Christmas Religious Programming on the BBC

Christmas worship on BBC One will be broadcast live from two magnificent settings: Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve from St Chad’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Birmingham and Christmas Day Service from historic Bristol Cathedral.

BBC Two celebrates the festive season with the return of much-loved Christmas Eve tradition, Carols From King’s. Filmed within the candlelit splendour of the Chapel at King's College Cambridge, Carol’s From Kings brings viewers a feast of music and spoken word. The evening begins with a solo chorister singing Once In Royal David’s City, before the congregation joins in song.

Throughout the Advent season, many treasured programmes are also returning to BBC screens. On BBC One, Fern Britton speaks with well-known public figures about their faith, in a brand new series of Fern Britton Meets… Songs of Praise gathers together inspiring stories exemplifying the true meaning of Christmas, culminating in The Christmas Big Sing - a symphony of 5,000 joyous voices at Royal Albert Hall.

BBC Radio is providing listeners with an abundance of special Christmas programming this year.

On BBC Radio 4, Christmas Eve Midnight Mass will be broadcast live from Westminster Abbey, led by Dean of Westminster, Reverend John Hall. The Christmas Morning service comes from Durham Cathedral. A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols returns on Christmas Eve, live from the Chapel of King's College Cambridge. Based around nine Bible readings telling the loving purposes of God, this traditional celebration will be interspersed with carols both old and new. In a special Christmas Day edition of Sunday, Edward Stourton visits Hampton Court to explore Christmas in 1516 and examine the religious, political, cultural and social climate of the time.

On BBC Radio 2, Clare Balding meets actor and comedian Barry Humphries on Good Morning Christmas. There will be live music from the gospel choir AVE and The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Revd. Vincent Nichols, will reflect on the importance of Christmas in this year’s Christmas Day edition.

Tommy Nagra, Head of Religion and Ethics, BBC Studios says “The BBC’s religious programming across BBC Television this Christmas continues its tradition of bringing communities together to reflect on the true meaning of the season. A rich mix of traditional carols, festive music, contemplation and live worship, allows audiences to celebrate in their own personal way."

Christine Morgan, Head of Radio Religion and Ethics says “This festive period, BBC Radio is offering audiences many ways to reflect, worship and celebrate through a wide variety of religious programmes. From The Sunday Hour and Good Morning Sunday’s special Christmas Day shows on BBC Radio 2, to BBC Radio 4’s live services and thought-provoking features, there are programmes for everyone throughout the Christmas period.”

RH2

BBC One

Fern Britton Meets… returns for an eighth series on BBC One. To mark this season of Advent, there are four hour-long episodes in which Fern talks to high profile guests about their lives, careers and the beliefs that have shaped them. This year’s guests include comedian, singer and Pointless host Alexander Armstrong, world champion boxer Nigel Benn, Conservative MP Michael Gove and double platinum recording artist Rebecca Ferguson.

Through Advent to New Year, Songs Of Praise brings together inspiring stories of faith from around the country. On 4 December, Songs of Praise visits historic Bath Abbey and local Christmas market, discovering the city's links with Bethlehem and how the nativity is being reimagined for the 21st century. Travelling to Merseyside on 11 December, the programme visits a group of young people planning a Christmas party on a canal boat for a lonely older folk. Kate Bottley visits Reading on 18 December to see over a thousand motorcyclists in fancy dress distribute presents to needy children. Songs Of Praise guests this Christmas include actor and comedian, Hugh Dennis, who, to mark the 90th anniversary of the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin-in-the-Fields, visits the church to find out more about its work with the homeless.

Festive favourite, Christmas Big Sing, also returns this December, with a celebratory special from the Royal Albert Hall. Broadcasting on Christmas Day, Aled Jones introduces Gareth Malone and Laura Mvula, who join 5,000 voices in singing much-loved carols and songs.

This year’s live Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve comes from St Chad’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Birmingham. The Mass will be led by Archbishop Bernard Longley and will feature Rheinberger’s Cantus Missae sung by the Cathedral Choir, as well as O Little Town of Bethlehem, Silent Night, In The Bleak Midwinter and other cherished carols.

The Christmas Day service on BBC One will be broadcast live from Bristol Cathedral. The remarkable venue, which BBC viewers may recognise from programmes such as Wolf Hall and Sherlock, will feature a traditional service of Holy Communion. The Cathedral Choir will lead the congregation in singing favourites such as O Come All Ye Faithful, O Little Town of Bethlehem and Hark! The Herald Angels.

On Christmas Night, actor Don Warrington reads the account in Luke’s Gospel of the angels’ proclamation to the shepherds of Christ’s birth. His reading leads into a new arrangement by Ken Burton of Sweet Little Jesus Boy, sung by acclaimed choir, the Adventist Vocal Ensemble.

Concluding BBC One’s Christmas season is the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby’s, annual New Year message. Reflecting on 2016, the message will illustrate the Archbishop of Canterbury’s hopes for the year ahead.

BBC Two

BBC Two’s, much-loved Carols from King’s returns on Christmas Eve for a glorious feast of music and words. Capturing the candlelit splendor of the Chapel of King's College Cambridge, the world-famous, choir, directed by Stephen Cleobury, sings Ding, Dong Merrily On High, The Holly And The Ivy, Bethlehem Down, In The Bleak Midwinter and other favourites. Between songs, the story of Christmas is told in the words of the King James Bible with poems by Rowan Williams, Charles Causley and U.A. Fanthorpe.

BBC Radio 2

On Christmas Day, Radio 2 wishes listeners a very Merry Christmas bright and early, starting with Sunday Hour’s celebration of the Nativity story (6-8am). Diane Louise Jordan and her guests discover more about Mary, Joseph, the Angel Gabriel and of course the baby Jesus. Accompanied by uplifting Christmas carols, this special programme includes songs from Young Chorister of the Year winners, Florence Cain and Edward Hyde.

Next, Clare Balding says Good Morning Christmas with a festive programme full of guests and music (8-10am). She is joined in conversation by comedian and actor Barry Humphries. Featuring live music from the gospel choir AVE directed by Ken Burton, counter tenor Michael Chance and singer/songwriter Kelvin Jones. The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Revd. Vincent Nichols, will also provide his Moment of Reflection.

Ringing in the New Year, Sunday Hour on 1 January features uplifting spiritual music, with carols, hymns, gospel and choral classics. Diane explores the Christmas Canticles throughout the festive season - songs or Canticles found within Luke’s Gospel that form part of the Nativity story. This week she looks at Simeon's song, known as the Nunc Dimittis.

BBC Radio 3

Andrew McGregor guides listeners through a day of Christmas around Europe on 18 December, with live performances marking the different festive traditions from Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Catalonia and Hungary. On 19 December, BBC National Chorus of Wales and Welsh National Opera Orchestra come together for the first time to collaborate on an exhilarating and emotional musical celebration of the Nativity, firmly established as a Christmas tradition for audiences across the globe; Handel’s Messiah.

In the week leading up to Christmas Day, Radio 3 explores the significance of the Christmas story in the modern day, with a series of essays from five different speakers bringing to life components of the nativity. Essayists include paediatrician Professor John Wyatt, who reflects on the fragility of new life; the Muslim academic Mona Siddiqui on the nativity’s characters within Islam; and space scientist Monica Grady on the power and symbolism of stars.

The BBC Singers are live from St Paul’s Knightsbridge on 21 December with a concert of carols and readings for the Winter Solstice, presented by Rev Richard Coles. Also that day, Choral Evensong features an archive service of music and readings with the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Christmas Day sees Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, join presenter Michael Berkeley on Private Passions to reveal the music which has sustained him through an extraordinary and challenging life, and his favourite things about Christmas – including a love of cooking. Also on Christmas Day, BBC Radio 3 rebroadcasts the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from BBC Radio 4.

On the 28 December, Choral Evensong broadcasts live from St Gabriel's Church, Pimlico, London on the Feast of the Holy Innocents with the Rodolfus Choir.

BBC Radio 4

Beyond Belief (Mondays, 4.30-5pm) brings thought provoking programming to BBC Radio 4 throughout the Christmas Season. Thirty years ago a Bishop could hit the headlines for saying that he didn’t believe Jesus was born of a virgin. While this doctrine is still strongly held in some parts of the church, it is rarely discussed outside of theological circles. On 19 December, Ernie Rea and guests discuss the Virgin Birth and explore its contemporary validity and value. On Boxing Day, Ernie Rea and guests discuss how religious traditions relate to the themes of austerity and abundance, during one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, returns to BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Eve (3-4.30pm), live from the candlelit Chapel of King's College, Cambridge. Based around nine Bible readings telling the loving purposes of God, this traditional celebration will be interspersed with carols old and new, sung by the world-famous chapel choir. The College's Director of Music, Stephen Cleobury, has commissioned a carol by Michael Berkeley based on the mediaeval poem,This Ender Night, for this special occasion.

Also on Christmas Eve, Radio 4 celebrates the First Mass of Christmas (11.30pm-12.45am), live from Westminster Abbey with the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend John Hall. This special date also marks the 950th anniversary of the crowning of William the Conqueror at Westminster Abbey. The world class Westminster Abbey Choir will lead a congregation in traditional Christmas carols and hymns welcoming the birth of the Saviour.

In a special Christmas Day edition of Sunday (7-8am) from Hampton Court, Edward Stourton goes back to Christmas 1516 to explore the religious, political, cultural and social climate of the time, all of which led to Martin Luther nailing his 95 thesis on the doors of Wittenberg Castle Church the following year. Ivan Day adds to the occasion by making food that would have been eaten at Christmas.

Sunday is also here to herald the New Year. Caroline Wyatt presents a special edition of the programme (1 January, 7.10-8am), examining the state of rural churches in the UK and looking ahead to some of the religious stories to watch out for in 2017.

Radio 4’s Christmas Morning service (9-9.45am) comes from Durham Cathedral. Canon Angela Tilby encounters the ‘Angel of the North’. She reflects on the region's industrial past and how the sculptural Angel has unexpectedly become a source of wonder, support and almost a place of pilgrimage. Angela journeys on to Durham Cathedral to contemplate the mystery of the Nativity of Jesus; with Canon David Kennedy and the Cathedral Consort of Voices directed by James Lancelot and accompanied by Francesca Massey singing seasonal music from Handel's Messiah and Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols.

On Boxing Day, poet and spoken word artist Harry Baker looks back on his own advent calendar of Christmases so far for Radio 4 on Christmas Meditation (12.15-12.30am). World Poetry Slam champion Harry was voted Best Spoken Word Show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015.