Christmas TV

For many years now, families have gathered together on Christmas Day to enjoy Christmas lunch and Christmas telly.
Below you can find listings of every programme broadcast on British television on December 25th during the twentieth century.

<< Christmas Day 1975 >>


\| Thames \| BBC One \| BBC Two \|

	Thames
	00.40	Closedown
	09.00	Rainbow
			Christmas Music
	09.15	A Heavenly Peace
	10.00	Christmas Morning Service
	11.00	A Merry Morning
	11.40	Rainbow
			Christmas Party
	11.55	Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy (1962)
			A compilation of highlights from the films of Harold Lloyd, the bespectacled comedian who was at the height of his fame in the silent days but survived the transition to talkies. The extracts include the most famous of all-the encounter with the big clock in Safety Last (1923)-and another building-climbing sequence from the later Feet First (1930). Train chases figure in Girl Shy (1924) and Professor Beware (1938), and there are equally funny incidents from some of Lloyd's other better-known films, including The Freshman (1925) and Hot Water (1924). (Not in colour)
	13.15	Jack Parnell and the Band Show
	14.00	Chipperfield's Christmas Circus
	15.00	The Queen
	15.05	Doctor in Trouble (1970)
	16.45	Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo
	17.10	ITN News
	17.20	Bay City Rollers Show
			with Gilbert O'Sullivan
	18.20	Christmas Celebrity Squares
	19.00	Crossroads
			(2453/4510)
	19.30	Get Some In
	20.00	Love Thy Neighbour
	20.30	The Taming of the Shrew (1967)
	22.00	ITN News at Ten
	22.15	The Taming of the Shrew (1967)
			Part Two
	23.00	Beneath the Christmas Tree
	23.55	The Gabriel Assignment

	BBC One
	09.00	Ragtime
			with MAGGIE HENDERSON and FRED HARRIS
	09.15	Hark the Herald Angels Sing
			The Christmas story told in carols - mostly very familiar but a few new ones - readings and pictures, all by pupils of schools in Leicestershire. Recorded in the church of St James the Greater, Leicester Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra and Choirs with their conductor, Eric Pinkett Director ROY TIPPING Producer DENIS MORIARTY
	10.00	The Happy Prince
			A cartoon featuring the voices of GLYNIS johns as the swallow CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER as the Prince Oscar Wilde's classic bittersweet story of a swallow winging its way south which stays to rest upon the sorrowing statue of a once happy Prince and stays behind to help. Producers MURRAY SHOSTAK and MICHAEL MILLS
	10.24	Weather
			Barbara Edwards
	10.25	Keith Michell
			appeals on behalf of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) Donations, preferably by crossed po or cheque, to Keith Michell, NSPCC, [address removed]
	10.30	Christmas Morning Service
			from St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle 1475-1975 in the presence of HM The Queen HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and other members of The Royal Family National Anthem Hymn: Once in Royal David's City Psalm 85 Lesson: Isaiah 9. vv 2-6 read by CANON j. a. FISHER Te Deum: Britten in E Lesson: St Luke 2, vv 8-17 read by CANON G. B. BENTLEY Sans Day Carol (arranged by John Rutter ) Collects for Christmas Day Hymn: Hark the Herald Angels Sing Address: VERY REV LAUNCELOT FLEMIMG, DEAN OF WINDSOR Hymn: 0 Come all ye Faithful Prayers and Blessing Organ Voluntary; Finale from Symphony No 1 by Vierne Service conducted by REV I. G. COLLINS Choir directed by CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON Organist JOHN PORTER Scene described by TOM FLEMING Director ANTONY CRAXTON
	11.45	Rod Hull and Emu
			Sing a Christmas Song with help from BILLY DAINTY TOM CHATTO, BARBARA NEW 300 CHILDREN and the GLOSSOP SCHOOL BAND bandmaster JACK FLETCHER Musical director BERNARD HERRMANN Director GEOFF WILSON Producer HAZZL LEWTHWAITE BBC Manchester
	12.20	Pack Up Your Troubles (1932)
			Laurel and Hardy
			Two of the world's greatest laughter-makers in a Christmas season of their funniest films. Today with JAMES FINLAYSON, BILLY GILBERT It's World War I and just before their best pal is killed in action. Stan and Ollie promise him that they'll look after his little girl and restore her to his wealthy parents. But back in the States after the war, things prove rather difficult; all they know about their friend is that his name was Smith... Directors GEORGE MARSHALL and RAYMOND MCCARET (Block and white)
	13.20	Holiday on Ice
			Your annual rink-side seat at one of the world's most spectacular touring ice extravaganzas Lavish production numbers create the settings for international stars Wolfgang Schwarz, Milena Leslie Robinson, Ruth Hutchinson Joop and Carie, Katie Walker and a colourful skating ballet Chorus and stars salute America's 200th Anniversary in Celebrations; convey the joy of youth: Velvet Rock; honour the humour and gaiety of the songs of old London Town: London Forever; sway to the rhythms of the South Seas: Paradise Revisited; and revive memories of Minstrel Shows: Minstrels are Back in Town Created, staged, directed by TED SHUFFLE Televised by arrangement with SKEE GOODHART for International Holiday on Ice Co: recorded in Lausanne Lighting TOMMY THOMAS Director ERIC NOGUET Produced for television by DON SAYER
	14.10	Top of the Pops
			A special Christmas edition featuring No 1 records of the year. Introduced by Tony Blackburn and Noel Edmonds including Mud, The Tymes, Pilot, Telly Savalas, Bay City Rollers, Tammy Wynette, Windsor Davies and Don Estelle, 10cc, Stylistlcs. Art Garfunkel, David Essex. with PAN'S PEOPLE Choreography FLICK COLBY Assistant producer STANLEY APPEL Producer ROBIN NASH
	15.00	The Queen
			The Queen speaks to the Commonwealth
	15.05	Billy Smart's Christmas Circus
			From the Big Top, a special international gala presentation of the world-famous circus. Ringmistress Yasmine Smart introduces from Colombia: The Albarracinis strength and grace above the ring from Great Britain: Mary Chipperfield with her five Bengali tigers Harlequin and Columbine Elephants presented by YASMINE SMART Jacko Fossett and Little Billy fun with the clowns from Germany: The Liswoys daredevil Cossack riding from Italy: The Bruksons low wire comedy and precision The Di Lellos music and clowning from America: The Flying Terrels thrills on the trapeze from Poland: The Okowinskys acrobatics with laughter The Wozniaks spins and somersaults from the springboard Commentator RAY MOORE Circus produced by RONNIE . DAVID andBILLY SMART Musical director KEN GRIFFIN Designer DON TAYLOR Television presentation IAN SMITH
	16.05	The Wizard of Oz (1939)
			a feature film starring Judy Garland with Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger Bert Lahr, Jack Haley The unforgettable Judy sings ' Somewhere over the Rainbow '; we follow the yellow brick road on our journey to see the Wizard and on the way meet The Scarecrow, The Tin Man and The Cowardly Lion - all elements in one of the most magical movies of them all, being screened today on British TV for the first time. Director VICTOR FLEMING (Colour, with black and white sequences) Films: pages 16-17
	17.45	National News
			Kenneth Kendall ; Weatherman
	17.50	Bruce Forsyth and The Generation Game
			starring Bruce Forsyth with Anthea Redfern A bumper Christmas edition with family couples from all over the country joining Bruce and Anthea and surprise guests for an hour of festive fun for all the family. Orchestra directed by RONNIE HAZLEHURST Programme associate TONY HAWES Design JAMES HATCHARD Director ALAN BOYD Producer JAMES MOIR
	18.55	Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
			Written by RAYMOND ALLEN starring with and Action by MARC BOYLE Visual effects BERNARD WILKIE Design ROCHELLE SELWYN Producer MICHAEL MILLS (Michael Crawford and George Sewell are appearing in ' Billy ' at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London)
	19.40	The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show
			A star-studded loliday special starring Eric morecambe and Ernie Wise Written by EDDIE BRABEN with special guests Diana Rigg Des O'Connor, Gordon Jackson Diane Solomon, Robin Day Brenda Arnau PAN'S PEOPLE with ANN HAMILTON, ARTHUR TOLCHER Choreography by FLICK COLBY Musical arrangements and orchestra directed by PETER KNIGHT Designer VIC MEREDITH Producer ERNEST MAXIN
	20.45	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
			The world television premiere of the famous feature film starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford Katharine Ross with Strother Martin, Jeff Corey Henry Jones You never met a pair like Butch and the Kid! The two most affable amiable outlaws in Western history are the subject of the most exuberant, exciting and engaging of all western movies - the story of Robert LeRoy Parker and Harry Longbaugh, otherwise known as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Director GEORGE ROY HILL Films: pages 16-17 GEORGE ROY HILL. director of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, spent the first few weeks directing the movie on his back. He says: I fell and dislocated my spine, so the medics rigged up a stretcher, and I lay broiling under the desert sun giving horizontal directions. Newman and Redford thought it was quite funny - and I encouraged them, because they were total strangers before we began, and I wanted to create a kind of spontaneous humour. We had a lot of laughs on the set. At one point Paul had to say a line like "Just to think that 50 years ago there was nothing here." In fact. there was nothing there, and each time he said it he just broke up laughing. In the end we just had to give up. In fact, the locations were very important to the movie, and I made two separate trips within six weeks, hunting for good situations. Normally one leaves that sort of thing to a location scout, but on this occasion I literally covered hundreds of miles of Mexico. The critics roasted the Him. If it had been a play, we'd have closed in one night. Thank God for word of mouth and my scriptwriter - he said: " I gave you Shane and you gave me Gunga Din." What we really got was the Laurel and Hardy of Deadwood Gulch.
	22.30	The Good Old Days
			A Christmas edition of Old-Time Music-Hall from the stage of the Famous City Varieties Theatre, Leeds (by arrangement with Stanley and Michael Joseph ) For your delectation and delight, your Chairman, Leonard Sachs, introduces Vera Lynn Sheila Steafel j Windsor Davies and Don Estelle Lyn Kennington Davy Kaye Ray C. Davis Members of the Players Theatre, London: LORAINE HART DUDLEY STEVENS JACQUIE TOYE CLIFTON TODD JENNY WREN NORMAN WARWICK Choreography DOREEN HERMITAGE Musical director BERNARD HERRMANN Producer BARNEY COLEHAN BBC Manchester (Lyn Kennington is appearing at the Victoria Palace, London)
	23.20	News
			with Kenneth Kendall ; Weather
	23.30	Parkinson meets Bob Hope
			Born in South-East London in 1903, Bob Hope moved to the United States four years later and grew up to become one of the legends of show business. Tonight he flies home to celebrate Christmas as Michael Parkinson's special guest. Director COLIN STRONG Producer RICHARD DREWETT

	BBC Two
	11.00	Play School
			The Story of Christmas Presenters: CHLOE ASHCROFT, JOHNNY BALL
	11.25	Closedown
	13.25	Yes to Man
			by ALAN ECCLESTONE The author of Yes to God, which won the £1,000 1975 Collins Religi ous Book Prize, speaks about the meaning of Christmas.
	13.30	Christmas Day Play Away
			with Brian Cant Toni Arthur, Chloe Ashcroft Derek Griffiths, Lionel Morton Spike Heatley, Alan Rushton Jeff Crampton, Stephen Henderson Musical director JONATHAN COHIN Designer TONY SNOADEN Director PETER CHARLTON Producer ANN REAY
	14.05	Prince Charles, Pilot Royal...
			Today, a second chance to see a remarkable film on the flying career of Prince Charles. In a candid and delightfully informal atmosphere the Heir to the Throne is seen on his first solo flight in a helicopter; his first parachute drop; learning to escape from a crashed helicopter sub ! merged in a tank of water and - in the middle of it all - returning from a tour of duty under canvas in a remote part of Canada, for his investiture as Great Master of the Order of the Bath. 'I'm one of those hopeless characters who likes trying all sorts of things.' Narrated by RAY MOORE Producer JOSEPHINE DOUGLAS Director CHRISTOPHER DOLL
	15.00	The Queen
			The Queen speaks to the Commonwealth
	15.05	Swan Lake
			starring Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev Music by TCHAIKOVSKY Choreography by RUDOLF NUREYEV after PETIPA and IVANOV Scenery and costumes by NICHOLAS GEORGIADIS At a royal palace in the 16th century Prince Siegfried is celebrating his coming-of-age, and the Queen Mother tells him the time has come to choose a bride. This performance with Fonteyn and Nureyev of one of the most popular ballets was filmed at the Vienna Opera House in 1964 when this unique partnership was at the height of its success. Nureyev has also made a name for himself as a choreographer and this was one of the first full-length ballets he worked on. and members of the VIENNA STATE OPERA BALLET VIENNA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA directed by JOHN LANCHBERY Director TRUCK BRANSS A Unitel production ( Repeat)
	16.45	In Deepest Britain
			A nostalgic look back to the heat of last summer. One hot day last July two camera teams accompanied a biologist, an ornithologist, a botanist and an archaeologist as they explored a five-mile stretch of Southern England. At the same time, a cameraman who specialises in wildlife filming sat for 12 hours in a quiet spot nearby - to see just how much wildlife came to him if he didn't move. The four expert observers showed us the wildlife most of us fail to see. And remember everything you see was filmed in one day from a public right of way. Taking part: Dr Malcolm Coe Peter Fowler, John Gooders Richard Mabey, Maurice Tibbles Directors PETER BALE. SUZANNE GIBBS CHRISTOPHER PARSONS BBC Bristol
	17.35	Nice One
			A Cockney Wedding A red-letter day in the East End. Alan Jude and Helen Savage get married ... and to cap it all West Ham win 1-0. Film editor HOWARD BILLINGHAM Director DAVE PRITCHARD
	17.50	The Yearling (1946)
			A feature film starring Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman Claude Jarman Jr with Chill Wills Clem Bevans, Margaret Wycherly While his mother and father struggle to make a living off the land they have cleared in the scrub wilderness of the Florida backwoods, young Jody longs for a pet which will be his very own. Director CLARENCE BROWN Films: pases 16-17
	19.55	Great Big Groovy Horse
			A rock-musical romp through the legend of The Wooden Horse of Troy in a version specially written for BBC2 by SIMONE BLOOM and ARNOLD SHAW with additional material by PHILIP GRIFFIN, PAUL CIANI and JONATHAN COHEN starring Bernard Cribbins as The Storyteller and Paul Jones as Menelaus with PATRICIA HODGE, NIGEL WILLIAMS and JULIE COVINGTON Also featuring RICHARD BARTLETT, MIQUEL BROWN KIM GOODY, MICHAEL HOWE DEREK JAMES, JULIAN LITTMAN RICHARDOWENS, MICHAELSTANIFORTH CAROLINE VILLIERS MAYNARD WILLIAMS Musical direction and arrangements JONATHAN COHEN Choreographer IRVING DAVIES Sound ADRIAN STOCKS Lighting DUNCAN BROWN Designer JUDY PORTER Producer PAUL CIANI
	20.45	The Evacuees
			by JACK ROSENTHAL International Emmy Award Winner 1975 When war comes in 1939, school kids Danny and Neville have to leave for Blackpool. They are billeted on Mrs Graham, but her well-intentioned strictness presents too strong a contrast with the Jewish home they have left behind in Manchester. with ... Exquisite (DAILY TELEGRAPH) ... Brilliant (FINANCIAL TIMES) ... Outstanding (THE LISTENER) Film editor DAVID MARTIN Sound MICHAEL TURNER Film cameraman BRIAN TUFANO Designer EVAN HERCULES Producer MARK SHIVAS Director ALAN PARKER
	22.00	News on 2
			Weather
	22.05	Poems and Pints
			The Welsh look wryly at themselves and others in a programme of words and music. Spoken and sung by Max Boyce, Ryan Davies Mari Griffith, Philip Madoc : from Plas Glansevin, Llangadog, Dyfed Director HYWEL WILLIAMS Producer JACK WILLIAMS
	22.30	Presents Past
			or The Art of the Tin Toy Victorian and Edwardian Christmas stockings were full of toy trains, boats, cars, as well as ballet dancers, billiard players and other cunning clockwork mechanical novelties - all made from bits of stamped out, brightly coloured tin plate. When those lucky Edwardian children became parents in the 1920s and 30s, tin had reached the height of its popularity in the shape of the toy train. The tin toys that were thrown away or locked up in attics have now become valuable collectors' items often worth hundreds of pounds. Tonight's programme takes a toy's-eye view of some of the presents from the past that have survived from the heyday of the tin toy. Narrated by NIGEL STOCK Producer RAMSAY SHORT
	23.00	Guys and Dolls (1955)
			The classic musical starring Marlon Brando Jean Simmons Frank Sinatra Vivian Blaine with Robert Keith, Stubby Kaye B. S. Pulley, Johnny Silver and The Goldwyn Girls Damon Runyon's colourful characters are brought to musical life in this film version of the Broad-way success. The hit songs include ' Luck Be a Lady ', 'Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat, ' A Woman in Love' and the cast is headed by Marlon Brando in his first singing role - that of a gambler who meets up with a Salvation Army girl. Director JOSEPH L. MANKIEWICZ Films: pages 16-17
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<< Christmas Day 1975 >>