The Big Quiz: Coronation Street v Emmerdale
Top of the Pops: Review of the Year 2023 Fur Babies
6.30pm Catch up via iPlayer
BBC2
What was the biggest single of the year? These days it feels like anyone aged below 30 has no chance of knowing, but sales and streams are still counted and the Official Top 40 dutifully compiled — you can catch up with what’s happened in pop over the past 12 months via this handy round-up. Big names likely to feature include Taylor Swift (with her songs Anti-Hero and Cruel Summer) and Harry Styles ( As It Was), alongside newer stars that have come to prominence on TikTok. Clara Amfo is your host.
And the biggest hit of 2023? Flowers by Miley Cyrus. It was number one for ten weeks! Who knew? JACK SEALE
8.00pm Catch up via ITVX
ITV1 Of all the soap-related awards won by Mark Charnock in 2022 (and it was pretty much a clean sweep), I’m sure the Big Quiz trophy was among the most highly prized. It did, after all, take Emmerdale ahead of Coronation Street in the annual contest with five wins to Corrie’s four. And now, Charnock is back with two more co-stars: Natalie Ann Jameson (aka Amy) and Kevin Mathurin (Charles).
Rival captain Jack P Shepherd, meanwhile, brings with him Tony Maudsley (George) and Channique Sterling-Brown. She plays lawyer Dee-Dee, so if there’s anything dodgy going on, she can always object. DAVID BROWN
8.00pm
C4 We start with some babies that aren’t furry — but feathery. Bessie, a very mature 11-year-old, is determined that her beloved chickens Tiana and Baby are going to hatch chicks. She’s tried it once before without success, but is crossing her fingers that this time it will work.
Meanwhile, in an Oxfordshire Blue Cross centre, the staff notice that stray dog Rosie has an unusually big tummy and eventually realise she is pregnant. However, there’s an emergency during Rosie’s labour. Lastly, in Lorraine’s dog-filled home in Staffordshire, Nala the cockapoo is also expecting, which will take the total of canine residents to 12 — much to the concern of Kevin, Lorraine’s new partner. JR
9.00pm
ITV1 Why Christmas hasn’t been renamed Gatissmas is a mystery. Already this week, we’ve had a Ghost Story for Christmas (adapted by Mark Gatiss) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (featuring Mark Gatiss) and now he’s here again, bringing real pathos to the role of Larry Grayson.
The comedian is seen counselling Nolly (Helena Bonham Carter) in the wake of her axing — though she recovers her strength to take a bus trip — where a passenger who sneers at Crossroads is chastised. It’s a terrific two-fingered salute delivered by Nolly through the pen of Russell T Davies to anyone who looks down their nose at the genre of soap. Ms Gordon and the series take their final bow tomorrow at 9.00pm. DB
Catch up via ITVX
MasterChef: Battle of the Critics
8.00pm The tables are turned in a special culinary challenge 3.40pm Ghostbusters II Supernatural comedy sequel starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. The Ghostbusters are reunited when their old client Dana Barrett calls for help. Now a single parent, she is once again having problems with supernatural phenomena. On iPlayer for 30 days. Director Ivan Reitman (1989, PG) (S) (W) (HD) Also showing New Year’s Day 7pm BBC3 Ghostbusters is on New Year’s Day 10.55pm 5.25 Pointless Celebrities Tony Blackburn, Scott Mills, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Chris Lintott, Peter Purves, Lindsey Russell, Mobeen Azhar, Shanequa Paris and Floella Benjamin try to come up with the most obscure answers. (R) (S) (HD) 6.15 BBC News
(S) (HD) 6.45 Celebrity Escape to the Country Nicki Chapman helps Christopher Biggins look for a house in the Home Counties. More tomorrow 6.45pm. Director Taylor Richardson; Series producer Titus Ogilvy (S) (HD) 7.30 EastEnders The residents come to terms with recent events. Writer Daran Little Cast pages 222/232 (S) (AD) (HD) 8.00 MasterChef: Battle of the Critics Some of the country’s top food critics compete for the Golden Cutlery trophy. Jimi Famurewa, Grace Dent, Jay Rayner, Leyla Kazim and William Sitwell have 90 minutes to cook a dish that represents their guilty pleasure, then must create a two-course menu for their second challenge. Series editor Katie Attwood; Series director David Crerar Repeated New Year’s Eve 12.15pm BBC2 (S) (AD) (HD) 9.00 Murder Is Easy
As Wychwood is shaken by another death, tensions mount in the village. Luke begins to lose faith in himself, feeling powerless to solve the mystery. When a new discovery blows the case wide open, he is left questioning everything he believed and wondering who he can trust. With time running out, will Luke be able to save the next victim before it is too late? Both episodes are on iPlayer.
qRegional News; Weather See page 160. See p161.
Dramatised by Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre More cast p152 (S) (AD) (HD)
See feature: page 23 Regional News; Weather
10.00 BBC News 10.30 Dawn French Is a Huge Tw*t A stand-up performance at the London Palladium in which Dawn reveals the most excruciating gaffes she’s made during her career, including an epic fall in front of acting royalty and a toe-curling audition for a part in Mamma Mia! Director Ed Bye; Executive producers Lindsay Jex, Lucy Ansbro and Maureen Vincent (S) (HD) 11.45 I Give It a Year Comedy starring Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall. After a seven-month courtship Nat and Josh decide to tie the knot. But the couple’s close friends have doubts about the longevity of the relationship because of their very different personalities. So as the first anniversary approaches, who will be proved right? Available on iPlayer for 30 days. Director Dan Mazer (2013, 15) (S) (W) (HD) Also showing New Year’s Eve 10.15pm BBC3 1.20am Michael McIntyre’s Christmas Wheel Rylan, Peter Crouch and Nicole Scherzinger compete for charity. See choice, page 130. Shown Christmas Day 6.50pm (S) (HD) 2.15 Weather for the Week Ahead (S) (HD) 2.20—6.00am BBC News (S) (HD) BBC1
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