Carol Vorderman celebrates two decades of Pride of Britain gongs
Best on the Box highlights for Sunday, December 22nd and Ding dong merrily…
ONE TO WATCH: PRIDE OF BRITAIN: CELEBRATING 20 YEARS, ITV, STV and UTV at 5pm |
It has been described as the most uplifting ceremony of the year. Pride of Britain is about to enter its milestone third decade after it has been celebrating remarkable people who make the nation a better place for 20 years.
In this one-off special, presented by Pride of Britain’s very own Countdown queen Carol Vorderman, we will be reliving many of her favourite memories spanning over the last 20 years. Those big surprises, those outstanding winners and those unforgettable moments.
For this special occasion, Carol has hit the road to visit some of the winners who truly stick in the memory and our hearts. Some who have done great things since and some who are still just simply great.
She makes the trip down to Torbay to meet winners of the Emergency Services award; six of the seven crew of the RNLI who risked their lives to save eight stranded seamen. Carol discovers some shocking revelations when she meets Rachel Edwards for the first time since she was only seven and collecting a Child of Courage award in 2001. She walks the walk with fundraiser of the year 2008 Nina Barough and does a milk round with crime fighting milkman and now MBE Tony Fowler. We also check in with Aston Villa obsessive Moin Younis and wise-cracking Jack Carroll.
It’s a fabulous romp through the last glorious 20 years and a chance to celebrate and catch up with all those extraordinary people who have made the nation proud throughout Pride of Britain’s history.
LES MISÉRABLES – CELEBRATION SPECIAL, SKY ARTS at 5pm |
Sky Arts this afternoon air a celebration that marked over 25 amazing years of the landmark musical, Les Misérables. But don’t worry aficionado’s Sky haven’t got their maths wrong, the celebratory event took place in 2010 as part of on-going celebrations for the musical that debuted it’s English language version in 1983, three years after the first French musical launched.
Yes a quarter of a century of dreaming dreams and hopes for one day more were marked by a momentous occasion with two magnificent sell-out performances at The O2 in 2010, with live relays to cinemas around the world where audiences also stood, clapped, cried and cheered. This live recording of the extraordinary event presents an awe-inspiring spectacle, with a phenomenal international star cast that includes Nick Jonas, Matt Lucas, Lea Salonga and Alfie Boe.
So if you missed it nine years ago celebrate the musical years of ‘Les Mis’ with songs such as On My Own, Bring Him Home and Master of the House.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL, BBC ONE at 9pm |
An original take on Dickens’s iconic ghost story by Steven Knight of Taboo and Peaky Blinders fame. A Christmas Carol is a spine-tingling immersion into Scrooge’s dark night of the soul.
Misanthropic businessman Ebenezer Scrooge (Guy Pearce) refuses to treat Christmas as different to any other day, much to Bob Cratchit’s (Joe Alwyn) chagrin, as he is desperate to leave work and get home to his family on Christmas Eve. Scrooge’s dead former business partner Jacob Marley (Stephen Graham) begs for peace in his coffin. Having repented himself, the Spirits have news for him. He will linger in purgatory until Scrooge himself repents, something Marley knows he will never do.
Tim (Lenny Rush) writes his yearly thank-you letter to cousin Jack, thanking him for the money that saved his life, but Mary’s (Vinette Robinson) prickly reaction rouses Bob’s suspicions. A spooked Scrooge is visited by Marley, who has a warning: Scrooge will be visited by three Spirits.
INSIDE CADBURY, CHANNEL 4 at 6.15pm |
Christmas time means for a lot of people overdoing the chocolate intake, so a fitting time – possibly – for Channel 4 to give us all another chance to watch the documentary that goes deep inside the Willie Wonka world of Cadbury, Britain’s biggest and best-loved chocolate maker.
The repeat brings anyone who missed it the first time round unprecedented access occurs during a make-or-break year. Behind closed doors at the famous Bournville plant, a team of dedicated scientists struggle to meet the biggest challenge the company’s faced for a century – to dramatically cut sugar from their Dairy Milk recipe. It’s the flagship chocolate bar on which the reputation and fortunes of the company have been built. Can the new bar match up to its legendary predecessor?
On the huge production lines, real-life oompa loompas toil to meet Britain’s insatiable appetite for chocolate – pumping out national favourites like Creme Eggs. The firm’s Easter Creme Egg campaign finds Cadbury agents ‘reverse shoplifting’ as they hide prize-winning white eggs around the country. Elsewhere in the factory new flavours of chocolate are put into production, with wacky recipes invented by lucky members of the public.
THE WITCHER, currently streaming on NETFLIX |
Based on the best-selling fantasy series, The Witcher is an epic tale of fate and family.
Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress, and a young princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.
