BBC CHRISTMAS TV 1956
Christmas Eve Monday 24th December 1956
BBCTV
3.00pm Mainly for Women Christmas Party
George Moon and Jon Pertwee with Roma Fairley, Joan Gilbert. Betty Lait, Vera McKechnie,
Carmen del Rio, Barry Bucknell, James Drake, Billy Milton and other regular contributors to afternoon
programmes
3.45pm Watch with Mother : Picture Book
4.00pm Closedown
5.00pm Children's Television
presents Gerald Campion in Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School by Frank Richards
"Bunter's Christmas Box" (Repeat)
6.30pm Loganberry Pie
Jimmy Logan invites some young friends to fun and games behind the scenes on the stage of the
Alhambra Theatre, Glasgow, between performances of "Babes in the Wood"
6.40pm A Christingle for Christmas
in Gracehill, Co. Antrim, the children of the Moravian Church join in a ceremony which happens every
Christmas Eve
7.00pm News
Sports News Highlight introduced by Cliff Michelmore
Weather
7.15pm Film : Stagecoach (1939)
starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne and directed by John Ford
8.45pm This Is Your Life
introduced by Eamonn Andrews
9.15pm Panorama
Richard Dimbleby brings you Television's Window on the World
10.00pm Off the Record
Jack Payne introduces stars and personalities who are Off The Record
together with the latest news from the record industry featuring
Anne Shelton, Alma Cogan, Lonnie Donegan, and his Skiffle Group, Jill Day
Stanley Black, Tommy Steele with The Concert Orchestra and The George Mitchell Singers
10.30pm The Outing
by Dylan Thomas, told by Emlyn Williams
10.45pm News
11.00pm Amahl and the Night Visitors
Christmas story with music by Gian-Carlo Menotti
11.50pm First Communion of Christmas Day
celebrated in York Minster by the Very Rev. Eric Milner-White , Dean of York
1.00am Weather
Closedown
Christmas Day Tuesday 25th December 1956
BBCTV
11.00am A Family Service
from Warwick Road Congregational Church, Coventry uniting with the Queen's Road Baptist Church
2.55pm His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh (sound only)
speaking from the Royal Yacht Britannia in South Pacific waters
The final message in the programme "Voices Out of the Air" broadcast
throughout the Commonwealth as a prelude to A Christmas Message from
Her Majesty The Queen at 3.00pm
3.00pm The Queen's Christmas Message
(sound only)
3.15pm Variety Theatre of China
A BBC telerecording of some of the outstanding and unusual acts from the recent
London stage production
3.30pm Grand Circus
from Paris, A direct relay of part of the Grand Circus from the Palais des Sports in
Paris including : aerial acts, clowns jugglers, chimpanzees and the dance of thirty elephants
4.30pm Puss in Boots
A new filmed story for children told by Johnny Morris
'Get me a pair of boots,' said the cat. The miller's son arranged for
a pair of cat's boots to be made and from that moment his fortunes change
4.50pm The Lone Ranger
Who is he?
What is he?
Why is he masked?
In this exciting film of the wild West the Lone Ranger and Tonto,
his faithful Indian friend, fight a gang of bank robbers and come to the rescue of a lonely
family at Christmas
5.15pm Max Wall in : Ice Crackers
A Christmas party on ice featuring young British skating stars from Queens Ice Club, London
Introduced By: David Jacobs
5.45pm Today's Sport
Kenneth Wolstenholme gives today's football and major sporting results
5.50pm Weather followed by
What's on Tonight
with Michael Barry, Patricia Foy and Ronnie Waldman
6.00pm Opera from Germany: Act 2 of The Marriage of Figaro
An opera by Mozart to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte after Beaumarchais
(Sung In German)
7.00pm News
7.10pm Christmas Disneyland
Walt Disney brings along some old friends and invites you to meet some new ones in a
film programme specially prepared for BBC Television's Christmas Day
7.45pm Pantomania or Dick Whittington
by Eric Sykes, with Jean Kent, Sylvia Peters, Frankie Howerd,
Hattie Jacques, Billy Cotton, Spike Milligan, Fred Emney and David Attenborough
8.45pm Home is the Sailor
A comedy specially written for the BBC Television Service for Christmas Day by Arthur Macrae
starring Brenda Bruce and Charles Victor
10.00pm Music for You
introduced by Eric Robinson
11.15pm News Summary and Weather
Closedown
Boxing Day Wednesday 26th December 1956
BBCTV
1.30pm Racing at Kempton Park
3.00pm Film : The Kansan (1943)
starring Richard Dix, Jane Wyatt
4.30pm Watch with Mother : Andy Pandy
4.45pm Children's Television presents The Goose Girl
fairy tale based on the story by the Brothers Grimm by Clifford Williams and Donald Johnson
5.45pm Today's Sport
Kenneth Wolstenholme gives today's football, racing, and major sporting results followed by
The Weather
7.00pm News
7.10pm At Home on Boxing Day with Bernard Braden and Barbara Kelly
with their Children at their home in Shepperton, Middlesex
introduced by Hywel Davies
7.40pm Bobby Howes, Sally Bazely and Leslie Phillips in "Beauty and the Beast"
with Inia Te Wiata and David Hughes. Musical play specially written for BBC Television
9.00pm The Light of Heart
by Emlyn Williams starring John Longden and Maxine Audley
10.30pm The Good Old Days
Christmas Edition of Old-Time Music-Hall
11.30pm News Summary, Weather
Closedown
