With Asad Ahmad, Louise Minchin.
Including 6.00, 7.00, 8.00, news;
6.45, 7.45, 8.45 business news;
6.25, 6.53, 7.25, 7.53, 8.25, 8.53, 9.25 weather;
6.35, 7.35, 8.35 sport.
(S from 7am) (W)

More destinations. (R) (S)

Western. In 1879, a wagon train heads for the Utah-Arizona border. With two footloose young men acting as guides, they meet travelling entertainers, fugitive gunfighters and Indians.
Review page 41.
(1950, PG) ****
(BW) (S)

Comedy. After mistakenly targeting two undercover cops, a con man must choose between jail or a legitimate job.
Widescreen.
Review page 41.
(1996, PG) **
(S) (W)

Deep-sea drama. Twelve members of a submarine crew are trapped beneath the ocean. But on-board rescue facilities are capable of saving only eight.
Review page 41.
(1950) ***
(BW) (S)
(John Mills stars in Great Expectations on Friday 28 December at 12.55pm)

Classic comedy starring Rodney Bewes and James Bolam.
Terry threatens Bob and Thelma's enjoyment of the festivities.
(R) (S)

Bob and Thelma are determined to enjoy the Christmas festivities to the full. But Terry creates problems for Bob, starting things off on the wrong foot. Show more

A celebration of Christmas from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge. The story or Christmas is told through Bible readings and poems, while carols include Once in Royal David's City and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
(S) (W)
(A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, the traditional Christmas Eve carol service from King's College, Cambridge, is broadcast today at 3pm on Radio 4 and tomorrow at 2pm on Radio 3)

Western. A US Cavalry officer suffers a serious setback on his last mission and is "retired" before he can take further action. In order to avert a full-scale Indian war, he decides to act on his own initiative.
Review page 43.
(1949, PG) ****
(S)
(John Wayne stars in El Dorado, showing on Thursday 27 December at 6pm)

The Christmas 1975 episode of the classic comedy series, starring Michael Crawford and Michele Dotrice.

On his final driving lesson before his test, Frank takes an unscheduled diversion, much to the horror of his instructor. Back at home, he discovers he has been selected to feature in a DIY programme for the BBC. Featuring a guest appearance by DJ David Jacobs.
(For more cast see Thursday 27 December at 9pm) (R) (S)

A nostalgic journey back through the archives to the Christmasses of the seventies and eighties, when Santa Claus was instructed to deliver Tonka cars and Barbie dolls to millions of expectant, excited children, afternoons were spent gripped in front of the TV for the likes of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Snowman, and music of the era featured everything from Phil Spector to Greg Lake.
(S) (W)
(A compilation of highlights from the series I Love the Eighties is showing on New Year's Eve at 8 pm. I Love 1972 is tonight at 10.45 pm)

The real toy story is told when BBC2 unwraps a fun-filled look at festive fads and popular children's presents of the past

I Love Christmas 8.30pm BBC2
You know how life dogs you with vague disappointments? You can't actually put a name to what is wrong, or why it has been wrong for years, but there's something that's never been quite right, all the same.
So will there, perhaps, be other women in the land (or even men, let's not be sexist about this) who, after watching I love Christmas, can free themselves at last from this yoke of unspoken despair... who can at last stand up and say with confidence that their life went wrong because they never received a Girl's World for Christmas?
Maybe you have never realised quite how much you wanted one. It was a sublime and wonderful thing, a big plastic doll's head (and just the head, so it looked like something out of a camp version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers) with very long blonde plastic hair. Hair that you could comb again and again.
The joys of Girl's World and other super kitsch desirables are thoroughly explored in this jolly programme, which looks at how we have celebrated Christmas and at the toys that found their way into Santa's sack down the decades. Ron Atkinson and Terry Wogan talk passionately about Subbuteo, while Barbie inventor Ruth Handler discusses her splendid creation.
There's an examination, too, of the Santa's grottoes that dotted suburban high streets. And I Love Christmas probes the mystery of why, if there was only one Santa, there were so many versions. I certainly never understood how there could be so many Father Christmasses in Middlesbrough. But perhaps we were just particularly blessed. (Alison Graham)

Continuing the repeated series focusing on the popular culture of the decade. David Cassidy is tonight's celebrity presenter. He recalls the appeal of Fruit Salad sweets and looks back to his battle with Donny Osmond to become the world's top teen heart-throb. Plus memories of the challenge that ITV's Magpie posed to BBC's Blue Peter in the realm of children's television, the racism of the controversial comedy series Love Thy Neighbour and the huge influence of The Joy of Sex and Cosmopolitan.
(R) (S)
(I Love 1973 is showing tomorrow at 12 midnight)

Classic film noir showing as part of the Crimescenes season. Raymond Chandler's famous creation, private eye Philip Marlowe, faces one of his toughest cases when he is hired by an ex-convict to find his former girlfriend.
Review page 43.
(1945, PG) *****
(BW) (S)
(Crimescenes continues tomorrow at 1:00am with Beyond a Reasonable Doubt)
(to 1.20)