Nigella Lawson goes full-on festive in Cook, Eat, Repeat Christmas. Photo: Fremantle Media

Published: 9:45am, 12 Dec 2021

There are plenty of television treats, from holiday food to sappy romcoms and grumpy ghosts, for everyone to binge on this Christmas.

The cosiest Yuletide vibe can be found at Nigella Lawson’s place, where Nigella’s Cook, Eat, Repeat Christmas goes full-on festive by serving treats including Austrian cookies, Scandinavian entrées and pink pomegranate cocktails (BBC Lifestyle, on Cable TV channel 760, myTV Super channel 605 and Now TV channel 502).

But “the queen of kitsch Christmas clutter”, as she calls herself, has competition from British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, Italian counterpart Gino D’Acampo and French maître d’hôtel Fred Sirieix in Gordon, Gino and Fred: Desperately Seeking Santa (BBC Lifestyle, from December 14).

More than mere culinary capers are on the menu for the three amigos on their latest road trip: they also tackle some tough Lapland tests (ice diving, anyone?) during their mission to meet Santa Claus.

Watch Gordon, Gino and Fred: Desperately Seeking Santa on BBC Lifestyle. Photo: Studio Ramsay/All3Media

A vine romance

As the snow turns to slush, one of the undoubted pillars of Christmas television emerges: emotional slush.