RTÉ lines up the Dubs, The Dubliners, the queen and the cooks for holiday viewing

THE DUBLINERS, the Dubs and one particular Dub the critics love to hate, Mrs Brown, feature heavily in RTÉ’s Christmas schedule, which has just been announced.

For the first time misbehaving matriarch Agnes Brown gets a Christmas special. Mrs Brown's Boys Christmasspecial will be followed by the first episode of the new series. Despite a critical panning, Mrs Brown's Boys, the brainchild of comedian Brendan O'Carroll, is phenomenally popular with audiences not only in Ireland, but also in the UK, where the show was nominated for a Bafta for best sitcom.

RTÉ's 25th anniversary Late Late Showspecial on The Dubliners, in 1987, was one of the more famous episodes of the programme and spawned a best-selling video. Twenty-five years on, RTÉ is marking the 50th anniversary of the band's formation with a special hosted by former presenter Gay Byrne.

With Byrne declining the invitation to host RTÉ Television’s 50th anniversary party on New Year’s Eve, that honour goes instead to Miriam O’Callaghan.

Daniel O'Donnell's 50th birthday will be marked and there will be an hour-long behind-the-scenes documentary about Queen Elizabeth's visit to Ireland called The Queen's Speech.

Rachel Allen will be among the celebrity chefs guiding viewers through the festive season, Donal Skehan will host a Kitchen HeroChristmas special and there will be a Christmas episode of The Restaurant.

The celebrated Dublin-Kerry rivalry, which culminated in this year’s thrilling All-Ireland football final, will be one of the main sporting offerings this Christmas, along with a documentary about the three All-Ireland hurling finals between Kilkenny and Tipperary and a programme about the national soccer team’s qualification for Euro 2012 next summer.

RTÉ's film offering is heavy on blockbusters and light on serious drama. It includes the last James Bond film, Quantum of Solace; Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince; romantic comedy The Proposal; Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen; 2012; Bruno; Michael Jackson: This Is It; Bolt;animated film Monsters vs Aliens; and Irish surfing documentary Waveriders.