Heston's Fantastical Christmas

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar - Day 19

Don't miss Channel 4 at 9.00pm* tonight!

In our modern world, Christmas has lost some of its wonder. Super chef Heston Blumenthal wants to change that and plans to create a supersized festive food adventure, to be enjoyed by a group of adults who normally have to work on Christmas Day. Heston visits Hampton Court, and discovers that instead of turkey, our ancestors preferred to eat pig's head. Heston wants to put this on the menu alongside edible Christmas decorations.

The final part of Heston's historical yuletide wonderland takes inspiration from the Victorian period, and their love of Christmas pudding. Heston makes the biggest Christmas pudding ever - one that's large enough to step inside.

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To find out more about the history of the traditional Christmas dinner, why not pick up a copy of What is Myrrh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas (published in the US as Christmas Miscellany) today?



* Or Channel 4+1 at 10.00pm, for that matter.

Heston's Christmas Feast

Just a quickie to let you know that Heston's Christmas Feast is being repeated on More4 tonight at 9.00pm (and More4+1 at 10.00pm). Here's what the Radio Times website has to say about the programme.

Chef Heston Blumenthal creates a unique festive feast inspired by dishes of the past. The gastronomic pioneer tries to create a spectacular menu in which every bite brings a new surprise to the senses. The menu includes an appetiser beloved of King Charles II with a most unusual ingredient - whale vomit - as well as dormouse, venison fit for a medieval monarch, and an edible Christmas scene complete with flavoured snow. The banquet is then served to celebrity diners including comedian and writer Charlie Higson, broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, comedienne Arabella Weir, former rugby union player Matt Dawson, actor James Purefoy and journalist Kate Spicer.

Heston himself appears to have been checking out my blog!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

As interpreted by the stars of Strictly Come Dancing for Radio Times magazine. (Click here to see a behind the scenes video.)

Christmas Radio Times

In our household, the Christmas double-issue of the Radio Times is as much a part of the festive traditions as carols by candlelight or stockings on Christmas Eve.

The Christmas 2011 double-issue goes on sale nationwide next Wednesday (7 December) and, as usual, you're going to have a choice of covers to choose from. And here they are...

D is also for Doctor Who

Ever since David Tennant's Tenth Doctor battled the Sycorax over London in his pyjamas, using a broadsword and a tangerine, on Christmas Day 2005, Doctor Who has been as much a part of the festive TV schedules as, say, the Queen's Speech or an Eastenders special misery-fest.

Russel T Davies' masterstroke was to make Doctor Who a family event, something that everyone would want to sit down and watch together. And of course Christmas screams family more than any other time of year.

Last year we had Catherine Jenkins and a flying shark, so what can we look forward to from Doctor Who this Christmas? Well, if you'd just like to watch the trailer below...

My next Doctor Who story, Terrible Lizards, is published on 2 February 2012 as part of Monstrous Missions, so make sure you keep some of your Christmas money aside for that one.

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar - Day 15

Fed up with the same old Yuletide gifts and festivities? Then why not take a trip to yesteryear and make yours a Victorian Christmas? After all, it could be argued that our modern Christmas owes more to the Victorian era than any other period in history.


Just follow this link to the BBC's Victorian Farm page for a whole host of authentic Christmas recipes and activities dating from Queen Victoria's reign. There's everything from toy theatres and keepsake boxes to paper flowers and Wassail punch, with something new being revealed everyday.

For example, here's a recipe for making mince pies with real meat.

A River Cottage Christmas

River Cottage welcomes the festive season with a Christmas Fayre tonight (9.00pm on Channel 4) as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall et al offer up their secrets on how to enjoy the perfect Christmas holiday.

Santa Claus and the Snow Queen will be there, but, as ever, it is the food that will very much be the star of the show. In an evening of traditional festive British foods, look out for deliciously different ways to stuff a roast goose; a trio of recipes for that wonderful winter root celeriac; Hugh's take on a sweet chutney; luxuriously rich Christmas bread; and tips for how to fill the perfect hamper with hand made edible goodies.

You'll find plenty of other Christmas recipes in What is Myrrh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas, published by Icon Books, and Christmas Miscellany, available now from Skyhorse Publishing.

Kirstie and Phil's Perfect Christmas

Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer's guide to the ultimate festive celebrations starts tonight at 8.00pm on Channel 4. Including Phil's investigations into the best toys, gizmos and gadgets, and Kirstie's best bespoke gifts, decorations and food, you can guarantee that it will be anything but Ho-Ho-homemade!

By the way, did I ever tell you I once watched a fireworks display from Kirstie's bedroom? But that's a story for another time...

A month today...

... it's Christmas Day! A day to spend eating too much, drinking too much and watching the not-so-special Christmas specials on the telly.

A regular fixture of the BBC Christmas Day schedule for the last few years now has been the revitalised Doctor Who, and 2010 is no exception. And this Christmas we can look forward to Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor's first festive outing. And here's a preview...