Holiday movies are great, but sometimes you need something that takes up more time. That week between Christmas and New Year’s can feel awfully long. Also, some of us start the season extra early, making it last two months or more. Throw in all the inevitable winter sick days and, well, movies alone might not cut it. Enter the holiday series, with a yuletide story told over multiple episodes — and sometimes multiple seasons — all ready to be devoured or savored. 

These holiday shows give you more of the festive feelings you crave. A slow-burning winter romance, a suspenseful spy thriller with a Christmas backdrop, a hilarious family sitcom, and heartfelt dramas are just some of the great options. So extend your merry-making and get your hygge on with these great holiday shows.

Three Days of Christmas

This Spanish limited series will pull at your heartstrings over its three episodes. The first is set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, when three young sisters, Esther (Berta Castañé), Adela (Mariona Pagès), and María (Mar Ayala), are in the woods on Christmas and run into a fugitive and his daughter, on the run from officials. The man forces them to take his daughter and hide her at their isolated homestead. They do so, and the choice reverberates for years to come. The following two episodes take place on future Christmases, when the girls are adults and then elders, confronting their pasts and the secrets kept by their family.

Three Days of Christmas

3 Episodes   TV-MA   2019

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Black Doves

With Christmas as its backdrop, this British spy series narrowly fits into the holiday genre, but it absolutely fits the bill for engaging winter watches. Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) is living a double life: wife to the British Secretary of State for Defence and an undercover spy reporting on her husband’s work. Also part of her double life is a secret affair, which comes to a jarring end when her lover is murdered. Now Helen will draw on her training as a “black dove” spy and assassin, as well as the help of an old friend and fellow black dove, Sam (Ben Whishaw), to track down whoever is responsible for his death. 

Black Doves

6 Episodes   TV-MA   2024

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DASH & LILY

Book lovers and romantic misanthropes gather ’round for this holiday young adult rom-com. Dash (Austin Abrams), cast aside by his parents, despises Christmas and retreats to his one sanctuary, the bookstore. There, he finds a notebook hidden in the stacks, with clues that challenge his literary knowledge and his familiarity with the shop, helping him to decipher a message. Lily (Midori Francis) loves Christmas but is lonelier than ever. With her brother’s encouragement, she puts together the notebook of clues, hoping the right person will pick it up and take the challenge to get to know her. Will they meet? Watch all eight episodes to find out.

DASH & LILY

8 Episodes   TV-14   2020

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Holiday Secrets

Brought together through crises, three generations of women — grandmother Eva (Corinna Harfouch), mother Sonja (Christiane Paul), and daughters Vivi (Svenja Jung) and Lara (Leonie Benesch) — arrive at their family’s beachside home for Christmas. With Eva’s declining mental health, the secrets she’s kept over the years start to slip out. Sonja has done some damage to her daughters over the years, and all four women have demons to exorcise and each other to blame. Over the course of the holiday, they’ll have to decide how to move forward — and if they even can.

Holiday Secrets

Limited Series   TV-MA   2019

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Home for Christmas

This Norwegian rom-com series has 30-minute episodes and two seasons (with a third launching Dec. 12), and it’s perfect for an all-day marathon. Johanne (Ida Elise Broch) is a single nurse with a family who won’t leave her alone about her relationship status. Fed up, she tells them she’s seeing someone and will bring them to Christmas. With only weeks until the holiday, she embarks on a dating spree, rapidly going out with as many men as she can to find one suitable enough to bring home. Her adventure leads her to many duds and a few potential matches, but sometimes having too many options is worse than none at all. 

Love this one? Check out its Italian counterpart, I Hate Christmas, or the South African version, Yoh! Christmas. 

Home for Christmas

3 Seasons   TV-MA   2019

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Man Vs Baby

First, he took on the arduous task of looking after a high-tech mansion, which was a disaster thanks to a pesky bee; now, he has a bigger problem. Trevor Bingley (Rowan Atkinson) has moved on from house-sitting and is now a school caretaker. Still, he can’t help but be tempted by an offer to look after a luxury penthouse in London over Christmas. He’s ready for his swank holiday when, on the last day of school, no one comes to pick up the Baby Jesus from the school nativity. Babies and fancy condos don’t mix well, but Trevor has no other choice. Let the Christmas shenanigans commence. 

Man Vs Baby

4 Episodes   TV-PG   2025

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Merry Happy Whatever

This funny family sitcom stars Dennis Quaid as Don Quinn, an intimidating conservative deputy sheriff who is protective of his children. He isn’t thrilled when his daughter, Emmy (Bridgit Mendler), brings home her boyfriend, Matt (Brent Morin), a struggling musician — especially because Matt plans to propose to Emmy on Christmas Day. Emmy’s siblings,  Kayla (Ashley Tisdale), Patsy (Siobhan Murphy), and Sean (Hayes MacArthur), have their own problems and spouses to contend with. Ultimately, Don wants his children to be happy, even if he thinks that gives him the right to pull strings behind the scenes.

Merry Happy Whatever

8 Episodes   TV-PG   2019

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A Storm for Christmas

The Oslo airport is the setting for this Christmas dramedy series told over six episodes. A storm has moved in, causing mass delays and stranding passengers at the airport. Many of them are highlighted here, each dealing with their own issues. There’s a famous pop star fearing recognition, a mother doing everything she can to get her son to an essential surgery, a young girl trying to manage her unhappy parents, a bartender waiting for a call, a compassionate airport chaplain, and even the resident Santa, working overtime to hear kids’ Christmas wishes. Together, they’ll have to weather the storms outside and within. 

A Storm for Christmas

Limited Series   TV-MA   2022

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