Factual Christmas 2015 Highlights

24 November 2015

Gogglebox Kids
Gogglebox took the living room conversations that happen in front of the TV and put them on the TV. In this new version of the BAFTA award winning series we find out what the nations kids, aged up to 13, really think about what’s going on in the world. Groups of children from across the UK will be offering their opinions on key moments of 2015 from the cakes on Bake Off to the fate of Cecil the Lion.

Prod co: Studio Lambert
Press Contact: Lucy Zilberkweit
Picture Publicist: Jamie Fry

 

First Dates christmas special
TX: Thursday December 17, 9pm, Channel 4
‘Tis the Season to be jolly as Christmas arrives at the First Dates Restaurant. Maitre d’ Fred and his team host a special festive party to celebrate the love that blossomed this year, with a host of familiar faces. Tonight they welcome back couples who found love the first time around, as well as three much-loved daters who weren’t quite so lucky.

Bearded supermarket worker Luke (hoping a Christmas makeover will make it third time lucky), fireman Paul, and eccentric theology student Louisa all determined not to be left alone under the mistletoe at the end of the night. Will the magic of Christmas see any of the returning daters pull a cracker?

Plus, for the first time ever, the restaurant welcomes back some of its most successful First Dates pairings for a catch-up with Fred. Find out what happened next for some of the finest love stories the restaurant has ever seen as couples including Sian and Nick, Adam and Dan and Naomi and Jo return to the place where it all began.

As they all raise a toast to Yuletide love, one returning suitor surprises their partner by getting down on one knee. One thing is certain: in the First Dates Restaurant, this is a Christmas one couple will never forget!

 

Prod co: Twenty Twenty Productions
Press Contact: Nick Walker
Picture Publicist: Jamie Fry

 

 

The Secret Life of Children at Christmas
TX: Thursday 17 December, 8pm, Channel 4
A Christmas Nativity special featuring the children we know and love from February’s pilot episode of The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds, including Jayda, Cuba, Christian, Skyla and a selection of the children of the current series.

Prod co: RDF TV
Press Contact: Lucy Zilberkweit
Picture Publicist: Nathalie Mohoboob

 

Supershoppers Do Christmas
TX: Monday 14 December, 8:30pm, Channel 4
Supershoppers Andi Osho and Anna Richardson are back giving you the inside scoop on Britain’s biggest brands and retailers in time for your Christmas shop. Investigating everything festive from food to decorations to gifts, Anna and Andi reveal the tricks of the trade, and put products to the test, with some surprising results.

Our Supershoppers uncover the secrets of your Christmas pud, how to bag the right tree and everything you want to know about those special festive gifts, and more.

Prod co: Firecrest Films
Press Contact: Lucy Zilberkweit
Picture Publicist: Jamie Fry

 

The Supervet: Christmas in the Clinic

The staff are always full of festive cheer at Christmas. But for Professor Noel Fitzpatrick, it's busier than ever.

Adam, a sleigh pulling Alaskan malamute needs both knees replacing with implants. But as he is recovering from his first operation, Adam's other knee begins to fail, and owners Colin and Andrea are forced to make a difficult decision: wait for the first knee to recover fully and risk losing everything if Adam's second knee fails, or go ahead and let Noel operate on Adam's second knee within two weeks of having the first one done, knowing that the two-year old Malamute may not recover from having two knee replacements in quick succession.

Harvey, a much loved springer spaniel, is rushed in with a shattered jaw. Noel and surgical resident vet Padriag Egan decide to try something neither of them have attempted before in an effort to save Harvey’s jaw and get him home in time for Christmas.

Noel has a serious case of puppy love when he meets a 6-week-old miniature dachshund puppy with a deformed foot. Peggy needs intensive physiotherapy and officially becomes the smallest dog ever to use Fitzpatrick’s hydrotherapy tank

And Noel gets a surprise visitor from back home in Ireland, his mum Rita Fitzpatrick.

Prod co: Blast! Films
Press Contact: Mark Collins
Picture Publicist: Jamie Fry

 

 

 

The World’s Most Expensive Christmas
TX: Tuesday 15 December, 9pm, Channel 4

For the UK’s millionaires and billionaires, shopping has become an art form. And nothing gets them spending more than Christmas. But while the rest of us search out bargains on the high street, the wealthy use a network of bespoke, high-end suppliers of luxurious Christmas gifts and decorations. As the Christmas deadline approaches, this film follows these suppliers, the exclusive elves to the elite, who try to ensure their clients enjoy the super-rich spirit of Christmas.

Frances Hallworth-Noble runs The London Concierge company, offering a bespoke service to her high-end clients who are too busy to manage the mundane details of their own lives. Shopping is an important part of the service at this time of year, so Frances is organising an exclusive Christmas Shopping Evening, drawing in suppliers of luxurious goods, including Delice Confectionary from Dubai, with intricate hand-made sweets selling for around £800 a box; and Shawish Jewellery, selling diamond-encrusted mushroom-shaped USB’s for £22,950, and an octopus bracelet that lights up in the dark for £450,000.

Husband & wife team, Michael & Zaneta Peterson, of Bombki Baubles, produce hand-blown glass Christmas tree decorations. When Michael met Polish-born Zaneta it was love at first sight – together they started up a baubles business using Zaneta’s connections in her native Poland. Michael designs the baubles at the Bombki HQ in their house in Hornchurch; and Zaneta is in charge of logistics, in the garage. Just a few months before Christmas, they win a commission from young Russian entrepreneur Luiza, owner of the exclusive Mayfair restaurant, Gigi’s. She orders £10,000-worth of bespoke baubles for her tree to celebrate her first Christmas in London. Michael & Zaneta check on the production line in Krakov - the spiritual home of this traditional process - before delivering baubles shaped like pineapples (a symbol of wealth), gold bars, and a special bespoke bauble in the shape of Gigi’s signature cocktail. The cocktail itself is made with 19th Century Armagnac, vintage Cristal champagne and edible gold leaf – and at £8,888, Gigi claim it to be the most expensive cocktail in the world.

 

VeryFirstTo is a company specialising in unique, very expensive gift and experience ideas for the very wealthy. Lead by Marcel Knobil, aided by his partner, Amar Thapen, the team brainstorm for special, one-off Christmas gifts, such as ginger-bread men in the likeness of your family; bespoke luxury crackers with jokes written by Jimmy Carr; even a visit from Three Wise Men (Stephen Fry, David Starkey and Stephen Hawking). But they settle on two rather more practical ideas to take forward into production: Rudolf the Ruby-Nosed Reindeer Tarts, with a 7-carat ruby for the nose, costing £475 each; and the World’s Most Expensive Xmas Tree Topper – a diamond encrusted star with a 5-carat D flawless diamond as the centre-piece… the asking price: £615,000.

 

Neill Strain, of Floral Couture, is a florist to some of Belgravia’s elite. Neill specialises in private clients, who retain his services on a weekly basis all year-round, some paying as much as £10,000 - £20,000 every week for his floristry delights. At this time of year, he will take care of their entire Christmas decoration process. His Xmas wreaths start at £600, but James Taylor - a property manager for some UHNW clients – wants Neill to turn a Middle Eastern couple’s Covent Garden six-storey townhouse into a winter wonderland. Their budget is £250,000. The family have 10 properties around the world, but plan to spend 36 hours in London for Christmas Day. Although, there’s always a chance they might not make to London at all... Nevertheless, Neill transforms every room of the property from the bath-tub to the living room with a 12ft tree that takes 15,000 decorations. And for under the tree…? James admits the family are “going all out this year”. The husband plans to buy his wife “two Bentleys”.

Prod co: Indus Films
Press Contact: Lucy Zilberkweit
Picture Publicist: Jamie Fry

 

 

Walking the Himalayas
TX: January, Channel 4

Channel 4’s second broadcast partnership with explorer Levison Wood follows up his 2013 trek along the entire length of the Nile by attempting to walk the entire length of the Himalayas.

Beginning in Afghanistan and trekking 1700 gruelling miles across the roof of the world, Levison will be travelling through some of the most remote, beautiful, and perilous places on earth, teaming up with local guides and meeting soldiers, monks and nomadic tribes as he tries to complete his challenge.

Walking the Himalayas, co-produced by October Films and GroupM Entertainment, will see Levison push himself to his physical limits as he is forced through remote, punishing terrain and altitudes above 5000m where he suffers from a debilitating lack of oxygen. As well as battling natural obstacles, he has to tread carefully through one of the most fought-over areas of the world - walking through Afghanistan, crossing the Line of Control between Pakistan and India, navigating the disputed territory of Kashmir and making his way through Nepal as it recovers and tries to rebuild itself after the recent earthquakes.

Walking the Himalayas, like Walking the Nile, is being filmed by Levison himself, with visits at key points from a television crew for a TV series to be broadcast in early 2016.

Prod co: October Films
Press Contact: Mark Ogle
Picture Publicist: Jamie Fry