02:40
Lucy explores the history of festive hymns
Lucy explores the tradition of festive hymns, revealing that there is much more to the best-loved carols than meets the eye, and how they reveal the history of Christmas itself. In the ancient past, pagan fertility ritual the wassail gave rise to door-to-door singing, and was also an integral part of an older midwinter festival adopted by Christianity when it came to Britain, and was rebranded as Christmas
03:40
Night TV on
19:00
The cooks prepare a festive feast for Winchester cathedral's choirboys
Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright visit Winchester, where they prepare a feast for the cathedral's choirboys. For their meal, they select a goose from Walsgrove farm, which they stuff with pate and prunes and serve with Swedish red cabbage, before ending with a Christmas pudding ice-cream bombe. First broadcast 24 December 1997
19:30
S2022E10
The Grand Final of 2022's Christmas competitionIt's the Grand Final of 2022's Christmas competition, in which teams of notable former students compete on behalf of their alma maters. Only two alumni teams remain, but who will take the series title? Jeremy Paxman asks the questions
20:00
Monica Dolan gives a reading of Jane Austen's last completed novel, Persuasion
Bafta and Olivier Award-winning actress Monica Dolan gives a reading of Jane Austen's much loved and last completed novel, Persuasion. First published on 20 December 1817, the novel explores the themes of love, regret and second chances through its heroine Anne Elliot, the quiet yet perceptive daughter of a vain baronet
21:05
Elizabeth Bennet is one of five sisters whose mother is determined to find them suitable husbands. The arrival of a wealthy gentleman and his friends at a nearby mansion leads to an introduction between Elizabeth and the aloof Mr Darcy, to whom she takes an instant dislike. However, an unexpected attraction eventually develops. Period drama based on Jane Austen's novel, starring Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen and Judi Dench
23:05
In 1943, disaster strikes on the remote Hebridean island of Todday when they run out of whisky. Salvation arrives when a ship carrying 50,000 cases of whisky founders on the island's rocks, but the locals clash with authority in the shape of Home Guard commander Captain Waggett. Comedy, starring James Cosmo, Eddie Izzard and Naomi Battrick.
