CHANNEL 4 CHRISTMAS TV 1982
Christmas Eve Friday 24th December 1982
4.45pm Buster Keaton Film : Cops (1920)
A series of mishaps manages to make a young man get chased by a big city's entire police force (b&w)
5.15pm The Tube
Christmas Eve - live in Studio Five with Paula Yates, Jools Holland
7.00pm Channel Four News
Peter Sissons, Trevor McDonald, Sarah Hogg, Godfrey Hodgson
7.30pm The Friday Alternative
The 'other' news seen not by newscasters or reporters but by the public
8.00pm In the Spirit
gospel Christmas celebration featuring Natalie Cole, Rev James Cleveland, Marion Williams, Dorothy Norwood
Southern California Community Choir (Repeat)
9.00pm The Sixties : Swingeing
Photographers like David Bailey, pop stars like The Beatles, and film stars like Michael Caine appeared to herald a new
age of classlessness and sexual freedom. The Pill, abortion on demand and homosexual rights, contributed
to a feeling that the Sixties were a liberal, permissive age. Inevitably, there was a backlash. Mary Whitehouse
tried to clean up TV, the police raided Andy Warhol's film 'Flesh' and Mick Jagger was arrested on drugs charges.
Narrated by James Bolam
10.00pm The Curious Case of Santa Claus
starring James Coco, Jon Pertwee
Santa Claus has an identity crisis. Is he really Santa Claus?
Why do people call him Father Christmas?
He goes to a psychiatrist, Dr Merryweather who in a hilarious travelogue, takes Santa from his birth in Turkey,
through sleigh rides in Siberia, miracles in italy and pageants in Holland to our hearth in 1982.
It is a blend of seasonal comedy and fascinating history -St Nicholas, Santa Claus or Father Christmas?
Who is he? Who cares? 'Even if we don't believe in him forever' says Dr Merryweather, 'we all believe for a time'
11.00pm Norman Gunston at Christmas
It's the little Aussie bleeder himself. Comedian Norman Gunston - he of the blood soaked shaving technique and creeping
sycophancy and startling interview technique - tonight fills out the role of Father Christmas. Or tries to but his
attempt is even more inept than his surreal encounters with Hollywood celebrities like Lee Marvin, Elliot Gould,
Karen Black, Zsa Zsa Gabor and the Bee Gees
12.00 Closedown
Christmas Day Saturday 25th December 1982
10.30am Film : Captain Stirrick (1982)
musical starring Freddie Jones, Roger Sloman, Ronnie Stevens
This is the first production of the newly-formed Children's Film Unit, a unique organisation which gives , children the opportunity to make films.
With music by Richard Brett it tells the story of the teenage leader of a gang of Victorian child pickpockets.
They rule the streets of Smithfield, until their attempt to rob a lord leads to murder
12.10pm The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin
animated version of the pantomime story in which the characters are played by Penguins
12.20pm Film : Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
starring Vivien Leigh, Claude Rains
George Bernard Shaw's comedy about Julius Caesar's years in Alexandria. Caesar guides the young Egyptian queen
Cleopatra from wilful girl to powerful monarch
2.40pm Preview 4
Holiday viewing highlights with Paul Coia, Keith Harrison, Olga Hubicka, and David Stranks
3.00pm Magic of China
Mark Wilson, Nani Wilson, Greg Wilson, The People of China, Top American illusionist Mark Wilson takes his wife Nani and
son Greg on a wondrous trip. Magic has a special meaning in China. For hundreds of years magicians have been known as
'men who confuse vision'. Wilson's magic is as spellbinding to the Chinese as his trip is to European eyes. Narrator: Steve Allen
4.00pm Buster Keaton Film : The Navigator (1924)
Rollo Treadway catches the wrong boat to Hawaii and becomes involved with a gang of spies trying to sink the ship. With the love
of his life, he lands up on an island and is chased by cannibal (b&w)
5.05pm Brookside
Lucy and Karen escape their families to enjoy the festivities and Heather gets some unexpected attention at the Law Society dance.
Christmas Day dawns peacefully at Brookside for everyone except Bobby Grant and his union committee. And what with Barry's injury,
Karen's hangover and Damon's school report, Sheila's wondering what she's supposed to be celebrating (Repeat)
6.00pm The Queen's Christmas Message
The Queen speaks to the Commonwealth
6.05pm St Mark's Gospel
When Alec McCowen performed his one-man version of St Mark's Gospel in New York last year, it was hailed as a prodigious feat of memory, an act
of faith and a virtuoso performance. McCowen tells the Gospel story as if it was hot news and becomes a multitude of characters: Pharisees and disciples,
the lame and the blind., Salome, Pontius Pilate and Jesus Christ
8.00pm News Headlines followed by
Upstairs, Downstairs
The Key of the Door
In November 1908, Elizabeth Bellamy comes under the influence of a woman with radical views (Repeat)
9.00pm Film : Richard III (1955)
starring Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud
Olivier's classic interpretation of one of Shakespeare's most evil characters — Richard Crookback, the Medieval prince whose accumulation of treacherous
deeds eventually brought him the crown of England, led to the Battle of Bosworth Field and the Tudor era
11.55pm Closedown
Christmas Sunday 26th December 1982
11.45am Los Villancicos
Luis Alvarez
A series of lively, dramatic cantatas by 18th-century Spanish composer Antonio Soler (1729-83). The work is set in Spain, 1760.
A choirboy, a priest and a poet stand on the altar steps of the village church arguing about the form the annual Christmas entertainment should take.
These cantatas, consigned to a dusty corner for centuries, have been rediscovered and restored to new life by musicologist Alice Pole.
With Luis Alvarez (baritone); the Choir of Escolania Di Santa Cruz Del Valle De Los Caidos, directed by Laurentino Saez De Buruaga;
and the Arthur Haas Ensemble, music director Arthur Haas
1.20pm International Film Season : Sholay (Flames of the Sun) (1975)
This epic action film from India has been described as a curry western. It tells of Thakur, a retired policeman living in an isolated mountain village.
He hires two criminals, Jai and Veeru, as gunmen to protect the village from the ravages of a marauding gang
4.30pm Film : A Night at the Opera (1935)
One of the Marx Brothers' most famous comedy films. Otis B Driftwood is an opportunist who is wooing wealthy Mrs Claypool who is,
in turn, being persuaded to invest some of her millions in the New York Opera Company by its untrustworthy chief, Gottlieb.
Driftwood tries to out-manoeuvre Gottlieb by signing his protégé, Lasparri, but, through the chicanery of an Italian called Fiorello, finds himself
saddled with an unknown young singer from the company's chorus. Everyone sets sail for New York, but Driftwood discovers that his tiny cabin
is beset by stowaways and unwelcome visitors... (b&w)
6.15pm The Snowman
By Raymond Briggs
An animated version, produced to appeal to audiences of all ages, of the well-known children's story.
It's Christmas Eve and the snow is falling. A time for magic. A little boy races outside to build a snowman.
Later when everyone's asleep, the snowman comes alive and after a spin or two on a motorbike the snowman and the boy fly off
to the North Pole to meet a Very Important Person
6.45pm Sleeping Beauty Wakes Up at the 10th Street Car Wash
Hilarious, simple tale of a middle-aged lady who takes her car to the car wash only to find herself in a strange fantasy world
7.00pm The Love of Three Oranges
Prokofiev's opera is set in a fantasy world of magic, pantomime and knockabout humour. The Prince can be cured of his illness only if he
is made to laugh. The outstanding success of the 1982 Glyndebourne season, this lavish production features the Glyndebourne Chorus,
director Jane Glover; the London Philharmonic Orchestra, leader David Nolan, conductor Bernard Haitink.
Designed by Maurice Sendak, the opera includes special animated sequences
9.15pm News Headlines followed by
Bob Hope's Double Bill
Film : The Princess and the Pirate (1944)
Bob Hope, Virginia Mayo, Walter Brennan, Victor McLaglen
Aboard the good ship Mary Ann, Sylvester the Great, an actor who is his own biggest fan, keeps bragging to Margaret Warbrook,
a princess in disguise fleeing to the West Indies after a royal row with her father. Sylvester's veneer of courage soon breaks down
when the ship is captured by The Hook, a villainous pirate who intends to hold the princess to ransom
11.00pm Film : They Got Me Covered (1943)
Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Otto Preminger
The Bob Hope double bill concludes with this spy spoof which casts Hope as a newsman fired from his news syndicate for muffing a story.
Seeking consolation with Christine, the head of his bureau's office in Washington, he runs across a confidential report on spy activities in
America and becomes involved with a spy ring who have lethal plans for his future....
12.45am Closedown
Boxing Day Monday 27th December 1982
3.00pm Film : Hans Christian Anderson (1952)
starring Danny Kaye
Musical based on the life of one of Denmark's most famous sons, the fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen
5.00pm Madam
The Story of Rake's Progress
First of five films about the work of Britain's grand lady of ballet, Dame Ninette de Valois.
Last year, both the Royal Ballet and Sadler's Wells Theatre celebrated their 50th anniversary.
For the golden anniversary of the company she started, Dame Ninette re-staged her classic
ballet, The Rake's Progress. This first programme tells the story of the ballet. Appearing are
members of Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, directed by Peter Wright, Sir Robert Helpmann,
Sir Anton Dolin, Pamela May, June Brae, Peter Wright and Barry Wordsworth
5.45pm Preview 4
6.00pm Fifties to the Fore (until 10.00pm)
Fifties nostalgia comes to Channel Four in this selection of top ITV programmes from the period.
Comedy, drama, vintage rock n' roll — it's all here for your enjoyment.
All programmes were made in black and white
The Arthur Haynes Show
Re-run of one of the most popular variety shows. This one from 1959 shows 'the large
as life and twice as sly' Arthur outwitting authority. Also appearing: Aileen Cochrane,
Nicholas Parsons, Kept Morris, Leslie Noyes, Diana French, and Jessie Ball
7.00pm Oh Boy!
Jimmy Henney, Tony Hall
Relive the days when beat music exploded live from the Hackney Empire.
Vintage rock rolls again with Marty Wilde, Cliff Richard and the Drifters, The Dallas Boys,
Cherry Wainer, Don Lang, Cuddly Dudley, The Vernons Girls, Lord Rockingham's XI,
Rod Price, Billy Fury, Dickie Pride, Mike Preston, Bill - Forbes, Peter Elliott, Neville Taylor and His Cutters and Lorie Mann
7.30pm The Larkins
Ale and Farewell
In this episode of the classic sitcom, first shown in 1958, Ada is on the warpath
8.00pm Armchair Theatre
Hot Summer Night
starring John Slater
Jacko believes everyone's equal on the factory floor, but not at home, especially when his daughter acquires a new boyfriend
9.30pm Fifty Paces
Catch the flavour of the Fifties in this selection of documentary material
10.00pm Whatever You Want
Tansey Lambert is Dead, OK?
A seasonal greeting is despatched from his cell by a youngster called Tansey
11.00pm Johnny Cash in Scotland
Join singers Johnny Cash and Andy Williams, June Carter Cash, John Carter Cash, Carlene Carter
12.00 Closedown
4.45pm Buster Keaton Film : Cops (1920)
A series of mishaps manages to make a young man get chased by a big city's entire police force (b&w)
5.15pm The Tube
Christmas Eve - live in Studio Five with Paula Yates, Jools Holland
7.00pm Channel Four News
Peter Sissons, Trevor McDonald, Sarah Hogg, Godfrey Hodgson
7.30pm The Friday Alternative
The 'other' news seen not by newscasters or reporters but by the public
8.00pm In the Spirit
gospel Christmas celebration featuring Natalie Cole, Rev James Cleveland, Marion Williams, Dorothy Norwood
Southern California Community Choir (Repeat)
9.00pm The Sixties : Swingeing
Photographers like David Bailey, pop stars like The Beatles, and film stars like Michael Caine appeared to herald a new
age of classlessness and sexual freedom. The Pill, abortion on demand and homosexual rights, contributed
to a feeling that the Sixties were a liberal, permissive age. Inevitably, there was a backlash. Mary Whitehouse
tried to clean up TV, the police raided Andy Warhol's film 'Flesh' and Mick Jagger was arrested on drugs charges.
Narrated by James Bolam
10.00pm The Curious Case of Santa Claus
starring James Coco, Jon Pertwee
Santa Claus has an identity crisis. Is he really Santa Claus?
Why do people call him Father Christmas?
He goes to a psychiatrist, Dr Merryweather who in a hilarious travelogue, takes Santa from his birth in Turkey,
through sleigh rides in Siberia, miracles in italy and pageants in Holland to our hearth in 1982.
It is a blend of seasonal comedy and fascinating history -St Nicholas, Santa Claus or Father Christmas?
Who is he? Who cares? 'Even if we don't believe in him forever' says Dr Merryweather, 'we all believe for a time'
11.00pm Norman Gunston at Christmas
It's the little Aussie bleeder himself. Comedian Norman Gunston - he of the blood soaked shaving technique and creeping
sycophancy and startling interview technique - tonight fills out the role of Father Christmas. Or tries to but his
attempt is even more inept than his surreal encounters with Hollywood celebrities like Lee Marvin, Elliot Gould,
Karen Black, Zsa Zsa Gabor and the Bee Gees
12.00 Closedown
Christmas Day Saturday 25th December 1982
10.30am Film : Captain Stirrick (1982)
musical starring Freddie Jones, Roger Sloman, Ronnie Stevens
This is the first production of the newly-formed Children's Film Unit, a unique organisation which gives , children the opportunity to make films.
With music by Richard Brett it tells the story of the teenage leader of a gang of Victorian child pickpockets.
They rule the streets of Smithfield, until their attempt to rob a lord leads to murder
12.10pm The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin
animated version of the pantomime story in which the characters are played by Penguins
12.20pm Film : Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
starring Vivien Leigh, Claude Rains
George Bernard Shaw's comedy about Julius Caesar's years in Alexandria. Caesar guides the young Egyptian queen
Cleopatra from wilful girl to powerful monarch
2.40pm Preview 4
Holiday viewing highlights with Paul Coia, Keith Harrison, Olga Hubicka, and David Stranks
3.00pm Magic of China
Mark Wilson, Nani Wilson, Greg Wilson, The People of China, Top American illusionist Mark Wilson takes his wife Nani and
son Greg on a wondrous trip. Magic has a special meaning in China. For hundreds of years magicians have been known as
'men who confuse vision'. Wilson's magic is as spellbinding to the Chinese as his trip is to European eyes. Narrator: Steve Allen
4.00pm Buster Keaton Film : The Navigator (1924)
Rollo Treadway catches the wrong boat to Hawaii and becomes involved with a gang of spies trying to sink the ship. With the love
of his life, he lands up on an island and is chased by cannibal (b&w)
5.05pm Brookside
Lucy and Karen escape their families to enjoy the festivities and Heather gets some unexpected attention at the Law Society dance.
Christmas Day dawns peacefully at Brookside for everyone except Bobby Grant and his union committee. And what with Barry's injury,
Karen's hangover and Damon's school report, Sheila's wondering what she's supposed to be celebrating (Repeat)
6.00pm The Queen's Christmas Message
The Queen speaks to the Commonwealth
6.05pm St Mark's Gospel
When Alec McCowen performed his one-man version of St Mark's Gospel in New York last year, it was hailed as a prodigious feat of memory, an act
of faith and a virtuoso performance. McCowen tells the Gospel story as if it was hot news and becomes a multitude of characters: Pharisees and disciples,
the lame and the blind., Salome, Pontius Pilate and Jesus Christ
8.00pm News Headlines followed by
Upstairs, Downstairs
The Key of the Door
In November 1908, Elizabeth Bellamy comes under the influence of a woman with radical views (Repeat)
9.00pm Film : Richard III (1955)
starring Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud
Olivier's classic interpretation of one of Shakespeare's most evil characters — Richard Crookback, the Medieval prince whose accumulation of treacherous
deeds eventually brought him the crown of England, led to the Battle of Bosworth Field and the Tudor era
11.55pm Closedown
Christmas Sunday 26th December 1982
11.45am Los Villancicos
Luis Alvarez
A series of lively, dramatic cantatas by 18th-century Spanish composer Antonio Soler (1729-83). The work is set in Spain, 1760.
A choirboy, a priest and a poet stand on the altar steps of the village church arguing about the form the annual Christmas entertainment should take.
These cantatas, consigned to a dusty corner for centuries, have been rediscovered and restored to new life by musicologist Alice Pole.
With Luis Alvarez (baritone); the Choir of Escolania Di Santa Cruz Del Valle De Los Caidos, directed by Laurentino Saez De Buruaga;
and the Arthur Haas Ensemble, music director Arthur Haas
1.20pm International Film Season : Sholay (Flames of the Sun) (1975)
This epic action film from India has been described as a curry western. It tells of Thakur, a retired policeman living in an isolated mountain village.
He hires two criminals, Jai and Veeru, as gunmen to protect the village from the ravages of a marauding gang
4.30pm Film : A Night at the Opera (1935)
One of the Marx Brothers' most famous comedy films. Otis B Driftwood is an opportunist who is wooing wealthy Mrs Claypool who is,
in turn, being persuaded to invest some of her millions in the New York Opera Company by its untrustworthy chief, Gottlieb.
Driftwood tries to out-manoeuvre Gottlieb by signing his protégé, Lasparri, but, through the chicanery of an Italian called Fiorello, finds himself
saddled with an unknown young singer from the company's chorus. Everyone sets sail for New York, but Driftwood discovers that his tiny cabin
is beset by stowaways and unwelcome visitors... (b&w)
6.15pm The Snowman
By Raymond Briggs
An animated version, produced to appeal to audiences of all ages, of the well-known children's story.
It's Christmas Eve and the snow is falling. A time for magic. A little boy races outside to build a snowman.
Later when everyone's asleep, the snowman comes alive and after a spin or two on a motorbike the snowman and the boy fly off
to the North Pole to meet a Very Important Person
6.45pm Sleeping Beauty Wakes Up at the 10th Street Car Wash
Hilarious, simple tale of a middle-aged lady who takes her car to the car wash only to find herself in a strange fantasy world
7.00pm The Love of Three Oranges
Prokofiev's opera is set in a fantasy world of magic, pantomime and knockabout humour. The Prince can be cured of his illness only if he
is made to laugh. The outstanding success of the 1982 Glyndebourne season, this lavish production features the Glyndebourne Chorus,
director Jane Glover; the London Philharmonic Orchestra, leader David Nolan, conductor Bernard Haitink.
Designed by Maurice Sendak, the opera includes special animated sequences
9.15pm News Headlines followed by
Bob Hope's Double Bill
Film : The Princess and the Pirate (1944)
Bob Hope, Virginia Mayo, Walter Brennan, Victor McLaglen
Aboard the good ship Mary Ann, Sylvester the Great, an actor who is his own biggest fan, keeps bragging to Margaret Warbrook,
a princess in disguise fleeing to the West Indies after a royal row with her father. Sylvester's veneer of courage soon breaks down
when the ship is captured by The Hook, a villainous pirate who intends to hold the princess to ransom
11.00pm Film : They Got Me Covered (1943)
Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Otto Preminger
The Bob Hope double bill concludes with this spy spoof which casts Hope as a newsman fired from his news syndicate for muffing a story.
Seeking consolation with Christine, the head of his bureau's office in Washington, he runs across a confidential report on spy activities in
America and becomes involved with a spy ring who have lethal plans for his future....
12.45am Closedown
Boxing Day Monday 27th December 1982
3.00pm Film : Hans Christian Anderson (1952)
starring Danny Kaye
Musical based on the life of one of Denmark's most famous sons, the fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen
5.00pm Madam
The Story of Rake's Progress
First of five films about the work of Britain's grand lady of ballet, Dame Ninette de Valois.
Last year, both the Royal Ballet and Sadler's Wells Theatre celebrated their 50th anniversary.
For the golden anniversary of the company she started, Dame Ninette re-staged her classic
ballet, The Rake's Progress. This first programme tells the story of the ballet. Appearing are
members of Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, directed by Peter Wright, Sir Robert Helpmann,
Sir Anton Dolin, Pamela May, June Brae, Peter Wright and Barry Wordsworth
5.45pm Preview 4
6.00pm Fifties to the Fore (until 10.00pm)
Fifties nostalgia comes to Channel Four in this selection of top ITV programmes from the period.
Comedy, drama, vintage rock n' roll — it's all here for your enjoyment.
All programmes were made in black and white
The Arthur Haynes Show
Re-run of one of the most popular variety shows. This one from 1959 shows 'the large
as life and twice as sly' Arthur outwitting authority. Also appearing: Aileen Cochrane,
Nicholas Parsons, Kept Morris, Leslie Noyes, Diana French, and Jessie Ball
7.00pm Oh Boy!
Jimmy Henney, Tony Hall
Relive the days when beat music exploded live from the Hackney Empire.
Vintage rock rolls again with Marty Wilde, Cliff Richard and the Drifters, The Dallas Boys,
Cherry Wainer, Don Lang, Cuddly Dudley, The Vernons Girls, Lord Rockingham's XI,
Rod Price, Billy Fury, Dickie Pride, Mike Preston, Bill - Forbes, Peter Elliott, Neville Taylor and His Cutters and Lorie Mann
7.30pm The Larkins
Ale and Farewell
In this episode of the classic sitcom, first shown in 1958, Ada is on the warpath
8.00pm Armchair Theatre
Hot Summer Night
starring John Slater
Jacko believes everyone's equal on the factory floor, but not at home, especially when his daughter acquires a new boyfriend
9.30pm Fifty Paces
Catch the flavour of the Fifties in this selection of documentary material
10.00pm Whatever You Want
Tansey Lambert is Dead, OK?
A seasonal greeting is despatched from his cell by a youngster called Tansey
11.00pm Johnny Cash in Scotland
Join singers Johnny Cash and Andy Williams, June Carter Cash, John Carter Cash, Carlene Carter
12.00 Closedown
