"Before its fall from grace, the Chinese-American dish chop suey was a holiday tradition for families who don't celebrate Christmas, even being immortalized in songs and film."
"In Catalonia, Christmas involves a hollowed-out log with a painted face, stick legs, and a little red hat. Children feed it nuts and dried fruit for weeks, keep it warm under a blanket, and then on Christmas Eve, they beat it with sticks while singing songs commanding it to defecate nougat."
Editor's Note: As an alternative to the usual reporting on Christmas being ruined because a council in the Midlands forgot to put the lights on the city centre tree or which supermarket makes the best Leach of Almonds, I thought I'd aggregate the international cinema on UK terrestrial TV as featured in this year's Christmas Radio Times (£6.50? How much?).
Various research projects I've undertaken across the year have led me to look enviously through the old Christmas schedules and the rich pickings available. The results for this year are disappointing with some incredibly safe programming across the linear channels and only the following which could be described meaningfully as "world cinema".
"The Marquis d’Urfé finds refuge in the home of a strange family after becoming lost in a hostile forest while working as an emissary for the King of France."
"As a patriarchal family yearns for the birth of a son to continue their family line, their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for its transgender starlet."
"The chronicles of four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is."
"Fatima-Zahra and her teenage son Selim move from place to place, forever trying to outrun the latest scandal she’s caught up in. When Selim discovers the truth about their past, Fatima-Zahra vows to make a fresh start. In Tangier, new opportunities promise the legitimacy they each crave but not without pushing the volatile mother-son relationship to the breaking point."
Of course times have changed and streaming offers access to a near infinite amount of content from across the globe via the likes of MUBI, the BFI Player and Criterion. All of the UK channels would argue that they do show films made outside of the UK and US during the rest of the year and have some available via their own streaming services.
But it still feels very insular that during the festive period English language films should predominate with the vast majority originating from Hollywood and it poorly serves those of us who can't afford all of those services or to rent films on a rental basis and want an alternative Love Fucking Actually.
At the very least there could be presentations of festive favourites from elsewhere at a reasonable time of the day. If we were still a proper country, BBC Four would be showing My Night at Maud's (1969) at Christmas with Malmkrog (2020) seeing us into the New Year.
"The winter holiday period is meant to be joyful, yet for many of us it comes with a heavy mix of responsibilities and social pressure to go to parties and events we don't want to."
"The holiday season means holiday movies, films that can be counted upon warmth and holiday cheer, also probably some snow, a little bit of magic, and grumpy/greedy/workaholic protagonists who need be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas."
Editor's Note: Worth it for the Love Actually discourse: "It's Ed Sheeran before Ed Sheeran existed."
"Preparations for Christmas are underway across the globe with landmarks lit, markets open, shop windows decorated, a jet skiing Santa in Rio and even the T-Rex at London’s Natural History Museum wearing his Christmas jumper."
Editor's Note: Trigger Warning for shots of the current White House.
"Aside from the two old chestnuts of Hamlet criticism—Hamlet’s character and Hamlet’s delay—probably no other topic has engaged Shakespeare fans more than the thorny problem of his age: is Hamlet sixteen or thirty? Whether you’re wandering through classes discussing Hamlet, lurking the boards at rehearsal, eavesdropping in the bar after a performance, or perusing the online discussions, you find people of all stripes tangling with this key contradiction."
"Cerys' weekly round up of the blues you need to hear, from all around the world and in all shapes and sizes! This week Cerys unwraps a festive gift from the BBC Archive: BB King's Christmas Blues! Recorded in 1997 with the late Johnnie Walker, B.B. King shares some of his favourite records! Featuring tracks from Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt."
"The festive season is a rich time for tradition, storytelling and folklore. A time when different belief systems and traditions clash and combine into symbolic acts, we take part in without a second thought. At a time of year when the days are shortest and the outdoors is a less inviting place to be, many of these Yule traditions involve our wildlife."
"The multiples and chain stores have been growing since the beginning of the century, and in the past 15 years they have grown very fast."
Editor's Note: Another brilliant upload to the BBC Archive YouTube Channel, this looks at where Tesco and WH Smith were in 1970. Smoky boardrooms filled with men shouting over women, brutalist concrete shopping centres, retail floors where hygiene is anathema and sales meetings in which the livelihoods of producers and authors are shot down on a whim. Watch out for the very TV Creamy cameo at a store opening.
"Knowsley food aid organisations have been badly hit by the demise of the Knowsley Foodbank distributer. We are raising ££ to help the Stockbridge Village pantry give people a nicer Christmas."
"Kylie is the biggest challenger for Christmas number one 2025. Her new song XMAS, was recorded for the 10th anniversary edition of her Kylie Christmas album."
"Mariah Carey has lodged a record-tying 19th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 as “All I Want for Christmas Is You” rides the holiday wave back to the top of the charts."
"For many Swiss, the Christmas tree is part of the Christmas tradition. According to the Forest Owners Association, around 1.7 million Christmas trees are sold every year. The Nordmann fir is by far the most popular."
Editor's Note: Since it's Doctor Who night on the BBCs this evening, here is a collection of free festive tales from across the official websites and other places too.
"As he strolled through the foggy streets of London’s East End he became aware of the footsteps following him and immediately wondered if it was them. He began walking faster. The footsteps – a soft pad pad pad pad – remained close behind. Now, straining to hear them, the old man caught something else. A low, velvety snarl."
"The Doctor, Peri and Joe land on the planet Naxios, where they discover the body of Father Christmas. Who killed him? The strange individuals dressed in Shakespearian costume or the talking animals wearing waistcoats digging in the tunnels?"
"The engines roared, and time roared back, washing over the hull of the TARDIS in waves of icy blue and burning gold. Reality unfolded for the spinning wooden box, funnelling it through a storm of seconds, then folding back into place as neat as wrapping paper."
"'I haven't been ice-skating since my seven hundred and twenty-first birthday,' muttered the Doctor to himself, as he raced to the other side of the console to pump the vortex loop."
"The boy's name was Tom Wake, and he was nine years old. And perhaps because the year was 1920, or perhaps because he was the sort of boy who liked to believe in things until there was a reason not to, he believed in Father Christmas."
"'What do you think?' Beth Summers turned round and burst out laughing as her grandma brandished a bright red feather boa around her shoulders. 'This used to belong to my mother,' continued Beth's gran as she jiggled her hips, causing her 12-year-old grand-daughter to laugh even more."
"It had been nearly four hours since Mason Valentin managed to convince his mother to let him stay home from school. Every moment since then seemed to tick away with the weight of eternity. He wasn't sick exactly. His fifteen year old heart though was very sick. Love sick, that is. Staring out the bay window, his thoughts wandered to Ana Comparetto, the American girl who'd only just transferred that year."
"Something was wrong. David Kershaw looked down the station platform and was left open-mouthed by what he saw. Not just a little bit wrong, but a big fat what on earth is going on? wrong."
"‘Lost satellite reception…’ Geoff Bluth glared at the GPS device on the dashboard of his car. It was late, he had been driving for hours and all he wanted was to find his hotel, have a nice hot shower and collapse into bed. And now it was snowing. Terrific. He pulled over to the side of the road and called the hotel. "
"Deep under the sea, Nessa, Freng and Strong are trying very hard to be nice. Because if they are naughty, then Santa won’t come and give them presents. And they do want presents very much. But what does Santa really want from them? And what does being nice *really* involve..?"
"Lucky you! You're on Mr Colchester's Christmas Card list. He brings tidings of comfort and joy and a terrible warning. Whatever you do, open this card first. Season's Greetings."
"Three Christmas editions were released: Christmas Story Teller 1 (1983), Christmas Story Teller 2 (1984) and Christmas Story Teller 3 (1985). Each had a “bumper 64 pages”, roughly the equivalent of two normal Story Teller issues. These three special editions had a fantastic mix of festive stories and popular carols."
Editor's note: Beautifully designed website which allows you to listen to the cassette audio whilst reading the book, as nature intended.
"In 1843, a festive tradition was born in Shere. Simon Furber visits the Surrey village to discover who was responsible for the humble Christmas card."
Simon Guerrier: "First published in hardback and paperback on 21 October 1976, this novelisation opens with an attention-grabbing first paragraph: “The tall white-haired man lay still as death. The girl leaning over him could find no pulse, no beat from either of his hearts. His skin was icy cold to the touch.”
"The autumn has delivered an exceptional display of colour, and the trees have been laden with generous gluts of fruit. We have been truly fortunate this season, with traditional store cupboards now struggling under the weight of chutney and jam made from the abundant harvest."
"These events are meant to make Christmas magical, and while many do, a few fall spectacularly short. Here, in no particular order, are some of the worst offenders."
"Michelle Pfeiffer’s familiarly overworked, taken for granted mom stands out from the typical holiday fare."
Editor's Note: I loved it. It's a bunch of actors who usually spend their time in costumes and indie dramas or both having a marvellous time making a Hallmark movie with high production values. Come for Felicity Jones's American accent, stay for Chloe Grace finally playing her truth.
"A festive exhibition at the Museum of Cambridge is taking a look back at Christmas 100 years ago. Tom Jackson spoke to engagement officer Alex Horn about the most wanted gifts of the 1920's."
"The Mari Lwyd is a Welsh tradition in which a group of people carry a horse skull mounted on a pole — draped in a white sheet with the operator hidden underneath — to your door at Christmas and demand entry through song."
"Every year for Christmas since my husband and I started dating we’ve done Christmas Day at his mom’s house. My family is very chill, whereas my husband’s mom is a little uptight so it was never worth the argument."
"For more than 30 years, residents on Auckland's Franklin Road have decked out their properties with Christmas decorations for the rest of the city to enjoy."
"The bronze monument depicting the eponymous star of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 sci-fi satire was installed Wednesday, nearly 15 years after a viral tweet."
"From a cranberry katsu curry to a dozen thickly glazed doughnuts, the biggest chains are getting Christmassy. I found out which seasonal meals will leave you carolling and carousing – and which will leave you cold."
"An Italian mayor has apologised to the family of opera star Luciano Pavarotti after the town of Pesaro encased a statue honouring the late singer within a Christmas ice rink."
"My tree is ornamented and my mantel is garlanded, but I have yet to realize my holiday-outfit vision. There are a couple of contenders, but I’m still searching for the right accessories to take each potential look to the next level. I don’t think it will require much — just a pair of tights and some festive shoes — but they have to be special. Here’s what I’m considering."
"To honour the winter break on the horizon, Letterboxd crew and contributors share twenty underseen holiday favourites: where Christmas and Hanukkah deep cuts and surprisingly festive noir and stop-motion delights all have a seat at the table."
"…and a couple of Doctors too, as Doctor Who: Christmas - It’s a Wonderful War and Other Stories is released today, featuring four brand-new stories set across the Whoniverse. "
From Stephen Gallagher: "This year’s stocking-filler chapbook in aid of Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) is The Adventure of the Seven Unnatural Women, a Sherlock Holmes story written at the invitation of J R Campbell and Charles Prepolec, editors of the Gaslight series of Holmes anthologies [...] Whatever it makes for MSF, I’ll match."
"The twinkling lights on a Christmas tree at Toba Aquarium in Mie Prefecture, central Japan, are getting their power from an unusual source... live electric eels."
"As Christmas nears, towns and cities across Aotearoa are hoisting their giant trees into place — symbols of the season that, for many, now come with a hefty price-tag."
"Have you ever wondered where to send your Czech Christmas wishes to? It’s not to Santa Claus at the North Pole, but instead to little Baby Jesus (or Ježíšek) whose “official” Christmas address is the post office in Boží Dar, the highest-located town in Czechia."
"It can be the greatest pitfall of the social year. And it can be followed by a 12-month hangover. If your boss hasn't spoken to you since, it's a fair bet that you had a good time at your office Christmas party. Traditionally, it's the one night of the year when the firm's hierarchical structure, that normally so rigidly holds sway, totters towards anarchy. [via LMG]"
"Belgian authorities are mystified over a brazen theft over the weekend from a Christmas Nativity scene of an icon of infant Jesus Christ that had been widely scorned online."
"A fairy-tale image captivates millions: a festively lit Christmas market, framed by stalls, strings of lights, and a magnificent tree–right in front of the world-famous Buckingham Palace. The images quickly spread on social media. But anyone tempted to travel to London by this scene was bitterly disappointed. This Christmas market doesn’t exist."
"There are almost certainly worse holiday songs than Paul McCartney's 1979 "Wonderful Christmastime." But in a genre famous for cheesiness, it stands out as among the most polarizing. And it's notable for being written by the same Beatle who penned "Let It Be" on the band's final album."
"Eco-fir trees are a clear niche in Germany, one of the main suppliers of Christmas trees in Switzerland. Artificial trees are not necessarily sustainable either."
"Solstice and yuletide celebration food traditions have changed over time but some nuances have persisted. Ancient beliefs say we should eat plenty to bless the next year."
"Luxury advent calendars mash up tradition and modern consumer culture. But with exorbitant prices come high expectations — and sometimes spectacular PR disasters, such as Chanel's infamous advent calendar."
"Notes and Queries: The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts."
"The writer-director talks about the art of dialogue, his love of marital fight scenes, and how his new film, “Jay Kelly,” helped him rekindle his affection for the medium."
"A company in southern Poland specializes in creating unique Christmas decorations for clients like Swarovski and Harrods. GlitterLab’s process is entirely manual, making each piece unique and its owner hopes the ornaments will bring joy to customers all year round and not just during the festive period."
"Christie's expects the Winter egg, one of just seven of Peter Carl Fabergé's creations still in private hands, to sell for more than £20 million when it lands on the auction block Tuesday."
"Every so often, when struggling to analyse what I love about a TV show, I reach for the phrase “a complete comedy”. It’s a bit of a shitty, half-arsed idea. Let me at least try to explain what the hell I mean."
"Playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard, a four-time Tony winner for his plays “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “Travesties,” “The Real Thing” and “The Coast of Utopia” and an Oscar winner for his script to “Shakespeare in Love,” has died, according to The BBC. He was 88."
"An English city council’s decision not to host an official event to switch on Christmas lights has been misrepresented online as a decision to scrap the illuminations."
"The countdown to Christmas is on and it’s feeling pretty cold when that northerly wind blows. But will we get a White Christmas this year? Here’s what you need to know if you fancy a flutter on festive snow."
"Ok. This comes up a lot and I kind of covered this topic in my Winter in Tokyo with kids blog post but it’s time I talk about christmas on it’s own. Japan for Christmas can be special BUT you kind of need to put in the effort to make christmas feel christmassy in Japan."
Audio Hello. We'll get to the one(ish) line reviews in a moment but your writer has been trying to get to grips with what we're supposed to consider series or lines at Big Finish in recent years. Here follows a rant about numbers. The Eighth Doctor Adventures are now covering three distinct eras: the gap between Seasons One and Two of the original Monthly releases, the continuation of the story thread which began with the Lucie Miller adventures, continued through Dark Eyes and the Time War. Except the spine labels on the boxes flow between the first and second eras and even then without really making much sense.
Here's a rundown (which could be a list but I don't want to mess up the blog's formatting). They begin with the stand-alone Liv and Helen stories apparently set in the final moments of Stranded (between the TARDIS leaving and returning), What Lies Inside? (1) and Connections (2). But then there isn't a new sequence for the new strand of Audacity and Charley stories. Audacity and In the Bleak Midwinter are given (3) & (4) presumably because they share the same release months as the previous boxes. But then Echoes (more Liv and Helen) which came out the following May is (5) and finally Deadly Strangers and Causeway are (6) and (7).
All of which means if you want to keep the boxsets in continuity on your shelf, you're left with a number sequence which is all over the place and equally, if you stick to this number, the Doctor's portrait on the top shifts between TV Movie and Dark Eyes faces. Us Doctor Who fans (and U.S. Doctor Who fans) are quite used to spines on media releases not matching (apart from the BD releases so far which still sport the Whittaker logo despite us enjoying a whole new era in between) but this feels like a very weird choice, especially since they're being created by fans for fans.
Unless both strands are going to dovetail at some point. Despite the pictures on the box, I'm still not unconvinced that these stories aren't going to be revealed to be set after The Charlotte Pollard Adventures with Eighth and Charley reunited somehow. As I've said before, she sounds more mature and there's a moment in one of these stories where they talk about Ramsay the Vortisaur as though he's a distant memory which doesn't make sense given the context in which he's mentioned in the second original series. Something very strange is going on here.
Puccini and the Doctor
Which could just as easily have been called Unfinished Business since it's exactly that for both the Doctor and his writer for this adventure, Matthew Jacobs, who wrote the TV Movie with the Pertwee logo, oh so long ago. It's a celebrity historical in which the Time Lord meets the composer again before he's written some of his greatest operas and comes face to face with a creature who wants to steal and destroy humanity's creativity. Just astonishingly good. Jacobs had apparently only heard Chimes at Midnight before taking the gig, but caught himself up and then wrote this which despite using a similar method, AI never could.
Women's Day Off
Whilst highlighting a moment in women's history I shamefully wasn't previously aware of in which all of Iceland's women went on strike for a day in October 1975, McMullin's script plays not unlike something from The Sarah Jane Adventures as a young girl finds herself infused with magical powers which she can't control and the TARDIS team can only see disparate elements of the mystery in their own parts of the story until everything neatly dovetails at the end. Thoroughly entertaining, especially hearing the time ship's translation circuits giving Icelandics various UK regional accents rather than the actors affecting Nordic vowels.
The Gloaming
Almost as Route One Who as it gets, The Gloaming features an indomitable group of human survivors in suspended animation being threatened by an alien intelligence which is trying to spread itself across the galaxy. But in choosing the Mara, the writers have found the perfect monster for audio, especially the dream world which becomes two voices, one threatening, the other scared, voiced by the same actor demonstrating their range. Because the victim can't awaken without outside help, they're simply trapped there, the evil presence using their own anxieties against them. Chilling.
Placement: Between In The Bleak Midwinter and Invaders from Mars. For now.
Film The Guardian has a piece today about Kathryn Bigelow's A House of Dynamite in which Mike McCahill says various things about the film, but like a lot of critics he doesn't seem to have found the virtues I found in how the story is structured and particularly the climax, which I won't spoil for those of you who haven't had a chance to watch it amongst the firehouse of stuff released every day.
The number of film writers who've missed the point of A House of Dynamite are worryingly large. It's not a thriller, it's a character study. The repetition is the point. We're seeing the calamity through the lenses of much smaller and less knowledgeable groups as the decision on whether to retaliate ends up on the shoulders of someone who even less qualified than they are. At a basic level, don't give human beings world-ending weaponry. It's bad.
On each iteration we hear exposition and dialogue and then discover their significance as the narrative elements repeat. In the first couple of rounds, the President sounds Trumpian and incompetent. But when we finally meet him, he's an affable, smart person who is then handed the worst decision in the world at a moment's notice and has a series of near or total strangers advising him.
Which is utterly disturbing and in sharp relief to something like Fail Safe (both versions) and most of these kinds of films, in which almost all Presidents are portrayed as some kind of academic and diplomatic paragon in a fantasy world in which someone is elected based on how smart they are, which has *rarely* been the case. Unlike those films, the heads of state wouldn't immediately be on the phone with one another. The contact takes place way below the chain.
There's a terrific article in Slate by Fred Kaplan (ht, Allyn), a Pulitzer Prize nominated author of a book about just this subject which offers much greater depth on how realistic the film is and if anything it's even less terrifying than the situation we're in now when all of the key positions shown in the film are filled with people whose only qualification is they're willing to tell the President what he wants to hear all of the time.
But my overall point is that a lot of critics have missed that it isn't a traditional Clancyesque thriller. They've gone in expecting The Sum of All Fears or By Dawn's Early Light (which shares a similar story) and been disappointed. It's an "art house" film wearing the trappings of a mid-budget Summer blockbuster which asks the viewer to make a psychological leap beyond what they expect it to be into what it is.
Audio A neat bit of pure blood Eighth and Charley with the original theme, which at the time was pretty rare (2019), with India Fisher reading all the parts. Running just under forty minutes, it's a relatively complex story about the horrors of war and those who continue to live with the consequences. The TARDIS team visit a gallery to see one of the Doctor's favourite artists, who is pretty quickly revealed to be a megalomaniac who has destroyed thousands of lives because the righteousness of her ideology has become drowned out by her methods. This is Hidden Empire writer Jaine Fenn's only contribution to Doctor Who, yet she captures the two main characters perfectly, especially Charley, who has a fine moment when she uses some true/false logic straight out of Jim Henson's film Labyrinth.
Placement: Probably between seasons with the cluster of Short Trips.
Books Durham University's First Folio is reputed to have almost the longest single ownership of all extant volumes. It was originally owned by the churchman John Cosin, who is thought to have bought it shortly after its publication around 1630. Exiled to France in 1644 for his loyalty to the monarchy, notably Charles I, Cosin's Folio was housed with his extensive book collection at Peterhouse, Cambridge. After the monarchy was restored in 1660, Cosin was made Bishop of Durham and built one of the country's earliest public libraries on the green near Durham Cathedral. In 1672, he bequeathed his collection, including the Folio, to the clergy of the diocese. It remained in the library—now called Cosin's Library—for centuries, until the collection was passed to Durham University in 1963.
Then, in 1998, the Folio was famously stolen. In 2010, the BBC made Stealing Shakespeare, a documentary about the affair narrated by David Tennant. In summary, an eccentric book dealer named Raymond Scott brought a First Folio to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., for authentication, claiming he had acquired it in Cuba during a holiday with his girlfriend. Experts quickly identified it as the Durham Folio. When Scott returned to the UK, he was arrested and convicted of handling stolen goods, although authorities were unable to prove he was the original burglar. Scott unalived himself in prison two years later, maintaining his innocence to the end. However, an interview with a local newspaper, later quoted by The Guardian, suggested there was more to the story.
Once its identity was confirmed in court with a witness statement from Anthony James West—author of the most current census of Folios at the time—it was returned to the university. Staff then began the process of stabilising it. As you can see from the above image, the goatskin binding, added in 1845 by Charles C Tuckett & Son, was removed while the book was missing, as were the title pages and the final leaves of Cymbeline, presumably in an attempt to hide its identity. To date, the University has decided not to rebind the book. One of the few benefits of the vandalism is that it has offered unprecedented access to the binding and the pages themselves, allowing for observations that couldn't be made with an intact copy (you don't teardown a book worth millions of pounds just to see what's underneath).
The Folio is currently on display at an exhibition in Cosin's Library that runs until the end of October. It's housed in a glass cabinet, allowing for a 360-degree view of the book, including its spine and back. Surrounding it are double-sided glass cases displaying pages that are still loose: the list of principal actors, the contents page, John Heminges and Henry Condell's introduction ("To the great Variety of Readers"), and odd pages from Cymbeline. Usually on these visits, the most I can see is whichever pages are on display and perhaps the binding, so this is a welcome change, even if the circumstances that led to it are grim. The university has also released a video offering an excellent view of the gorgeous Cosin's Library:
That video was almost the closest I was going to get to seeing the Folio. After hearing about the display, I booked an overnight trip to Durham from Sunday to Monday, planning to visit the cathedral on my arrival day (it had its own exhibition on the Magna Carta)(she did not die in vain) and see the Folio the next morning. Durham Cathedral is as gorgeous as its reputation suggests, and I especially recommend its museum. Apparently, it doesn't have the same footfall as the rest of the building, but it houses numerous important relics. These include the extraordinary wooden coffin of St Cuthbert; the saint himself, along with the Venerable Bede, is buried elsewhere in the cathedral in his own tomb. As a bonus, you can also see the spots where the Asgard scenes were filmed for Avengers: Endgame.
After finishing at the Cathedral on my first day, I realised the First Folio exhibition was nearby, so I decided to pop in to check the opening hours for Monday and see if I needed to book a space. The very helpful person at reception informed me that the library, and therefore the exhibition, were closed on Mondays, but that I had arrived just in time for the final entry of the day. In other words, if I hadn't happened to drop in, I would have travelled all the way to Durham for no reason—much like a recent, trip to London with its lack of various fruits. Fortunately, just this once, Rose, I was in the right place at the right time and was able to see the Durham University First Folio. It's one of the documents listed in my guide on this journey, The Shakespeare First Folios: A Descriptive Catalogue, and one that I thought was going to be among the most difficult to see.
Music Hope you're all enjoying Glastonbury this weekend, even from your armchair. After a similar posts proved popular in the last couple of years, I've decided to repeat the exercise for 2025. As I explained last year, the navigation of the various stages and sets on the BBC website isn't particularly ideal. Unlike the previous decade when the line-up was structured around stages, this year, everything is mostly just bunged in all together under different "genres".
This year, after shutting down the music pages, they haven't even bothered with a line-up and instead you're directed straight to the iPlayer, which doesn't matter exactly, but it's still a lot of effort to navigate especially because as usual it's sometimes difficult to see the difference between a broadcast highlights show and a full set. The list below will only have the full set unless there's no other choice.
So I've created a breakdown of Glastonbury by stage with links to these full sets - most of Friday is already there and I'll keep updating this over the next week checking in now and then. Most stages have every act apart from the first few. The links below should be valid for a month so you have until near the end of July to catch up. Obviously this is only helpful if you're watching things on a tablet or PC. You could always try casting them I suppose. Anyway, on with the show.
