BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Young’s festive castaways are Bruce Springsteen, Gareth Malone and Sir Kenneth Grange.

Singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen is Kirsty Young’s guest on Sunday 18 December (pictured). He says of his track choices: "This is the music that electrified me – they galvanised me into changing my life in some way". There will be an extended version of the interview available to listen to and download following the Sunday broadcast.

On Christmas Day, choirmaster Gareth Malone talks to Kirsty about the music that inspires him and stirs his emotions and reveals what he'll be singing at home this Christmas.

And on New Year’s Day Kirsty’s castaway is Sir Kenneth Grange, who has been designing elements of our everyday lives for the past six decades, including the Intercity 125 train, the parking meter, the Kodak Instamatic camera, and the Kenwood mixer to name a few. He says: "Everything I design starts with a purpose, everything should be better than it was before."

• Bruce Springsteen: Sunday 18 December, 11.15am
• Gareth Malone: Sunday 25 December, 11.15am
• Sir Kenneth Grange: Sunday 1 January, 11.15am
• Producers: Cathy Drysdale (BS) Paula McGinley (GM) and Sarah Taylor (KG) for the BBC

Radio 4 Today Programme Guest Editors 2016

BBC Radio 4’s Today is announcing the first three of this year’s guest editors who will take over the programme during the festive period this year, with more to come. It is the 13th year that the editorial control of the Today programme will be in the hands of public figures during the week between Christmas and New Year.

Three of the names taking editorial control of Today this year are:

Carey Mulligan

The actress who rose to prominence with a part in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House before going on to enjoy international renown for her film work including in Shame, The Great Gatsby and Suffragette. She is an ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society and War Child, with whom she visited the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2014. Some of the topics Carey will be focusing her programme on include how to deal with the fear of a dementia diagnosis and the effects of the war against the so-called Islamic State on Iraqi children. Carey says: “I am so excited and honoured to be guest editing the Today Programme. It's a privilege to work with the excellent team of journalists and producers at the BBC and together we will be talking about several issues close to my heart and meeting some fascinating people.”

Helena Morrissey

Former CEO of Newton Investment Management, who left the role this summer after 15 years in charge. She has long been a campaigner for gender diversity in boardrooms and was one of the few City voices to speak out in favour of Brexit ahead of the referendum. She will look back on how the events of 2016 have challenged the conventional wisdom and revealed the dangers of groupthink when everything from music to politics is being disrupted by new technology.

She says: “I'm delighted to be one of the guest editors for Radio 4's Today programme. 2016 has been incredible - exciting for some, shocking for others. I will be exploring the theme of 'power to the people' in a year when democracy reasserted itself and disruptive forces were unleashed leaving many of us scrambling to work out what happens next. My programme on 27 December will feature guests who I believe can help us understand what has happened and more importantly, what may unfold next.”

Dame Sally Davies

The Chief Medical Officer for England, previously Chief Scientific Advisor at the Department of Health. She was the first woman to hold the post of Chief Medical Officer, taking the position in June 2010. Her editorship will look at the on-going crisis of antimicrobial resistance and the latest breakthroughs in astronomy and genomics.

The guest editors will be live in the studios and take responsibility for around half of the programme’s output, with the support of Today producers and reporters to bring their ideas to air. The usual day and night editors are on hand to make sure that the material is newsworthy and meets the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines.

Jamie Angus, Editor of Today, says: “It’s great to once more be handing over the reins of Today to another fascinating range of guest editors over the festive period. It’s a fantastic opportunity to offer our listeners distinctive and personal insights into a range of topics beyond the usual confines of daily news coverage. Our guest editor line up has become quite a Christmas tradition and has led to some of the most memorable moments in Today’s history.”

Previous guest editors have included: Zac Goldsmith, Sir Lenny Henry, Michael Palin, Miriam González Durántez, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Lord Sebastian Coe, John Bercow MP, Prof Stephen Hawking, PD James, Sir Tim Berners Lee, Yoko Ono, Lady Manningham-Buller, David Hockney, Jarvis Cocker, Tracey Emin, Sir Richard Branson, and Melinda Gates.

Stardust - Tori Amos and Neil Gaiman cameos

Singer Tori Amos and author Neil Gaiman are to make cameos in Radio 4’s dramatisation of Gaiman’s spellbinding tale Stardust. The two-part production will be broadcast in hour-long episodes on 17 and 18 December.

Amos makes her Radio 4 acting debut as the Copper Beech Tree in Stardust, a role originally created for her by Gaiman, whilst Gaiman plays Seth, a resident of the village of Wall who is on guard duty when a basket containing a baby (Tristran Thorn) is pushed though the gap in the wall. The two have long been friends and have referenced each other repeatedly in their work.

Tori Amos says: "Being this tree has been the highlight of my fantasy life for so many years, so much so that I actually wrote about it in my song Horses. So it was great to make my fantasy come true by being able to give voice to the copper beech in this production."

The cast of the two-part dramatisation stars Matthew Beard (The Imitation Game, An Education, One Day) as Tristran Thorn and Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders, Happy Valley, Episodes) as Yvaine.

Other cast members include Eleanor Bron, Charlotte Riley, Frances Barber, Maggie Steed, Blake Ritson, Nicholas Boulton, Alex Macqueen, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kevin Eldon, Paul Kaye and Aisling Loftus.

Challenged to retrieve a fallen star Tristran Thorn leaves his home in the sleepy English village of Wall and crosses into the mysterious and magical land of Faerie. But when Tristran locates the fallen star he discovers it is no mere meteorite, but a young woman, Yvaine. With Yvaine’s life in danger, she and Tristran find themselves embarking on an extraordinary adventure.

• 17 December, 2.30pm and 18 December, 3pm
• Director and producer: Heather Larmour for the BBC

Just A Minute Does Panto!

Just A Minute is 50 years old next year, and what better way to kick off the celebrations by combining the longest-running panel show with another great British institution - the pantomime!

In Just A Minute Does Panto! Nicholas Parsons is joined by Just A Minute regulars, Paul Merton and Gyles Brandreth, as they journey through Panto-land in search of the missing Just A Minute Golden Whistle. Their companions on their quest include Rufus Hound and Shelia Hancock.

There’ll be adventure, genies, panto dames, goodies, baddies, and audience participation. But above all, at the heart of it, a cracking game of the much loved comedy show, Just A Minute.

Nicholas Parsons says: “I’ve been presenting Just A Minute for 50 years and I’ve appeared in many pantomimes during that time. These factors combined we have created a festive edition of our iconic show without hesitation, repetition or deviation. Oh yes we have!”

• Sunday 25 December, 1.15pm
• Producer: Matt Stronge for BBC Studios

Gardeners’ Question Time Christmas Special

Eric Robson chairs a special, festive edition of Gardeners’ Question Time recorded in The State Dining Room of the Prime Minister’s House, Number 10 Downing Street. The programme includes an exclusive interview with Head Gardener Paul Schooling - who’s gardened at Number 10 for the last 27 years.

Paul Schooling, Head Gardener at Number 10 Downing Street says: “When Margaret Thatcher lived at Number 10, a rose from the garden was cut every day and put in her study, but when I arrived the roses needed changing. Then, John Major wanted a rose arch so we put that in and put in some new roses, which are still there now. When Margaret Thatcher came back for a reception, she noticed what we’d done and I got a bit of a ticking off for it. She said: ‘Why have the roses been changed? There was nothing wrong with them.’ But you couldn’t argue - you just had to take it.”

GQT chairman Eric Robson says: “As Gardeners’ Question Time enters its 70th anniversary year, it’s a delight to be taking our audience for a unique trip through that famous black door to explore the lesser-known garden beyond it.”

Taking questions from an audience of BBC Radio listeners inside Number 10 are regular panellists Christine Walkden, Matthew Wilson and Pippa Greenwood.

• Sunday 25 December, 2pm
• Producer: Darby Dorras for Somethin’ Else productions

Christmas Short Stories by Alexander McCall Smith

BBC Radio 4 has a special Christmas treat in store in the shape of a series of specially written stories by Alexander McCall Smith. The stories, by the bestselling author of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, are each set at Christmas-time and feature the giving of gifts.

Ranging from a generous 75-year-old German female owner of a Wall of Death, to the dutiful President of an Eastern European country attending to the poor; from a hot-tempered Canadian chef discovering humility, to an enterprising elderly Professor escaping the confines of a compassion-free care home; and not forgetting Cousin Grace who, over a very dry Martini, shares her adventures in love (just the four marriages, so far) with three rapt young relatives.

“These stories will charm, delight and also provoke,” says producer Kirsteen Cameron. “And, in the week leading up to Christmas, will provide listeners with the perfect accompaniment to late-night gift-wrapping.”

Radio 4 is a patron of excellence of the short story form, and McCall Smith is the latest in a long line of authors who have written short stories especially for radio. In 2017 authors including Jon McGregor, Sarah Hall and Simon Von Booy will write short stories exclusively for Radio 4.

• Monday 19-Friday 23 December, 10.45pm
• Producer: Kirsteen Cameron for the BBC

Archive On 4: The Many Faces Of Ebenezer Scrooge

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is undoubtedly his most famous work. Published in 1843 it was an instant success and has been translated into dozens of languages, adapted countless times for the stage, opera, film and radio drama, as well as being performed in one-man shows and readings.

Although an abiding popular favourite, A Christmas Carol is often viewed by serious critics as an entertainment and not accorded the same respect as his other novels. But there is more to this story than meets the eye, it has been re-imagined by successive generations and has truly become a modern myth.

It could be said that it has taken over from The Nativity as the great yuletide story and that Dickens is the father of the modern Christmas. This novel's potent mixture of nostalgia, social concern, selfishness and celebration has proved a winner. In this programme, presenter Christopher Frayling will guide us through a myriad of clips from the rich history of the work which will be woven together with historical archive material and contemporary interviews to get to the very heart of Ebenezer Scrooge.

In particular, the different film versions of Christmas Carol that have been produced over the years give us a fascinating snapshot of the times that they sprang from. And then there are the works that have taken the tale and run with it - like It's A Wonderful Life and the brilliant Groundhog Day. Or the many clever parodies that have satirised the original like hilarious and twisted Blackadder's Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens wrote of his novel - "may it haunt your house pleasantly" and it has done so - in many ways he could not have imagined - for over 170 years.

• Saturday 24 December, 8pm
• Producer: Nick Jones for Hidden Flack Productions

Slaughter of the Innocents

Journalist Tim Montgomorie reflects on the largely forgotten Collect for Holy Innocents Day celebrated on 28 December. This religious holiday is for recalling the murder of innocent lives, and remembering the violence and injustice of our world. Yet despite its contemporary relevance it has fallen into obscurity.

Montgomorie will trace this melancholy commemoration back to one of the most harrowing stories from the Bible, Herod’s massacre of all infant boys in Bethlehem. He then visits its most famous representation in art, Bruegel the Elder’s Massacre of the Innocents, which is kept in Her Majesty's collection at Windsor Castle. Through this painting, and its multiple retouches by its various owners to obscure away painful memories and injustices, Montgomorie will draw parallels between the fading away of this once important commemoration, and the airbrushing of Elder's work to remove his messages of suffering at the hands of Spanish armies and German mercenaries of the time.

Alongside interviewees such as Cardinal Vincent Nichols and theologian Martin Palmer, Montgomorie will make an impassioned case for a greater recognition of this once important day in the Christian calendar.

• Wednesday 28 December, 11am
• Producer: Sean Glynn for Kati Whitaker Productions

The Nativity

An improvised drama of The Nativity as dictated by young children as they contemplate a story where there really is rather a lot to take on board.

At ages five and six they know only the world around them so even hurdling the concept of "Long, long ago" - a world where there are no cars, no planes, no televisions, no iPods, no hospitals - naturally throws up a lot of lively debate. And what with Angels appearing, there being "no room in the inn", having to have the baby on straw in a stable with animals, Three Wise Men showing up with gifts and Shepherds arriving, this really is rich terrain to place in the small hands of truly natural story tellers. Who knows what we will learn?

Performed by St Malachy’s Primary School, Kilclief and St Joseph’s Primary, Strangford. Introduced by Liam Neeson.

• Saturday 24 December, 11am
• Producer: Gemma McMullan for the BBC

Dead Ringers

Over the festive season, Dead Ringers provides some tinselly satire, spreading goodwill to all men except those it will be stuffing and roasting. Listen out for light-hearted Christmassy versions of your favourite shows, from Panorama to File On Four, on 23 December.

And on 30 December, join the Ringers team as they look back at the year that never was, imagining what life would be like had Remain won, Trump lost and a host of other events that just might have happened.

• Friday 23 and 30 December, 6.30pm
• Producer: Bill Dare for BBC Studios

Some Hay in a Manger

The recently-discovered correspondence between Sandy, an upbeat but ever so slightly dim camel carrying a king and some myrrh through the desert, and Martha, a thoughtful but rather sarcastic donkey taking a heavily pregnant lady to Bethlehem.

In the first episode Sandy's rider is becoming concerned that myrrh might not be a very good gift for a baby, Joseph is not dealing well with the pressure of being a father to be, and Martha worries about going back to Bethlehem because her mother is bound to wonder why she is still single. Plus the roads are absolutely packed with over-excited sheep who seem to have got hold of the wrong end of the stick about what species the Lamb of God is going to be.

In the second and final episode, there is no room at any of the inns in Bethlehem, although luckily there is a bit of stable space. Or there would be if it weren't for all those sheep. A lactose-intolerant elephant, a frog and a surprisingly ingenious plan bring Sandy and Martha together to witness something miraculous. But is that going to be the end of their friendship?

Written by Robert Hudson and Marie Phillips, authors of Radio 4's previous epistolary animal comedy Warhorses of Letters.

Cast

• Martha... Tamsin Greig
• Sandy... Joel Fry
• Introduced by Stephen Fry

• Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 December, 6.15pm
• Producer: Gareth Edwards for BBC Studios

The Food Programme

In a series of four special programmes broadcast over Christmas, Sheila Dillon explores the link between tradition and food.

In the first programme Sheila takes an irreverent look at baking, and the connection between baking and being a Good Wife and Mother.

On Christmas Day, Sheila celebrates The Wild Boar Feast – an ancient Viking tradition which still survives in Britain (think of ‘pigs in blankets’) and inspires our love of the Christmas Ham. Historian Eleanor Barraclough introduces Sheila to a stuffed boar’s head in the cellars of Queen’s College, Oxford, and explains about how the boar was at the centre of mid-winter pagan fertility rituals. In Cumbria, Sheila meets a field of wild boar and talks to farmer Peter Gott about the fearsome intelligence of his huge beasts. Scandinavian chef Trine Hahnemann reveals the huge importance of the Christmas boar in Sweden, and how to make a meatball sandwich for Boxing Day. And Chef Giorgio Locatelli explores the passion for wild boar across Italy. With music from The Boar’s Head Carol, the oldest printed carol in English, and recipes from Trine Hahnemann and Giorgio Locatelli.

Food can bind a community together, and give it new life. In the third programme of the series, Sheila travels to Loch Fyne to see how this rural Scottish community has preserved its food traditions, with recipes handed down for generations. She discovers how local food businesses have become international, working together to sell their fish in the Far East - despite the frustrations of poor broadband connections. And she eats dinner with a group of local food producers, feasting on mutton - a traditional dish for the Christmas holiday.

Sheila ends the series by exploring the creation of a new food culture - in Northern Ireland. It started with the revival of the St George’s market in Belfast - now in full swing, and hundreds of young businesses are now thriving. Sheila tours the market with Chef Paula McIntyre and meets people with a new take on traditional Irish food.

• Sunday 18 December 2016 - Sunday 8 January 2017, 12.30pm
• Producer: Elizabeth Burke for BBC Radio 4

Festival Of Nine Lessons And Carols

Live from the candlelit Chapel of King's College, Cambridge and based around nine Bible readings interspersed with Christmas hymns and carols sung by the world-famous chapel choir. For many around the world, A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, live from the candlelit Chapel of King's College, Cambridge, marks the beginning of Christmas.

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.

The College's Director of Music Stephen Cleobury says: “The commissioned carol this year is by Michael Berkeley, who has set the mediaeval poem This Ender Night. The first carol I commissioned (in 1983) was from Michael's father, Lennox, who is represented in this service by his I Sing Of A Maiden.

"Significant anniversaries of two composers strongly connected with the carol repertoire and the King's service are marked. Charles Wood (1866-1926) popularised Ding Dong! Merrily On High, and this is included in the recent arrangement by the American composers Mack Wilberg and Peter Stevens. Harold Darke (1888-1976) directed the King's Choir during Boris Ord's absence on war service in the early 1940s. His evergreen In The Bleak Midwinter is included.

"Although the main focus this year is on recent British composers, there are carols in French, German and Spanish, as well as settings not previously heard at King's of the well-known texts Adam Lay Ybounden (composed by Gaynor Howard) and of the Sussex Carol (in an arrangement by Bryan Kelly).”

• Hymn: Once in Royal David's City (desc. Cleobury)
• Bidding Prayer read by the Dean
• A Babe is born (Mathias)
• First lesson: Genesis 3 vv 8-19 read by a Chorister
• Jesus Christ the apple tree (Poston)
• Adam lay ybounden (Gaynor Howard)
• Second lesson: Genesis 22 vv 15-18 read by a Choral Scholar
• Riu, riu chiu (Flecha the Elder)
• In dulci jubilo (H. Praetorius)
• Third lesson: Isaiah 9 vv 2, 6-7 read by a representative of the Cambridge Churches
• Sussex Carol (arr. Brian Kelly)
• Hymn: O Little Town of Bethlehem (arr. Vaughan Williams)
• Fourth lesson: Isaiah 11 vv 1-3a, 4a, 6-9 read by a representative of the City of Cambridge
• The Lamb (Tavener)
• A spotless rose (Howells)
• Fifth lesson: Luke 1 vv 26-38 read by a representative of our sister college at Eton
• I sing of a maiden (Lennox Berkeley)
• Joys Seven (arr. Cleobury)
• Sixth lesson: Luke 2 vv 1 -7 read by the Chaplain
• Quelle est cette odeur agréable? (arr. Willcocks)
• This ender night (Michael Berkeley - Commission (world premiere))
• Seventh lesson: Luke 2 vv 8-16 read by the Director of Music
• In the bleak midwinter (Darke)
• Hymn: While shepherds watched (desc. Cleobury)
• Eighth lesson: Matthew 2 vv 1-12 read by the Vice-Provost
• Bethlehem Down (Warlock)
• Ding, dong merrily (Wood arr. Wilberg and Stevens)
• Ninth lesson: John 1 vv 1-14 read by the Provost
• Hymn: O come, all ye faithful (arr. Willcocks)
• Collect and Blessing
• Hymn: Hark, the Herald Angels sing (desc. Ledger)

Organ voluntaries:

• In dulci jubilo (BWV 729) (Bach)
• Dieu parmi nous (La Nativité du Seigneur) (Messaien) [broadcast on Radio 3 on Christmas Day only]

• Director of Music: Stephen Cleobury
• Organ Scholar: Richard Gowers
  
  
• Saturday 24 December, 3pm with a repeat on Radio 3 on Christmas Day at 2pm
• Producer: Philip Billson for the BBC

The Rogues Gallery At Christmas

Sir Lenny Henry stars as another character from his Rogues Gallery for this festive episode. This time this warming winter tale sees Lenny playing a migrant of restricted height, who battles his way to the UK and finds himself in a strange old people’s home in Kent, where the secrets of Christmas are gradually revealed.

• Wednesday 28 December, 6.15pm
• Producer: Sam Michell for BBC Studios

The Tim Vine Christmas Chat Show

Fresh from a critically acclaimed Radio 4 debut in 2016 The Tim Vine Chat Show returns for a one-off Christmas Special. Polish off your Boxing Day leftovers and tune in for an early evening treat as Tim talks to the Great British Public about their favourite Christmas memories and delivers his trademark one-liners.

• Monday 26 December, 6.30pm
• Producer: Richard Morris for BBC Studios

15 Minute Musical 2016

The US Elections are given a much needed Disney-style fairy tale make over and cabaret meets Brexit in these two 15 minute musicals, both starring Jess Robinson, Dave Lamb and Richie Webb.

• Thursday 29 and Friday 30 December, 6.15pm
• Producer: Katie Tyrrell for BBC Studios

John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme

The sixth series of John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme kicks off with a seasonal special, taking in TV adverts, woodland talent contests, a song about the best day of the Christmas season and what is almost certainly the greatest story Finnemore has ever told.

Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan star alongside John Finnemore.

• Tuesday 27 December, 6.30pm
• Writer and presenter: John Finnemore
• Producer: Ed Morrish for BBC Studios

The Untold - Christmas Edition

At a garden centre in Derbyshire, marketing manager Ben needs six Santas and two dozen elves to staff his Christmas grotto. Plus two Mrs Clauses. He's spent a fortune on what he hopes is the biggest, best garden centre grotto in the region, and needs the customers to have a satisfying 90 minute Santa experience. But good Santas are hard to come by. He's had to offer a Santa finder's fee and even approach Santa agencies. Will he get them in time? Presented by Grace Dent.

• Monday 19 December, 11am
• Producer: Jolyon Jenkins for the BBC

Radio 4 Christmas Appeal: Making A Difference

Aasmah Mir reports on how the money from last year's Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin in-the-Fields has been spent on changing the lives of homeless people through the work of The Connection at St Martin's, and how crisis grants from the Vicar's Relief Fund have helped secure housing or have kept vulnerable people in accommodation all around the UK. The Appeal is now in its 90th year.

• Sunday 4 December, 9.45am
• Producer: Kate Howell for the BBC

Travels with Bob

Join Radio 4 in search of the bonds we make with the places we live – a modern form of local pride.

Paddy O’Connell plus small dog, Bob*, travel to see how home can be much more than a roof - it’s often a home town, a home city or a village too. We meet perfect strangers who act as guides to where they live.

From the independent shops on the High Street in Stroud, to the singing grey seals of Lindisfarne, join us this Christmas in search of local pride through the stories of some of those who live there.

*Bob is a Border Terrier, aged two

• Monday 26-Friday 30 December, 1.45pm
• Producer: Alexandra Quinn for Loftus Media

The Science of Dr Seuss

Comedian Robin Ince enters the wonderful wacky world of Dr Seuss, and uncovers some surprising real world science hidden within these childhood classics. He's joined by scientists and fellow Seuss fans Sophie Scott, Andrea Sella, Mark Miodownick and Adam Rutherford who reveal some of the very real scientific ideas hiding within the seemingly nonsensical worlds and rhymes of Dr Seuss. From The Cat In The Hat Comes Back to The Lorax and Oh The Places You'll Go, Robin and his team of scientists reveal how ideas about the environment, scale, chemistry, genetics and psychology, can all be found within some very well-known favourites, and why they think Dr Seuss, perhaps surprisingly, thought like a scientist.

• Friday 30 December, 11am
• Producer: Alexandra Feachem for the BBC

Infinite Monkey Cage Christmas Special

Brian Cox and Robin Ince return for a very special Christmas edition of the show. They are joined on stage by Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, actor and writer Mark Gatiss, cultural anthropologist Deborah Hyde and the Bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines. They'll be discussing the joys of the Christmas ghost story, and looking at the Victorian obsession with the supernatural. They'll be asking when studying paranormal phenomenon went from a genuine scientific endeavour, to the realms of pseudoscience.

• Tuesday 27 December, 9am
• Producer: Alexandra Feachem for the BBC