Dec 27th-Jan 1st

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2011 - Meet Your Brain 
BBC4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Tue 27 Dec
What's in Your Head? New series. Professor Bruce Hood, an experimental psychologist, presents three lectures exploring the operation of the human brain. He begins with an analysis of how it constructs a representation of the outside world from the nerve impulses it receives - which prove to be few in number, requiring it to fill in a great deal of information. The scientist uses audience members to simulate the functions of a brain, and explains what brainwaves look like and the speed of neurons

The Toys That Made Christmas 
BBC2 London 11:30pm-1:00am (1 hour 30 minutes) Tue 27 Dec
Robert Webb takes a light-hearted look back at playthings of the past, offering fortysomethings the chance to reminisce about the days before PlayStations, laptops and iPods. It was a more innocent time when Fuzzy-Felt and Spirograph brought out the artist in everyone, girls spent hours with Barbie and boys were engrossed in trying to bolt together their impossibly fiddly Meccano models - to name just four of the toys mentioned

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2011 - Meet Your Brain 
BBC4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Wed 28 Dec
Who's in Charge Here Anyway? Professor Bruce Hood explores how the brain performs tasks without conscious awareness. He explains how it uses short cuts to process the vast amount of information it receives, deciding what it should attend to and what to ignore. He also describes why multi-tasking can be dangerous, before using illusions and audience participation in a bid to make people say the wrong thing and fail to see what is in front of them


Ben Elton: Laughing at the 80s 
Channel 4 11:40pm-1:35am (1 hour 55 minutes) Wed 28 Dec
The co-writer of series The Young Ones and Blackadder sets off on a personal journey to tell the tale of a decade that heralded the birth of alternative comedy - a new style that highlighted the social changes taking place in Britain at the time. Ben meets Rik Mayall, Lenny Henry, Harry Enfield, Victoria Wood and Jimmy Tarbuck among others to reminisce about some of the greatest moments of recent comedy history. Also featuring contributions by Clive Anderson, Stephen Fry, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Adrian Edmondson, Jo Brand and Nigel Planer

Have I Got 2010 for You 
BBC2 London 11:00pm-11:30pm (30 minutes) Thu 29 Dec
Compilation of highlights from 2010 of the satirical current affairs quiz, hosted by Alexander Armstrong with team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2011 - Meet Your Brain 
BBC4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Thu 29 Dec
Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? Professor Bruce Hood explores why human brains give personalities to anything perceived to have character, as when drivers give their cars names. He asks if it is possible for a robot to fall in love and questions whether eyes can be regarded as windows to the soul. He also uses live demonstrations to explain why an individual feels pain when they see someone else get hurt, and what attracts someone to another person. Last in the series

Comic Strip Presents - The Hunt for Tony Blair 
Channel 4 11:10pm-12:15am (1 hour 5 minutes) Thu 29 Dec
Prime Minister Tony Blair is suspected of murder, so one foggy night he escapes from Number 10 and sets out to clear his name. But with no one willing to harbour a wanted man and the newspapers demanding his capture, he is forced to go on the run, hotly pursued by the cops. Spoof 1950s-style noir thriller, starring Stephen Mangan as the fugitive PM, with old Comic Strip faces Nigel Planer, Jennifer Saunders, Rik Mayall and Robbie Coltrane joined by Harry Enfield, John Sessions, James Buckley, Ross Noble

Charlie Brooker's 2011 Wipe 
BBC4 10:30pm-11:30pm (1 hour ) Fri 30 DecThe writer and broadcaster takes a satirical look back at the events of the past 12 months, a year that included weddings both royal and gypsy, as well as riots across England and Wales, the phone-hacking scandal and the TV debut of Desperate Scousewives. With contributions by American stand-up Doug Stanhope, Brian Limond, the star of BBC Scotland comedy Limmy's Show!, and documentary-maker Adam Curtis

Dec 19th-25th

King of Christmas Lights 
(might not seem like much of a watch but Cutting Edge always does insightful work, and there is something of a phenomenon about how Christmas lighting displays ebb and flow over the years, treading the narrow line between dazzle and tack.
Channel 4 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Mon 19 DecCutting Edge delves into the world of extreme festive decorations, meeting people whose homes boast some of the most eye-catching and impressive Christmas-light displays in the UK. Paul Toole spends more than £5,000 on his hobby annually, and this year wants to go bigger - by decorating all the houses on his street. Northamptonshire computer whizz Karl Beetson is trying to use animatronics to create a spectacular display, while Bristol brothers and next-door neighbours Paul and Lee Brailsford face competition from a rival planning to upstage them

The Gruffalo's Child 
BBC1 London 6:30pm-7:00pm (30 minutes) Christmas DayAnimated adaptation of the sequel to Julia Donaldson's best-selling children's book, reuniting all the voice cast from the original. The Gruffalo has raised his daughter on tales of the big, bad mouse, the only creature in the forest he is frightened of. Despite her father's warnings, she sets off in search of this scary creature, along the way encountering the snake, owl and the fox. But when she still has no luck finding the evil rodent, she begins to think he does not exist after all. Robbie Coltrane, James Corden and Rob Brydon lend their voices, with Shirley Henderson as Gruffalo Jr

13th-18th November

Steve Jobs: Billion Dollar Hippy
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:00pm (1 hour ) Wed 14 Dec
Evan Davis traces the history of Steve Jobs' time in control at Apple, with contributions from insiders including the company's co-founder Steve Wozniak, world wide web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, branding guru Rita Clifton and Stephen Fry. The presenter hears stories of how Jobs, a college dropout, was involved in the company's rise from operating out of a suburban garage to becoming a global brand

Horizon: What Happened Before the Big Bang?
BBC4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Thu 15 Dec
Documentary exploring the idea that the universe may have had a life before the big bang, which has for almost a century been the scientific explanation for its creation some 14 billion years ago. The programme delves into a world of cosmic bounces, rips and multiple universes in a bid to assess new theories 

Sean Lock: Lockipedia Live
Channel 4 11:55pm-1:00am (1 hour 5 minutes) Fri 16 Dec
The comedian's stand-up show at London's Hammersmith Apollo during his sellout 2010 tour of Britain and Ireland. As well as the usual on-stage antics, Sean rolls out his new audience interaction section called Lockipedia

Dec 5th-10th

The Story of Ireland 
Season 1 Episode 4 of 5
BBC1 London 2:10am-3:10am (1 hour ) Wed 7 Dec
The Blurb: "The Age of Union Fergal Keane's journey through Irish history arrives at the 1801 Act of Union, which made Ireland a part of the United Kingdom for the first time. The journalist charts how 19th-century constitutional battles in the Houses of Parliament over Catholic emancipation and land reform laid the foundations for modern Ireland, and tells the story of the campaign for home rule - as well as examining the impact the potato famine of the 1840s had on the country"

Dinner with Portillo 
Season 6 Episode 2 of 5
BBC4 11:30pm-12:00am (30 minutes) Tue 6 Dec
The Blurb: "Can Scientists Be Morally Neutral? Former Conservative MP Michael Portillo and seven high-profile guests from the world of politics and academia, including Susan Greenfield, Mark Henderson and Bryan Appleyard, discuss whether scientists can honestly claim to be morally neutral in their pursuit of knowledge"


Storyville: Inside Job (2010) 
BBC2 London 9:00pm-10:40pm (1 hour 40 minutes) Wed 7 Dec
The Blurb: "Premiere. Analysis of the events that brought about the 2008 economic crisis. The film examines the influence the financial industry has on the political process across the world, and how the practices of the markets made the disaster inevitable. Featuring contributions from major political, financial and journalistic figures. Narrated by Matt Damon"