The Mario Rosenstock Christmas Special (10.00pm RTÉ 2) features Francis Brennan, Enda Kenny and Miriam O’Callaghan, Bono and The Edge, Mary Lou McDonald and Garth Brooks in front of a live audience. Julie Walters: A Life on Screen (9.30pm BBC Two) is a BAFTA celebration of her 40 years as an actress. Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century (11.00pm BBC 4) is an Arena special on Ol' Blue Eyes.
The Mario Rosenstock Christmas Special, 10.00pm RTÉ 2
Mario for one night only, the eve of Christmas and the spirit is entirely charitable of course, replete with seasonal goodwill. Join Francis Brennan, Enda Kenny and Miriam O’Callaghan alongside new-comers Bono and The Edge, Mary Lou McDonald and Garth Brooks as they gather to celebrate Christmas with a live studio audience. It's followed, also on RTÉ 2, by another screening of the Father Ted Christmas Special. Some of us know it pretty much by heart by now but it’s still priceless. The scene in the lingerie department is particularly memorable. You always felt on those Ted programmes that everybody gave of their best. And then some.
The Mario Rosenstock Christmas Special
Julie Walters: A Life on Screen, 9.30pm BBC Two
BAFTA celebrates Julie Walter 40-year career, in light of her Fellowship presented at the eponymous Awards in May 2014. Contributors include Victoria Wood and Willy Russell, who wrote the BAFTA-winning Educating Rita in which she famously starred as the eager mature student, playing opposite Michael Caine as the endearingly rumpled academic. ( Many of the scenes were filmed in Trinity College, Dublin.) Rupert Grint - whose mother she played in the Harry Potter films - also guests. The documentary is followed by a screening of Calendar Girls, it stars Walters - in which controversy erupts in a tight Yorkshire community when a gang of mature local women decide to pose nude for a charity calendar.
Julie Waters
Arena - Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century, 11.00pm BBC 4
Arena explores the rise of the legendary crooner Frank Sinatra from his early family background to overwhelming showbusiness success. Interviews with friends, family and associates reveal a star-studded career in music and film alongside a fascinating private life of four marriages, liaison with the Kennedy family, Las Vegas business interests and an alleged association with the Mafia. Catch Frank in the company of Bing Crosby earlier on the same channel at 8.00pm in Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank.
