British custom — Christmas Day TV — reaches U.S.

A British custom – TV episodes planned for Christmas Day – is making modest inroads in the U.S.
The big one this year is a “Doctor Who,” introducing a new Doctor and his companion (the stgars are shown here). It marks the show’s move to Disney+.
In addition, however, there are two others arriving exactly on Dec. 25 (PBS’ “Call the Midwife” and Acorn’s “Madame Blanc Mysteries”), two that come a day earlier (Britbox’s “Lot 249” ghost story and its “Beyond Paradise”) and some others from earlier in the month.
Christmas Day has rarely been big for American TV, except for a Disney parade in the morning, a pro-basketball marathon after that and some football. In England, however, several shows set aside an episode to air then, even if it’s not their time of year.
Actors in “Downton Abbey,” who were told to keep all plot secrets, described uncomfortably watching a Christmas episode with their families, unable to warn them that Matthew was about to die.
American networks have been reluctant to follow that custom: In the U.S., it was almost spring when Matthew died … or when “All Creatures Great and Small” aired an emotional Christmas episode.
But lately, a few U.S, networks have jumped in. This year, that includes:
— PBS: No show is better suited to a Christmas episode than “Call the Midwife,” in which all of the main characters – nuns, midwives, a doctor and helpers – have warm hearts and good intentions.
The new season doesn’t arrive until spring, but the Christmas episode will be 8 p.m. Dec. 25. It has life-and-death crises – including a snowstorm-transport pregnancy – and lighter stories, involving the Christmas pageant. Trixie’s flighty brother takes over and Reggie (the likable lad with Down syndrome) insists on being an angel, not a shepherd.
— Disney+. “Doctor Who” has been on the BBC for 60 years (with gaps), but has bounced around in the U.S. It was on PBS stations … Fox (for one movie) … BBC America … and now Disney+.
In a special on Dec. 9, the streamer introduced the 15th Doctor. He’s played by Ncuti Gatwa, 31, who was 1 when his family fled the Rwandan genocide; he grew up in Scotland and became an award-winning Shakespearean actor.
Gatwa will be the first Black actor to be the Doctor and the first who was born outside Britain. The new companion, Ruby Sunday, will be played by Millie Gilson, 19, a popular British soap star. Their first film will reach the U.S. at 12:55 p.m. ET on Dec. 25.
— Acorn. This mini-streamer has the “Madame Blanc” Christmas episode on Dec. 25.
The character is an Englishwoman who has an antique shop in small-town France. In this hour – light-hearted, but with scant connecton to the holiday – she heads to a murder-mystery party when (of course) a real-life murder intervenes.
— BBC America: Fudging the calendar a bit, this will stream two Christmas episodes on Dec. 24. “Beyond Paradise” is a crime show; “Lot No. 249” is a half-hour ghost story that Mark Gatiss (co-creator of the “Sherlock” series) adapted from a story by Arthur Conan Doyle.
In addition, two Christmas episodes get much-earlier starts. One (Dec. 12) centers on the crimesolving “Sister Boniface”; the other (Dec. 20) is the first specific Christmas episode for “Vera,” a police show that’s still going after 12 seasons..