Best Netflix Christmas films 2018: Now including Hallmark’s finest

Everyone loves a good Christmas film. Whether it’s an old-school classic or a Richard Curtis mush-fest like Love Actually, Netflix is your one-stop shop this Christmas for festive #content.

We’ve rounded up the best that everyone’s favourite streaming service has to offer over the holidays, from the whimsical to the downright iconic. Read on for our pick…

Best Netflix Christmas films 2018: Love Actually

Cuff us. Love Actually might have been done to death, but it’s nothing if not a Christmas staple. So many layers, so many subplots, so many mawkish, mawkish facets. What would Christmas be without Colin, God of Sex, or Emma Thompson weeping over Joni Mitchell, or Hugh Grant waxing lyrical about David Beckham’s left foot, or Colin Firth speaking garbled Portuguese, or… You get the picture. Christmas incarnate. A must-watch.

Best Netflix Christmas films 2018: Arthur Christmas

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN? They’ll be content in front of this cartoon Christmas epic, voiced by none other than James McAvoy and winning a 92% review on Rotten Tomatoes. Your littluns will be transfixed as Santa’s son Arthur realises the big man has left one lone girl’s present behind. Christmas carnage – and heartwarming exploits aplenty – ensue. Hell, you might even find yourself settling down to it after a few mulled wines. Fun for all the family.

Best Netflix Christmas films 2018: The Holiday

Everyone loves a romcom, and Christmas is the perfect time for those who otherwise wouldn’t indulge – too trendy, too machismo – to gorge themselves on sugary Nancy Meyers films. This all-star cast, a perfect transatlantic mix of bumbling Brits (Kate Winslet, Jude Law), glossy Americans (Cameron Diaz) and their less-glossy-but-just-as-loveable counterparts (Jack Black) will have your heart singing in no time. Disclaimer: you will be left with unrealistic expectations for what house swaps entail.

Best Netflix Christmas films 2018: Christmas with the Coopers

Christmas is about family, in all its knotty and tumultuous glory, and Christmas with the Coopers is the ultimate homage to that. Yes, there’ll be moments you’ll recoil with cringe, but that’s all part of the saccharine fun. Christmas with the Coopers, with its alternating roster of intricately linked subplots, will fill your heart with joy as you chart first love, familial love, love at first sight. Plus, for its relative low profile, it’s got a spectacular ensemble cast: John Goodman, Diane Keaton, Ed Helms and Olivia Wilde all star.

Best Netflix Christmas films 2018: Nativity!

Think School of Rock, but set in a British primary school. Nativity! is fun for all the family; starring Martin Freeman as a disgruntled former actor, Nativity! sees him and a colleague put on the nativity play of the century. Dysfunction ensues when Freeman invites a team of Hollywood producers to watch the fruit of his – and Year 4’s – labour.

Best Netflix Christmas films 2018: All these Hallmark-esque ones

Sometimes, just sometimes, you need a break from all the Tarantino and the Aronofsky. The perfect time to take that break? Christmas, with its unrelenting output of Hallmark films. Formulaic like you wouldn’t believe, these bad boys – usually just the word “Christmas” followed by a noun – invariably chart the love between a small-town girl and some kind of swarthy European aristocrat who needs taking down a peg. See: A Christmas Prince, Christmas Inheritance, Christmas Wedding Planner, The Princess Switch.