On BBC One, Songs Of Praise will reveal the nation’s favourite carol in the Big Sing; Fern Britton returns with four famous faces in Fern Britton Meets… and Justin Welby, marks his first year as Archbishop of Canterbury with a thought-provoking New Year’s message.
On BBC Two, beautiful hymns will resonate from Cambridge in the annual Carols From King’s; and on BBC Four, Simon Sebag Montefiore returns with a three-part exploration of the sacred history of the city we now know as Istanbul, in Byzantium: A Tale Of Three Cities.
Live worship on BBC One comes from Westminster Abbey with The First Eucharist of Christmas and Christmas Day Sung Eucharist.
Aaqil Ahmed, Head of Commissioning Religion TV and Head of Religion & Ethics, says: “This year the BBC’s television and radio output is, as always, the cornerstone of traditional religion programming over the festive period. From the warmth of Tudor Monastery Farm Christmas to Radio 4’s Christmas Service from Chester Cathedral and two evocative Eucharist broadcasts coming live from the historic and glorious setting of Westminster Abbey, the story of Christmas is at the heart of BBC schedules this December.”
BBC One
Christmas preparations start on BBC One on Sunday mornings in December with the return of Fern Britton Meets… Talking to four well-known figures about their faith, Fern is joined by singer Susan Boyle, BBC foreign correspondent John Simpson, comedian Ken Dodd and Olympic athlete Christine Ohuruogu.
Throughout the Advent season, Songs Of Praise presents four special programmes with inspiring hymns and carols and stories of faith from around the UK.
On the first Sunday of Advent, David Grant joins the preparations for Christmas on the Isle of Man. The Manx Choir, Caarjyn Cooidjagh, will sing a popular Manx Carval, She Sho Yn Laa, and there will be congregational song from the Parish Church and Cathedral of St German in Peel.
Singer and BBC Radio 2 presenter Paul Jones talks to Aled Jones about his musical career, Christian faith and his personal turning point from militant atheist to devout believer
Sally Magnusson joins young people in Wigan as they prepare for Christmas and make a positive difference in their community. More than 200 young singers will gather in St Oswald and St Edmund Arrowsmith Roman Catholic Church to sing carols by candlelight including The First Nowell and the Calypso Carol
And, on the final Sunday of Advent, Aled Jones presents a Songs Of Praise special from the Royal Albert Hall – Big Sing: The UK’s Top Ten Carols. Revealing the nation’s favourite Christmas songs as voted for in a nationwide poll, carols include: Hark! The Herald-Angels Sing, O Come All Ye Faithful, In The Bleak Midwinter and O Little Town Of Bethlehem – with the most popular carol of all revealed in this special programme
On Christmas Eve, BBC One broadcasts Westminster Abbey: The First Eucharist of Christmas. This year, the traditional midnight service of Anglican Holy Communion is broadcast live from the historic and glorious setting of Westminster Abbey. The service begins with one of the best-loved carols, O Come All Ye Faithful, sung during the blessing of the crib. The Eucharist is celebrated by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Rev. Dr John Hall, who will also preach. The Mass Setting is Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály’s Missa Brevis, the world-renowned Westminster Abbey Choir is directed by James O’Donnell and the organist is Daniel Cook. Favourite carols sung by an international congregation of over 2,000 people include O Little Town Of Bethlehem, Silent Night and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
And, Christmas Day brings a joyful morning celebration of Holy Communion in Westminster Abbey: Christmas Day Sung Eucharist. The President is the Rev. Michael Macey, Minor Canon and Precentor, and the preacher is the Dean of Westminster, the Very Rev. Dr John Hall. Haydn’s glorious Missa Sancti Nicolai is the Mass Setting and the world-renowned Westminster Abbey Choir is directed by James O’Donnell. The organist is Daniel Cook. Well-loved carols include Christians, Awake! Salute The Happy Morn, Unto Us A Boy Is Born, God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen and O Come All Ye Faithful.
On New Year’s Day BBC One will air The Archbishop’s New Year Message, the first to be delivered by Justin Welby.
BBC Two
In December, BBC Two presents three new Religion commissions. Pilgrimage With Simon Reeve, in which Simon meets inspirational modern travellers, experiences extraordinary sights and learns about the forgotten aspects of pilgrimage, including the vice, thrills and dangers that awaited travellers. Simon explores the faith, the hopes, desires, and even the food that helped to keep Medieval Britons and more recent travellers on the road.
In Tudor Monastery Farm Christmas, historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Peter Ginn and Tom Pinfold explore the festive season as it would have been celebrated under the reign of King Henry VII. They concentrate on three of the big Christmas feast days – Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Twelfth Night.
And, in a three-part series, archeologist, historian and broadcaster Neil Oliver sets off in search of the Sacred Wonders of Britain. What was it about Britain’s rich and varied landscape that inspired our ancestors to express their beliefs by reshaping the world around them? What did they see in our countryside that led them to deem some places more sacred than others and why are we still drawn back to those places today? From the heart of Britain’s cities to the furthest reaches of it’s islands Neil’s journey reveals the sacred face of Britain, an ancient landscape of belief and ritual that still lies hidden just below the surface of the modern world.
Carols From King’s returns on Christmas Eve. A solo chorister stands in the candlelit, fan-vaulted splendour of the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge and sings Once In Royal David’s City – and for many people, Christmas truly begins. This traditional and much-loved celebration of the birth of Christ is a glorious feast of Christmas words and music, telling the story of the Nativity in the words of the King James’ Bible and in poems by Edwin Muir, G.K. Chesterton and Ben Jonson. The world-famous Choir of King’s College Chapel, directed by Stephen Cleobury, sing carols including In Dulci Jubilo, The Sussex Carol, A Hymn To The Virgin (Britten), O Little Town Of Bethlehem, Angels From The Realms Of Glory, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Away In A Manger, O Magnum Mysterium (Lauridsen) and O Come All Ye Faithful.
BBC Four
Simon Sebag Montefiore returns to BBC Four with Byzantium: A Tale Of Three Cities. Across three hour-long episodes, Simon traces the sacred history of the city we now know as Istanbul. Known as the "city of the world’s desire", it is a place that has been the focus of passion for believers of three different faiths: Paganism, Christianity and Islam, and for 3000 years the city has been the centre of some of the fiercest religious debates and conflicts in history.
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