Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty
Strictly Come Dancing
1.15pm Catch up via iPlayer
BBC2 Filmed earlier this year at London’s Sadler’s Wells, this is the third of choreographer Matthew Bourne’s Tchaikovsky adaptations, giving the familiar tale a further supernatural twist by introducing vampires.
We meet Princess Aurora as a baby (a scene-stealing puppet manipulated by the dancers) and watch as she grows up and falls in love before being cursed to sleep for 100 years by wicked fairy Carabosse. In this sumptuous gothic romance, her lover becomes immortal to make sure he’s there when she wakes up.
All of Bourne’s trademark wit is here, staged with lots of full-moon fun and a clever use of conveyor belts. LAURA RUTKOWSKI See feature: page 55
4.40pm Catch up via iPlayer
BBC1 Deck the TV with boughs of Six celebrities, who are more game than a turkey, take to the dancefloor. BBC Breakfast’s Sally Nugent, EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick, Waterloo Road’s Tillie Amartey, rugby player Danny Cipriani, Sugababes singer Keisha Buchanan and TV historian Dan Snow are the plucky stars who are strutting their stuff, while Sam Ryder is the musical VIP.
Judges Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse and Craig Revel Horwood, who might even scrape the ice from his 10 paddle, score for fun as the studio audience decides the winner. But who will take home the star-shaped trophy that would look rather fetching on top of a Christmas tree? FRANCES TAYLOR Claudia Winkleman: page 13
A heart-warming blend of laughter, tears and Christmas cheer from the Nonnatus family
It’s a storyline typical of the series at this time of year: heartfelt and uplifting, but tempered with a tinge of melancholy and a recognition of mortality. And these are key features, too, of the episode’s other plot strands, which see Cyril aiding a poor soul living on his own in a grimy basement flat and Dr Turner assisting a labouring mum-to-be who’s on board an ambulance during a snowfall. He’s all about the drama is our Dr T, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. DAVID BROWN