(For details see BBC1 at

The feature film starring
Alastair Sim , Kathleen Harrison
Alastair Sim gives a remarkable performance as the miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge who treats his fellow men with contempt and all human kindness as ' humbug '.
Screenplay by NOEL LANGLEY
Based on A Christmas Carol by CHARLES DICKENS
Produced and directed by BRIAN DESMOND HURST
Films: payc 116

A series of six lectures - today
Introduced by SIR DAVID PHILLIPS and given by Dr Max Perutz , FRS i 5 : Haemoglobin - the Breathing Molecule
Life depends on oxygen. We shall see how it is carried via protein from the lungs to the tissues, but what happens when the design of the protein includes a mistake?

The Country of Nightmares
Or how Monkey taught Tripitaka to pass the Land of Nightmares magic test, and then Sandy went and failed it.
Directed by KAZAU IKEBIRO ' For cast see page 55)

Introduced by Phil Drabble Naturally British?
Which animals do you consider characteristically British? Most people would include the fox, badger and otter - but what about rabbits, squirrels, deer and wild cats? How typically British are they? Phil Drabble and Elizabeth Eyden visit the Norfolk Wildlife Park to meet Philip Wayre and his collection of British wild animals, which includes the wolf, wild boar and white-tailed sea eagle. Of our truly native animals, the otter attracts the most interest and concern, but can it survive or are wildlife parks its last retreat?
Produced by PETER CRAWFORD. BBC Bristol

with sub-titles for the hard-of-hearing, followed by Weather

by Jacques Offenbach starring
Placido Domingo direct from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden To celebrate the centenary of this romantic opera, Les contes d'Hoffmann, which has a libretto by BAR-BIER and CARRÉ based on the stories Of E. T. A. HOFFMANN, The Royal Opera is staging a new production by the distinguished film director JOHN SCHLESINGER.
Offenbach's opera concerns Hoffmann's three ill-fated loves - Olympia, the beautiful, life-like mechanical doll created by Spalanzani and Coppelius; Giulietta, the Venetian courtesan under the power of the magician Dappertutto; and Antonia, Crespel's frail daughter who is influenced by the evil Dr Miracle.
Sung in French with English sub-titles.
Georges Pretre conducts the Royal Opera Chorus chorus-master JOHN BARKER Orchestra of the Royal Opera House leader MEYER STOLOW
Introduced by HUMPHREY BURTON

A selection of some of the world s great paintings.
This week's subject:
The Language of Colour Pollock (1912-1956) Autumn Rhythm at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
This is probably the most puzzling work in the entire series. It looks literally like a pot of paint flung at a canvas. Yet Jackson Pollock is acknowledged as having spear-headed a new movement in art, ' action painting '.
Written and presented by Milton Brown
Director CHRIS JEANS

During the first interval
A chance to meet some of the stars appearing in tonight's performance.
8.40* Act 2 1 Venice: Giulietta's Palace
9.10* ,
During the second interval
The background of The Tales of Hoffmann and its place in Offenbach's output. Æ
9.35 The Tales of Hoffmann
Act 3, Munich: Crespel's House
Epilogue, Nuremberg: Lutner s Tavern

Weather

Summertime on the North Yorkshire moors and the tension builds for 16-year-old Judith Mountford as she approaches her first solo.
Director KEITH MASSEY
Executive producer DOUGLAS B. SMITH

also starring Sophia Loren
Vittorio De Sica
Playing an American lawyer who tries to make himself responsible for a delinquent orphan in Naples, Clark Gable finds that he is no match for the child's volatile Aunt Lucia.
Screenplay by MELVILLE SHAVELSON JACK ROSE and SUSO CECCHI D'AMICO Produced by JACK ROSE
Directed by MELVILLE SHAVELSON Films: page 116