BBC Radio and BBC Sounds Christmas 2025: Sparkling celebrations across audio bringing seasonal joy to listeners

Published: 12:01 am, 24 November 2025

Updated: 11:46 am, 25 November 2025

(Image: BBC/Chris Mills)

This Christmas, listeners can enjoy a dazzling mix of music, comedy, drama and cultural highlights across every network.

Kate Phillips, BBC Chief Content Officer, says: “Christmas on BBC Radio and BBC Sounds is all about bringing people together through the power of audio. This year, we’re offering listeners an extraordinary mix of music, drama, comedy and conversation – from festive favourites to brand-new specials. Whether you’re tuning in for iconic voices, family entertainment or inspiration and reflection, we’re proud to make BBC Radio the soundtrack to the season.”

There’s something for every listener, from a festive edition of Desert Island Discs with Kate Winslet on BBC Radio 4 to a Christmas Day special with Jane McDonald and Trevor Nelson celebrating the music of Stevie Wonder on BBC Radio 2. Danny Robins teams up with Diane Morgan for The Uncanny Christmas Casebook on BBC Sounds and Cate Blanchett tries her hand as a guest editor for the Today programme alongside Melvyn Bragg and Theresa May, and others.

There are festive playlists for every mood on BBC Sounds, whether it is Sophie Ellis‑Bextor turning up the sparkle, Jarvis Cocker curating a winter’s hush or Romesh Ranganathan digging deep into festive hip hop. Lean into that moment between Christmas and New Year with a host of comforting Morning After Mixes for slow, gentle, mornings. For those who prefer their Christmas with a twist Indie Forever, delivers a host of alternative festive gems including Christmas Indie requests from English Teacher, The Mysterines and more.

Families can join in too, with CBeebies Radio lighting up the season through back‑to‑back Christmas songs and the annual Cinderella panto and special editions of Greg Jenner’s You’re Dead to Me: Dead Funny History and Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken’s What’s Up Docs?

Radio 1 brings festive cheer with the exclusive reveal of the Official Christmas Number 1 and the return of the Presenter Takeover which gives brand new DJs an opportunity to host some of the most famous shows on the network. Radio 1Xtra turns up the fun with Shortee Blitz’s Christmas Mixtape of hip hop, R&B, grime and dancehall, while BBC Asian Network fuses the best Asian sounds with classic Christmas hits in unique mixes for the season.

On Radio 2, audiences can enjoy Christmas day with Jane McDonald, Lorraine Kelly makes her Radio 2 debut in the Jeremy Vine slot, Trevor Nelson counts down listeners’ favourite Stevie Wonder songs and the station celebrates the incredible career of Johnnie Walker MBE.

Radio 3 blends tradition, reflection and celebration with Carols Across the Country, live broadcasts from dawn to dusk, and a landmark Advent service from St John’s College, Cambridge, marking Sir John Rutter’s 80th birthday. The BBC’s Orchestras and Choirs will also be presenting concerts throughout the festive season.

Radio 4 celebrates 75 years of The Archers while seasonal comedy, drama and music specials add sparkle across the schedule, from Julian Clary’s I Don’t Do… Christmas! to Bill Bailey’s With Great Pleasure as well as a new adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse’s Joy in the Morning and a new performance of T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral. In addition, there are moments of worship and reflection, including a Christmas Day Service from Leeds Cathedral and Midnight Mass live from Liverpool.

BBC Radio 5 Live brings festive cheer with a packed Christmas schedule of live sport and special shows, including Elis James and John Robins celebrating their 500th episode, Roman Kemp and Tom Grennan’s festive You About? and The Wayne Rooney Show. Cricket takes centre stage with coverage of The Ashes and an unmissable build up to the Fourth Test with Test Match Special and the 5 Live Sports Extra team.

On 6 Music, Jarvis Cocker and Bill Nighy sit in for Iggy Pop, Beth Ditto curates indie disco hits, Nick Grimshaw reflects on the year, Craig Charles delivers funk and soul, and SHERELLE takes listeners into 2026 with a rave special.

BBC Local Radio will bring communities together this festive season across all 39 stations. BBC presenter and Church of England, Rev Frances Finn, will lead a nationwide seasonal service, sharing a message of hope and togetherness.

Finally, the World Service presents a rich global festive schedule, from The Arts Hour on Tour in Rome and Michael Symmons Roberts’ Christmas card poem, to Witness History: The Origin of Famous Gifts, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, the Newshour Christmas Quiz and inspiring documentaries including Kibra Ballerinas.

Together, BBC Radio and BBC Sounds bring audiences a season of joy, laughter, reflection and discovery, the ultimate soundtrack to Christmas and New Year 2025.

BBC Sounds

Step into Christmas with BBC Sounds, where listeners can enjoy a range of offerings from Mariah to Bublé, Wham! to Wizzard – all wrapped up in Christmas Music and lovingly hand‑picked by presenters who know exactly how to soundtrack every mood. Whether it’s Sophie Ellis‑Bextor turning up the sparkle, Jarvis Cocker curating a winter’s hush, or Romesh Ranganathan digging deep into festive hip-hop, there’s a mix for every occasion – like Indie Forever, with a host of alternative festive gems for those who prefer their Christmas with a twist.

New Year Sounds ushers in 2026 with Sophie Ellis‑Bextor’s glittering Kitchen Disco, 6 Music’s blissful post-Christmas Morning After Mix specials, and Radio 1 Anthems: 2025, a playlist of pure pop fireworks.

For families, Greg Jenner serves up You’re Dead to Me: Dead Funny History, a daily dose of brilliantly bonkers tales featuring pirates, spies, ancient toilets and even a pig named Albert. Steal a moment away from the hustle and bustle of festivities to listen to the expertise of Doctors Chris and Xand van Tulleken, who return with What’s Up Docs? They’re asking whether comfort makes us weaker and if joy is really all it’s cracked up to be. Meanwhile, Danny Robins teams up with Diane Morgan for The Uncanny Christmas Casebook, unwrapping ghostly encounters that bring anything but good tidings of comfort and joy…

BBC Sounds adds extra depth to its festive line‑up with a rich slate of titles acquired especially for the season, spanning ghost stories, folklore, true crime and gripping drama. Sir David Suchet brings dramatic flair to Charles Dickens’ Ghost Stories, reading nine of Dickens’ most atmospheric tales including, of course, A Christmas Carol. Folklore takes centre stage in a special live edition of Weird in the Wade, and for true crime fans there’s Carrie Jade Does Not Exist, hosted by Sue Perkins and Katherine Denkinson. Cold Tapes also delivers a chilling murder mystery for the drama lovers.

From boxsets to binge, festive specials to spine‑tinglers, and playlists to power every party, BBC Sounds has got all listeners covered this Christmas and New Year.

Festive Podcasts 

The Uncanny Christmas Casebook with Diane Morgan

Tuesday 23 December

Case 9: Uncanny Christmas Special with Diane Morgan

Danny unpacks a Christmas hamper of horror with ghost fan Diane Morgan, star of Motherland, After Life and Philomena Cunk. Diane relates several of her own terrifying encounters with the paranormal, and crosses swords with sceptic Dr Ciaran O’Keeffe as they hear supernatural real-life stories from Uncanny listeners.

• Written and presented by: Danny Robins 
• Editing and sound design: Charlie Brandon-King
• Music: Evelyn Sykes
• Theme music by: Lanterns on the Lake
• Produced by: Danny Robins and Simon Barnard

A Bafflegab and Uncanny Media production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

Listen to Uncanny on BBC Sounds

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You’re Dead to Me: Dead Funny History

New series launches Monday 15 December. Three special episodes will be broadcast on Radio 4 on 19 December, 26 December and 2 January.

Attention kids of all ages! Dead Funny History is the brand-new comedy history show for everyone aged 8 to 108, from the team behind the hit Radio 4 podcast You’re Dead to Me.

What links a 70-foot colossus to the prettiest cow in Ancient Egypt? Which world-famous siblings began as terrible teachers? And what was the surprisingly dangerous Christmas game in medieval Britain? From Ramesses the Great to the Brontë sisters to the history of football, Greg Jenner serves up a smorgasbord of the funniest, messiest, and most astonishing stories from history.

Expect pirates, spies, superstars, chariot races, bouncing cats, ancient toilets, radioactive notebooks, and a pig named Albert, all crammed into 14-minute episodes packed with jokes and sketches.

Dead Funny History is a brilliantly bonkers historical romp for the whole family to enjoy.

Starring: Richard David Caine (Horrible Histories), Mali Ann Rees (Mammoth), and John-Luke Roberts (Sound Heap), with scripts by top comedy writers Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, Jack Bernhardt, Athena Kugblenu, and You’re Dead to Me’s own Dr Emma Nagouse.

Presenter: Greg Jenner

Written by: Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, Jack Bernhardt, Athena Kugblenu, Dr Emma Nagouse

Produced by: Dr Emma Nagouse and Gabby Hutchinson Crouch

Audio Producer: Emma Weatherill

BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

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Complex with Kimberley Wilson

Wednesday 24 December, Wednesday 31 December

Gratitude with Joanna Rodriguez, Wednesday 24 December

Kimberley digs into the complexity of gratitude – why is that when we should be feeling grateful, we often feel bad? Together with her guest, health psychologist Joanna Rodriguez, she explores how we can feel gratitude – authentically.

Presenter: Kimberley Wilson

Producer: Loftus Media for BBC Sounds

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Self-Acceptance with Dr Xand Van Tulleken, Wednesday 31 December

In this special episode to mark the coming of a new year, Kimberley invites Dr Xand van Tulleken, host of sister podcast What’s Up Docs?, to share his struggles with self-acceptance. What can he do about it? And what can all of us do to learn to live with ourselves better, with all our quirks, faults and idiosyncrasies?

Presenter: Kimberley Wilson

Producer: Loftus Media for BBC Sounds

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What’s Up Docs?

Tuesday 23 December, Tuesday 30 December

Listen to What’s Up Docs? on BBC Sounds

Comfort – How can you find comfort in the winter months? (W/t)

Should we hibernate through winter or face up to the cold? Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken explore the concept of comfort and how it can impact our health and wellbeing.

As days shorten, darkness descends and temperatures drop, most of us instinctively seek comfort – candles, chocolate, central heating, and carbs! And whilst everyone loves a woolly blanket by an open fire, What’s Up Docs? wonders if these winter comforts and the quest for instant coziness, are ultimately making us weaker. Have we lost sight of what comfort really means?

In ancient times, winter rituals had purpose: bringing evergreen trees indoors to give us hope of spring’s return, gathering round an open fire, eating hearty, preserved foods vital to survival. These practices aligned with our evolutionary instincts. But now many of us can access these comforts all year round wherever we are. Xand, who definitely likes a bit of Scandi ‘Hygge’, thinks we need to get back to our ancestral past to rediscover the true meaning of comfort. Chris, on the other hand, believes we’ve got comfort all wrong and what we really need to focus on is discomfort.

The science suggests both might be right. Cold exposure, from bracing walks to wild swimming to turning the thermostat down, can boost metabolism, resilience, and antioxidant defences. This kind of beneficial stress might just be exactly what our over-comfortable lives are missing. The episode explores what comfort means neurologically, why nostalgia feels so soothing and what the ancients could teach us about resilience and facing winter head-on.

Presented by: Dr Chris and Dr Xand van Tulleken

Producer: Rami Tzabar

Executive Producer: Jo RowntreeA Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

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Joy – Do we need joy to be truly happy? (W/t)

Tuesday 30 December

Must we all be merry? As December demands relentless festive cheer, What’s Up Docs? asks whether the pressure to feel joyful is making us miserable. The science is clear: genuine happiness can boost immunity, improve heart health, and help you live longer. But there’s a darker side to forced jollity. Too much positive emotion can become insensitive or disconnected from context. The line between festive high spirits and genuine mania, with its impulsivity and irritability, can be surprisingly thin.

In this episode, Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken debate whether our modern obsession with joy is healthy or just another form of seasonal tyranny. What does joy mean neurologically? Can you manufacture it, or does trying too hard guarantee disappointment? And crucially, is being joyous all the time desirable, or do we need emotional range to stay psychologically balanced? In a month devoted to excess and expectation, the twins explore how to find genuine moments of joy without succumbing to the exhausting pressure of looking happy for social media or collapsing into a full-blown festive burnout.

Presented by: Dr Chris and Dr Xand van Tulleken

Producer: Maia Miller-Lewis 

Executive Producer: Jo Rowntree

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

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Christmas Music

Christmas Music is covered on BBC Sounds! From Mariah to East 17 to Bublé and everything in between, it’s all right here in one place, lovingly compiled by your favourite BBC presenters, tailored to match every festive mood. Within the Christmas Music brand, you’ll find..

Christmas Hits: Huge Christmas anthems we all know and love! Expect everything from Wham! to Wizzard, with hours of the biggest festive bangers picked by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Greg James, Fearne Cotton and more

Christmas Chill: Beautifully curated musical escapes, with fresh festive episodes of much-loved favourites The Mindful Mix and The Sleeping Forecast, including a special with Jarvis Cocker

Christmas Throwback: From Brenda Lee to Run-DMC, nostalgic blasts from Christmas past including Romesh Ranganathan’s For The Love of Christmas Hip Hop and festive specials of Pick of the Pops and 1Xtra’s Throwback Party Christmas Indie.

New this year: a feast of alternative festive gems, including Elis & John’s Alternative Christmas playlist and brand-new festive editions of Indie Forever and The Morning After Mix.

Listen to Christmas Music on BBC Sounds

New Year Sounds

Whether you want to start the new year party or let the dust settle after a hectic festive season, we have the perfect music to take you right through from Christmas and into 2026, including:

Pop queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor serves up a fresh batch of her favourite feel-good songs and personal pop star tales to see in 2026, in Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco: New Year’s Eve Special.

The Morning After Mix lands just as things are getting a bit much, with specially curated live programming with Nick Grimshaw and more on BBC 6 Music across Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, with sublime music and a brand new guest.

Morning After Mixes from a host of acclaimed musicians, helping you reset and get ready for the new year.

Celebrate the biggest, brightest and best pop bangers from the past twelve months, with some of the year’s finest pop moments back-to-back in one great brand-new playlist: Radio 1 Anthems: 2025.

BBC Radio 1

This Christmas, BBC Radio 1 will be bringing the best of festive cheer to listeners with lots of special content, from exclusively revealing this year’s Christmas Number 1 to the return of the station’s Christmas Presenter Takeover.

Radio 1 Anthems

Thursday 11 December – Thursday 25 December

From 11 December, Radio 1 Anthems will be providing a Christmas pick-me-up whenever you need it with Christmas tracks all day. There will also be special festive shows hosted by Greg James, Jamie Laing, Sophie Habboo, Dean McCullough, Katie Thistleton, Matt and Mollie, Sam and Danni, Nat and Vicky and Lauren Redfern.

Radio 1’s Happy Anthems

Monday 24 November

Radio 1 Happy will have a special uplifting show playing all the Christmas hits and party bangers, available now on BBC Sounds.

Jack Saunders reveals The Official Christmas Number 1

Friday 19 December, 4pm–5.45pm

Jack Saunders will count down the Christmas Top 40 and reveal the Christmas Number 1 on The Official Chart on Radio 1.

Presenter: Jack Saunders

Production: BBC Audio Radio 1

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BBC Radio 1Xtra

BBC Radio 1Xtra will turn up the festive fun this Christmas with an array of special programmes across the network. Kicking off on BBC Sounds, 1Xtra’s Christmas Mixtape with Shortee Blitz, a one-hour mix of the best Hip Hop, R&B, Grime and Dancehall Christmas Songs, will be available from 1 December.

On Tuesday 9 December, Remi Burgz will host a Christmas themed Live Lounge with the Flames Collective featuring Beverley Knight and Debbie.

1Xtra will host a day of Christmas party-themed shows on Thursday 11 December, including special live performances from some of 2025’s hottest artists on DJ Target’s show (7pm-9pm). The week before Christmas will see ‘Best of 2025’ shows from Sian Anderson (Monday, 9pm-11pm), Snoochie Shy (Monday, 11pm-1am), CassKidd (Tuesday, 9pm-11pm), Sir Spyro (Tuesday, 11pm-1am) and Kenny Allstar (Friday, 11pm-12:30am). On Sunday 21 December, Trevor Nelson (11am-1pm) will host a special Christmas show and Heartless Crew will perform 1Xtra’s Heartless Panto (7pm-9pm) which will be repeated on Christmas Eve. Swarzy will get listeners in the festive spirit on Christmas Day with a 1Xtra Gospel Christmas special (1pm-4pm) before listeners join the 1Xtra family for 1Xtra’s DJ Christmas Dinner show (4pm-7pm).

To celebrate New Year’s Eve, 1Xtra will host a special countdown show ‘1Xtra’s Biggest Songs of 2025’ (8pm-10pm) and will see in the New Year with 1Xtra’s New Year’s Eve Party Show, hosted by Kash & Pharaoh G (10pm-1am).

The week before Christmas will see ‘Best of 2025’ shows from Sian Anderson (Monday, 9pm-11pm), Snoochie Shy (Monday, 11pm-1am), CassKidd (Tuesday, 9pm-11pm), Sir Spyro (Tuesday, 11pm-1am) and Kenny Allstar (Friday, 11pm-12:30am). On Sunday 21 December, Trevor Nelson (11am-1pm) will host a special Christmas show and Heartless Crew will perform 1Xtra’s Heartless Panto (7pm-9pm) which will be repeated on Christmas Eve.

Swarzy will get listeners in the festive spirit on Christmas Day with a 1Xtra Gospel Christmas special (1pm-4pm) before listeners join the 1Xtra family for 1Xtra’s DJ Christmas Dinner show (4pm-7pm).

To celebrate New Year’s Eve, 1Xtra will host a special countdown show ‘1Xtra’s Biggest Songs of 2025’ (8pm-10pm) and will see in the New Year with 1Xtra’s New Year’s Eve Party Show, hosted by Kash & Pharaoh G (10pm-1am)

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BBC Asian Network

BBC Asian Network will start their Christmas celebrations in early December with a raft of Christmas Mixes available on BBC Sounds, taking the best Asian sounds and fusing them with well-known Christmas hits from years gone by, for everyone to enjoy something unique over the festive period.

From 8 December, Asian Network Breakfast with Nikita Kanda will play some of the best reactions and chats from the popular ‘Ball Bag’ feature, renaming it ‘Bauble Bag’ for the festive period. This end of year roundup will include interviews from Ed Sheeran, Priyanka Chopra and John Cena.

On 30 December, the network will relive the successful Ultimate Asian Music Chart Vote counting down the top 50 tracks, as chosen by listeners earlier this year.

To celebrate New Year’s Eve, Asian Network will play an All-Day Certified Party which will run until 1am. As a New Year’s Day special, the network will host a day of Bollywood Singalong Anthems.

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BBC Radio 2

The festive season on BBC Radio 2 kicks off on Monday 22nd December. Lorraine Kelly makes her Radio 2 debut by taking over the Jeremy Vine slot for a few days (12–2pm, 22–24 December), where she’ll be covering the news stories of the day.

On Sunday 28 December, listeners can join a two-part celebration of the incredible radio career of much-loved Radio 2 DJ, Johnnie Walker MBE (3-5pm).

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day bring feel-good fun from OJ Borg, DJ Spoony and Jane McDonald, while Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Tony Blackburn and Michelle Visage keep the party going through New Year’s Eve.

On Thursday 1 January, Trevor Nelson counts down Radio 2 listeners’ favourite Stevie Wonder songs in ‘Your Ultimate Stevie Wonder song’, to mark 60 years since his first UK Top 40 hit, and 50 years since the release of his landmark album Songs In The Key Of Life (3-5pm) and Stevie Wonder superfan DJ Spoony follows Trevor with an hour-long special, The Wonder of Stevie (5-6pm).

Jeremy Vine… Lorraine Kelly sits in

Monday 22 December – Wednesday 24 December, 12pm-2pm

As Jeremy takes a break, Lorraine Kelly makes her Radio 2 debut by taking over the hot seat.

Lorraine says: “I’m absolutely chuffed to be stepping in for Jeremy Vine over Christmas! It’s such a joyful, feel-good time of year, and I can’t wait to spend the afternoons with Radio 2 listeners — we’ll have loads of festive fun, great chats and plenty of laughs. Radio 2 listeners are in for a real treat — it’s going to be a Christmas cracker!”

On 24 December, listeners thank a 2025 hero: someone who did something incredible for them over the last year.

Deputy presenter: Lorraine Kelly

Producer: Tim Collins for BBC Audio

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Radio 2 All Stars

Monday 22 December, 9-10pm

Dermot invites three of his fellow Radio 2 presenters to chat about how they ended up behind the microphone at the UK’s most listened to single radio station, which has an audience of 12.8m listeners each week.

This time it’s Friday night’s Kitchen Disco host Sophie Ellis Bextor – who began her career as an indie rocker in the audience. Alongside her is the host of the Radio 2 Rock Show – Shaun Keaveny. His path to Radio 2 came via XFM and BBC 6 Music, where he had an army of ardent fans who lapped up his much-loved laconic manner. And finally, weekday overnight host OJ Borg, who began his radio career on hospital radio – where the studio wasn’t plugged in, so no one could hear him.

Presenter: Dermot O’Leary

Producer: Ben Walker for An Ora et Labora TV production

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Owain Wyn Evans… Steffan Powell sits in

Wednesday 24 and Friday 26 December, 4-6am

Steffan Powell sits in for Owain Wyn Evans on Early Breakfast, live from Cardiff Wednesday 24 and Friday 26 December. Listeners can test their musical knowledge and skill with The Rewinder at 6.15am and get clued up on everything they need to know as they start their day or wind down from the night shift.

Deputy Presenter: Steffan Powell

Producer: Vicki Blight-Pitt for Bengo Production

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Driving Home for Christmas with Spoony

Wednesday 24 December, 4-7pm

DJ Spoony is driving listeners home for Christmas with festive fun and tunes, and he’ll be inviting listeners to message in with their plans for the big day.

Presenter: DJ Spoony

Producer: Andy Warrell for BBC Audio

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Mariah’s Christmas Hour

Wednesday 24 December, 9-10pm

Another chance to hear the Queen of Christmas, Mariah Carey, make her world exclusive radio presenting debut in this hour-long festive special on the UK’s most listened to radio station as she celebrated the 30th anniversary of the blockbuster hit, “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, the most streamed Christmas song of all-time.

The show features Mariah’s personally curated playlist and includes Christmas classics old and new from the artists who have inspired her, including Aretha Franklin, Patti Labelle, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Nat King Cole, Whitney Houston, The Jackson Five and Destiny’s Child.

Plus, Mariah takes the opportunity to thank her fans for continuing to make new memories with her Christmas smash-hit. She told listeners, “I can’t wait to spend Christmas with you on BBC Radio 2… I hope you are feeling warm and cosy and having your own Holly Jolly Christmas. I would like to thank all of my fans in the UK and around the world for continuing to make special memories with All I Want For Christmas Is You, it really means the world to me.”

This is an hour of the most soulful festive music, perfect for getting you into the spirit of the season and brought to you by the Queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey.

Producer: Ste Softley for Mostest Ltd

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A-Z Of Christmas Films

Wednesday 24 December, 10pm-12am

Film critic James King takes us through the winter wonderland of Christmas movies. The journey starts at “A for Animation” – James listing some of the most well-known titles we all know and love – and from there on there will be stops at the favourites, the forgotten…and the turkeys.

James is joined by a string of guests along the way: Radio 2’s cheesy Christmas film superfan, Scott Mills; Wallace and Gromit creator, Nick Park; The Snowman and the Snowdog music composer, Andy Burrows; The Muppet Christmas Carol star, Meredith Braun; award-winning set designer, Jon Hutman; Judy Cornwell, AKA Daisy in Keeping Up Appearances, and Anya Claus in Santa Claus the Movie; Joel Montague, star of West End hit musical, Elf; Mandy Macintosh, whose Love Actually-inspired wedding in Cleveland, Ohio, became an internet sensation back in 2011, plus a handful of film-lovers explain which Christmas movie is their all-time favourite.

This is a trip down many snow-filled memory lanes for all the family, for all film lovers and for the big kid at Christmas in all of us, packed with some of the most recognisable soundtracks created.

Producer: Ste Softley for Mostest Ltd

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OJ’s Christmas One Hit Wonders

Thursday 25 December, 3-4am

OJ’s Christmas One Hit Wonders is a packed hour-long festive special diving into some of the biggest, best and most bizarre seasonal hits ranging from 1953 to 2009. Radio 2 presenters share their memories of these unlikely chart-toppers, while OJ dips into classic archive from Top of the Pops and beyond. Expect festive flashbacks from Mike Flowers Pops, Chef (Isaac Hayes), Mr Blobby, Dora Bryan and more – plus a chat with vocal coaches Carrie and David Grant, best known for Fame Academy and Pop Idol.

Presenter: OJ

Producer: Dan Markham and Sophie Tibbles for Audio Always

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Good Morning Christmas

Thursday 25 December, 8-10am

Today, the Reverend Kate Bottley will be providing listeners with reflection and celebration, waking up the audience with all their Christmas shoutouts whether they’re opening stockings, heading to church, travelling to see family, or prepping lunch to celebrate this special day.

Presenters: Rev Kate Bottley

Producer: Jenny Smith for Audio Always Limited

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Christmas with Jane McDonald

Thursday 25 December, 12-2pm

Listeners can spend Christmas with Jane McDonald who is back for two hours of festive fun for all the family. Jane – a self-confessed disaster in the kitchen – will be responding to listeners’ tips for preparing the Christmas dinner, as well as hearing all about quirky Christmas snacks (a “Wakey Wrap”, anyone?), chatting about her favourite Christmas films and novelty Christmas no.1 singles.

Jane will also be sharing heartwarming stories of Christmases gone by and reflecting on the year, thanking those who have done their bit for the good of others.

Plus as many Christmas hits Jane can squash into two hours including golden oldies from the likes of Wham!, Nat King Cole and Shakin’ Stevens, newer favourites from Taylor Swift and Idina Menzel, and a few silly ones along the way.

This is a show for all ages, perfect for a family get-together, company for those who might be spending Christmas alone, Jane isn’t leaving anyone out in the cold. However, she does insist that you at least wear “something Christmassy” and “you must embrace the Christmas spirit…no bah-humbugs here!”

Producer: Ste Softley for Mostest Ltd

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Pick of the Pops

Thursday 25 December, 4-7pm

In a special festive edition, Mark Goodier counts down the Christmas charts from 1975, 1985 and 1995! Featuring hits from David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, and Queen, plus all-time festive favourites from Wham!, Band Aid, Greg Lake, Bruce Springsteen and Shakin’ Stevens.

Presenter: Mark Goodier

Producer: Sarah Harrison for BBC Audio

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Beverley Knight’s Great British Gospel Christmas

Thursday 25 December 2025, 8pm – 10pm

Star of Soul and stage Beverley Knight returns with two hours of festive faves and Gospel artists from the UK. She’s also joined by Gospel and Dance legend, Candi Staton, who shares the surprising story of her hit ‘You Got The Love’ and how she’s spending her Christmas with her 42 grandchildren and great grandchildren. Cosy in with our Bev for a lovely Xmas evening.

Presenter: Beverly Knight

Producer: Bernard Achampong

Trevor Nelson’s Soul Christmas

Thursday 25 December, 9-11pm

Trevor Nelson once again brings his Soul Christmas show to Radio 2, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in London. This two-hour concert of re-imagined and re-scored soul and RnB tracks features a host of amazing guest vocalists accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra and led by MD Troy Miller. It promises to be an unforgettable festive treat.

Presenter: Trevor Nelson

Producer: Joe Haddow for Spiritland

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Johnnie Walker: A Celebration – Part One

Sunday 28 December, 3-4pm

Today, listeners can join a celebration of the incredible radio career of Johnnie Walker MBE, which spanned over five decades, with a very special event recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre in London. From making waves on Radio Caroline with the Pirates to becoming a voice synonymous with BBC Radio, Johnnie was a true broadcasting giant.

Host Jo Whiley led the celebrations in front of an invited audience which included family, friends, production staff and colleagues from across his career, artists and people who he worked with. It was a fabulous opportunity to hear Johnnie’s voice right through his career, whilst sharing special memories with his fellow presenters and watching some incredible live performances.

The audience on the night had no idea what awaited them — and in that same spirit, you may wish to stop reading now if you’d prefer to experience the audio surprises in this programme for yourself!

Listeners will hear Bernard Butler on guitar flanked by the BBC Concert Orchestra, with a fabulous live rendition of Duane Eddy’s “Because They’re Young”, Johnnie’s iconic theme, which he played throughout his incredible career.

Throughout the evening there were special video moments, narrated by Johnnie, describing the various stages of his colourful career. These were accompanied by tributes and anecdotes from some of the greatest stars including Sir Brian May, Sir Elton John, Alice Cooper, Francis Rossi, Roger Daltrey, Pauline Black, Robert Plant, Suzi Quatro, Nile Rodgers, Paul Rodgers, Johnny Marr, Joan Armatrading, Dr Hook, Michael Ball, Peter Kay, Leo Sayer, Bonnie Raitt, Mick Fleetwood, Sir Rod Stewart, Mark Knopfler, Midge Ure, Joe Elliot and Hugh Bonneville.

Jo was also joined on stage by former radio colleagues and artists including Graham Gouldman of 10CC, Tom Robinson, Tony Blackburn, Ralph Bernard, Sally ‘Traffic’ Boazman, Mark Goodier and Bob Harris, who shared previously unheard memories of Johnnie.

Johnnie’s wife, Tiggy, also came on stage to eloquently describe other aspects of Johnnie’s life including their brilliant work for Carers UK.

Johnnie only ever hung one Gold Disc on his walls at home and it stayed there right up to his final show – it was for the massive Elton John & Kiki Dee hit “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” – so it was perfect, to have Kiki Dee come and perform a very special version of this track.

Keyboardist extraordinaire, Rick Wakeman, beautifully played a piano piece that he performed at Johnnie’s funeral – “Gone But Not Forgotten” – a piece of music that Rick only has played for the most special people in his life.

The evening concluded with a wonderful moving musical crescendo – Johnnie’s all time favourite song “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” – Emeli Sande brought her incredible voice for a stunning rendition of this timeless track. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

We were left with Johnnie’s closing words from his final show – “May we walk into the future with our heads held high, and happiness in our hearts, God Bless you”.

Presenter: Jo Whiley

Producer: Paul Thomas for Platform Media

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Johnnie Walker: A Celebration with Mark Goodier – Part Two

Sunday 28 December, 4-5pm

Following the Johnnie Walker Celebration on Radio 2, join Mark Goodier — long-time friend and former colleague of Johnnie — for a musical journey through some of Johnnie’s all-time favourite tracks. Spanning the decades, the show captures his passion for soul, the Californian sound, folk, blues, and rock, with timeless music from The Eagles, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Blondie, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, and The Steve Miller Band. It’s a heartfelt tribute to the sounds that shaped a broadcasting legend.

Presenter: Mark Goodier

Producer: Paul Thomas for Platform Media

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Sophie Ellis-Bextor NYE Kitchen Disco

Wednesday 31 December, 12-2pm

Listeners can hit the dancefloor with two hours of well-known party hits, handpicked by Kitchen Disco Queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Listeners can enjoy a non-stop mix of feel-good anthems from 70s disco to 00s pop. So although they can’t gather together en masse, they can dress up and boogie your goodbye to 2025 in style! Staying home has never been so much fun! It’s the ultimate blast of musical escapism for all the family!

Presenter: Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Producer: Paul Thomas and Steve Harris for Platform Media

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NYE Sounds of the 60s with Tony Blackburn

Wednesday 31 December, 2-4pm

Tony Blackburn is getting the NYE party started with two hours of 60s party anthems. Join Tony to kick start the New Year’s Eve celebrations with hits from The Beach Boys, Aretha Franklin and The Rolling Stones.

Plus the second hour will be listeners’ choice!

Presenter: Tony Blackburn

Producer: Mollie Davidson for Pomona

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NYE Party Sounds of the 70s with Bob Harris

Wednesday 31 December, 4-6pm

Disco balls at the ready, as Bob Harris brings listeners the perfect 70s playlist for a glittering New Year’s Eve party – featuring the best soul, disco, pop, rock and new wave floor-fillers.

Presenter: Bob Harris

Producer: Paul Thomas for Listen

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NYE Party Sounds of the 80s with Gary Davies

Wednesday 31 December, 6-8pm

Listeners can gear up for 2026 with Gary Davies and two hours of the biggest 80s anthems. It’s all about 1986 on a special Mastermix, marking the advent of that year’s 40th anniversary.

Presenter: Gary Davies

Producer: Paul Thomas for Listen

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NYE Party Sounds of the 90s with Owain

Wednesday 31 December, 8-10pm

Owain Wyn Evans plugs in his vast collection of disco lights and provides a cocktail of hits for an effervescent 90’s New Year’s Eve Party. Featuring music from all the rooms of your favourite 90s superclub, the music invokes sensational memories of the decade!

Presenter: Owain Wyn Evans

Producer: Vicki Blight-Pitt for Bengo Media

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Michelle Visage’s Fabulous New Year’s Party

Wednesday 31 December, 10pm-1am

Now the undisputed Queen of the New Year’s Party, Michelle Visage is back to help listeners kiss goodbye to the old and party in with the new, broadcasting live from LA. Michelle, who usually hosts her Handbag Hits show each Friday night, will be slaying the most fabulous party anthems that no year should start – or close – without.

Expect three hours packed with floor fillers, both vintage hits and more recent, hand-picked by the hostest with the mostest. Listeners will hear Madonna, ABBA, S Club 7, Whitney Houston, Cher, Erasure, Shirley Bassey, Spice Girls and more, this is a nationwide singalong that everyone is invited to join. Plus, Michelle will read out as many shoutouts as she can in between bops. As always, Michelle will make her last song of the year a singalong surprise…but which one will it be for 2025? You’ll have to listen to find out!

Presenter: Michelle Visage

Producer: Ste Softley for Mostest Ltd

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Your Ultimate Stevie Wonder Song

Thursday 1 January, 3-5pm

To mark 60 years since Stevie Wonder’s first UK Top 40 hit, and 50 years since the release of his landmark album Songs In The Key Of Life, Radio 2 called on listeners to vote for their favourite Stevie song from a shortlist of his 60 most played solo tracks on Radio 2.

Today, Trevor Nelson, who usually presents each weekday (2-4pm), counts down ‘Your Ultimate Stevie Wonder song’, as a part of a wider season of specials which celebrate his 60 most played solo tracks.

Trevor says: “Stevie Wonder is one of the greatest artists of all time — his songs are the soundtrack to so many of our lives. I’m thrilled to be revealing which track our Radio 2 listeners have chosen as their favourite. Every song in his catalogue is a classic, so whichever one comes out on top, it’s a well-deserved celebration of true musical genius.”

Stevie Wonder was born in Michigan on May 13th 1950. He made his recording debut at age 11 and had his first hit with Fingertips in 1963 as Little Stevie Wonder, which also featured Marvin Gaye on drums. Stevie quickly became a 1960s force to be reckoned with via hits like My Cherie Amour and I Was Made To Love Her. Stevie had a wide range of number one hits on the R&B and pop charts with songs like Superstition, Higher Ground and You Are the Sunshine of My Life.

Presenter: Trevor Nelson

Producer: Anthony Dunning for BBC Audio

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The Wonder of Stevie with DJ Spoony

Thursday, 1 January, 5-6pm

DJ Spoony is a Stevie Wonder superfan, and in this hour-long special he recalls how his love for Stevie started when he was growing up in Hackney, East London in the 70s, but he wouldn’t fully appreciate the artist’s legacy until much later in life, an appreciation which continues in the present day.

This is the story of how Stevie Wonder’s living legacy inspired DJ Spoony to pursue a career in music and entertainment, to become one of the UK’s most influential presenters, packed with some of the most-loved and acclaimed music ever created – from the magic of 60s Motown, to Stevie’s “classic era” of the 70s which gifted such iconic albums including “Songs in the Key of Life” and “Music of my Mind”, through to his iconic 80s hits. Spoony’s journey of discovering Stevie’s genius isn’t a conventional one, it is a long and winding but nonetheless authentic journey and told with honesty, respect and love for the artist. After hearing this don’t be surprised if you take your own deep dive into the Stevie Wonder archives.

Presenter: DJ Spoony

Producer: Ste Softley

Mostest Ltd

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BBC Radio 3

This Christmas, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 3 Unwind offer listeners a rich and varied festive soundtrack, blending tradition, reflection and celebration. The season begins with Carols Across the Country (Sunday 30 November), a landmark day of live broadcasts from dawn to dusk. From the Staffordshire Peak District to St Andrews, from Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight to Bethlehem in Carmarthenshire, presenters capture the spirit of Advent and Christmas through carols, local traditions, community voices and even some encounters with polar bears and penguins. At the heart of the day is a special Service for Advent with Carols from St John’s College, Cambridge, marking Sir John Rutter’s 80th birthday and featuring a new commission by Master of the King’s Music, Errollyn Wallen.

Festive repertoire is central to the season, and a special Radio 3 in Concert strand features Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, and performances by celebrated groups including the English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Singers, The Sixteen and Polyphony. Composer Sir James MacMillan presents a landmark six-part series exploring how the creation story from the Book of Genesis has inspired classical composers across the centuries.

Other highlights include Compline, a four-part series of night prayer services offering stillness and reflection during Advent; festive editions of In Tune, live from the BBC Radio Theatre; Saturday Morning with Tom Service; This Classical Life; and Choral Evensong from St Martin-in-the-Fields with seasonal works by Sir John Rutter and Bob Chilcott.

Music Matters: In the Beginning

Every Saturday from 29 November to 3 January, 1pm – 2pm

Renowned Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan presents a landmark six-part series. He is joined by leading theological and musical guests to explore how the creation story from the Book of Genesis has shaped the world of classical music through the ages, inspiring composers – whether religious or not. Featuring music spanning from the present day back to the 12th century, the episodes dive into different aspects of the creation story with guests including American theologian Margarita Mooney Clayton, trailblazing young Scottish composer Jay Capperauld, and former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

Presenter: Sir James MacMillan

Producer: Elizabeth Clark / Freya Hellier

BBC Audio Scotland

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Carols Across the Country: A Seasonal Journey

Sunday 30 November, 6.30am – 6.30pm

From dawn to dusk, Radio 3 marks the beginning of the festive season with Carols Across the Country, celebrating the spirit of Advent and Christmas with six live broadcasts from locations across the UK. Radio 3 presenters paint vivid pictures of the places they visit and evoke themes of winter, light, memory and renewal, introducing live music by local performers and discussing seasonal traditions with guest contributors.

Mark Forrest is in the Staffordshire Peak District where he’s joined by folk musicians, explores the history of lace-making and silk trade and meets the polar bears at the Peak Wildlife Park. Sarah Walker is on the Isle of Wight, where the Benedictine Monks from Quarr Abbey sing a Gregorian Chant for Advent. Nestled in Co. Down countryside, near the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland, John Toal visits Magy’s Farm, while Shân Cothi broadcasts from the Village Hall in Bethlehem, Carmarthenshire. On the feast day of Scotland’s patron saint, St Andrew, Kate Molleson is in St Andrews – Fife, listening to carols from the University Chapel Choir and reflecting on the idea of pilgrimage.

At the heart of the day is a special Service for Advent with Carols live from St John’s College, Cambridge. The service features new and traditional music for the season and also marks the 80th birthday of one of Britain’s best-loved carol composers—Sir John Rutter.

Presenter: Mark Forrest, Sarah Walker, John Toal, Shân Cothi, Kate Molleson

Producer: Barnaby Gordon

BBC Audio

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Compline

Sunday 30 November and 7, 14, 21 December, 10pm – 10.30pm

Radio 3 presents a four-part series of the office of Compline, a reflective service of night prayer, featuring a sequence of words and music providing a moment of stillness and reflection at the end of the day. Ancient plainsong sits alongside traditional and contemporary choral music for the season of Advent—the period of expectation as Christians prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Services come from:

• 30 November: Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tetbury, with St Martin’s Voices
• 7 December: Chapel of Keble College, Oxford, including works by Sally Beamish, Richard Pantcheff and Cecilia McDowall
• 14 December: St John the Evangelist, Hills Road, Cambridge, with the University of Cambridge Schola Cantorum performing music by Richard Rodney Bennett, Tallis, Golovanov and Alex Robson
• 21 December: Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer, Clerkenwell, London, including works by Distler, Maconchy and Soriano

Producer: Ben Collingwood

BBC Audio North

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The Essay: Hannah Peel’s Electronic Women

Monday 1 – Friday 5 December, 9.45pm – 10pm

Composer, broadcaster and producer Hannah Peel celebrates trailblazing women in electronic music, from Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire’s work in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, to the ‘diva of the diode’ Suzanne Ciani, French composer Eliane Radigue’s experiments with tape, and composer and performance artist Laurie Anderson. Through archive interviews and Hannah’s discussions with London-based award-winning producer Marta Salogni, the essays discover how these pioneering women changed the sound of music.

Presenter: Hannah Peel

Producer: Hannah Thorne

BBC Audio London

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The Essay: Accompanying Austen

Monday 15 – Friday 19 December, 9.45pm – 10pm

Marking 250 years since the birth of Jane Austen, film critic Antonia Quirke meets five modern composers who have scored original music for Austen adaptations or Austen-influenced films. The composers discuss musical choices in underscoring key scenes and moments, as well as the music Austen herself enjoyed. The series includes discussions with Rachel Portman (Emma), Adrian Johnston (Becoming Jane), Jeremy Sams (Persuasion), Ruth Barrett (Sanditon) and Fernando Velázquez (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies).

Presenter: Antonia Quirke

Producer: Emma Harding

BBC Audio Cardiff

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Private Passions: Pam Ayres

Sunday 21 December, 12 – 1pm

Michael Berkeley’s guest is the poet, comedian, songwriter and broadcaster Pam Ayres, who shares the music that matters most to her, including some seasonal favourites.

Presenter: Michael Berkeley

Producer: Clare Walker

BBC Audio London

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Words and Music: Twelve Days of Christmas

Sunday 21 December, 6pm-7.15pm

Inspired by the words of The Twelve Days of Christmas, this festive edition of Words and Music features poems by Liz Lochhead, W.B. Yeats and Ian McMillan, with readings from novels such as A Christmas Carol, Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jung Chang’s Wild Swans.

Music includes works by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Howard Shore. Folk tunes and Christmas favourites weave with Wagner and Campion.

Producer: Elizabeth Foster

BBC Audio North

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Sunday Feature: One Singular Sensation

Sunday 21 December, 7.15pm – 8pm

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of A Chorus Line, Katie Derham tells the extraordinary tale of the legendary musical theatre classic with contributions from original cast members. Set against the backdrop of 1970s New York, when Broadway was in decline and Times Square was in disrepair, this documentary traces how a midnight meeting in a draughty rehearsal room kick-started a global theatrical revolution. On this journey, Katie speaks to original dance troupe members and exclusively uncovers the legendary cassette tapes—kept under lock and key—that were recorded by director-choreographer Michael Bennett, igniting the entire production process.

Presenter: Katie Derham

Producer: Nadia Mehdi

Peanut & Crumb

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In Tune Christmas Special – Live from BBC Radio Theatre, London

Monday 22 December, 5-7pm

Katie Derham and Petroc Trelawny wish listeners a Merry Christmas with the traditional special edition of In Tune, live from BBC Radio Theatre in London with an audience in attendance. They are joined by guests including Connaught Brass, The Fourth Choir, pianists Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva, jazz singer Jacqui Dankworth and her band, performing a range of seasonal repertoire. Special guest readers present traditional Christmas tales and festive stories.

Presenters: Katie Derham, Petroc Trelawny

Producer: Martin Webb

BBC Audio London

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The Essay: Winterreisen

Monday 22 – Wednesday 24 December, 9.45pm – 10pm

Writers Mark Haddon, Wendy Erskine and Jo Lloyd present three new Christmas short stories about winter journeys, inspired by Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise.

Producer: Emma Harding

BBC Audio Cardiff

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Radio 3 in Concert – Christmas Specials

Thursday 18, Monday 22, Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 December, 7.30 – 9.45pm; Thursday 25 December, 8.05pm – 10pm

Radio 3 in Concert goes festive with five special programmes culminating in a performance of Sir James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio on Christmas Day.

On Thursday 18 December, Martin Handley presents Polyphony and the Britten Sinfonia in a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, recorded at Saffron Hall. Stephen Layton conducts the ensembles and a cast including Gwilym Bowen (tenor), Zoë Brookshaw and Ciara Hendrick (sopranos), Angharad Rowlands (mezzo) and Malachy Frame (baritone).

On Monday 22 December, English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir give a special performance of Handel’s Messiah, recorded at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. They are joined by an all-star cast of soloists headed by Sarah Connolly and led by renowned French harpsichordist and conductor Christophe Rousset.

On Tuesday 23 December, Harry Christophers and The Sixteen present a festive repertoire that stretches from medieval melodies to contemporary favourites (music by Warlock, Chilcott, Palestrina, Lucy Walker, and more), as performed earlier in December at London’s Cadogan Hall.

On Wednesday 24 December, the BBC Singers and Principal Guest Conductor Owain Park join forces with Adrian Scarborough (History Boys, Gavin and Stacey) on a Christmas journey of festive music and literature, including depictions of John Masefield’s classic The Box of Delights, Hardy’s Under the Greenwood Tree, Chekhov’s At Christmas Time and the lesser-known masterpiece of Charles Dickens, Doctor Marigold.

On Thursday 25 December, Martin Handley presents a concert recorded at the Barbican Hall in London earlier in the month, featuring Sir James Millan conducting his own Christmas Oratorio with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and soloists soprano Rhian Lois and baritone Roderick Williams.

Producers: Peter Thresh, Elizabeth Arno, Zara Siddiqi, Ayesha Labrom and Ann McKay

BBC Audio London

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Christmas Morning Live

Thursday 25 December, 9.30am – 1pm

Petroc Trelawny presents the perfect selection of festive music and guests for Christmas morning. The programme includes classical favourites, and listeners will be able to message the show to request seasonal music of their choice to share with family and friends.

Producer: Susan Kenyon

BBC Audio London

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The Lebrecht Interviews

Monday 29, Tuesday 30 December & Thursday 1, Friday 2 January, 9.15pm – 10pm

In the new series of the programme featuring interviews with some of the most celebrated figures on the classical music scene, writer and broadcaster Norman Lebrecht chats music and life with guests such as conductors Marin Alsop and Leonard Slatkin, as well as soprano Kiri Te Kanawa.

Presenter: Norman Lebrecht

Producer: Juan Carlos Jaramillo

BBC Audio London

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Sunday Feature: Reeking of Cowpats: Peer Gynt

Sunday 4 January, 7.15pm – 8pm

Marking 150 years since Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt premiered in Norway accompanied by Edvard Grieg’s evocative incidental music, writer and music historian Leah Broad explores why the production mattered so deeply in its time, and asks whether the music and the play, together or apart, are still able captivate audiences today.

Presenter: Leah Broad

Producer: Kristine Pommert

CTVC

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Epiphany Carol Service

Wednesday 7 January, 3-4pm

A sequence of words and music for Epiphany, recorded at St Luke’s Church, Chelsea, London. The service incorporates carols, hymns, anthems, Bible readings, and poetry, to celebrate the arrival of the Three Wise Men at the stable in Bethlehem. The choir sings works by John Sheppard, Morten Lauridsen, Philip Stopford, and Sir John Rutter.

Producer: Ben Collingwood

BBC Audio North

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Christmas programming on BBC Radio 3 also includes festive editions of:

Saturday Morning with Tom Service (Saturday 20 December, 9am – 12pm) with guest organist Anna Lapwood and a live performance from choir Siglo de Oro.

This Classical Life (Saturday 20 December, 5pm-6pm) featuring Jess Gillam in conversation with jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer Guy Barker, whose Big Band Christmas celebrates its 10th year at the Royal Albert Hall.

Choral Evensong for Christmas Eve (Wednesday 24 December, 3-4pm), recorded at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, with St Martin’s Voices, directed by Andrew Earis, presenting much-loved seasonal works by Sir John Rutter and Bob Chilcott.

Radio 3 Unwind

Radio 3 Unwind invites listeners to have a peaceful Christmas with seasonal music across its schedule. Special festive editions of shows include Classical Unwind, Cinematic Soundtracks, Classical Wind Down and Sleep Tracks. Programmes reflect not just Christmas, but a celebration of the season: from refreshing wintertime walks to cosy nights in.

BBC Orchestras and Choirs

The BBC’s Orchestras and Choirs present a selection of festive concerts and carols across the UK. Trevor Nelson’s Soul Christmas (Thursday 11 December, Royal Albert Hall, London) features re-imagined and re-scored soul and R&B tracks played by the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Troy Miller. Katie Derham presents Friday Night is Music Night: Christmas at the Movies (Friday 12 December, Butterworth Hall, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry), with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by George Morton, performing melodies from timeless classics.

Andrew Cottee conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for Christmas Classics in Glasgow (Thursday 18 December, City Halls) and Aberdeen (Friday 19 December, Music Hall) and Christmas at the Movies in Glasgow (Saturday 20 December, City Halls) and Edinburgh (Friday 21 December, Usher Hall), with singers Kelly Mathieson and singer and presenter Jamie MacDougall.

The BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales join forces with a massed Children’s Choir from schools across Wales for Carols for Christmas (Sunday 14 December, Brangwyn Hall, Swansea), conducted by Adrian Partington, and Richard Balcombe conducts the orchestra, singers Katie Birtill and Graham Bickley for Christmas Celebrations (Thursday 18 and Friday 19 December, BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff).

Karen Ní Bhroin conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Ghost Stories and Music for Christmas (Sunday 14 December, Barbican Hall, London), featuring classic ghost stories from Dickens, Saki and Oscar Wilde brought eerily to life by the music of Saint-Saëns, Vivaldi and Bartók. Sir James MacMillan conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra for his own Christmas Oratorio (Friday 19 December, Barbican Hall, London) with soprano Rhian Lois and baritone Roderick Williams.

The BBC Singers conducted by Owain Park perform A Christmas Odyssey with Adrian Scarborough (Thursday 11 December, Milton Court Concert Hall, London), a concert packed with the nation’s favourite Christmas carols and literature. Ian Skelly joins the BBC Singers, Sofi Jeannin and organist Ashley Grote for the annual Carols from Temple Church with the BBC Singers (Friday 19 December, Temple Church London).

In Manchester, Leslie Suganandarajah conducts The BBC Philharmonic Christmas Special (Friday 19 December, The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester) in an unforgettable night of festive fun and joyful surprises. 

BBC Radio 4

(Image: BBC/Chris Mills)

Festive highlights on Radio 4 include Lauren Laverne welcoming actress Kate Winslet as her festive castaway for Desert Island Discs and special programming across New Year’s Day to celebrate 75 years of The Archers.

Frank Cottrell Boyce will be asking Who Are You in Winnie the Pooh?, speaking to some of the UK’s favourite children’s writers about which character they most identify with. For Archive on 4, author Katherine Rundell will be unearthing the history of our love for Christmas ghost stories whilst How the Muppets Were Born in Britain, presented by Louise Gold who played Annie Sue Pig, celebrates the show’s anarchic origins.

Festive laughs come courtesy of Julian Clary’s new panel show I Don’t Do… Christmas!, plus seasonal specials of comedy favourites including Dead Ringers, Unspeakable, and One Person Found This Helpful. Drama fans can look forward to a sparkling new adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse’s Joy in the Morning alongside Plum in Prison, a play inspired by Wodehouse’s life. Plus, a 90-minute performance of T.S. Eliot’s classic verse drama Murder in the Cathedral, which dramatises the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket on 29th December 1170.

Venturing into the wardrobe, Emma Freud will tell the magical story of how her mother ended up living with CS Lewis in CS Lewis, the Evacuee and the Wardrobe. Meanwhile, The Reunion will bring together familiar faces from Downton Abbey, including Hugh Bonneville, Julian Fellowes and Laura Carmichael amongst others.

Musical celebrations across Radio 4 include Soul Music marking 25 years on Radio 4 with a compilation of stories about the music that reaches our emotional core, Add to Playlist getting into the Christmas spirit with festive tracks from across the world and in With Great Pleasure, Bill Bailey and his band perform his favourite songs and readings.

BBC Radio 4’s Today will also welcome six Guest Editors between 24 December and 31 December as they take over the editorial reins of the programme.

And delving into the archives, BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Christmas Day will bring listeners’ favourites to the air.

Dead Ringers

Friday 12 December, 6.30pm – 7pm

Midway through a national tour celebrating 25 years of mischievous mimicry, the Dead Ringers team are back on Radio 4 for two Christmas specials. Expect merrily ding-donging politicians and celebrities as Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis Macleod, Duncan Wisbey, Jess Robinson and Kieran Hodgson brighten up the bleak mid-winter with a sharp, topical take on the season of goodwill. The second Christmas special is available on 19 December.

Producer: Jon Holmes

A BBC Studios Production.

FK

Illuminated: CS Lewis, the Evacuee and the Wardrobe

Sunday 14 December, 7.15pm – 7.45pm

In 1939, Emma Freud’s mother Jill was evacuated from London to the suburbs of Oxford. After staying with Lewis Carroll’s friends, the Butler sisters for a few years, she arrived at her next designated accommodation clutching a small suitcase and a copy of her favourite book, The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis. It was just a few weeks later, after she spotted several copies of that book on a shelf, that she realised she was actually living with CS Lewis himself.

Illustrated with readings from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Emma captures these precious memories as she sits down with her mum, now 98, to hear her magical story.

Readings of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe by Olivia Williams

Other readings by Richard Gibson

Presenter: Emma Freud

Producer: Elizabeth Foster

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis © copyright 1950 CS Lewis Pte Ltd.

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Mary Macdonald’s Big Trip by Alexander McCall Smith

Monday 15 December, 10.45pm – 11pm

Mary Macdonald is a logical soul; a much-loved teacher and crofter whose busy Hebridean life leaves little room for flights of fancy. But when a windfall comes her way, Miss Macdonald decides it’s time to sample some clear mountain air – on the other side of the world.

A story in celebration of travel, karma and broadening the mind, all while staying true to your principles.

Read by Ceit Kearney

Written by Alexander McCall Smith

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.

FK

Jane Austen 250th Birthday

Tuesday 16 December, throughout the day

Radio 4 celebrates Jane Austen’s 250th birthday with a full day of programming exploring her enduring legacy.

Woman’s Hour (10am–11am) opens with a look at why Austen’s writing still resonates with women today.

Screenshot: Jane Austen on Film (11am–11.45am) explores adaptations from the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice to Clueless, featuring guests Celine Song, Lillian Crawford, and Amy Heckerling.

When I Met Jane Austen (11.45am–12pm and 1.45pm–2pm) features authors Val McDermid and Kate Atkinson sharing personal reflections.

Drama on 4: Jane and Tom – The Real Pride and Prejudice (2.15pm–3pm) dramatises Austen’s romance with Tom Lefroy, based on her letters.

Bookclub (4pm–4.30pm) welcomes Emma Thompson to discuss her Oscar-winning adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.

Front Row (7.15pm–10pm) closes the day with a panel of experts discussing Austen’s literary brilliance and lasting influence.

Plus, there will be a chance to hear the Radio 4 continuity announcers like you’ve never heard them before

This is part of a wider season of programming celebrating Austen.

FK / RB2

Strong Message Here

Friday 19 December, 9.45am – 10am

Armando Iannucci and guest Stewart Lee share their political words and phrases of the year, decoding what they think politicians really meant.

Produced by Gwyn Davies at BBC Studios for BBC Radio 4. Extended version on BBC Sounds.

FK

Add to Playlist

Friday 19 December, 7.15pm – 8pm

Add to Playlist celebrates the Christmas spirit with five festive tracks from across the world, and across the centuries. To help compile the seasonal playlist, presenters Anna Phoebe and Jeffrey Boakye are joined in the musical game by special guests and their instruments.

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Toast: Farepak Christmas Hampers

Thursday 18 December at 12.30pm (Podcast drops at 6am)

Host Sean Farrington, resident entrepreneur Sam White and guests look at the rise and fall of the Christmas prepayment club Farepak that collapsed in 2006 leaving tens of thousands of customers out of pocket.

In each episode of Toast, the presenter and BBC business journalist Sean Farrington examines one big idea. What did it promise? Why did people back it? Why did they get burnt? Some of the world’s most successful businesses have also brought us some of the world’s most remarkable failures. So, what led them to be toast? And what can we learn from their stories today? Toast is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds.

You can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Sean Farrington

Producer: Jon Douglas

Toast is produced by BBC Audio North for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Scam Secrets: The WhatsApp takeover

Thursday 11 December

WhatsApp is part of our daily lives – and criminals know just how to weaponise that trust.

In this episode, Shari Vahl and the team hear how a devastatingly simple trick handed the keys for a Scam Secrets listener’s WhatsApp account to a scammer. Along with expert linguist Dr Elisabeth Carter and former criminal Alex Wood, Shari finds out what the hacker did next – and how an old friend of the victim was tricked into handing over money. As ever, there will be red flags waving to show you what to watch out for – and essential tips from our guest expert to keep your account secure.

Presenter: Shari Vahl

Producer: Tom Moseley

Scam Secrets – Gift Card Scam

Thursday 18 December, 12pm

It’s coming up to Christmas, and you might have gift cards on your mind. The perfect present choice for many scenarios – but also the perfect weapon for criminals.

In 2023, Action Fraud got more than 6,000 crime reports about gift cards. More than £13 million was stolen. So what makes these versatile gifts gold dust for criminals? That’s what Shari Vahl, Elisabeth Carter and Alex Wood will be finding out, along with the shocking story of Sarah, who thought she was helping out her boss while on work experience but ended up buying £1,300 in gift cards for criminals. As always, the Scam Secrets team will get under the skin of this scam, finding out how criminals target their victims and why even a simple LinkedIn post could put you at risk.

Presenter: Shari Vahl

Producer: Tom Moseley

Archive on 4: Ghost Stories at Christmas

Saturday 20 December, 8pm – 9pm

Katherine Rundell unearths the Christmas ghost story from pagan origins to Dickens, Daphne Du Maurier and 1970s folk horror television and considers what these curious bedfellows say about our complex relationship with this time of year.

Ghost stories have always been best told on a midwinter night – preferably aloud, around a blazing fire. Katherine joins Jeanette Winterson at the hearth in her haunted Spitalfields home to share ghostly archival tales from MR James, Susan Hill and Charles Dickens and to trace what she describes as ‘the greatest of pleasures’ – that combination of an icy haunting dark, hemming a Christmas globe of light.

In the company of Professor John Mullan, Katherine returns to some of our oldest texts including Beowulf to discover how spectres and ghouls have allowed us to express loss, resolution and rage around the fire over centuries.

Reading from her childhood diary, writer Sarah Waters describes her own long fascination with ghost tales in midwinter and reflects on the BBC’s reigniting of this tradition with its ‘A Ghost Story for Christmas’ adaptations in the 1970s and then again more recently.

With music by The Enchanted Cinema.

Produced by Sarah Cuddon

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Four.

RB2

Desert Island Discs

Sunday 21 December, 10am – 11am

(Image: BBC/Chris Mills)

Kate Winslet shares the eight tracks, book and luxury item she would take with her if cast away to a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.

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Illuminated: A Very British Christmas

Sunday 21 December, 7.15pm – 7.45pm

What does Christmas Day mean to you?

This raw, kaleidoscopic audio portrait, made up entirely from voice notes recordings, tracks the emotional contours of the day as it unfolds.

Through midnight churchgoing and moments of quiet reflection to frenetic gift-giving, culinary chaos and karaoke, the programme evokes and questions our own multifarious experiences of what Christmas Day ‘means’.

Variously boozy, silly, sad, excited, warm, lonely, deeply spiritual and endearingly humanistic – the contributions chart a cross section of modern Britain, encompassing heartfelt-stories, accidental field recordings, impromptu songs and audio diary entries.

With special thanks to all those who recorded their Christmas Day for us in 2024. Original music and sound design by James Bonney.

Producer: James Bonney

Mix: Mike Woolley

Executive Producer: Olivia Humphreys

An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4

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Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson

Monday 22 December, 10.45pm – 11pm

Jeanette Winterson loves Christmas, made abundantly clear in these festive offerings: a new essay, two family Christmas recipes and three short stories (from the anthology Christmas Days).

Winterson’s wit and deep humanity collide in these tales populated by rich characters, turkeys, trees and festive magic aplenty.

Produced by Emma Harding, Fay Lomas and Mair Bosworth

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How to Play: The Snowman

Tuesday 23 December, 9.30am – 10am

Eavesdropping on rehearsals for a special screening of the beloved Christmas animation, as musicians prepare to perform the soundtrack live, with its hit song, Walking in the Air.

Every winter, a unique orchestra comes together to create a big-screen version of one of Britian’s most iconic Christmas-television treats: The Snowman. Ambitions are high and the pressure is on, as the rehearsal date arrives. In just a few hours, they will be taking their show on the road and bringing it to eager audiences across the country. The players have just one morning to transform themselves into a cohesive ensemble and bring the complex musical score to life. If that wasn’t enough, there’s the added challenge of synchronising their performances to the live animated pictures!

Leading the way is conductor, George Morton, who shows us how he homes in on key moments to fix problems and finesse the drama. The players give us a musicians-eye view of their experiences on stage; and we hear from the young soloist who is stepping up to sing the famous Christmas hit at the centre of the story, “Walking in the Air”.

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Opening Lines: Joy in the Morning

Tuesday 23 December, 12.45pm – 1pm

Ian Sansom, sitting in for John Yorke, takes a look at Joy In The Morning, the 44th Jeeves and Wooster novel by P.G. Wodehouse. Published in 1946, it revolves around Bertie Wooster’s attempts to avoid a series of social and romantic calamities. The omniscient Jeeves, of course, remains the great calm at the centre of the novel’s storm, devising ingenious solutions just when disaster seems inevitable.

With readings and contributions from Sir Stephen Fry.

Archive:

Archive 1961 BBC Interview – Alistair Cooke speaks to P.G. Wodehouse

Archive 1972 BBC Interview – Keith Dewhurst speaks to P.G. Wodehouse

Reader: Sir Stephen Fry

Producer: Laura Grimshaw

Executive Producer: Sara Davies

Programme Hub Co-ordinator: Nina Semple

Researcher: Henry Tydeman

Sound: Sean Kerwin

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Drama on 4: Plum in Prison

Tuesday 23 December, 2.15pm – 3pm

A new drama by Dan Rebellato, inspired by P G Wodehouse’s life.

In late May 1940, author PG Wodehouse was interned by the Nazis. During that time, he made a series of radio broadcasts that caused intense debate about patriotism and when is humour not appropriate. The broadcasts were essentially humorous monologues about his time as prisoner, combined with subtle mocking of his captors. However, the simple fact of the broadcasts and certain phrases from them – ‘whether Britain wins the war or not’ – plus his apparent reluctance to denounce his German captors, led to hostile accusations that he was a traitor, a quisling, or worse, a man with fascist sympathies who had sold out his country to gain early release.

Can – or should – comedy play a role in times of political extremes and cruelty? Plum in Prison considers responsibility, judgment and choices in bad times, offering a defence of laughter, comedy and joy even in our darkest hours.

Cast: Stephen Mangan as Plum, Clare Lawrence Moody, Harley Viveash, Max Runham, Graeme Hawley and Silas Carson

Producer – Polly Thomas

Sound Designer – Steve Brooke

Production Manager – Darren Spruce

Executive Producer – Celia de Wolff

A Thomas Carter Projects production for BBC Radio 4.

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With Great Pleasure at Christmas with Bill Bailey

Tuesday 23 December, 5pm – 6pm

In a special With Great Pleasure at Christmas treat, Bill Bailey and his band perform his favourite songs and readings to delight the audience at the BBC Radio Theatre and the listeners at home.

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One Person Found This Helpful

Tuesday 23 December, 6.30pm – 7pm

Frank and guests Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Sunil Patel, Simon Evans and Ania Magliano play a Xmas-flavoured episode of the panel game based on what we all sit down and do at least once a day – shop online and leave a review. Christmas is especially fraught with agonising about whether a gift might live up to its promise, so join the all-star panel as they celebrate the good, the bad and the baffling.

Everyone has an online life, and when the great British public put pen to keyboard to leave a review, they almost always write something hilarious. Our all-star panel have to work out what they were reviewing – and maybe contribute a few reviews of their own… So, if you’re the person who reviewed some tinsel by saying ‘does what it says on the tin’, this show salutes you!

Written by Frank Skinner, Catherine Brinkworth, Sarah Dempster, Gareth Gwynn, Jason Hazeley, Karl Minns, Katie Sayer and Peter Tellouche.

Devised by Jason Hazeley and Simon Evans, produced by David Tyler.

A Pozzitive Production for BBC Radio 4.

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The Archers

Tuesday 23 December, 7pm – 7.15pm

It’s a bright and sparkling Christmas Eve in Ambridge. We gather with Lynda Snell and the rest as they enjoy mulled wine and the spectacle of the eagerly anticipated – and hotly contested – festive tractor run. There’s an eyebrow-raising treat on Hannah Riley’s trailer, with one participant not so willingly sacrificing all dignity, and the Reverend Alan gets in the spirit with two accomplices in a novel take on a traditional Christmas offering.

In the midst of the cavalcade, Ruairi Donovan finds himself with a problem to solve, with some timely words of wisdom from one much-loved resident coming to his aid at the eleventh hour.

Will recent rivalries be put aside as the community comes together to spread the warmest of Ambridge Christmas cheer?

The episode is written by Naylah Ahmed and directed by Peter Leslie Wild. The Editor is Jeremy Howe.

Tony Archer – David Troughton

Jazzer McCreary – Ryan Kelly

Hannah Riley – Helen Longworth

Lynda Snell – Carole Boyd

Ruairi Donovan – Arthur Hughes

Rev. Alan Franks – John Telfer

Joy Horville – Jackie Lye

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Drama on 4: Joy in the Morning

Wednesday 24 December, 12pm – 1pm

Ageless, affable Bertie Wooster (Freddie Fox) travels to rural Steeple Bumpleigh. Older, wiser valet Jeeves (Martin Jarvis) accompanies him.

In this sparkling new two-part dramatisation of Wodehouse’s novel, Freddie Fox revisits the character of Wooster which he played to acclaim in the West End. Martin Jarvis recreates the older Jeeves for which he won the Theatre World Award on Broadway.

Episode 1: Absurd challenges at rural Steeple Bumpleigh. Bertie needs to do a favour for crusty Lord Worplesdon (Ian Ogilvy.) Complications. Not least from Bertie’s ex-fiancée Florence (Lisa Dillon). Also, Bertie has promised lovely young Zenny (Rose Williams) he’ll get Lord W’s consent to her to marrying Boko Fittleworth (Edward Bennett.)

Could Jeeves help? Possibly. But further difficulties include midnight marauders and ambitious PC Cheesewright (Lloyd Owen).

Cast:

Bertie Wooster – Freddie Fox

Jeeves – Martin Jarvis

Bookseller – Nigel Anthony

Zenobia Hopwood – Rose Williams

Florence Craye – Lisa Dillon

Stilton Cheesewright – Lloyd Owen

Boko Fittleworth – Edward Bennett

Edwin – Max Hanson

Lord Worplesdon – Ian Ogilvy

Dramatised by Archie Scottney

Engineers: Olly Thompson, Neil Wogensen

Producer: Rosalind Ayres

Director: Martin Jarvis

A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.

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Drama on 4: The Truth About Phyllis Twigg

Wednesday 24 December, 2.15pm – 3pm

In 1924, ostensibly, the world’s first radio drama was broadcast by the BBC. Richard Hughes was credited as the writer; but Phyllis Twigg wrote a children’s radio play performed live on the BBC on Christmas Eve – over one year earlier.

The Truth About Phyllis Twigg is a light-hearted drama about giving credit where credit’s due – even if it takes 100 years to get it.

1922: It may only be six weeks old, but the brand-new British Broadcasting Company is already desperate for content. Arthur Burrows, its first on-air voice and Director of Programmes is accosted by children’s author Phyllis Twigg outside Marconi House with a pitch – could they put a play on the radio? Phyllis has already written for gramophone; broadcasting is the natural next step.

2025: In the British Library, HerStory podcast producer Jenny Adams fumbles with her phone as she attempts to record a voice note for her season finale. She suspects children’s author Moira Meighn and Phyllis Twigg, the dramatist, are one and the same and the proof is somewhere in its stacks. She also intends to right an injustice. Not for the first time has a man been credited with a woman’s historical first.

As Arthur and Phyllis grapple with the challenges of broadcasting the nation’s first live radio play, they also star in it. Jenny faces a challenge of her own. Change history – and reveal the truth about Phyllis Twigg.

“The Truth about Phyllis Twigg” written by Paul Kerensa.

Phyllis Twigg – Tamsin Greig

Arthur Burrows – Rory Kinnear

Jenny – Aja Dodd

Rajesh – Amit Shah

Mr White – Will Harrison-Wallace

Lift Boy – Haydn Watts

Anne – Flora Saner

Other roles played by members of the cast:

“Dear Santa” written and performed by Hannah Brine

Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore

Studio Manager: Rohan Onraet

Original Music: Neil Brand

Producer, Executive Producer: Andrew Mark Sewell

Director: Helen Quigley

A B7 Media production for BBC Radio 4.

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I Don’t Do… Christmas! With Julian Clary

Wednesday 24 December, 6.30pm – 7pm

‘I Don’t Do…Christmas!’ is a brand new, gloriously mischievous panel show pilot for people who’d, well, rather not.

This Christmas Eve, Julian Clary hosts a yuletide celebration like no other, joined by comedy guest stars Jo Brand, Glenn Moore, and Fatiha El-Ghorri, plus choirmaster Gareth Malone, who gamely attempts to raise the spirits of a panel who’d much prefer a silent night.

Expect games, giggles, and more festive gripes than you can shake your figgy pudding at. Elf on the Shelf? More like Elf in the Bin. Mince pies? One in each hand, darling!

‘I Don’t Do…Christmas!’ is produced by Daddy’s SuperYacht Productions for BBC Radio 4.

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The Reunion

Thursday 25 December, 9am – 10am

When Downton Abbey first hit our screens in September 2010, no-one could predict that it would take the world by storm becoming Britain’s most successful drama export ever. There were six series, three films, a stash of international awards and millions of fans in hundreds of countries.

Kirsty Wark reunites key players from the TV juggernaut which spliced love, betrayal, domestic politics and the vagaries of power – written with soap-opera sensibilities to ensure Downton became appointment viewing every Sunday night.

ITV was still recovering from crippling downturn in advertising revenues after the 2008 financial crash when they were approached with the idea for an expensive Edwardian Upstairs Downstairs style drama. They took a chance on it and by the second week, audiences had rocketed by 25 percent.

It was unabashedly glamorous with toffs swanning around huge high-ceilinged rooms upstairs while their legion of servants scurried around below ready to attend to their every waking need.

Its multi-generational appeal bridged the era where everyone knew their place just as younger characters were embracing women’s suffrage, the rise of socialism, and the imperturbable march of technology.

Among those joining Kirsty are Hugh Bonneville who played Robert Crawley, patriarch of the Crawley family and the owner of the Downton Abbey estate, Julian Fellowes who wrote all six series, five Christmas specials and three feature films, Laura Carmichael who played the unconventional middle daughter Lady Edith – her first role out of drama school, Phyllis Logan who was the firm but fair housekeeper Mrs Hughes, Leslie Nichol who played the constantly flustered head cook Mrs Patmore, executive producer Gareth Neame who came up with the original idea and producer Liz Trubridge who kept the show on the road through tantrums and turmoil.

Producer:Karen Pirie

Series Producer:David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

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Woman’s Hour

Thursday 25 December, 10am – 11am

Nuala McGovern and Anita Rani will explore the role rituals play in making Christmas special. From the customs passed down the generations to brand new traditions being created, we explore how women are involved in making and maintaining the special moments that bring families and friends together. We explore the psychology of rituals to understand why they make us feel relaxed, bonded and safe. And in this fast paced and often disconnected digital world, we explore how nostalgia and rituals could help us find deeper connection, and sense of belonging.

Presenters: Nuala McGovern and Anita Rani

Producer: Andrea Kidd

Editor: Karen Dalziel

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Drama on 4: Regifted

Thursday 25 December, 2.15pm – 3pm

A magical Christmas tale of unwanted talking gifts and lonely humans in search of connection.

Una has just turned forty and faces another Christmas alone. Another token gift from colleagues at work reminds her of just how lonely she is.

Cardy is a Cardamon, Cider and Toasted Pumpkin scented candle whose dream of taking pride of place by a luxurious foam bath comes crashing down when she finds herself thrown into the cupboard under Una’s stairs with the other rejects – an embittered rival candle, a cheeseboard, a Karl Marx novelty lighter, a bottle of limoncello, an outdated CD and a pack of tealights.

As Cardy changes hands, all is not lost – though with each regifting, the candle’s hopes, just like the notes of her complex scent, are fading fast. And with them, Una’s hopes of ever finding friendship and connection.

Part social satire, part festive fable, Regifted is a bittersweet, comic tale of loneliness, community and hope in the season of giving.

By Martin Jameson

The Spirit of Christmas – Cyril Nri

Two-Piece and Cheeseboard – Kate Harbour

Una and Cardamon – Jessica Dennis

Limoncello and Amy – Clare Corbett

Leather and Mr Two-Piece – Ben Crowe

Honest John and Now – Will Howard

Rob – Jesse Fox

Other voices are played by the cast:

Executive producer – Sara Davies

Sound design – Adam Woodhams

Directed and produced by Nicolas Jackson.

An Afonica production for BBC Radio 4.

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Unspeakable

Thursday 25 December, 6.30pm – 7pm

Phil Wang and Susie Dent challenge guests to invent new festive words to enter the dictionary. With special guests Matt Lucas, Nick Mohammed and Sara Pascoe.

In the 2025 Christmas special, we hear Matt Lucas’s new word for a crucial moment during Christmas dinner, Nick Mohammed (who fans will remember from Celebrity Traitors) coins a new word for your neighbour who goes all out with the decorations, and Sara Pascoe creates a word for when you have to put on a brave face through the festive season.

Created by Joe Varley

Writers: Matt Crosby and Katie Storey

Recorded by Jerry Peal

Producer: Jon Harvey

Executive Producers: Joe Varley and Akash Lockmun

A Brown Bred production for BBC Radio 4.

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The Infinite Monkey Cage: The North Pole Unwrapped

Thursday, 25 Dec at 11am (Podcast available on BBC Sounds Wednesday, 17 December at 7am)

In this Christmas episode of The Infinite Monkey Cage, Brian Cox and Robin Ince orientate to the North Pole to explore the dazzling science behind the northern lights, the extreme adaptations that help animals – and even Santa Claus – survive the Arctic cold, and how the Earth’s magnetic field might just guide him home. Join the monkeys and a panel of experts as they brave the chill to uncover the scientific wonders of one of Earth’s most remote and magical frontiers.

Producer: Melanie Brown

Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

A BBC Studios Production.

Woman’s Hour

Friday 26 December, 10am – 11am

On Boxing Day, Woman’s Hour takes a look at women’s relationship with the dark. At the point in the year when days are the shortest, Anita Rani explores why some women feel cocooned by darkness and love to hunker down embracing it, whilst others fear the dark or simply long for the lighter evenings to return. She talks to women who live and work in the dark and reflects on how women have historically navigated the potential dangers of darkness and those who’ve harnessed it to their advantage.

Presenter: Anita Rani

Producer: Corinna Jones

Editor: Deiniol Buxton

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The Matt Forde Focus Group

Friday 26 September, 6.30pm – 7pm

Comedian Matt Forde reconvenes his very own Focus Group for a one-off Boxing Day special. Matt and his panel of politicians, comedians and curious minds explore the issues shaping our world – all filtered through a uniquely funny and insightful lens that turns serious discussion into something both hilarious and surprisingly revealing. Expect big festive laughs, smart debate, and a refreshingly honest take on the political stories that shaped 2025.

The Matt Forde Focus Group is Produced by Richard Garvin and is an Avalon Production for BBC Radio 4.

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Café Hope

Tuesday 23 December, 8pm – 8.40pm

Join Rachel Burden for Café Hope’s Christmas Dinner where we’ve swapped our virtual café for a real one – the perfectly named Café Hope in Glasgow – for a chat and a cake or two. We’ll hear how the community café is run by young people mentored and trained by professional chefs. And we’ll hear how all our guests are trying to make Christmas better for people in big or small ways.

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Soul Music

Saturday 27 December, 9am – 10am

In a special hour-long programme, Soul Music celebrates 25 years on Radio 4 with a compilation of stories about the music that reaches our emotional core. Over the years we’ve heard from a variety of people who have been profoundly moved by a piece of music or a song that has stayed with them over a lifetime as a joyful memory or supported them through difficult times. Prepare to be deeply moved by stories of birth, childhood, coming-of-age, love and loss, and ultimately survival that remind us of the huge role that music plays as the soundtrack to our lives.

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Spotlight: Murder in the Cathedral

Saturday 27 December, 3pm – 4.30pm

Danny Sapani stars in T.S. Eliot’s 1935 verse drama about the murder and martyrdom of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December 1170.

Thomas Becket – Danny Sapani

The Chorus – Kirsty Oswald, Sasha McCabe and Maggie Steed

The Priests – Chris Lew Kum Hoi and Clive Hayward

The Fourth Tempter – Jasmine Hyde

The Messenger – Django Bevan

The Four Knights – Matthew Gravelle, Silas Carson, Joseph Ayre and Philippe Spall.

Music composed by Joseph Howard and performed by the BBC Singers, with percussionist Louise Anna Duggan.

Production co-ordinators Eleri Sydney McAuliffe and Lindsay Rees

Sound design – Catherine Robinson and Rhys Morris

A BBC Audio Wales production, adapted and directed by Emma Harding.

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Archive on 4: How The Muppet Show Began in Britain

Saturday 27 December, 8pm – 9pm

Before it became a global sensation, The Muppet Show was a British gamble. In this warm and witty documentary, Louise Gold – who played Annie Sue Pig – celebrates the show’s anarchic birth in Britain in the mid-1970s. Rejected by American networks, Jim Henson’s puppet troupe found a champion in ATV boss Lew Grade, who backed the series and gave it a home at Elstree Studios.

Broadcast on ITV on Sunday nights, The Muppet Show was an overnight hit. Its surreal humour and musical chaos cast won over British audiences instantly. Louise Gold, the show’s first British female puppeteer, guides us through its early days, revisiting unforgettable numbers like Mah Nà Mah Nà, Bein’ Green, and The Muppet Show Theme.

We hear from guest stars Petula Clark and Twiggy, TV supremo Michael Grade – son of Lew – and Muppet legend Dave Goelz, who still plays Gonzo. Writer Joe Bailey shares what it was like scripting madness, while stage managers and cameramen reveal how the show came together behind the scenes.

The Muppets’ anarchic antics didn’t just entertain, they reshaped British children’s television. We meet Hartley Hare and Nigel Paskin, who filmed Pipkins next door, and Ronnie Le Drew, who voices Zippy and George from Rainbow. Both Nigel and Ronnie would go on to work with the Jim Henson Company.

Producer: Ashley Byrne

A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4.

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A Long Winter by Colm Tóibín

Monday 29 December, 10.45pm – 11pm

An unforgettable story about loss and new love from the bestselling author of ‘Brooklyn’ and ‘Long Island.’

One snowy morning, after arguing with her husband, Miquel’s mother walks out from their home high up in the Pyrenees and does not return. With his younger brother stationed far away on military service and his father cast out by the people of the town, Miquel and his father are left to fend for themselves. Together they will be forced to battle the elements, and their resentment of each other, through the long winter.

Writer: Colm Tóibín

Abridger: Rowan Routh

Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.

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Drama on 4: Snow White’s Radio Drama Romance

Wednesday 31 December, 2.15pm – 3pm

Following ‘Rumpelstiltskin’s Radio Drama Romance’, former Head of BBC Radio Drama, Gordon House has written and directed a new play – Snow White’s Radio Drama Romance. Once more the lives of the production team and the actors are as important (and oddly relevant) as the story of Snow White, who here becomes the possible prey of the Big Bad Wolf.

The play revolves around producer Graham, who is attempting to cope with his own disorderly private life and imminent retirement. With him are a depressed technical producer whose boyfriend has just left her, a writer whose home has been burgled, an actor with a drink problem and a BBC executive who makes a thoroughly ill-timed visit to the recording. Meantime, in the pantomime, Snow White not only has to avoid eating her wicked aunt’s apple but also must avoid being eaten by a charismatic but rapacious wolf.

Jon Strickland stars as Graham, Neil Summerville plays both King Horace and his brother, the hapless Royal Soothsayer. Alan Bennett makes a cameo appearance as The Voice of the Mirror. David Chilton provides the music links and the play is an Essential Music Production, produced by Lucinda Mason Brown.

Cast:

Production Team

Graham – Jon Strickland

Jeremy – Clive Hayward

Tashelle – Rakie Ayola

Jenny – Abbie Andrews

The Actors

King/Royal Soothsayer/Neil -Neil Summerville

Witch/Morgana/Briony – Tracy Wiles

Snow White/Maisie/Clara – Kitty O’Sullivan

Wolf/Jolly/Wil – Will Howard

With Alan Bennett as The Voice of the Mirror.

Crew:

Technical Producer: Andrew Garratt

Sound Designers: Lucinda Mason Brown and David Chilton

Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling

Director: Gordon House

An Essential production for BBC Radio 4.

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Front Row

Wednesday 31 December, 7.15pm – 8pm

Featuring a classic track and a New Year treat from Belle & Sebastian, who are embarking on their 30th anniversary tour in 2026, and a specially commissioned Hogmanay poem by Michael Mullen, whose debut collection Goonie was published to great acclaim earlier this year.

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The Archers 75th anniversary

Thursday 1 January

On New Year’s Day, Radio 4 celebrates 75 years of The Archers with a day of special programming, including a 45-minute drama at 19.15, straight after that night’s episode of The Archers. Then at 20:00, The Archers Podcast will be broadcast for the first time on Radio 4.

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Strong Message Here

Thursday 1 January, 9.45am – 10am

Extended version on BBC Sounds.

Armando Iannucci picks through listener suggestions of their favourite or least favourite political words and phrases of the year.

Produced by Gwyn Davies at BBC Studios for BBC Radio 4.

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The Best of the News Quiz

Friday 2 January, 6.30pm – 7pm

Andy Zaltzman takes us through some of the funniest bits of this much-loved topical show in a year that didn’t over deliver on tidings of comfort and joy.

Produced by Rajiv Karia at BBC Studios for BBC Radio 4.

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Today Programme – Christmas Guest Editors

Wednesday 24 December – Wednesday 31 December (no programme on Christmas Day and Sundays). Monday to Friday 6-9am; Boxing Day and Saturday 7-9am.

BBC Radio 4’s Today will welcome six Guest Editors between 24 December and 31 December as they take over the editorial reins of the programme.

This year’s line-up is:

• Cate Blanchett – actress and film producer
• Melvyn Bragg – writer and broadcaster
• Sir James Dyson – inventor
• Tom Holland – historian
• Theresa May – former Prime Minister
• Mustafa Suleyman – AI entrepreneur

Listen to Today on BBC Sounds

The Killing Season

Wednesday 19 December, 11am – 11.30am & 5pm – 5.30pm

A festive whodunnit on Radio 4 Extra. It’s Christmas Eve at Melford Police Station and the season of ‘goodwill’ to all men.

But the yuletide spirit soon evaporates after a high-level break-in and fire at the church hall in the small town.

Supposedly the work of local vandals, events lead swiftly and surprisingly to murder and an end to any kind of goodwill…

Written in six parts for radio by the creator of ‘Inspector Frost’, RD Wingfield, under the pseudonym ‘Arthur Jefferson’.

Michael Jenner stars as Detective Constable Nuttall, Sean Barrett as Detective Inspector Carter, John Hollis as Police Sergeant Plummer and Manning Wilson as Arthur Ferris.

New to Radio 4 Extra. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1984.

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An Hour with Dickie Bird

Wednesday 24 December, 10am – 11am and 4pm – 5pm

Legendary cricket umpire Dickie Bird died on 22 September 2025, aged 92. In this recording from 1997, Dickie tells his favourite stories to a live theatre audience and talks about his funniest moments and the greatest characters in Test cricket, including Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Allan Lamb, Fred Trueman and Merv Hughes.

He also describes the memorable day when he was invited to lunch with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.

First on Radio 4 Extra. A Barn Productions programme from 1997.

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Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas In Wales

Thursday 25 December, 9am – 10am

Friends Will and Jim look back to boyhood escapades in a time when “the snow was shaken from whitewash buckets in the sky and grew overnight on the roofs of houses”. They recall a noisy Christmas Eve of smoke, cinders and snowballs. Wind cherried noses, iced cake and a small, dry eggshell voice joining them in a carol.

Written by Dylan Thomas.

New to Radio 4 Extra. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Day 1994.

Suggested by Barbara Johnston and Christopher Warren as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Christmas Day.

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Albert and the Liner

Thursday 25 December, 9.30am – 9.45am

A young lad is convinced a model of the Queen Mary is coming his way, but does Father Christmas have other ideas?

Reader: Malcolm Hebden

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1990.

Suggested by Victoria Percy as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Christmas Day.

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With Great Pleasure at Christmas

Thursday 25 December, 10am – 11am and 4pm – 5pm

It’s not often a library is filled with laughter, but this is no ordinary library as we discover when we visit Barry Humphries in his favourite room at home.

He’s joined by two very good friends, Miriam Margolyes and Rob Brydon, who also share Barry’s love of poetry and prose.

From childhood favourites to more recent discoveries, the threesome reminisce. They recall encounters with writers and poets and read extracts from, amongst others, Charles Dickens, Edith Nesbit and Stephen Spender.

A surprise guest joins them on the telephone adding their very own splash of Christmas magic.

There’s also a tale about a dahlia, a word or two from Jeeves and Wooster and a festive burst of carol singing.

New to Radio 4 Extra. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2021.

Suggested by Joyce Joy and Bill Withers as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Christmas Day.

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Christmas at Dingley Dell by Charles Dickens

Thursday 25 December, 11am – 12.30pm and 5pm – 6.30pm

On 23 December 1827 Mr Pickwick and his manservant Sam Weller set out with his friends, Mr Tupman, Mr Snodgrass and Mr Winkle upon a journey to Dingley Dell.

There, as guests of Mr Wardle, they were to enjoy the festivities of a good old-fashioned Christmas.

Starring David March as Mr Pickwick and Nigel Graham as Dickens, the narrator.

Adapted from “The Pickwick Papers” and “Christmas Stories” of Charles Dickens by Constance Cox.

New to Radio 4 Extra. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1983. Suggested by Sean Herring as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Christmas Day.

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Dad’s Army: Present Arms – Christmas Special Edition 1974

Thursday 25 December, 12.30pm – 1.30pm and 6.30pm – 7.30pm

Military medal rivalry sparks a shooting contest with another platoon. Adapted from TV with Arthur Lowe. From December 1974. Suggested by Daniel Hall as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Christmas Day.

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Village Christmas

Thursday 25 December, 1.30pm – 1.45pm and 7.30pm – 7.45pm

Derek Jacobi reads from a collection of Laurie Lee’s writings.

These include newly discovered pieces by his daughter Jessy Lee, which return to the landscape and traditions of his rural home in Slad as well as a changing London in the last century.

Suggested by Maxine Horton as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Christmas Day.

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Ladies of Letters Make Mincemeat

Thursday 25 December, 1.45pm – 2pm and 7.45pm – 8pm

Irene encourages Vera’s kids to vent their feelings in verse. Stars Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales. From 2001.

Suggested by Brian D and Mary Delglyn as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Christmas Day.

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Crisp and Even Brightly

Thursday 25 December, 2pm – 3.15pm and 8pm – 9.15pm

Was the poor man gathering fuel really poor, and was he really a man – or was she a Slavnik spy in disguise?

Was Wenceslas’s tramp into the forest with his 10-year-old page carrying flesh and wine and logs just a public relations exercise? What is the ‘truth’ behind the story of Good King Wenceslas?

Alick Rowe’s comedy stars Timothy West, James Holland, June Barrie, Bill Wallis and Polly James.

Suggested by Martine Heal, Jeannette Redwood and David Langshaw amongst many others as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Christmas Day.

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The Tailor of Gloucester

Thursday 25 December, 3.15pm – 3.45pm and 9.15pm – 9.45pm

The poor Tailor of Gloucester must make a coat of cherry-coloured corded silk. It’s for the Mayor of Gloucester who is getting married in on Christmas morning!

Beatrix Potter’s festive tale. A magical radio dramatisation for all the family by Sarah Woods.

Narrated by: Miriam Margolyes.

New to Radio 4 Extra. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2001.

Suggested by Sarah Jefferson as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Christmas Day.

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Papa Panov’s Special Day

Thursday 25 December, 3.45pm – 4.05pm and 9.45pm – 10.05pm

Papa Panov, a shoemaker, is lonely on Christmas Eve. His wife died many years ago and his children have all grown up and left.

But in a dream he is visited by Jesus, who promises to visit Papa Panov on Christmas Day.

Panov meets different characters throughout the day, but will Jesus be among them?

The original story is by the French 19th-century author Ruben Saillens and was translated into English by Leo Tolstoy.

Story adapted by Mig Holder.

Reader: Johnny Morris

New to Radio 4 Extra.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1988.

Suggested by Peter J Fishenden as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Christmas Day.

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Back From the Dead – The Return of Spinal Tap

Thursday 25 December, 10.30pm – 11.30pm

In 1984 ‘This is Spinal Tap’, exposed the shocking world of the self-proclaimed ‘loudest band in the world’. It revealed the highs and lows of life on the road, and pitfalls of celebrity. The rockumentary also added a phrase to the lexicon that sums up humiliation, incompetence and ineptitude – ‘a Spinal Tap moment’.

Spinal Tap reformed in 2009 resulting in a new album and tour, including Wembley. To mark the occasion, Peter Curran fronted this hour-long special for Radio 2. He spoke with the remaining band members and played tracks from their comeback album. Jarvis Cocker, Glenn Tilbrook, Suggs and Mike Barson of Madness Squeeze confess how they’ve all been influenced by Spinal Tap.

This repeat, not heard since its original broadcast, comes in the year of original film’s sequel release Spinal Tap II – The End Continues, and also just happens to coincide with the 50th anniversary of metal giants Iron Maiden, on Christmas Day 2025. It serves as a fitting celebration of British rock at its most theatrical, bombastic, and delightfully over-the-top. Whether you’re a long-time Tap fan or discovering them for the first time, expect nostalgia, noise, and plenty of knob-twiddling.

Inspired by real giants like Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Maiden themselves. If Spinal Tap had Stonehenge, Maiden had the entire British Museum! Plus Eddie the zombie, who never missed a gig.

New to Radio 4 Extra. First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in June 2009.

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BBC Radio 5 Live

Live sport on BBC Radio 5 Live over Christmas

BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra will be the home for festive sport, bringing you live updates from key football fixtures and every ball of the Fourth Ashes Test.

Key Premier League commentaries include:

• Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool (Saturday 20 December 5.30pm),
• Aston Villa v Manchester United (Sunday 21 December 4.30pm),
• Chelsea v Aston Villa (Saturday 27 December 5.30pm),
• Sunderland v Leeds United (Sunday 28 December 2pm),
• Crystal Palace v Tottenham Hotspur (Sunday 28 December 4.30pm),
• A choice of commentaries on Saturdays at 3pm across 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra.

Catch live ball-by-ball coverage of the Fourth Ashes Test from Melbourne on BBC 5 Sports Extra, starting the evening of December 25, with the first ball at 11.30 pm.

Enjoy a special Boxing Day edition of 5 Live Sport from 1pm, featuring live around-the-ground football updates from the Championship, League One, and League Two. Plus, catch all the horse-racing action from Kempton with coverage of the King George VI Chase.

Christmas Day

5 Live Breakfast with Colin Murray

Thursday 25 December, 7-9am

Colin Murray is live, kicking off your Christmas day with festive cheer and heartwarming stories as he chats with special guests and listeners about how they’re celebrating the big day. Plus, the day’s news and sport headlines. Whether you’re peeling spuds or unwrapping presents, it’s the perfect start to Christmas morning.

Presenter: Colin Murray

Producer: 5 Live News

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You About?

Thursday 25 December, 9-10am

Thursday 25 December, 9-10am

Roman Kemp and Tom Grennan are turning up the festive cheer in a special holiday edition of You About?! Join them for their very first Christmas party packed with laughter, heartfelt chats, and a sprinkle of surprises. As they look back on the year and share their Christmas plans, expect plenty of good vibes and a few moments you won’t want to miss.

Presenters: Roman Kemp, Tom Grennan

Producer: Insanity Studios

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Elis and John’s Christmas Cracker

Thursday 25 December, 10am-11am

Elis and John return with a sleigh-load of festive frivolity with their annual Christmas Cracker special! Landing on what will also be their 500th episode, expect special guests, seasonal Made-Up games and lots of yuletide fun. Hear it first on BBC Sounds from 23rd December and on Radio 5 Live on Christmas Day at 10am.

Presenter: Elis James and John Robins

Producer: Audio Always

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The Wayne Rooney Show

Thursday 25 December, 11-12pm

Wayne Rooney is joined by Kelly Somers and Kae Kurd for a Christmas edition with special guests, his most memorable anecdotes from his Premier League and international career, reflections on the season so far, and his take on the packed festive fixture list ahead.

Presenters: Wayne Rooney, Kelly Somers, Kae Kurd

Producer: Folding Pocket Limited

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The Best of Fighting Talk 2025 – Part 1

Thursday 25 December, 12.30pm-1pm

Rick Edwards presents some of the best moments of sporting punditry from Fighting Talk this year.

Presenter: Rick Edwards

Producer: World’s End Productions

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Women’s Euros: How the Lionesses retained the Euros

Thursday 25 December, 1-2pm

Katie Smith looks back at how the England team fought through injuries, game-changing substitutes, extra time, and penalty shoot-outs to become Women’s Euros champions again in 2025. Featuring commentary, interviews and reaction, Katie is joined by Vicki Sparks, Karen Bardsley and Izzy Christiansen who featured throughout 5 Live’s coverage of the Women’s Euros in Switzerland earlier this year.

Presenter: Katie Smith

Producer: BBC Sport

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Thursday 25 December, 2-3pm

Ellen White, Jen Beattie and Ben Haines with a festive hour of interviews and special guests as they review a historic year in women’s football.

Presenters: Ben Haines, Ellen White, Jen Beattie

Producer: BBC Sport

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5 Live News

Thursday 25 December,  3pm-3.30pm

King Charles III delivers his Christmas message to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Followed by a round-up of the day’s main stories.

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The Best of Fighting Talk 2024 – Part 2

Thursday 25 December, 3.30-4pm

Sporting punditry from Fighting Talk with more of the best moments from this year with Rick Edwards.

Presenter: Rick Edwards

Producer: World’s End Productions

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Patrick Kielty – Best of 2025

Thursday 25 December, 4-6pm

Patrick Kielty presents a special Christmas edition of his show reflecting on some of the great guests he has spoken to in 2025. Featuring Judy Murray, Craig Ferguson, Sophie Ellis Bextor, and Lawrence Dallaglio.

Presenter: Patrick Kielty

Producer: Footwork Media / Disruptive

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Tailenders

Thursday 25 December, 7pm – 8pm

Greg James, Jimmy Anderson and Felix White are back with a festive, alternative take on cricket in a special programme to round off an eventful 2025. They’ll react to the series so far, and dive into the excitement surrounding the upcoming Fourth Ashes Test on Boxing Day. Plus, Mattchin rounds off the year with some of his legendary quizzes.

Presenters: Greg James, Jimmy Anderson and Felix White

Producer: Persephonica

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Test Match Special

Thursday 25 December, 8pm – 11pm

Test Match Special goes all out for the Ashes with a series of special programmes ahead of our live simulcast of the 4th Ashes Test in Melbourne. Featuring the No Balls Christmas Special with Alex Hartley and Kate Cross, Sir Alastair Cook on How To Win The Ashes, and our first Ashes Top 10 with Isa Guha, Jonathan Agnew and Sir Alastair Cook.

Producer: BBC Sport

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Thursday 25 December, 11pm – 7am

Live ball-by-ball cricket commentary from day one of the Fourth Ashes Test at the MCG in Melbourne.

Producer: BBC Sport

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Boxing Day – 2025

5 Live Breakfast live from Melbourne

Friday 26 December, 7-10am

Wake up on Boxing Day as Eleanor Oldroyd broadcasts live from Melbourne, bringing you the latest news and all the drama from the Fourth Ashes Test at the MCG.

Elly will keep listeners up to speed with the overnight developments and expert analysis on the Ashes. Plus, the day’s news and sporting stories from around the world with Johnny I’Anson back in the UK, making this the perfect way to start your Boxing Day morning.

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The Wayne Rooney Show

Friday 26 December, 10-11am

Wayne Rooney is joined by Kelly Somers and Kae Kurd for another festive edition with more anecdotes and memories from his Premier League and international career.

Presenters: Wayne Rooney, Kelly Somers, Kae Kurd

Producer: Folding Pocket Limited

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Sporting Giants: Mohamed Salah

Friday 26 December, 11-12pm (Episodes 1+2). Thursday 1 January 12-1pm (Episodes 3+4)

Kelly Cates and journalist Simon Hughes explore whether Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has redefined what being a football superstar is in this new four-part podcast series.

Tracing his roots from a small Egyptian village, the series discovers the challenges Salah has overcome to rise from humble beginnings to a global icon for his nation.

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp reveals Salah’s evolution from a difficult first spell in England with Chelsea to a record-breaking Premier League and Champions League winner at Anfield, while ex-teammates including James Milner and Micah Richards outline the mentality which continues to drive Salah on ahead of a pivotal period domestically and internationally.

Presenters: Kelly Cates and Simon Hughes

Producer: BBC Sport

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Rory’s Slam & Ryder Cup: The Year in Golf 2025

Friday 26 December 12-1pm

A look back at a historic year in golf. Rory McIlroy became the first European golfer to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the Masters and Europe won the Ryder Cup in dramatic style at Bethpage Black. Iain Carter sits down with Rory and other members of the victorious European side to relive the year.

Producer: BBC Sport

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5 Live Sport

Friday 26 December, 1pm-6pm

5 Live Sport keeps fans up to date with Boxing Day’s packed sporting schedule, including reaction from day one of the Melbourne Ashes Test, coverage of the King George at Kempton, and live football updates from 3pm kick-offs across the Championship, League One and League Two.

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606

Friday 26 December, 6-8pm

Listen in to your football calls with Natalie Pike and Chris Sutton.

Producer: Shooting Shark

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Connor Phillips

Friday 26 December, 8-10.30pm

Connor Phillips reflects on the day’s news and sport headlines with Premier League football updates of Manchester United vs Newcastle United.

Producer: BBC News.

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Test Match Special – Ashes Top 10

10.30pm –11pm

Isa Guha, Sir Alastair Cook, and Jonathan Agnew pick their TMS Ashes Top 10

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Test Match Special

Simulcast with 5 Sports Extra & BBC Sounds, 11pm – 7am

Live ball-by-ball cricket commentary from day two of the Fourth Ashes Test at the MCG in Melbourne.

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Saturday 27 December

5 Live Breakfast

7-10am

Eleanor Oldroyd is live from Melbourne, bringing you the latest news and all the drama from the Fourth Ashes Test at the MCG.

AG / MCL

5 Live Sport

12pm-7.30pm

Mark Chapman brings listeners the latest news and updates from around-the-grounds for comprehensive coverage of the day’s matches, including live commentary of Chelsea vs Aston Villa at 5.30pm.

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606

7.30pm-8.30pm

Your football calls with Aaron Paul and Chris Sutton.

Producer: Shooting Shark

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Sunday 28 December

5 Live Breakfast

7-10am

Eleanor Oldroyd is live from Melbourne, bringing you the latest news and all the drama from the Fourth Ashes Test at the MCG.

AG / MCL

5 Live Sport

12pm-6.30pm

Steve Crossman brings listeners the latest news and updates from around the grounds for comprehensive coverage of the day’s matches, including live commentary of Sunderland v Leeds United at 2pm and Crystal Palace vs Tottenham Hotspur at 4.30pm.

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606

6.30pm-8pm

Your football calls with Robbie Savage and Chris Sutton.

Producer: Shooting Shark

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F1: Chequered Flag

8-9pm

The BBC F1 team reflect on the 2025 season, as we saw a championship battle for the ages, dominated by McLaren who picked up back-to-back constructors’ titles. We look back at the key points of battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, plus Max Verstappen. And we ask if will we’ll see the same again as F1 enters a new era in 2026?

Presenters: TBC

Producer: IMG

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6 Music

Christmas on BBC Radio 6 Music this year sees specials from Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and Golden Globe award winning actor Bill Nighy, who both sit in for Iggy Pop on 21 and 28 December (4-6pm) respectively, as well as new series, Indie Forever Disco with Beth Ditto (Monday 22 – Thursday 25 December and Monday 29 December – Thursday 1 January, 7-9pm) which sees Beth hand pick the biggest and best indie dance floor hits.

There’s another chance to hear The Sleeping Forecast with Jarvis Cocker, as he invites listeners to drift off late into Christmas Eve (12am-2am) with tracks from Brian Eno, Arvo Pärt, Éliane Radigue, Kate Bush and more. Plus, Nick Grimshaw reflects on the year on Christmas Day with his Best of the Guests programme (7-10am), Craig Charles kickstarts the Christmas period with a Funk and Soul Christmas Show on Saturday 20 December (6-9pm), and SHERELLE takes listeners into 2026 with a Loud and Proud, Rave Forever special (Wednesday 31 December from 11pm).

The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Christmas Show

Saturday 20 December, 6-9pm

It’s that time of year again, the lights are up, the party’s on, and Craig Charles is bringing you a Funk and Soul Christmas to remember.

Across three hours, Craig unwraps a festive feast of groove, with classic Christmas cuts from legends like Clarence Carter, James Brown, and Bootsy Collins, alongside a few modern favourites and seasonal surprises.

It’s all about soul with a sprinkle of funk, rhythm with a dash of cheer, and plenty of tunes to keep the dancefloor warm all night long.

So, grab a mince pie, turn up the volume, and get down with The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Christmas Show, your ultimate funky festive soundtrack.

Presenter: Craig Charles

Producer: Ben Appleyard

An Audio Always Limited production.

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Iggy Pop… Jarvis Cocker sits in

Sunday 21 December, 4-6pm

Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker sits in for Iggy Pop today bringing listeners a handpicked selection of tracks to kickstart Christmas.

Jarvis says: “It’s an honour to sit in on Iggy’s show on December 21st: the darkest day of the year. But I will be bringing some light with this special, one-off edition of Jarvis Cocker’s Solstice Service. Be of good cheer!”

It’s been an incredible 2025 for Jarvis and Pulp. They released More, their first album in almost 24 years, in June. Their single, Spike Island, from the album, was premiered by Lauren Laverne on her 6 Music show in April and the band performed two world exclusive live sessions for 6 Music and Radio 2 in May. More went straight to Number 1 on the UK Albums Chart.

As well as their Here Comes More tour, including sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena, the band performed a surprise set at Glastonbury and were shortlisted for this year’s Mercury Prize. They were also named one of 6 Music’s Artists of the Year 2025 in November.

Jarvis presented Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service from 2010 to 2017 on BBC Radio 6 Music, giving listeners a weekly dose of his favourite music.

Deputy presenter: Jarvis Cocker

Producer: Adam Dineen

A BBC Audio production.

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Indie Forever Disco with Beth Ditto

Monday 22 – Thursday 25 December. Monday 29 December – Thursday 1 January, 7-9pm

Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto presents Indie Forever Disco with Beth Ditto, in which she’ll celebrate the biggest and best indie hits for the dance floor – from classic tracks to the hits of tomorrow.

Expect music from the likes of Hot Chip, Friendly Fires, Gorillaz, M83, MIA, Santigold, Robyn, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and much more.

Beth Ditto: “It’s time to come with me to the Indie Disco, where I’ll be playing songs from my heyday. I get to play the songs that I love from bands that I like, from the classics we all know and love to some newer favourites, expect a nonstop mix of tunes to get those indie boots moving.”

Beth also appears regularly on 6 Music, joining Nick Grimshaw (weekdays, 7-10am) each Tuesday morning for What Would Beth Ditto Do? Beth shares her take on life’s small dilemmas, responding to listeners’ quandaries with her signature wit, wisdom and unique honesty. What Would Beth Ditto Do? is also available in vision each week on 6 Music’s YouTube channel.

Presenter: Beth Ditto

Producer: Angela Davies

A BBC Audio production.

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The Sleeping Forecast with Jarvis Cocker

Wednesday 24 December (into Thursday 25 December), 12am-2am

In the early hours of Christmas morning, Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker invites listeners to drift off with another chance to hear this special episode of The Sleeping Forecast for BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Sounds. The programme features a range of sleep-inducing music, chosen by Jarvis, from: Brian Eno, Arvo Pärt, Éliane Radigue and Kate Bush, interspersed with Jarvis reading segments of BBC Radio 4’s iconic Shipping Forecast.

Jarvis says: “I always used to use the Shipping Forecast to help me fall asleep at night, but now I’m looking forward to bringing you my personal selection of tracks for the Sleeping Forecast. Music, I feel, will help you access a new dimension. The dimension of sleep. This programme is intended to be a portal allowing listeners access to a restful night of slumber. Sweet dreams.”

Presenter: Jarvis Cocker

Producer: Frederick Botham

A BBC Sounds production

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Nick Grimshaw: Best of the Guests

Thursday 25 December, 7-10am

Nick welcomes listeners to Christmas Day with the finest music, and a chance to revisit some of the best interviews from the Breakfast Show this year.

Expect highlights from a very special interview with Kate Moss about her friend and musical hero David Bowie (from September 2025), and there’ll be a trip to Elton John’s record library to talk about his favourite artists (from March 2025). Plus, Goldie revisits his album Timeless as the record celebrates its 30th anniversary (from August 2025) and there’s an in-depth interview with Little Simz, recorded at Maida Vale Studios (from June 2025). Things get surreal with Bob Mortimer delving into a Very Specific Playlist on music to make an Italian sandwich to (from October 2025), and American comedian Kate McKinnon (from August 2025) brings the laughs as you get the presents open.

Presenter: Nick Grimshaw

Producers: Ella Atcheson and Mark Higgins for BBC Audio

A BBC Audio production.

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Iggy Pop… Bill Nighy sits in

Sunday 28 December, 4-6pm

Bill Nighy returns to 6 Music with two hours packed full of musical gifts for listeners to enjoy.

Bill says: “It’s rare these days for me to work shirtless. Sitting in for Iggy Pop not only gives me that opportunity but also the chance to honour a great artist.”

This will be the third year that Bill has presented a show on 6 Music over Christmas, with previous shows featuring tracks from: Prince, Caroline Polachek, Sault, Steve Wonder, The National, Boygenius, Meshell Ndegeocello and many more.

Deputy presenter: Bill Nighy

Producer: Adam Dineen

A BBC Audio production.

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Rave Forever Loud and Proud special with SHERELLE

Wednesday 31 December, 11pm-3am

New Year’s Eve celebrations on 6 Music will see SHERELLE (who usually presents each Saturday, 11pm-1am) bring listeners three hours of guest mixes to kickstart 2026.

In this Loud and Proud takeover for Rave Forever, SHERELLE will kick off the night with her trademark, hi-octane energy from 11pm-12am, before inviting three queer-identifying DJs to continue the party until 3am.

Taking the reins from 12am-1am is London DJ and producer Call Super, who will play an unmissable mix of house, electro and edits. From 1am-2am, Jersey Club queen UNIIQU3 has the controls, serving up an hour of her signature, high-tempo, East Coast sound. Closing the takeover from 2am-2am is Iranian-British artist Azadi.mp3, who brings a party-focused mix of contemporary club and Middle Eastern influenced dance music.

Presenter: SHERELLE

Producer: Matt Healy

A We Are Grape production.

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BBC Local Radio

BBC Local Radio will bring communities together this festive season with a special line-up of programming celebrating unity, compassion, and local heroes.

Across all 39 stations, BBC presenter and Church of England, Rev Frances Finn, will lead a nationwide seasonal service, sharing a message of hope and togetherness.

Hairy Biker, Si King will be shining a light on the true spirit of the season with some cracking’ stories of kindness, community, and Christmas hope.

Listeners will also hear inspiring stories from winners of the Make a Difference Awards, as well as rock pop legend Jon Bon Jovi and pop star Olly Murs. These special programmes will be broadcast across the network, highlighting the strength and generosity found in local communities.

HM3

BBC World Service

The BBC World Service presents a rich festive schedule of cultural, reflective, and entertaining programmes across December and early January. The Arts Hour on Tour from Rome starts off the season, with presenter Nikki Bedi hosting live performances and conversations with musicians, filmmakers, and comedians celebrating Italian creativity. In the Studio follows poet Michael Symmons Roberts crafting a Christmas card poem reflecting faith and family, while People Fixing the World reviews the year’s inspiring innovations. Witness History: The Origin of Famous Gifts explores the origins of beloved toys such as Jenga, Play-Doh, and Catan.

In The Conversation: Female Philanthropists, Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women about reshaping global giving. The traditional Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge offers festive carols and readings, and the Newshour Christmas Quiz puts its hosts to the test on Christmas Day. Heart and Soul: The Lord and Dance follows dancer Michael Flatley’s journey of art, faith, and resilience. CrowdScience revisits the year’s quirkiest questions, and BBC Correspondents’ Look Ahead to 2026 anticipates what’s in store for the coming year.

Music lovers can enjoy the New Generation Artists Festive Concert from Covent Garden, while The Documentary: Kibra Ballerinas follows Kenyan dancers breaking barriers. Finally, The Arts Hour Comedy Special welcomes global comedians to ring in the New Year with laughter.

The Arts Hour on Tour from Rome

Saturday 20 December, 8-9pm

Nikki Bedi is on stage at the Teatro Italia in Rome with leading creatives and a live audience, to discuss the latest cultural trends in Italy. With live music performance from singer Levante and rapper and singer-songwriter Mecna, live comedy from Luca Ravenna and interviews with filmmakers Margherita Vicario and Paolo Strippoli.

Presenter: Nikki Bedi

Producer: Nicki Paxman

A BBC World Service production.

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Witness History: The Origin of Famous Gifts

Monday 22 December – Friday 26 December, 8.50am-9am every day

This week, Witness History looks at the origins of five iconic gifts, often given during the festive season.

The first episode is about the brick game Jenga, which was introduced to the world at a department store in London just over 30 years ago and became an international hit.

Tuesday’s episode looks at the invention of Play-Doh in 1956, as Peg Roberts, Kay Zufall’s daughter, tells Jane Wilkinson how her mother had the idea.

Wednesday’s programme focuses on the creation of the hoverboard in 2011, when inventor Shane Chen came up with a motorised skateboard that moves intuitively and gives the rider a feeling of floating.

Thursday’s programme is about the birth of the hit toy Tamagotchi, first released in Japan in 1996. Almost 100 million Tamagotchis have now been sold in more than 50 countries.

And Friday’s episode looks at the hugely popular board game, Catan. In 1995, German dental technician Klaus Teuber launched Settlers of Catan, a Viking-inspired board game, that would revolutionise tabletop gaming.

A BBC World Service production.

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The Conversation: Female Philanthropists

Monday 22 December, 1.30-2pm

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to philanthropists from France and Nigeria about using their wealth to help others thrive. Historically dominated by men, philanthropy is being reshaped as women’s wealth and influence grow.

Albina du Boisrouvay was born into extreme wealth as granddaughter of a Bolivian tin magnate and daughter of a French aristocrat. She went on to pursue a career as a film director and when her 24-year-old son François-Xavier Bagnoud died, Albina sold three-quarters of her assets and founded FXB Foundation in his name. Since 1989, FXB Foundation has impacted the lives of 20 million people, fighting poverty, AIDS, and helping vulnerable children. She’s recently written about her extraordinary life in a book called Phoenix Rising.

Former corporate banker, Dr Anino Emuwa is from Nigeria and managing director at Avandis Consulting in France. She co-founded Women in Philanthropy and Impact Africa (WIPIA), bringing together women in business from the African diaspora to use the power of philanthropy to drive sustainable development. With only 0.4% of foundation grants globally directed toward organisations addressing women’s issues, WIPIA approaches philanthropy through a gendered lens and supports women to lead scalable change in Africa.

Presenter: Datshiane Navanayagam

Producer: Jane Thurlow

A BBC World Service production.

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People Fixing The World: Our favourite solutions

Tuesday 23 December, 8-8.30am

Presenter Myra Anubi and the team chat about some of their favourite projects that have been covered on People Fixing The World over the last twelve months.

Presenter: Myra Anubi

Producer: Jon Bithrey

A BBC World Service production.

ES

In The Studio: Michael Symmons Roberts’ Christmas Card Poem

Tuesday 23 December, 1.30-2pm

There’s a tradition among poets to write a poem to put inside the Christmas cards they send. So, the BBC World Service has commissioned one especially from the poet, dramatist and novelist, Michael Symmons Roberts, whose Christian faith is important to his identity and work. But his art is not a direct expression of this, and instead he follows the poet Emily Dickinson’s instruction to “Tell all the truth but tell it slant”.

Michael has just become a grandfather, so feels keenly the happiness of the arrival of a cherished child, creating a parallel between his own life and the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus.

For In the Studio, Julian May follows Michael’s creative process as he grapples huge spiritual and personal themes – distilling them to a length which can fit on a Christmas card: a daunting but joyful task.

The programme begins with London’s Oxford Street, where consumerism triggers preparations a full three months before Christmas, and ends with the sealing of the Christmas cards before they are popped into the post box.

Presenter: Julian May

Producer: Paula McGrath

A BBC World Service Production.

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A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

Wednesday 24 December, 3-4.30pm

Held in the candlelit Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, this service marks the beginning of Christmas for many people around the world.

It is based around nine Bible readings which tell the story of the loving purposes of God.

They are interspersed with carols old and new, sung by the world-famous Chapel Choir who also lead the congregation in traditional Christmas hymns.

Producer: David Harper

A BBC production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service

ES

Newshour Christmas Quiz

Thursday 25 December, 2-3pm

They can ask the tough questions – but do they know the answers? On 25 December, Newshour on the BBC World Service will put its hosts to the test in the best of Christmas traditions: the Newshour Christmas Quiz.

Listeners can look forward to the return of the ‘mystery guest’ and Grandpa Julian’s bedtime stories, featuring Julian Marshall. Be sure to tune in!

Producer: Claudia Headon

A BBC World Service Production.

ES

His Majesty The King’s Christmas Message

Thursday 25 December, 3pm

His Majesty The King’s Christmas Message to the Commonwealth.

A BBC Studios Production.

ES

Heart and Soul: The Lord and Dance – Michael Flatley

Friday 26 December, 1.30-2pm

Michael Flatley is the most famous Irish dancer in the world, rising to stardom for his leading roles in Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. In this Heart and Soul Christmas special, Colm Flynn travels to meet Flatley at home, where he reflects on the highs of his remarkable career and the personal experiences that shaped his outlook on life and faith.

Born in Chicago to Irish parents, Flatley grew up surrounded by music, dance, and the values of hard work and perseverance. His groundbreaking performance in Riverdance at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 brought Irish dance to a global audience, and his later productions redefined what Irish traditional dance could be. Yet, as he explains in this conversation, the drive to succeed came with challenges — moments of exhaustion, doubt, and the constant search for meaning beyond the stage.

In recent years, Michael Flatley’s life was upended when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. This caused him to stop and re-evaluate everything in his life. He tells Colm Flynn how it deepened his faith and sense of gratitude. He describes the diagnosis as a moment that forced him to re-examine what truly matters: family, love, and belief in God. “I am a man of faith and I surrender to the Lord,” he says, recalling how prayer and reflection sustained him through treatment and recovery.

In this interview, Michael looks back on the extraordinary journey from a young boy in Chicago with a passion for Irish dance to one of the most recognised performers in the world, and how, through it all, faith remained a quiet but steady presence guiding his path.

Producer: Colm Flynn

Producer: Colm Flynn

A BBC World Service Production.

ES

CrowdScience: The Best of CrowdScience

Friday 26 December, 8.30-9pm

During 2025, CrowdScience listeners have wondered whether water is wet, and gone on a hunt for a missing tangerine. We’ve questioned why animals swallow rocks, imagined what would happen if the earth spun backwards and pondered whether atoms are immortal.

With the help of experts from across the scientific spectrum, we’ve brought answers to all of these questions to life and had a lot of fun along the way.

In this special programme, Anand Jagatia will look back at the CrowdScience year with best bits, audio you haven’t heard before, and behind-the-scenes stories from presenters and producers.

Presenter: Anand Jagatia

Producer: Emily Knight

A BBC World Service production.

ES

BBC Correspondents’ Look Ahead to 2026

Saturday 27 December, 12-1pm

Join BBC correspondents and editors from across the globe as they peer into their crystal balls to predict what 2026 might hold.

Editor: Emma Rippon

A BBC World Service Production.

ES

BBC New Generation Artists Festive Concert

Saturday 27 December, 7-8pm

Join some of the world’s most exciting young classical and jazz musicians at the Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden for a musical journey that takes us from the cities of South America to the depths of the Russian countryside. With stop-offs on the way, look out for musical postcards from the Scottish Highlands, Paris and Madrid and stand by for a surprise or two!

For the past twenty-five years, the BBC’s New Generation Artists scheme has helped to nurture the talents and careers of some of today’s top classical musicians.

In the starry line-up for this special festive concert we welcome Scottish jazz pianist, Fergus McCreadie – whose albums have topped the UK Jazz & Blues charts and earned him a Mercury Prize nomination; the dazzling soprano, Erika Baikoff, an alumna of the prestigious New York Metropolitan Opera and Verbier Festival talent schemes who is already making debuts in some of the world’s great opera houses; the Spanish multi-award-winning Arod String Quartet; and talented French guitarist Thibaut Garcia. Join the brightest young musical talents for a journey to remember.

Presenter: Georgia Mann

Producer: Peter Thresh

A BBC World Service Production.

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The Documentary: Kibra Ballerinas

Thursday 1 January, 9.30-10am

Ballet, a centuries-old form of European dance, is flourishing in one of Africa’s largest informal settlements. In Kibera, Kenya, we follow the Kibra Ballerinas as they prepare for their biggest performance yet. Amid the pirouettes, jumps and lifts, Carolyne Kiambo discovers how ballet is helping these young Kenyans beyond the stage.

Presenter: Carolyne Kiambo

Producer: Sue Coryndon

A BBC World Service Production.

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The Arts Hour Comedy Special

Saturday 3 January, 8-9pm

The Arts Hour celebrates the New Year with some of the world’s finest comedians.

Presenter Nikki Bedi and Malawian comedian Daliso Chaponda host an international line-up of some of the best comics from around the world.

Presenters: Nikki Bedi and Daliso Chaponda

Producers: Lucy Collingwood and Ciaran Bermingham

A BBC World Service Production.

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CBeebies Radio

CBeebies will turn on the Christmas lights this year with some wonderful family focused content on BBC Sounds.

On 29 November, a collection of CBeebies Christmas songs will be available as a podcast back-to-back collection, allowing families to join in the CBeebies Christmas fun as they start to put up their Christmas decorations and enjoy festive family time.

The annual CBeebies Christmas Panto is packed to the brim with CBeebies stars and this year will tell the story of Cinderella. The songs from the show will be available from mid-November on BBC Sounds, with the fully audio described show itself launching on 6 December.

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CBeebies Christmas Song Collection

Saturday 29 November

Back-to-back collection of familiar festive songs sung by some of your favourite CBeebies stars.

Featuring the likes of Hey Duggee, Andy and The Band, Supertato, Numberblocks, Nick Cope, Colourblocks and many more.

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Cinderella – CBeebies Christmas Panto

Saturday 6 December

CBeebies Christmas Panto is back this year with a retelling of the popular fairytale, Cinderella. Sparkling with CBeebies’ stars, this unique adaption of a pantomime classic is full of music, magic and festive fun for all the family.

Featuring Evie Pickerill, Rhys Stephenson, Justin Fletcher, Jennie Dale, Rebecca Keatley, Maddie Moate, Joanna Adeyinka-Burford, Dodge the Dog, George Webster, Joel Mawhinney, James Merry, Rose-Marie Christian and Darren Hart.

A BBC Studios production. 

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