TV Guide 2018-12-29
Ahead of the new year, Celebrity Game Night kicks off (C5, Sat). There's a Tipping Point Just After Christmas special (ITV, Sat), and they end Big Star's Bigger Star (ITV).
Intellectual pursuits early on New Year's Eve, the return of Round Britain Quiz (Radio 4), and David "Lenin" Aaronovitch is back on Christmas University Challenge (BBC2). By 3am, we'll be fit only for The Crystal Maze (C4, repeated). Same procedure as every year (Artsworld).
New Year's Day has the traditional highlights: World's Strongest Man (C5), Bake Off (C4), and a new run of Who Wants to be a Millionaire (ITV).
From Wednesday, we have Countdown Championship of Champions (C4) and the first new episodes of Eggheads in some months (BBC2). For Friday, Channel 4 gives us The Big Fat Quiz of Everything.
Last week | TV Guide This Week | Next week
Schedules are accurate at the time of publication; check against EPG for late changes.
Contents |
Saturday 29 December
- Lego Masters (C4, 7.30) Repeats of the recent series continue.
- Antiques Road Trip Day (Really, 8am) To 8pm.
- Fighting Talk (Radio 5, 11am).
- The Chase (Challenge, 12 noon) To 10pm.
- The News Quiz (Radio 4, 12.30) Repeat from Friday.
- Catchphrase (ITV, 2.30), The Chase (ITV, 3.30). Two celebrity shows.
- Celebrity Dinner Date (ITVBe, 2.55) To 9pm.
- The Big Audition (ITV, 4.30) New episode.
Primetime
- Big Star's Bigger Star (ITV, 5.30) Emma Willis, Andy Whyment, Andrea McLean.
- Celwydd Noeth (S4C, 6pm) Repeat from Boxing Day.
- Celebrity Mastermind (BBC1, 6.30) Elis James (Welsh football), Montana Brown (Desperate Housewives), Madeline Smith (Kew Gardens), George Rainsford (Back to the Future).
- Pointless Celebrities (BBC1, 7pm) Food and drink.
- Tipping Point Lucky Stars (ITV, 7pm) A new episode, with Christopher Biggins, Lesley Joseph, and Vicky Pattison.
- World's Strongest Man (C5, 7pm).
- Blind Date (C5, 8pm).
- Gino's Win Your Wish List (C5, 9pm).
- True Love or True Lies (MTV, 9pm) Five episodes of the summer's near-hit.
- Celebrity Game Night (C5, 10pm) Liza Tarbuck gives teams silly things to do, with a big band setting some of them to music. With Susan Calman are Greg Rutherford, Kerry Godliman, Ore Oduba; with Danny Baker are Kimberley Walsh, Scarlett Moffett, Dom Joly.
- India's Got Talent (Colors, 10pm).
- QI XL (BBC2, 10.30) Pubs a Christmas special.
Sunday 30 December
- The Crystal Maze Christmas Specials (Challenge, 7am); The Chase (Challenge, 12 noon) To 10pm.
- Lego Masters (C4, 7.30).
- Spy School (CITV and ITV Breakfast Broadcasting, 8.55) Operation Golden Gauntlet, a repeat.
- Ninja Warrior (ITV, 9.25).
- Big Star's Bigger Star (ITV, 10.25) Repeat from last night.
- Great Local Menu (BBC2, 11.15) Repeating the finals week.
- The Unbelievable Truth (Radio 4, 12.04) Repeat from Monday.
- Celebrity Dinner Date (ITVBe, 12.50) To 9pm.
- Tipping Point Lucky Stars (ITV, 2.30) Katie Price.
- The Big Audition (ITV, 3.30) A new member of Kidzbop.
- Big Star's Bigger Star (ITV, 4.30) Martin and Roman Kemp, Larry and George Lamb, Carol and Jessica Wright.
Primetime
- The Chase Christmas Special (ITV, 7pm) Repeat from the 16th.
- World's Strongest Man (C5, 7pm).
- Y Talwrn (Radio Cymru, 7.05) Another chance to hear this year's final.
- Dragons' Den (BBC2, 8pm) Pitches to Riches: a catchup on previous ideas.
- True Love or True Lies (MTV, 9pm) Five more episodes to end the series.
- Mock the Week (BBC2, 10pm; Wales 12.30am, NI 1.25am Wednesday) Christmas special, repeated.
- 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (C4, 10pm) Christmas special, repeated.
Monday 31 December
- Pointless (Challenge, 7am); The Chase (Challenge, 12 noon) To 9pm.
- Just a Minute (Radio 4 Extra, 9am and 4pm).
- Great Local Menu (BBC2, 9.50) Repeating the finals week.
- Celebrity Catchphrase (ITV, 2pm), Tenable (ITV, 3pm), Tipping Point Lucky Stars (ITV, 4pm), The Chase Celebrity Special (ITV, 5pm).
- Round Britain Quiz (R4, 3pm) North (Stuart Maconie and Adele Geras) play Wales (Myfanwy Alexander and David Edwards) in an edition recorded at the Harrogate Literature Festival.
- World's Strongest Man (C5, 4.15).
Primetime
- Pointless (BBC1, 5.45) A new episode.
- Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule (ITV, 6pm).
- Dinner for One (Artsworld, 6.10) UK television premiere. Not a game.
- The Unbelievable Truth (Radio 4, 6.30) Richard Osman, Holly Walsh, Susan Calman, David O'Doherty.
- Christmas University Challenge (BBC2,
7pm7.30) Sheffield (David Blunkett, Paul Mason) play Manchester The Team Everyone Wants to Beat (David "Trotsky" Aaronovitch, Matt Allwright). Celebrity Mastermind (BBC1, 7.30) Ana Matronic (The Bionic Woman), Joe Thomas (George Orwell), Maggie Alphonsi (Denise Lewis), Jay Rayner (Arthur Freed).Postponed to allow a tribute to the late June Whitfield.- Would I Lie to You (BBC1, 8.30) A classic episode with Henry Blofeld.
- QI XL (BBC2, 10pm; NI 10.30) O Christmas, repeated.
- Bullseye New Year's Eve special (Challenge, 10pm) From 1985.
Tuesday 1 January 2019
- Tenable (ITV, 2.15am), Tipping Point (ITV, 3.10am), The Chase (ITV, 4am) Start your year right. Not STV.
- The Crystal Maze (C4, 3.30am) A late-night lock-in.
- Pointless (Challenge, 7am); The Chase (Challenge, 12 noon) To 9pm.
- Oh Yes It Is, Oh No It Isn't! (Radio Scotland, 12 noon) More pantomime fun.
- World's Strongest Man (Spike, 12.20) Five episodes, leading up to the final.
- Tipping Point (ITV, 4pm), The Chase (ITV, 5pm).
Primetime
- World's Strongest Man (C5, 5.50).
- Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule (ITV, 6.05).
- Strongman Champions' League World Series (Spike, 7pm) Mixed sporting metaphors from Strongest Viking.
- The Great* New Year's Burn Off (C4, 7.40) Kate, Tamal, and Candice have to put up with Hollywood again.
- Only Connect (BBC2, 8pm) Birdwatchers play Brews in the First-and-a-Halfth Round match.
- Christmas University Challenge (BBC2, 8.30) Edinburgh (Joanna Cherry, Mitch Benn) play LSE (Ekow Eshun, Maya Jaggi).
- Who Wants to be a Millionaire (ITV, 9pm) Start your year wrong with Jeremy Clarkson. Repeated at 12.15am.
- Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Challenge, 9pm) Aggressive scheduling from the Chris Tarrant era.
Weekday Daytimes
- Bargain Hunt (BBC1, 12.15).
- Celebrity Catchphrase (C4, 2pm) Repeats.
- Countdown (C4, 2.10) The Championship of Champions begins, with Kate Humble.
- Tenable (ITV, 3pm) Repeats.
- Tipping Point (ITV, 4pm) New episodes.
- The Chase (ITV, 5pm) New.
- Pointless (BBC1, 5.15) New.
- Eggheads (BBC2, 6pm) New episodes.
Wednesday 2 January
Holiday in Scotland
- Phone Swap (BBC Three) People date by swapping phones. BBC Three's first game show since going online.
- Antiques Road Trip Day (Really, 8am) To 9pm.
- Celebrity Mastermind (BBC1, 7pm) Neil Jones (films of Charlie Chaplin), Yolanda Brown (Marvin Gaye), Paul Higgins (Watergate), Holly Hamilton (George Best).
- A Question of Sport (BBC1, 7.30; Wales 7pm Fri) Chris Hoy, Tammy Beaumont, Max Chilton, Kevin Campbell.
- University Challenge Christmas (BBC2, 7.30) Semi-final 1.
- Who Wants to be a Millionaire (ITV, 9pm and 11.45).
Thursday 3 January
- The Write Stuff (Radio 4 Extra, 9am and 4pm).
- University Challenge Christmas (BBC2, 7.30) Semi-final 2.
- Celebrity Mastermind (BBC1, 8pm) Mike Bushell (Monty Python), Jenny Colgan (Manhattan Project), Stanley Johnson (Sophocles), Vassos Alexander (Emil Zatopek).
- Beat the Internet with John Robins (Dave, 8pm) Two episodes.
- Who Wants to be a Millionaire (ITV, 9pm and 12.35am).
Friday 4 January
- Guess What? (Radio 4 Extra, 9am and 4pm) From 1998.
- Breaking the News (Radio Scotland, 1.30).
- The News Quiz (Radio 4, 6.30).
- Christmas University Challenge (BBC2, 8pm) The final.
- Celebrity Mastermind (BBC1, 8.30) Candice Brown (Audrey Hepburn), Jenny Meadows (Rugly league challenge cup), Francis Boulle (Friedrich Hayek), Danny Sebastian (Only Fools and Horses).
- Who Wants to be a Millionaire (ITV, 9pm and 12.35am).
- The Big Fat Quiz of Everything (C4, 9pm) Dame Sandi Toksvig, Joe Lycett, Katherine Ryan, Big Narstie, David Baddiel, Frank Skinner.
Sign language interpretation
- Family Cooking Showdown (BBC2, 6.50am Mo, 7.40am Wed).
- Masterchef The Professionals (BBC2, 7.05am Th).
