The Christmas holidays mean time to recharge your batteries and relax with a good film. We've picked some blockbusters and a few festive favourites being broadcast this season to put your feet up for...

Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)

ITV, 6.30pm, Saturday, December 22

Here’s a retro treat for Star Wars fans, as the ninth in the series recently finished its run on the big screen. This one has it all, as the third instalment of the early films: cute Ewoks, Princess Leia in a gold bikini, rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt and Luke Skywalker’s struggle with his father, Darth Vader (would it be giving it away to anyone to say he is finally unmasked?). The spirits of Yoda and Obi-Wan even join in the celebrations.

Casino Royale (2006)

ITV, 9pm, Sunday, December 23

For those who enjoyed ITV’s run of Harry Potter films in the run-up to last Christmas, the channel is at it again with Daniel Craig as Bond this year. The first, Casino Royale, was his debut as 007, earned him a BAFTA award nomination and becoming the highest grossing of the series at the time. It also led to him becoming a world wide sex symbol, thanks, in part to his appearance in swimming trunks from the sea - a la Ursula Andress in the 1962 film Dr No. It topped the sexiest male celebrity poll of The Sun, 2006. In this, his first outing, Bond falls for a treasury employee assigned to provide money for him in a high-stakes poker game. This showing is followed by his other Bond outings - Quantum of Solace (2008) will be on ITV at 8pm on Boxing Day; Skyfall (2012) on ITV at 8pm on Thursday, December 27 and Spectre (2015) will be on ITV at 8pm on New Year’s Eve.

Love Actually (2003)

ITV, 10.20pm, Boxing Day

It would be remiss not to mention one, bona fide Christmas film, and the Richard Curtis feel-good never gets tired. The nine intertwined stories look at the complexities of the one emotion that connects us all: love. Stars include Hugh Grant playing a PM who can’t resist a Girls’ Aloud tune, Martine McCutcheon, Keira Knightley, Liam Neeson and Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman. Only watch if you want a bit of romance, though not every ending is entirely happy.

Eddie the Eagle (2016)

Channel 4, 8pm, Friday, December 28

The biographical drama based on the legendary story of tenaciously loveable British underdog ski jumper Eddie The Eagle’ Edwards sees Kingsman’s Taron Egerton in the title role, sporting the characteristic thick glasses and dogged determination of a man who went on to win the hearts of the nation - if not any Olympic medals. The film is all the more watchable for Hugh Jackman as his charismatic coach, and the pair’s on screen chemistry is a treat.

Ant-Man (2015, 12A)

BBC1, 7.30pm, Saturday, December 29

Armed with a super suit and the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, cat burglar Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor Dr Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) plan and pull off a heist that will save the world. Just a small to-do list.

The Revenant (2015)

BBC2, 10pm, New Year’s Day

It may not be a barrel of laughs, but come New Year’s Day you may fancy something more gritty.

The Revenant is not a journey into the heart of darkness for the sentimental or faint of heart. Explosions of violence are graphic and leading man Leonardo DiCaprio puts himself through the wringer for his art. He plays 19th-century explorer Hugh Glass, who guides a team of fur trappers and hunters under the command of Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson). The men come under attack from Native Americans led by tribal chief Elk Dog (Duane Howard), whose daughter Powaqa (Melaw Nakehk’o) has been kidnapped.

There's plenty of kids' films on to enjoy throughout the school holidays including...

Zootropolis (PG, 2016) will be on 2.55pm on BBC 1 on Christmas Eve.

It's the bunny's whiskers. All creatures great and small live in perfect harmony in Byron Howard and Rich Moore's anthropomorphic animated feature that continues Disney's winning streak under the creative leadership of John Lasseter. The parable combines a noir detective thriller, buddy cop comedy and coming of age story with the studio's trademark visual splendour. Bunnyburrow carrot farmer Stu Hopps (voiced by Don Lake) and wife Bonnie (Bonnie Hunt) try to dissuade their daughter Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) from pursuing her dream of becoming the first serving rabbit police officer in Zootropolis.

Unperturbed, she earns her police badge as part of the Mammal Inclusion Initiative and starts off in traffic duty, before heading off on the trail of a missing resident.

Wreck-It Ralph (2012) BBC1, 4.10pm, Friday, December 28

It's a feel-good computer animation set inside the mind-boggling realms of the World Wide Web.

Ralph has been inside a game for 30 years and is tired of being the bad guy so sets out to be the hero. He sneaks into a shooter game in the arcade to try and win a medal but it all goes wrong and chaos ensues. Then he must redeem himself to become the real hero. The film has all the necessary ingredients - fun, sentimentality, good and evil characters, and, of course, a happy ending.

* See this week's What's On guide for a two-week guide to festive films and TV