Music TV - December 16 - 22

The music tv schedules are heating up for the festive season just as the rest of the UK chills in another cold-snap. Enjoy highlights this week from Pulp and Radiohead at Glastonbury, Abba and Coldplay on TOTP2 and Ray Davies on Imagine.

Thursday 16 December - BBC Four

1930 - 2030: Come Clog Dancing: Treasures of English Folk Dance

At the height of the industrial revolution in the last decades of the 19th century there was a dance, now rarely seen, that resounded through the collieries and pit villages of the north east of England - the clog dance. For conductor and musician Charles Hazlewood, clog dance has become an obsession and he plans to put it firmly back on the map by staging a mass flashmob clog dance. Helped by a team of local enthusiasts led by expert clog dancer Laura Connolly, Charles recruits and trains 140 men and women from across the north east, and one sunny Saturday in a busy square in central Newcastle they ambush the public with a six-minute performance. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wmy5q

Friday 17 December - BBC Four

1930 - 2030: Diva Diaries

Documentary which follows one of today's hottest young sopranos, Danielle de Niese, as she makes her sensational debut as Susanna in Mozart'sthe Marriage of Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sjlxy

2030 - 2100: The Highland Sessions

Repeated: BBC Four - Monday 1900

This edition features the Dublin-based duo of piper Mick O'Brien and fiddle-player Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh, plus Donegal's favourite Australian, series music director Steve Cooney, once a backing guitarist to Chuck Berry.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074ryb

2100 - 2230: Festivals Britannia

Repeated: BBC Four - Sunday 2345

The story of the emergence and evolution of the British music festival through the mavericks, dreamers and dropouts who have produced, enjoyed and sometimes fought for them over the last 50 years. Featuring rare archive and interviews with Michael Eavis, Richard Thompson, Acker Bilk, Terry Reid, the Levellers, Billy Bragg, John Giddings, Melvin Benn, Roy Harper, Nik Turner, Peter Jenner, Orbital, amongst others.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wmdqs

Read Sam Bridger's blog post about the making of Festivals Britannia.

2230 - 2330: Pulp at Glastonbury 1999

Back in June 1995, The Stone Roses were booked to headline the main stage at Glastonbury but pulled out at the last minute. Pulp stepped in and their performance is widely regarded as one of the best in the festival's history. The set features many of the songs that made them one of the darlings of Britpop, including Do You Remember the First Time, Sorted for E's & Wizz, Babies and, of course, Common People.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wv3j8

2330 - 2430: Legends - Herb Alpert, Tijuana Brass and Other Delights

Repeated: BBC Four - Monday 2325

Herb Alpert is probably best known as the trumpet player who created the Tijuana Brass and sold America, and the world, the sound of Mexico. Or the crooner that made the ladies swoon when he sang This Guy's in Love With You. From his first job working with soul legend Sam Cooke to creating A&M records, Alpert's life reads like a wonderful story of dreams come true. This profile follows him today and platforms his music and artwork as he exhibits his sculptures for Hollywood's art elite.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tr86l

Saturday 18 December - BBC Four

2000 - 2100: Fire and Ice - The Christmas Session

BBC Four celebrates merry midwinter in unique style, with an exhilarating blend of folk tradition and burlesque fun. Energetic 11-piece Bellowhead and Mercury-nominated alternative folkies The Unthanks get together with the impressive young singers Thea Gilmore and Lisa Knapp, plus other special guests. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pcnsp

2345 - 2445: Tom Jones at the BBC

An archive celebration of Tom Jones' performances at the BBC from the start of his pop career in the mid-60s to Later...with Jools Holland in 2010 and all points in between, including Top of the Pops and the Dusty Springfield Show. A chronological celebration of Sir Tom through the years that is also a history of music TV at the BBC over most of the past 50 years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vz5ml

2445 - 2545: Mark Lawson Talks to Tom Jones

Mark Lawson talks to the iconic singer Sir Tom Jones about his life in and out of the limelight. Jones reflects on his modest upbringing in a coal mining community from the early pub tours in his native south Wales to achieving international acclaim - and the accompanying pressures of fame.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vz5mj

Sunday 19 December - BBC Four

1900 - 2000: Ten Best Sacred Christmas Classics

From Bach'sChristmas Oratorio and Handel'sMessiah to much-loved carols, ten memorable performances from the archives are introduced by a starry line-up of musicians and music lovers, including Katherine Jenkins, Billy Bragg, Michael Portillo and David Soul.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gd0q9

2000 - 2100: The Truth About Christmas Carols

There could be nothing more sweet and sentimental than the sound of traditional carols performed by a velvet-voiced choir at Christmas. Or so you would think. Composer Howard Goodall uncovers the surprising and often secret history of the Christmas carol. Far from being accepted as part of the celebrations of Jesus' birth, over the centuries carols have been banned by both church and state. The carols we sing seem set in stone and yet they can have up to 400 regional variations. Individual carols have caused controversy - While Shepherds Watched had to be cleaned up by the Victorians for being too crude and there's a suspicion that O Come All Ye Faithful was a call to 18th century Jacobites to rebel.

The documentary celebrates the enduring power of the carol with a variety of performances from folk singer Bella Hardy to the choir of Truro Cathedral.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gbgt3

2100 - 2200: Soul Noel - Gospel & Soul Stars Singing Christmas

Warm yourself on a winter's night with gospel, soul, reggae, ska and soca versions of classics such as Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Jingle Bells, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and many more. Filmed at the Porchester Hall in west London, it features UK soul diva Beverley Knight, the multi- talented jazz blues soul singer Carleen Anderson, Lagos-born jazz soul singer Ola Onabule and Birmingham-born Bryn Christopher in a unique celebration of Christmas. Special guests include the legendary original Southern Blues-singing Golden Gate Quartet, a truly radical jubilee quartet, bringing the swing and groove of jazz into gospel music. Formed in the 1930s, the group still feature two orginal members. Mercury-nominated Londoner Soweto Kinch performs a unique version of Away In a Manger, and MD Ken Burton leads a stellar choir featuring a range of other top vocalists, all backed by a sizzling soul band.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wvcs3

2515 - 2615: Radiohead at Glastonbury 1997

Arguably one of the greatest sets at the Glastonbury Festival in its entire 40 years started when Oxford's Radiohead took to the Pyramid Stage on Saturday June 28th 1997. They had released their seminal album OK Computer two weeks earlier to huge acclaim and this performance features many of its tracks, including Paranoid Android, Karma Police and No Surprises, as well as earlier songs such as The Bends.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyn9g

Tuesday 21 December - BBC One

2235 - 2355: Imagine - Ray Davies - The Imaginary Man

As the creative powerhouse behind hugely influential band The Kinks, Ray Davies was responsible for writing some of the best-loved songs of the 60s, including pop classics `You Really Got Me, Tired of Waiting For You, Dedicated Follower of Fashion and Sunny Afternoon'. Alan Yentob meets Davies, a unique talent who describes with rare candour his troubled relationship with fame and the vicissitudes of his career.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x21y4

Tuesday 21 December - BBC Two

1830 - 2000: TOTP2 Christmas 2010

Repeated: BBC Four - Christmas Day - Saturday 25 December 2500

Mark Radcliffe digs deep into the `Top of the Pops' archives to bring some festive performances from the likes of Slade, The Pogues, Elton John, Take That, Coldplay and Abba.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyhgr

Don't miss your chance to look back at some of the finer moments of this year's I'm In A Rock n Roll Band series with our Rock 'n' Roll DNA collection on the BBC Music Showcase



Next week; a bumper two week Christmas post with highlights from Mozart, Andy Williams, Jools Holland and JLS.

Take care of yourselves, 

Rory