We’ve decorated our December schedule with holiday specials, including new episodes of Call the Midwife and Last Tango in Halifax. The 2017 Christmas at Belmont is the shining star atop our programming tree. Grammy-winning musician Sheryl Crow hosts the holiday concert recorded at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center and Belmont’s McAfee Concert Hall. Christmas at Belmont premieres Thursday, Dec. 14, at 8 p.m. on NPT and airs on NPT and PBS member stations across the country on Friday, Dec. 22, at 8 p.m. CT.
Unwrap extra presents on NPT Passport, our members-only streaming portal. Here you’ll find a holiday playlist that includes three Downton Abbey Christmas specials, the Vicious holiday special and the Grantchester Christmas episode from Season 3. Click here for the complete playlist (also available on Roku) and here for information on NPT Passport. The playlist will be available through the end of the year. Because you’ve been extra good this year, we’re giving you Christmas at Belmont extras, too. See clips from previous years’ concerts at wnpt.org/christmas-at-belmont (NPT Passport not required).
Sleigh bells ring…
We have many more holiday treats sprinkled throughout our schedule this month, including perennial favorites from Keeping Up Appearances on Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Tenor Rolando Villazón joins the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in a new holiday performance premiering Friday, Dec. 15 at 8 p.m.
Just in the time for the holidays, Dickensian returns to our schedule, airing Saturdays at 8:30 and 9:30 p.m., Dec. 16 through Jan. 13. This clever series begins with Jacob Marley’s Christmas Eve murder and incorporates characters plucked from several Dickens stories.
The Last Tango in Halifax Holiday Special is packed with so much drama that it’s actually two shows. The two parts air Sundays, Dec. 17 and 24, at 7 p.m. In these episodes, the daughters are again experiencing upheaval: Gillian is convinced she’s being haunted (by a spirit who’s not as helpful as Scrooge’s visitors); while Caroline takes a new job and must relocate before Christmas.
Every town and dance company seems to have its own Nutcracker; Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet’s set its version at the city’s 1893 Exposition with all-new choreography by Christopher Wheeldon. Making a New American Nutcracker, airing Tuesday, Dec. 19, at 11 p.m., explores several aspects of the new ballet, from story to choreography to costumes and sets.
A PBS holiday tradition continues Christmas night with a new Call the Midwife Holiday Special. Airing Monday, Dec. 25, at 8 p.m., this year’s show features the Nonnatus House sisters and midwives helping Poplar’s residents through a bitterly cold yuletide during the “Big Freeze” of 1962/1963.
And a happy new year
Laura Osnes and Chris Jackson join the The New York Philharmonic for Bernstein on Broadway, the Live from Lincoln Center New Year’s Eve show on Sunday, Dec. 31, at 8 p.m. Later that evening at 10 p.m., Austin City Limits present its Hall of Fame New Year’s Eve show. This year’s honorees include Roy Orbison, Rosanne Cash and the Neville Brothers.
The annual Great Performances broadcast of the New Year’s Celebration from Vienna will be hosted by Hugh Bonneville this year, who takes over for the iconic Julie Andrews. The show airs Monday, Jan. 1, 2018 at 8 p.m. and features the Vienna Philharmonic led by Riccardo Muti, music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Find our complete programming schedule at wnpt.org/schedule.
Enjoy!