The West Wing

Christmas in the Bartlet White House, and Toby Ziegler, easily the grumpiest man in Washington, is called in to identify a stranger who died wearing a coat Toby once gave to charity. What follows is a stubborn bit of decency that has Toby bending every rule going. Around him the rest of the staff juggle a hate crime, a sly dash to a book shop and plenty of Aaron Sorkin's famous walk-and-talk. It's tender, clever and it won Emmys for its writing. Not a Quality Street and quiz sort of Christmas, but a proper grown-up one: keep a tissue handy by the good chair.