Christmas DVDs: Philippa Martyr

I don’t tend to watch religious movies at Christmas, principally because I go to real-life church instead. But if you must watch a religious movie, make it Evan Almighty. It’s only reasonably entertaining, but it’s got the best movie portrayal of God I’ve ever seen. In fact, it’s the only movie I’ve ever seen in which God acts the way He does in real life. 

Also, I recently saw In The Heat of the Night again – I’d forgotten what a superb film it is; a once-in-a-lifetime combination of tension, laziness, comedy and righteous indignation. Just the thing for long warm evenings and mint juleps. 

And if you don’t already own the three-DVD edition of Dylan Moran’s bizarre series Black Books, then I suggest you remedy this, because if you have shattering family experiences at Christmas, this will certainly pour balm on your misanthropic soul (once you’ve slunk home and written them all out of your will.)