New month, new sackful of streaming entertainment to look forward to as 2025 draws to a close. And Showmax is making it very difficult for us to pare down its complete schedule to just our faves… because there is so much to choose from – whether you want more traditional family fare or are in the mood (as always) for a good crime thriller. Hopefully we’ve covered all tastes below with our top picks for the holiday period.

Series

It comes with a strange title but that shouldn’t put you off watching absurdist office comedy The Chair Company, which also leans into thriller territory. Tim Robinson plays a recently promoted project manager, who becomes obsessed with uncovering an apparent conspiracy at the furniture company where he works. This one will likely please fans of things like Severance.

Binge all eight episodes of The Chair Company Season 1 from Monday, 1 December

Closer to home is Showmax Original Masinga – The Calling, an acclaimed crime thriller which was shot in KwaZulu-Natal and London, and is set partially in Maputo. Hotel Rwanda’s Hakeem Kae-Kazeem stars as an Interpol agent whose latest assignment forces him to return to his homeland and confront the demons of his youth. More specifically as he hunts down the human traffickers of Ukranian girls, he must relive the trauma of his albino brother’s ritual murder.

Stream Masinga – The Calling from Friday, 5 December.

If you loved Chernobyl, you should definitely set aside time to watch five-part historical miniseries Lockerbie: A Search For Truth, out the UK. Colin Firth stars as Jim Swire, a grieving father who seeks justice in the aftermath of the 1988 airline disaster – and the deadliest terrorist attack in British history – that not only killed 243 passengers and 16 crew members, but also 11 people in the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

Binge Lockerbie: A Search For Truth from Thursday, 11 December.

P.S. Local Trekkies will no doubt be delighted to hear that they can binge the whole of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 to see in the new year. Watch it from Wednesday, 31 October.

Film

Start the month off with some action comedy courtesy of Novocaine, which was incidentally shot in Cape Town. The Boys’ Jack Quaid plays a mild-mannered everyman with a rare medical condition: he doesn’t feel pain. It’s an ability that comes in handy when his girlfriend (Prey’s Amber Midthunder) is kidnapped by bank robbers, and he resolves to rescue her.

Watch Novocaine from Monday, 1 December.

For something more feel-good and crowd-pleasing, there’s Afrikaans-language comedy Die Kwiksilvers. Eighty-something widow Elsabe (Lida Botha) road trips across the Karoo with three elderly friends to experience a meteor shower in Sutherland. They’re racing against the clock, though. They have a three-day deadline, and Elsabe’s overprotective son (Jacques Bessenger) is hot on their tail.

Watch Die Kwiksilvers from Monday, 15 December.

When it comes to blockbusters, you don’t get bigger than Mission: Impossible, starring Tom Cruise. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning caps off the globe-trotting espionage saga in an expectedly epic manner, following on directly from Dead Reckoning as Cruise’s Hunt must override a dangerous AI. The cast also includes Angela Bassett, Hannah Waddingham, Hayley Atwell, Nick Offerman, Pom Klementieff, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames. Here’s our review.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is on Showmax from Wednesday, 17 December. You can also watch all seven previous M:I films on the streamer from 25 November.

Documentaries

Our documentary recommendation for the month of December is South African-made Helderberg, from Relish Media and IdeaCandy (Steinheist, Devilsdorp), that delves into the still unsolved mystery of South Africa’s worst-ever commercial aviation disaster – which happened back in November 1987. Engrossing, slickly made and full of nostalgia, Helderberg dissects the incident and explores conspiracies around what really happened. Here’s our review.

Binge all three parts of Helderberg from Friday, 12 December.

Family fare

Worlds collide in traditional 2D animated The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland, coming out the UK. Adapting the crossover book by Carys Bexington and Kate Hindley, this holiday adventure sees Father Christmas (voiced by Gerard Butler) head down the rabbit hole to contend with the miserly Queen of Hearts (Emilia Clarke), whose past disappointments have led her to outlaw all festive celebrations.

Stream The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland from Sunday, 14 December.

If you’re looking for Faith-based holiday entertainment, Showmax has scored animated hit The King of Kings. Following a disrupted stage reading of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (voiced by Kenneth Branagh) decides not to punish his son but rather tell him the life story of Jesus Christ (Oscar Isaac), transporting the boy to Bible times. Also with the vocal talents of Ben Kingsley, Forest Whitaker, Mark Hamill, Pierce Brosnan and Uma Thurman.

Stream The King of Kings from Sunday, 21 December.

On the compete flip side to The King of Kings is raucous Christmas comedy Dear Santa, which reunites Jack Black with the filmmaking Farrelly brothers of There’s Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber and Shallow Hal fame. When a dyslexic boy mails his wish list to Santa with one crucial spelling error, he finds himself trapped in a deal with the Devil, who is masquerading as Saint Nick.

Dear Santa comes to Showmax on Monday, 22 December.