Sky is dishing out some treats ahead of Christmas with a swathe of new features arriving in millions of home across the UK. The blockbuster update – which is being pushed out to Sky Glass TVs and Sky Stream boxes right now – includes improved ways to skip those tedious adverts, support for Apple AirPlay and easier ways to find your favourite channels.

There’s a total of seven upgrades in this latest Entertainment OS release and those with Sky Glass or Sky Stream should find the upgrade appears automatically – there’s no need to download anything or start rebooting devices.

If you have one of these gadgets from Sky in your home here’s everything that’s new.

Apple AirPlay compatibility

You can now instantly stream content from your Mac, iPhone or iPad to your Sky Glass telly thanks to Apple AirPlay support. Just tap the AirPlay icon when viewing photos, movies or playlists and you should see Sky Glass now appearing in the list of compatible devices. You can then cast from one device to the other.

New advert skipping

You’ve long been able to skip adverts on Sky Stream and Sky Glass (via a £5 fee) but now it’s even easier. When a break takes place, a new ‘skip ads’ button should appear. One press and you won’t have to watch a single sponsored message. Horray!

Seamless binge watching.

Sky says that a lot of people have been asking for the option to get straight to the next episode of a show when the credit roll. Now that feature is here via a new ‘next episode’ button. One tap will launch things instantly so you can keep watching without flicking through endless menus.

New actor search.

Thanks to the update, you can now add your favourite actors to your playlist to easily find movies and TV shows they’ve been, ready to watch whenever you want.

Simply press the + button on the remote whilst browsing in the UI. When an actor has been added, you’ll see them within the ‘People’ rail in your playlist, for instant access to their biggest hits

Personalise your playlist with character avatars

When you set up your own playlists of things to watch, Sky now lets you personalise. Thanks to the this new update you can no add a range of characters and TV stars to your profile including Jamie Redknapp from A League of Their Own and Nicolas Galitzine from Mary & George. These new avatars join a line up including kids favourites such as Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig.

Find your top channels faster

Making it even easier to find what you want to watch, you can now add your favourite channels to your home screen on Sky Glass and Sky Stream, and give each its own number on your remote. Alternatively, just tap refresh and your favourites will update with what you’ve been watching the most. So, if you’re going through a comedy phase, or you’ve just discovered a passion for true crime, it’ll bring you more of what you love.

Amazon Music gets an HD upgrade

You can now stream High Definition Audio through Amazon Music on Sky Glass and Sky Stream. Amazon Music offers HD Audio in double the quality of standard definition streaming services, letting you listen to music the way the artist intended. Sky Glass has six powerful, integrated speakers that are designed to optimise your entertainment.

Access HD Audio seamlessly through the Amazon Music app on Sky Glass and Sky Stream devices. Available to Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers only.