Story: The Shepherds on the Hill
Presenters Carol Chell, Carol Leader, Fred Harris
Book, Play School: Ready to Play, £1.50 from bookshops. Play On (record REC 332 cassette zcm 332); Bang on a Drum, songs from Play School and Play Away (record REC 242 or cassette MRMC 004), from record shops

Tom Rook lives at Porlock on the edge of Exmoor. He has never lived anywhere else, and never wanted to. Over the years he has become an important member of the community that lives and works on the moor.
The film follows Tom's year, from sheep-shearing to lambing, from puppy-walking to the hounds in full cry, from Porlock Show to the point-to-point - men and beasts move against the backdrop of the moor.
Indeed, so deeply is Tom woven into that pattern of life, that the film emerges as a portrait of Exmoor itself, its wide slopes of bracken and heather, its secret coombes, and its people.

A feature film also starring Bing Crosby and Joan Caulfield

A series of holiday afternoon films starring Fred Astaire starts with this musical comedy about a very pretty girl and the two men who love her. Told against a background of 32 memorable Irving Berlin songs, including 'A pretty girl is like a melody', 'White Christmas', 'How deep is the ocean', 'Heatwave' and, of course, 'Blue skies'. The film also features the classic 'Puttin' on the Ritz' routine.

Films; page 116

A spoilt baby swallow spurns the food his mother brings him, but finally learns his lesson.
Produced by SHANGHAI ANIMATION FILM STUDIO Directed by CHANG SUNG-LIN PU CHIAHSIANG, HAN PIN

A feature film also starring Cyd Charisse and Jack Buchanan
Tony Hunter, once a Hollywood musical star, feels that with a little help from his friends he could make a comeback on Broadway....
Vincente Minnelli's hallmarks - a witty script, memorable music and imaginative choreography - are firmly stamped on this famous musical with more than a dozen hit songs by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz. The songs include 'Dancing in the dark', 'You, the night and the music', and, specially written for the film, 'That's entertainment'.
Britain's own song-and-dance man, Jack Buchanan, almost steals the show from the master himself.

Films: page 116

followed by Weather

A superb film version of PUCCINI'S s three-act opera, filmed on location in Rome in the church, the palace and the fortress where the story takes place.
Set in 1800, a period of political unrest, the opera concerns the rivalry between the painter Cavaradossi and Baron Scarpia, the ruthless Chief of Secret Police, for the love of Tosca, a beautiful opera singer.
with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Ambrosian Singers conducted by Bruno Bartoletti sung in Italian with English sub-titles Directed by GIANFRANCO DE BOSIO
The Tales of Hoffmann, live from Covent Garden, Fri 2 Jan 7.0 pm, with R3 stereo

A Christmas Day programme in which The Queen speaks to the Commonwealth
Subtitles on Ceefax page 270

This week's theme: Outdoor Life
Seurat (1859-1891) - La Grande Jatte, at the Art Institute, Chicago

This picture is of the island of La Grande Jatte in the Seine on a sunny Sunday afternoon. It was a favourite haunt of bathers, anglers, soldiers on leave and cocottes. Seurat went there every morning for six months, doing all his sketches from nature and then working in his studio afternoons and evenings. It took him two years to complete the picture.

(Tomorrow: Eakins' Max Schmitt in a Single Scull)