SATURDAY 21 DECEMBER 2024

SAT 19:00 What’s Your Thing? (p0dgs4dn)
Series 1

Competitive Onion Growing

Every year, North Yorkshire villagers battle it out to see who can grow the biggest onion. The Windmill Onion Club has been running smoothly in Stainsacre for two decades, but this year, a fresh face attempts to disrupt the status quo.

Journalist Adam Clarkson meets the characters, documents the highs and the lows and follows the local underdog - his dad, Richard.


SAT 19:10 Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas (p05jvgzw)
Series 1

Your Christmas Bird

Fanny presents a collection of traditional Christmas recipes taking you back to the fabulous 1970s. Petit fours, mincemeat, cake, turkey and the pudding... we've got your whole Christmas meal covered!


SAT 19:25 Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas (p05jvlhp)
Series 1

Christmas Pudding

Fanny shares her recipe for Christmas pudding and the method for making the old-fashioned 'round pudding', together with her brandy butter and the recipe for her mum's trifle.


SAT 19:40 Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas (p05jvml9)
Series 1

Your Christmas Cake

The inimitable Fanny Cradock takes traditional recipes and uses her practical know-how to make Christmas cookery easier.

Fanny gives you two recipes to choose from, the traditional black plum cake and an unusual 'white' Christmas cake. There is advice, too, on making almond paste and icing the cake.


SAT 19:55 Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas (b0074t6k)
Series 1

Royal Mincemeat

The inimitable Fanny Cradock takes traditional recipes and uses her practical know-how to make Christmas cookery easier for the layman. In this programme, Fanny has ideas for using mincemeat in a variety of unusual ways, with recipes for pies, pancakes, Swiss rolls and even mince-filled omelettes.

First broadcast in 1975.


SAT 20:10 Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas (p05jvnwl)
Series 1

Petit Fours

Fanny presents the last episode in her series on practical cookery know-how. Today's show contains her recipe for choux pastry with advice on making miniature eclairs, choux buns and glacé icing.


SAT 20:25 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2m1)
Christmas Special 1983

Demobbed from the army, James Herriot returns to Yorkshire and his day-to-day dramas of a country veterinary practice.


SAT 21:55 Nothing Like a Dame (b0b5y3xn)
Together, they are 342 years old. They are in their seventh decade of cutting-edge, epoch-defining performances on stage and on screen. Funny, smart, sharp, competitive, tearful, hilarious, savage, clever, caustic, cool, gorgeous, poignant, irreverent, iconic, old... and unbelievably young.

Special friends, special women and special dames - and this special film is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hang out with them all, at the same table, at the same time, and enjoy sparkling and unguarded conversation spliced with a raft of astonishing archive.

Atkins, Dench, Smith, Plowright. The dream dame team. Don't miss it.


SAT 23:15 Jane Eyre (b01n221d)
An orphan suffers an unhappy childhood before gaining employment, firstly as a teacher and later as a governess to a little girl living at the imposing Thornfield Hall. She falls in love with the owner of the estate, but it is much later that she discovers the terrible secret that he is harbouring.

Adaptation of the classic novel from BBC Films.


SAT 01:05 The Two Ronnies (b04k5znq)
1982 Christmas Special

Seasonal entertainment from 1982 with Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, plus special guest David Essex.


SAT 01:50 Porridge (b0078956)
Christmas Special: The Desperate Hours

Classic sitcom. Fletcher plans to add a bit of Christmas spirit to the festive season at Slade Prison in the form of his very own homemade liquor. But when prison officers Mackay and Barraclough uncover the stash of 'Chateau Slade', Fletcher seems in danger of spending Christmas in solitary.


SAT 02:35 Sorry! (p00y5zly)
Series 7

Winter's Tales

Timothy shows Mother, Father and Pippa round his new home. Mother gets a chance to put Pippa off Timothy for life.


SAT 03:05 Blackadder (b00gfzhq)
Blackadder's Christmas Carol

Seasonal comedy special. Christmas Eve, 1850. Ebenezer Blackadder is a decent, kind, generous human being - until he gets a glimpse of his loathsome ancestors.

SUNDAY 22 DECEMBER 2024

SUN 19:00 BBC Proms (b01mfhrj)
2012

Wallace and Gromit at the Proms

Musical marvels from the Royal Albert Hall for the TV premiere of a new show - Wallace and Gromit at the Proms. There's specially filmed new Wallace and Gromit animations featuring the dynamic duo's backstage exploits as they prepare for the first performance of Wallace's brand new work, My Concerto in Ee Lad. On stage are the Aurora Orchestra, violin soloist Tasmin Little with conductor and host Nicholas Collon performing some classical favourites.


SUN 19:45 The Read (m0026cg8)
Series 3

A Christmas Carol

Anne-Marie Duff takes us on a spirited journey through Victorian London with Charles Dickens’s timeless seasonal classic. Miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. But can their ghostly interventions transform Scrooge into a better man and make him fall in love with Christmas?

Filmed in Manchester, The Read is an intimate narration of the much-loved short story as the BAFTA-winning actor brings to life Bob Cratchit and his loving family along with party-loving Fezziwig and the well-meaning ghouls.


SUN 21:00 Inside Classical (m0026cgc)
Series 3

Hallelujah: The Gospel Messiah

Presented by choirmaster and broadcaster Gareth Malone, this programme sees Handel’s 18th-century masterpiece infused with gospel, jazz and R&B, creating an uplifting reinterpretation of this seasonal favourite. Written in London in 1741, Handel’s Messiah has been performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall more than 500 times. It’s regularly sung by amateur choral societies, specialist early music groups and spectacular massed choirs.

Handel’s masterpiece was reimagined by conductor Marin Alsop and arranger colleagues Bob Christianson and Gary Anderson. They have captured the essential core of Handel’s legendary work, but the arias, choruses and orchestration have been reimagined, adding elements of gospel, jazz and R&B.

The ‘Gospel Messiah’ has been seen regularly across the United States since it premiered at The Lincoln Centre in New York in 1993. This performance, in front of nearly 5,000 people at the Royal Albert Hall, marks the Gospel Messiah’s European premiere. Marin Alsop conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra, who are joined by the BBC Symphony Chorus and the London Adventist Chorale, along with soloists Vanessa Haynes and Zwakele Tshabalala.


SUN 22:25 In Concert (b007x56g)
Ravi Shankar

Concert featuring Indian musician Ravi Shankar, first shown in 1974. He performs just one song, entitled Rag Behag.


SUN 23:00 A Century of Stories (m0024kq6)
Christine Lampard hosts a special gala concert to mark 100 years of the BBC in Northern Ireland. Recorded in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, the show features performances from Clannad, Tony Hadley, D:Ream and Katharine Timoney with the Ulster Orchestra.

The event reflects the range of BBC Northern Ireland’s output and its role in community life, with support from Belfast City Council as part of its Belfast 2024 programme. The concert also includes specially commissioned audio-visual works from Eoin O’Callaghan, Siobhan Brown, The Darkling Air and guitarist Rory Friers from rock band, And So I Watch You From Afar - all of which have been inspired by the BBC local programme archives. A special arrangement of children’s street songs is performed by the choir from St Kieran’s Primary School, Belfast.

Guest presenters include Mark Carruthers, Tara Lynne O’Neill, Lady Mary Peters, Derek Thompson, Marie Jones, Tim McGarry, Hannah Peel and Gemma Bradley.


SUN 00:30 Carols from King's (b04w0vg5)
Sixty Years of Carols from King's

On the sixtieth anniversary of this Christmas institution, Juliet Stevenson narrates the story of Carols from King's, how it was first televised in 1954 and how each year the soloist is selected for the traditional opening of Once In Royal David's City.


SUN 01:30 What We Were Watching (m0001qys)
Christmas 1988

Grace Dent looks at the television shows that Britain’s viewers were watching over the Christmas period of 1988, focusing on that week’s TV schedules to explore how TV offerings change over the festive season, and how the nation’s viewing expectations have changed over three decades.

It’s an experience that sees Grace reviewing all the top drama, comedy and music programmes that we slumped down to watch after the turkey and trimmings - whilst wondering why that year’s issue of Christmas Radio Times remains the UK’s biggest-selling magazine and marvelling at how many of the big names from 30 years ago remain familiar faces today.

Amongst the shows and moments coming under scrutiny is the year’s biggest comedy, Bread, in which the Boswell family take a riotous trip to Rome; Dirty Den’s prison experiences in a typically cheery Christmas EastEnders, Noel Edmonds making TV history with a live link up in space, Philip Schofield amidst Christmas chaos on Going Live!, Bruce Forsyth and Ronnie Corbett teaming up for a dream double act, and that year’s other dream couple – Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, fresh from Neighbours and over here for a battle with Cliff Richard for that year’s Christmas number one spot. Other musical highlights include Bros’ take on Silent Night and Elaine Paige’s unmissable Christmassy version of Queen’s Radio Ga Ga.


SUN 02:30 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d2m1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:25 on Saturday]

MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2024

MON 19:00 Top of the Pops (m0012tx7)
Christmas 1998

Jayne Middlemiss, Kate Thornton and Jamie Theakston present the pop chart programme's Christmas special, first broadcast on 25 December 1998. Featuring Spice Girls, Robbie Williams, B*Witched, Fat Les, LeAnn Rimes and Boyzone.


MON 20:00 The Good Life (b0077x05)
Silly, but It's Fun

Seasonal special of the suburban sitcom. The Goods and the Leadbetters plan their respective Christmases, but neither go according to plan. Classic comedy from 1977.


MON 20:30 To the Manor Born (b0078gxn)
Series 1

The First Noel

Christmas comes but once a year. Perhaps on the Grantleigh estate, that is just as well, as Audrey is determined to carry out her responsibilities as though she still lived at the manor.


MON 21:00 Doctor Who (1963–1996) (m0026ch7)
Season 6

The War Games in Colour

When the Tardis lands in the horrors of World War I, the Doctor uncovers a threat spanning galaxies and history itself. But this time, saving the day might doom the Doctor forever.


MON 22:30 The Ash Tree (m0001qqw)
Adaptation of MR James's classic ghost story. A 17th-century squire is haunted by a curse his great uncle brought upon the household.


MON 23:00 Leonardo da Vinci (m0026ch9)
Series 1

Part Two: Painter-God

Leonardo works as a military engineer, designs fanciful flying machines, studies light and shadow, investigates gravity, dissects cadavers and pens treatises on a vast array of subjects, all while seeking the perfect patron.

In Florence, Milan, Rome and finally France, he pours the sum of his scientific and artistic knowledge into a portrait that will become the most famous painting on earth.

A film by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon.


MON 00:40 The Last Igloo (m000cr9s)
Documentary that follows a lone Inuit as he hunts, fishes and constructs an igloo. It tells the story of skills that are disappearing and of how climate change is affecting the lives of Greenland's indigenous people.

With its focus on the ingenious craft of igloo building before it becomes too late to record it, this is a meditative and poetic sensory immersion in a landscape of ice and snow, an elegy to a world that is melting away.


MON 02:10 Top of the Pops (m0012tx7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 03:10 The Good Life (b0077x05)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

TUESDAY 24 DECEMBER 2024

TUE 19:00 Top of the Pops (b09jc3k1)
Christmas 1984

The 1984 Christmas special of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 25 December 1984. Featuring Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Howard Jones, Duran Duran, Nik Kershaw, Culture Club, Thompson Twins, Jim Diamond, Wham!, Paul Young, George Michael and Band Aid.


TUE 20:00 Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais Remember... Porridge (m0026cg9)
Fifty years on from when the prison doors first slammed shut on Norman Stanley Fletcher, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais look back at a landmark British comedy.

Dick and Ian explain the origins, how they nearly wrote a series about a gambling-mad Welsh family instead, and talk of the magical chemistry of the cast and the particularly close bond between Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale. They also tell us the tricks they used to get round the obligatory bad language in prison and how the claustrophobic setting at first intimidated and then inspired them.

With references to their favourite characters and scenes, enjoy the freedom as you revel in tales of one of television history’s best-loved comedies.


TUE 20:30 Porridge (b007894v)
Christmas Special: No Way Out

Christmas special of the classic sitcom from 1975. Fletcher doesn't want to spend Christmas in his cell, and through a convoluted series of events involving the building of a tunnel, he ends up in hospital for Christmas with his feet up in a quiet, comfortable private room.


TUE 21:10 The Two Ronnies Sketchbook (b007cdzh)
Christmas

Back again for one very last extra special Christmas outing, The Two Ronnies bring you their favourite treats from their many classic Christmas shows. Look out for The Milkman's Christmas Message, Christmas Day in the Yukon and a lavish interpretation of Alice through the Looking Glass - Ronnies style. Music comes courtesy of Katie Melua singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.


TUE 21:40 Yes, Minister (b0074qsm)
Series 3

Party Games

Sitcom about a British government minister and the advisers who surround him. The seasonal festivities at the Department of Administrative Affairs are overshadowed by rumours of a cabinet reshuffle. But a leadership election and the Eurosausage affair could lead to great things for Jim Hacker.


TUE 22:40 Lucy Worsley's Christmas Carol Odyssey (m000c5y4)
In this festive treat featuring the Kingdom Choir and Hampton Court Choir, Lucy Worsley reveals that there’s much more to our best-loved carols than meets the eye. She reveals how their stories add up to a special kind of history of Christmas itself. In the ancient past, the wassail, a pagan fertility ritual, gave us door-to-door carol singing. Wassailing was also an integral part of an older midwinter festival that was adopted by Christianity when it came to Britain, and was rebranded as ‘Christmas’.

Religion, however, soon turned its back on carols. They were far too frivolous for the Puritans, who wanted to ban Christmas altogether. French Catholics on the other hand didn’t mind fun and frolics, and Lucy crosses the channel to learn a French renaissance jig, written by a dancing priest in the 16th century. The tune she dances to went on to become the carol Ding Dong Merrily on High in the 19th century.

In strict Protestant Britain, the carol survived outside the Church and new ones turned up in some surprising places. Lucy visits the British Library, where she discovers an 18th-century children’s book that contains a little memory game called The Twelve Days of Christmas. Christmas carols could also be politically dangerous and subversive. British Catholics were oppressed for generations after the Reformation, but one Catholic scribe, John Francis Wade, hid a coded message of support for a Jacobite rebellion in the carol O Come All Ye Faithful.

Eventually, the Church of England couldn’t resist the power of the carol, and finally opened its doors to all of them, thanks to a chance pairing of words and music in Hark the Herald Angels Sing, performed in the programme by the renowned gospel ensemble, The Kingdom Choir. In the 20th century, Ralph Vaughan Williams’s passion for English folk music took him to the villages of Surrey. Here, Lucy meets a folk singer who tells the tale of an elderly farm labourer, Henry Garman, who sang a tune for Vaughan Williams, which became O Little Town of Bethlehem.

Finally, in the snowy Austrian Alps, Lucy discovers the simple story of a young parish priest with a poem in search of a tune. When he found one, the result was Silent Night. During the First World War, this simple carol would become a hymn for peace during the famous Christmas truce of 1914. Silent Night also reminds us that carols are, and have always been, ‘popular music’, music for the people, fulfilling an enduring need to celebrate and sing together at Christmas.


TUE 23:40 Earth’s Tropical Islands (m000cs03)
Series 1

Madagascar

Journey across the tropical island of Madagascar and explore the unique and incredible wildlife it has to offer - from its famed lemurs to chameleons.

As the oldest island on Earth, life has had time to evolve, and there are now more unique plants and animals on Madagascar than any other island.

It was formed nearly 90 million years ago when a giant landmass split apart, and Madagascar was cast adrift from east Africa. Braving the 400-mile ocean crossing from Africa, the first castaways arrived on the arid west of the island, and were met with vast deserts.

Ring-tailed lemurs are the direct descendants of one of the very first mammals to arrive, and they are thriving despite the arid conditions. They spend up to eight hours a day foraging in the Spiny Forest. Their plant-based diet includes plants with caustic sap that would burn human skin.

When humans arrived on the west coast, they too faced the hostile desert, high temperatures and droughts that can last a year. In the village of Ampotaka, the people have learnt to use baobab trees to help them survive. The trees grow up to 30 metres high and stores vast quantities of water in their trunks. By hollowing out the inside of the trunk, the people create huge water tanks storing thousands of litres of water, which they can use when times are tough.

Tiny labord’s chameleons are unique to Madagascar and have the shortest lifespan of any land vertebrate – living for just four months. They time their hatching with the start of the rainy season when the going is good, and then the race is on for them to grow, mate and lay eggs before the dry season comes round once again.

One of the most dramatic places in Madagascar is known as the Grand Tsingy – 500 square miles of sharp limestone pinnacles sheltering small pockets of forest. To survive here, Decken’s sifakas must climb these shards of rock, sharp enough to shred human skin, and leap 30 feet between them.

A series of even higher peaks forms a mountainous spine running down the middle of Madagascar. Just a few thousand years ago, human settlers from Asia brought the skills to turn the steep mountainsides into rice paddies. By digging terraces into the slopes, even the steepest gradients can be farmed, producing more than a million tonnes of rice every year. But only if they can keep their crop safe from the devastating plagues of locusts in their billions.

Madagascar’s mountain range defines the islands’ climate. It blocks warm, wet air blown in off the Indian Ocean to the east, creating the arid deserts of the west. But keeping all this moisture to the eastern side of the island makes rainfall high there, and this creates bountiful rainforests.

Most of the island’s incredible wildlife can be found within these tropical rainforests, including tenrecs, Madagascar’s own unique version of a hedgehog. They give birth to more babies than any mammals – as many as 32 in a litter. The streaked tenrec rubs together modified spines on her back to make a squeaking noise to warn all her babies of danger.

The extraordinary pelican spider twangs the threads of an orb web spider to lure it into its giant jaws. The aye-aye is one of Madagascar’s weirdest creatures, found hunting for insect larvae at night. It uses it bizarre 9cm-long middle finger to tap tree branches for hollow bits, before scraping away the bark and deploying its super-sized finger to fish out the grubs.

Madagascar’s unique wildlife has slowly been evolving for millions of years, but since humans arrived the pace of change has been faster than many animals can cope with. As little as 20 per cent of the island’s original forest remains, and 95 per cent of lemurs are now threatened with extinction.

The greater bamboo lemur is a story of how efforts to protect Madagascar’s wildlife can save a species from being wiped out entirely. These lemurs were thought to have gone extinct, thanks to the clearance of the bamboo forests they rely on for food. The bamboo lemurs are now protected and in the last year, a record number of babies were born. Madagascar is at a critical point, but with the right efforts, there is some hope for its wildlife in the future.


TUE 00:40 Top of the Pops (b09jc3k1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 01:40 Porridge (b007894v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 02:25 The Two Ronnies Sketchbook (b007cdzh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:10 today]


TUE 02:55 Earth’s Tropical Islands (m000cs03)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:40 today]

WEDNESDAY 25 DECEMBER 2024

WED 19:00 Kiri Te Kanawa at Christmas (m0026chv)
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa presents a special programme of seasonal music, both classical and contemporary, from the Barbican Hall in London. First broadcast in 1985.


WED 20:00 The Merry Widow from Glyndebourne (m0026chx)
Franz Lehár’s laugh-out-loud operetta, The Merry Widow, is a work of pure theatrical pleasure: a cocktail of ravishing music, touching romance and madcap comedy. Glyndebourne’s lavish new staging from award-winning West End director Cal McCrystal boasts all the opulence of classic Hollywood and stars Danielle de Niese as the glamorous, wealthy widow Hanna on a search for true love.


WED 22:30 Top of the Pops (b086trr9)
Christmas Hits

The Top of the Pops Christmas Hits compilation is made up of hits down the years, mostly performed on those classic episodes of Christmas Top of the Pops in a seasonal studio. We include songs that reached the charts in December, from Ian Dury and the Blockheads to Madness, East 17 and Coldplay.

There are hits that made the enviable Christmas Number 1 spot from the likes of The Human League and Pet Shop Boys, songs that were pipped to the post and perennial Christmas classics from Slade, Mud and Frankie Goes to Hollywood to name but three. We also have a special rediscovered rare performance opening the programme from the psychedelic era Rolling Stones from 1967 and not broadcast for over 40 years. Christmas Top of the Pops adorns the studio in tinsel to give a perfect playlist for any festive party.


WED 23:30 Top of the Pops (b06t3ql3)
Christmas 1975

Tony Blackburn and Noel Edmonds present the Christmas pop charts, originally broadcast in 1975. Featuring performances from Pilot, Ralph McTell, Mud, 10cc, David Essex, Johnny Nash, Guys & Dolls, the Tymes, Tammy Wynette, the Bay City Rollers, Telly Savalas, Art Garfunkel, the Stylistics and CCS, plus a dance performance from Pan's People.


WED 00:20 Earth’s Tropical Islands (m000cs0p)
Series 1

Borneo

In the heart of south east Asia lies the tropical island of Borneo. Twice the size of the British Isles, it is the third largest island on earth and home to possibly the greatest diversity of life of any island - from flying lizards sun bears to orangutans. Its huge variety of habitats, from bustling coral reefs and ancient jungles to towering mountains, has given rise to over 60,000 species of plants and animals - many found nowhere else on earth.

Borneo’s shoreline is fringed by a tangle of mangroves and flooded forests, home to an extraordinary creature – the proboscis monkey. Their unique pot bellies allow them to survive on the nutrient-poor leaves, but even so, they must continually search for the freshest shoots. This means the whole family must cross one of many rivers that cut through the forest – patrolled by giant crocodiles. It is a drama rarely seen.

The island of Borneo is surrounded by some of the richest coral reefs in the world – a single reef can support more species of coral than the entire Caribbean Sea! This remarkable abundance attracted seafaring nomads, the Bajau Laut, ‘people of the sea’. Over generations their bodies have transformed, making them the ultimate human divers – but they are having to adapt to the modern world – using ingenuity to turn plastic waste that washes up on the beach to their advantage.

Heading inland are ancient forests, home to giants – the dipterocarps. Towering up to 100 metres high, they are the tallest rainforest trees in the world. A single tree can hold a thousand different species, and this intense competition has driven many animals to evolve in wondrous ways – on this island reptiles can fly.

At night, this competition in the jungle intensifies as many of Borneo’s 180 species of frog call for a mate. The bigger the frog, the louder the call: a problem for one of the smallest frogs on the island. In this never-before-filmed sequence, a male tree-hole frog, barely larger than a thumbnail, has come up with an ingenious solution to being heard above the noise.

Compared to the abundance of life in the treetops, the forest floor is an impoverished world. With little to eat, many of Borneo’s terrestrial mammals are smaller than on the mainland – including the exceedingly rare Bornean sun bear. At just over 1m long, it is the smallest bear in the world. To survive, they have developed a surprising skill - they are expert climbers, able to climb higher than any other bear, to feed on honey and fruits high up in the canopy.

For those confined to the forest floor, more ingenious methods are required. The Penan are indigenous hunters that have lived in Borneo’s forests for over 4,000 years. They use a remarkable sign language, known as Oroo’, to communicate through the jungle. A long stick is adorned with intricately folded vegetation and shaped bark, to tell a complex story.

In the heart of the island, looming above the rainforest, lies another of Borneo’s diverse habitats – mountains. Their range runs over 500 miles through the centre of the island. At over 4,000 metres, Mount Kinabalu is one of the highest peaks in south east Asia. It rains here almost every day, the water washing away any goodness in the soil. To get the nutrients they need to survive, one group of plants have gone to extreme lengths, becoming carnivores. The modified leaves of pitcher plants form pitfall traps. Insects are lured to the trap’s edge with sweet nectar, before slipping into a lethal pool of digestive enzymes. Borneo holds the greatest collection of pitcher plants in the world, including one that is after something much bigger than insects. Nepenthes hemsleyana is a pitcher plant that has evolved to attract woolly bats. Its traps are perfectly adapted to provide a sheltered roost for the bat. In return the plant gains nutrition from the bats droppings, a remarkable relationship, only recently discovered.

Borneo’s intense rain has carved out vast cave systems through the island. Deer cave is so large you could fly a jumbo jet through it. They are home to millions of bats whose guano forms the basis of an entire ecosystem – sustaining some of the largest concentrations of cockroaches in the world, as well a wealth of other cave critters.
Thanks to the bats, even in this most extreme habitat, Borneo harbours an extraordinary array of life.

For 10,000 years, Borneo’s staggering diversity has been protected by its isolation, but with the arrival of industrial logging, all that has changed. Only half of its ancient forests are left, and much of its unique wildlife is under threat, including the iconic orangutan. Scientists are only just discovering the true scale of their intelligence – recently capturing footage of a mother orangutan using forest leaves to create an anti-inflammatory treatment for her aching joints. But with their forest home being destroyed, how much longer can these remarkable animals survive?


WED 01:20 Kiri Te Kanawa at Christmas (m0026chv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 02:20 To the Manor Born (b0078gxn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Monday]


WED 02:50 Earth’s Tropical Islands (m000cs0p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:20 today]

THURSDAY 26 DECEMBER 2024

THU 19:00 Top of the Pops (m0001r5k)
Christmas 1986

Peter Powell presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on Christmas Day 1986. Featuring Billy Ocean, The Communards, a-ha, Europe, Doctor and the Medics, Cliff Richard & The Young Ones, Spitting Image, Boris Gardiner, Diana Ross, Berlin, Simply Red, Nick Berry, Falco, George Michael and Pet Shop Boys.


THU 20:00 The Morecambe and Wise Show (m0026chc)
Christmas Show 1969

A laughter-packed holiday special starring Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. Featuring guests Susan Hampshire, Frankie Vaughan, Deryck Guyler, Frank Thornton and Ann Hamilton.


THU 21:00 One Foot in the Grave (m000qpgk)
The Wisdom of the Witch

The Meldrews have a tarot reading that prophesies disaster for Victor. Patrick and Pippa sell their home, but a house clearance crew are mistaken for their removal men. Patrick and Victor get snowed in at an old house with a jealous boyfriend and a huge spider.


THU 22:00 Dave Allen (m0026chf)
Dave Allen looks at the English, the Irish and many other illogical aspects of life - with his own unique wit and satirical observations.


THU 22:55 The Lenny Henry Christmas Special (m0026chh)
Lenny Henry hosts a Christmas special of sketches and music, featuring favourite characters such as Deakus and Josh Yarlog and a trip down memory lane to 1970-ish. With special guests Robbie Coltrane and Terence Trent D'Arby.


THU 23:35 What's Up, Doc? (m0026chk)
Carefree, eccentric Judy has a suitcase with an encyclopedia and a nightgown - and eyes for the repressed, eccentric Howard. Howard has a suitcase full of igneous rocks to prove an esoteric musical theory and an overly proper fiancée named Eunice.

None of them know Mr Smith, who has a suitcase full of top-secret government documents and a nefarious man tailing him.


THU 01:05 Earth’s Tropical Islands (m000cs1p)
Series 1

Hawaii

This is a journey across Hawaii’s varied islands, discovering how they were made and the incredible wildlife that thrives there.

Hawaii is the most remote island chain on earth, and its tropical shores are hard to reach. But for the hardy creatures that can make it here, like the waterfall-climbing fish, carnivorous caterpillar and Laysan albatross, a land of opportunity awaits. From newly formed lava fields to lush jungles and vibrant coral reefs, these diverse and beautiful islands have it all.

Packed with surprising stories, the hidden gems of this tropical paradise are uncovered using stunning photography. Dramatic footage of the humpback whale heat run – the biggest courtship battle in the world – and intimate views of the world’s oldest known bird feeding its chick are just some of the highlights of what Hawaii has to offer.

The islands are so isolated that it used to be that one new species arrived every 100,000 years, but the arrival of people has radically changed the face of Hawaii. Now it gains around 20 new species every year. The remarkable Jackson’s chameleon is one of the animals recently introduced. Showing off its voracious appetite, the programme reveals how it is eating its way through the native animals and contributing to wiping them out entirely.

But this is a place where people are looking to the future and attempting to bring wildlife back from the brink of extinction. White terns, once extinct on the main islands of Hawaii, have gone from a single pair to over 2,000 birds in the last 60 years. It is a huge challenge, but people are seeking progressive new ways to live alongside nature to allow Hawaii’s wildlife to continue to thrive.


THU 02:05 Top of the Pops (m0001r5k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 03:05 Earth’s Tropical Islands (m000cs1p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 01:05 today]

FRIDAY 27 DECEMBER 2024

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (b01ppl1x)
A Christmas Cracker

A selection of hit Christmas songs from yesteryear.


FRI 19:10 Top of the Pops (b08rc78m)
Peter Powell, Tommy Vance, Richard Skinner, Gary Davies and Adrian John present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 29 December 1983. Features JoBoxers, Mike Oldfield, Thompson Twins, Tracey Ullman, The Cure, Phil Collins, The Belle Stars, Paul Young, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Spandau Ballet, Howard Jones, Rod Stewart, The Style Council and Culture Club.


FRI 20:05 Top of the Pops (m000vbsr)
Christmas 1990

Mark Goodier and Anthea Turner present a Top of the Pops Christmas Day special, including a review of the hits that topped the charts in 1990 and featuring performances by The Beautiful South, Elton John and Kylie Minogue.


FRI 21:00 Shirley Bassey at Christmas (m0026cg5)
Shirley Bassey's 1974 TV special with special guest Neil Diamond, who sings Sweet Caroline and Longfellow Serenade and is joined by Shirley for a duet performance of his song Play Me.


FRI 22:00 Arena (b03txrsz)
The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert

In the autumn of 1983, the Everly Brothers played their legendary reunion concerts in London. Of all the venues in the world, they chose the Royal Albert Hall because they had treasured memories of playing there with their father Ike, a guitar virtuoso in his own right.

All London was there and it was such an event that the filming was fed live into the BBC 9 O'Clock News. After their acrimonious split, which had lasted ten years, Arena's cameras proved that they and their unique, beautiful sound were as magical as ever.

First broadcast at Christmas 1983.


FRI 23:15 Arena (b03tx91g)
The Everly Brothers: Songs of Innocence and Experience

The Everly Brothers were among the most successful and revered of all the giants of early rock 'n' roll. A determining influence on The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel and The Beach Boys, they brought the ethereal harmonies of the Appalachian Mountains to the wild mix of rock 'n' roll.

First broadcast in 1984 as part of their reunion after ten bitter years apart, Arena traces their fabulous career, their split and triumphant reunion. Most of all, Don and Phil wanted to revisit their roots in the coal mining area of Kentucky where their father Ike, a miner, had been a local guitar star. He too had played with his coal mining brothers, in the 30s. In the moody atmosphere of Muhlenberg County, they have an emotional reunion with three generations of Everlys.

With contributions from master musician and producer Chet Atkins, songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and the legendary guitar singer and ex-coal miner, Ike's close friend Mose Rager.


FRI 00:50 The Everly Brothers: Harmonies from Heaven (b077x1fh)
Documentary which celebrates, over the period covering the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 60s, the phenomenon of The Everly Brothers, arguably the greatest harmony duo the world has witnessed, who directly influenced the greatest and most successful bands of the 60s and 70s - The Beatles, The Stones, The Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel to name but a few.

Don and Phil Everly's love of music began as children, encouraged by their father Ike. Little Donnie and Baby Boy Phil sang on Ike's early morning radio shows in Iowa.

After leaving school, the brothers moved to Nashville where, under the wing of Ike Everly's friend, the highly talented musician Chet Atkins, Don and Phil signed with Cadence Records. They exploded onto the music scene in 1957 with Bye Bye Love, written by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant.

After Bye Bye Love came other hits, notably Wake Up Little Susie, followed by the worldwide smash hit All I Have to Do Is Dream and a long string of other great songs which also became hits.

By 1960, however, the brothers were lured away from Cadence to Warner Bros with a $1,000,000 contract. Their biggest hit followed, the self-penned Cathy's Clown, which sold 8 million copies. Remaining at Warner Bros for most of the 60s, they had further success with Walk Right Back, So Sad and the King/Greenfield-penned track Crying in the Rain.


FRI 01:50 Top of the Pops (b08rc78m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:10 today]


FRI 02:45 Top of the Pops (m000vbsr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:05 today]