BBC CHRISTMAS TV 1953
Christmas Eve Thursday 24th December 1953
BBCTV
3.15pm About the Home
Introducted by Joan Gilbert
Floral Decorations
Frances Perry shows how to make decorations from your winter garden
Christmas Stockings
James Norbury tells how the practice of hanging up stockings at Christmas began
Dancing
Sydney and Mary Thompson teach the 'Sir Roger de Coverley'
Last-Minutes Hints
Margot Lovell suggests ways of adding to the pleasures of Christmas
4.00pm Watch with Mother : Rag, Tag, and Bobtail
4.15pm Closedown
5.00pm Children's Television
Children's Newsreel
A Time to be Born
A Nativity play by P. D. Cummins
5.45pm Closedown
7.55pm Weather Chart
8.00pm Newsreel
8.15pm Ballet Rambert in Peter and the Wolf
Prokofiev's fairy tale
8.40pm R.C.A.F. Christmas at North Luffenham
The Royal Canadian Air Force at North Luffenham Philip Robinson visits the Canadian
camp to meet one of the many Canadian airmen who, with his family, is celebrating
Christmas three thousand miles from his home town
9.10pm Ray Martin and his Orchestra
with Joan Regan, The Television Toppers
9.40pm Animal, Vegetable, Mineral ?
A special Christmas edition in which the chairman produces some seasonable objects to puzzle the
experts. The Experts include : Sir Mortimer Wheeler. Hugh Shortt, Chairman : Glyn Daniel
10.10pm The Crib
The Christmas story is retold on Christmas Eve in the quiet of a church crypt in the heart of London
from St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London
10.25pm News
(sound only)
Christmas Day Friday 25th December 1953
BBCTV
11.00am Christmas Day Service
from the Parish Church of St. Julian the Hospitaller, Wellow, Somerset
12.00 Closedown
3.15pm Christmas Journey Round the World
A flying journey Eastwards round the world to capture the festive spirit in which preparations are made
immediately before Christmas For this filmed programme a BBC camera team travelled more than 26,000
miles in five-and-a-half days and made twenty-two calls from Rome to Bangkok, from the beaches of
Australia to the shores of Honolulu, from the snows of Canada to the streets of New York.
4.15pm Watch with Mother : Andy Pandy
4.30pm Closedown
5.00pm Children's Television : The Walt Disney Christmas Show
A film of a Christmas party in an American Hospital
Introducing through a magic mirror artists and scenes from
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Mickey Mouse and the Band Concert
Uncle Remus
Donald Duck the Plumber
Bambi
5.55pm Closedown
7.25pm Weather Chart
7.30pm Christmas Party
Your Hosts McDonald and Leslie Michell,
Among the guests who have accepted invitations are
Terry-Thomas, Norman Wisdom, Arthur Askey,
The Beverley Sisters, Julie Andrews, Chan Canasta,
Shirley Abicair, John Slater and Max Bygraves
9.15pm Newsreel
9.30pm Interlude
9.40pm Dear Octopus
A comedy by Dodie Smith.
Starring Helen Haye, Malcolm Keen and Rachel Gurney
The action of the play takes place at the Randolphs' country house in
North Essex during a weekend in late autumn
11.25pm News
(sound only)
11.40pm Closedown
Boxing Day Saturday 26th December 1953
BBCTV
1.10pm Racing from Kempton Park
2.35pm Amateur Rugby League Football : Yorkshire v Lancashire
County Championship match. From the Parkside Ground, Hunslet, Leeds
3.45pm Alpine Patrol
Swiss film about the work of a mountain frontier patrol
5.00pm Children's Television : Toad of Toad Hall
by A. A. Milne From Kenneth Grahame's book
"The Wind in the Willows"
Before an invited audience of children at the Television Theatre
6.30pm Closedown
7.00pm The Week's Newsreel
This week's Television Newsreels (shortened versions) repeated at the following times:
Monday's edition. 7.00 app. Tuesday's edition. 7.14 app.
Wednesday's edition, 7.28 app. Thursday's edition, 7.42 app. Friday's edition, 7.56 app.
8.10pm Weather Chart and Interlude
8.15pm Garrison Theatre
from the a Royal Canadian Air Force Station
North Luffenham with Lind Joyce, David Hurst, Cal McCord, Fran Dowie and Candy Kane
Tommy Reilly, The Kordites introduced by Bob Monkhouse
9.30pm The Teckman Biography
Part 1- The Proposition
a serial in six parts by Francis Durbridge, part 1- The Proposition
10.00pm Maurice Chevalier
attends a special party in his honour at Cafe Continental
11.00pm News
(sound only)
Sunday 27th December 1953
BBCTV
5.00pm Children's Television
Muffin the Mule with Annette Mills
You are invited to Jack Hylton's Circus
Join Brian Johnston at Earls Court where a special audience of children are watching part of
this exciting show
The Enchanted Garret
A play for Christmas by Antonia Ridge
6.20pm Closedown
7.55pm Weather Chart
8.00pm What's My Line
with Pat Kirkwood, Lady Barnett, Michael Denison and Gilbert Harding trying to
find the answers and Eamonn Andrews to see fair play
8.30pm The Rose Without a Thorn
starring Basil Sydney, Barbara Jefford and Tony Britton
10.20pm Epilogue
Good News for the New Year The Rev. Dr. Donald O. Soper,
President of the Methodist Conference, speaks on the challenge of our time
10.30pm News
(sound only)
Monday 28th December 1953 (Bank Holiday)
BBCTV
3.15pm Film : The Phantom Shot (1948)
starring John Stuart, Olga Lindo, Howard Marion-Crawford, Louise Lord
4.00pm Salzburg, City of Festival
This BBC television film tells the story of Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart,
and the festival of his music held there every year
4.15pm Closedown
5.00pm Children's Television : Film : Laurel and Hardy in "Swiss Miss" (1938)
6.10pm Closedown
7.55pm Weather Chart
8.00pm Newsreel
8.15pm All Your Own
A special edition of the Children's Television programme in which children from all over the country are
invited to take part. Edited and arranged by Cliff Michelmore
9.00pm The Moving Spirit
cartoon film, made for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company by Halas and Batchelor,
showing the development of the horse-less carriage
9.20pm The Carnival of the Animals
a fantasy, with the Ballet Rambert
9.40pm International Survey : 4-The Changing Pattern in the West
A series of programmes on international affairs in which Alan Bullock analyses developments in Europe
10.20pm News
(sound only)
BBCTV
3.15pm About the Home
Introducted by Joan Gilbert
Floral Decorations
Frances Perry shows how to make decorations from your winter garden
Christmas Stockings
James Norbury tells how the practice of hanging up stockings at Christmas began
Dancing
Sydney and Mary Thompson teach the 'Sir Roger de Coverley'
Last-Minutes Hints
Margot Lovell suggests ways of adding to the pleasures of Christmas
4.00pm Watch with Mother : Rag, Tag, and Bobtail
4.15pm Closedown
5.00pm Children's Television
Children's Newsreel
A Time to be Born
A Nativity play by P. D. Cummins
5.45pm Closedown
7.55pm Weather Chart
8.00pm Newsreel
8.15pm Ballet Rambert in Peter and the Wolf
Prokofiev's fairy tale
8.40pm R.C.A.F. Christmas at North Luffenham
The Royal Canadian Air Force at North Luffenham Philip Robinson visits the Canadian
camp to meet one of the many Canadian airmen who, with his family, is celebrating
Christmas three thousand miles from his home town
9.10pm Ray Martin and his Orchestra
with Joan Regan, The Television Toppers
9.40pm Animal, Vegetable, Mineral ?
A special Christmas edition in which the chairman produces some seasonable objects to puzzle the
experts. The Experts include : Sir Mortimer Wheeler. Hugh Shortt, Chairman : Glyn Daniel
10.10pm The Crib
The Christmas story is retold on Christmas Eve in the quiet of a church crypt in the heart of London
from St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London
10.25pm News
(sound only)
Christmas Day Friday 25th December 1953
BBCTV
11.00am Christmas Day Service
from the Parish Church of St. Julian the Hospitaller, Wellow, Somerset
12.00 Closedown
3.15pm Christmas Journey Round the World
A flying journey Eastwards round the world to capture the festive spirit in which preparations are made
immediately before Christmas For this filmed programme a BBC camera team travelled more than 26,000
miles in five-and-a-half days and made twenty-two calls from Rome to Bangkok, from the beaches of
Australia to the shores of Honolulu, from the snows of Canada to the streets of New York.
4.15pm Watch with Mother : Andy Pandy
4.30pm Closedown
5.00pm Children's Television : The Walt Disney Christmas Show
A film of a Christmas party in an American Hospital
Introducing through a magic mirror artists and scenes from
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Mickey Mouse and the Band Concert
Uncle Remus
Donald Duck the Plumber
Bambi
5.55pm Closedown
7.25pm Weather Chart
7.30pm Christmas Party
Your Hosts McDonald and Leslie Michell,
Among the guests who have accepted invitations are
Terry-Thomas, Norman Wisdom, Arthur Askey,
The Beverley Sisters, Julie Andrews, Chan Canasta,
Shirley Abicair, John Slater and Max Bygraves
9.15pm Newsreel
9.30pm Interlude
9.40pm Dear Octopus
A comedy by Dodie Smith.
Starring Helen Haye, Malcolm Keen and Rachel Gurney
The action of the play takes place at the Randolphs' country house in
North Essex during a weekend in late autumn
11.25pm News
(sound only)
11.40pm Closedown
Boxing Day Saturday 26th December 1953
BBCTV
1.10pm Racing from Kempton Park
2.35pm Amateur Rugby League Football : Yorkshire v Lancashire
County Championship match. From the Parkside Ground, Hunslet, Leeds
3.45pm Alpine Patrol
Swiss film about the work of a mountain frontier patrol
5.00pm Children's Television : Toad of Toad Hall
by A. A. Milne From Kenneth Grahame's book
"The Wind in the Willows"
Before an invited audience of children at the Television Theatre
6.30pm Closedown
7.00pm The Week's Newsreel
This week's Television Newsreels (shortened versions) repeated at the following times:
Monday's edition. 7.00 app. Tuesday's edition. 7.14 app.
Wednesday's edition, 7.28 app. Thursday's edition, 7.42 app. Friday's edition, 7.56 app.
8.10pm Weather Chart and Interlude
8.15pm Garrison Theatre
from the a Royal Canadian Air Force Station
North Luffenham with Lind Joyce, David Hurst, Cal McCord, Fran Dowie and Candy Kane
Tommy Reilly, The Kordites introduced by Bob Monkhouse
9.30pm The Teckman Biography
Part 1- The Proposition
a serial in six parts by Francis Durbridge, part 1- The Proposition
10.00pm Maurice Chevalier
attends a special party in his honour at Cafe Continental
11.00pm News
(sound only)
Sunday 27th December 1953
BBCTV
5.00pm Children's Television
Muffin the Mule with Annette Mills
You are invited to Jack Hylton's Circus
Join Brian Johnston at Earls Court where a special audience of children are watching part of
this exciting show
The Enchanted Garret
A play for Christmas by Antonia Ridge
6.20pm Closedown
7.55pm Weather Chart
8.00pm What's My Line
with Pat Kirkwood, Lady Barnett, Michael Denison and Gilbert Harding trying to
find the answers and Eamonn Andrews to see fair play
8.30pm The Rose Without a Thorn
starring Basil Sydney, Barbara Jefford and Tony Britton
10.20pm Epilogue
Good News for the New Year The Rev. Dr. Donald O. Soper,
President of the Methodist Conference, speaks on the challenge of our time
10.30pm News
(sound only)
Monday 28th December 1953 (Bank Holiday)
BBCTV
3.15pm Film : The Phantom Shot (1948)
starring John Stuart, Olga Lindo, Howard Marion-Crawford, Louise Lord
4.00pm Salzburg, City of Festival
This BBC television film tells the story of Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart,
and the festival of his music held there every year
4.15pm Closedown
5.00pm Children's Television : Film : Laurel and Hardy in "Swiss Miss" (1938)
6.10pm Closedown
7.55pm Weather Chart
8.00pm Newsreel
8.15pm All Your Own
A special edition of the Children's Television programme in which children from all over the country are
invited to take part. Edited and arranged by Cliff Michelmore
9.00pm The Moving Spirit
cartoon film, made for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company by Halas and Batchelor,
showing the development of the horse-less carriage
9.20pm The Carnival of the Animals
a fantasy, with the Ballet Rambert
9.40pm International Survey : 4-The Changing Pattern in the West
A series of programmes on international affairs in which Alan Bullock analyses developments in Europe
10.20pm News
(sound only)
