Radio choice Charlotte Runcie

Village Christmas RADIO 4, 9.45AM

 Two national treasures come together for this week’s Book of the Week, with Derek Jacobi reading from recently discovered seasonal writing by Laurie Lee, portraying the snowy landscapes of Gloucestershire and a festive London. “Christmas in the country meant feasts and fires, a few brief days of excess when even the poorest among us would confront the stern gods of winter with the bravest possible show of good living,” Lee writes in this selection of essays that evoke rural traditions and joys of the seasons.

Iceland’s Dark Lullabies RADIO 4, 8.00PM

We often think of Christmas as a time of bright lights, cheer and a laughing red-suited Father Christmas, but further north, Christmas is heralded by a blanket of snow and near-constant darkness. Accordingly, Iceland has ancient traditions of dark lullabies and strange, often grim fairytales. In this creative, seductive and beautiful documentary, Andri Snaer Magnason celebrates the darkness and the black sense of humour of a Scandinavian Yule, a time that can scare small children and make us all draw closer together by the fire.