Arts & Culture Pointless Celebrities, 7th October

On Saturday 7th October at 5.45pm, figures from the world of Arts and Culture take part in an episode of Pointless Celebrities.

Music journalist Paul Morley joins forces with Radio 1 DJ Annie Nightingale, BBC arts presenter Katie Derham teams up with her editor Will Gompertz, art historian Tim Marlow forms a duo with journalist and broadcaster Janet Street-Porter, and songwriter Richard Stilgoe partners with actress and writer Meera Syal.

Sarah Jane Adventures revisited

The first series of Doctor Who spin-off Sarah Jane Adventures, featuring investigative journalist and old-time companion Sarah-Jane Smith (played by the late Elisabeth Sladen), began on 24th September 2007, following a one-off special on New Year's Day of that year.

The show ran for five series, during which Sarah Jane and her gang battled aliens and saved the world. As well as a group of teenagers, Alexander Armstrong was on hand as the voice of alien supercomputer Mr Smith.

CBBC will be marking the show's anniversary by showing three episodes from the first series on Sunday. 24th September from 2.10pm. Please don't dismiss SJA as a kids' show if you haven't seen it before: it's genuinely exciting.

Have I Got News For You

Alexander Armstrong will present Have I Got News For You for a record 30th time, on Friday 6th October at 9pm on BBC1.

Team captains are Ian Hislop and Paul Merton, as ever, and the guest panellists are James O'Brien and Roisin Conaty.

Sports Pointless Celebrities, 30th September

Pointless Celebrities on Saturday 30th September at 6pm is a Sports special.

Taking part are boxers Callum Smith and Anthony Crolla, athletes Kelly Sotherton and Ashia Hansen, snooker players Neil Robertson and Ken Doherty, and sports journalists Vicky Gomersall and Charlotte Jackson.

Writers Pointless Celebrities, 23rd September

Pointless Celebrities on Saturday 23rd September at 5.35pm is a Writers special.

Liz Pichon teams up with Pam Ayres, Quentin Letts joins forces with Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Jill Mansell partners Jimmy McGovern and Mark Watson allies with Owen Jones.

Pointless tickets are now available

Free tickets for Pointless recordings are now available.

Recordings start on Monday 9th October, and tickets are currently available till Thursday 16th November. Recordings are at TV Centre in White City, London.

You can apply for free tickets here.

Experts Pointless Celebrities, 16th September

A group of experts take part in a repeated Pointless Celebrities on Saturday 16th September, at 6.10pm.

The House That £100K Built presenter Kieran Long teams up with fellow architecture specialist Piers Taylor, while Homes Under the Hammer host Martin Roberts joins forces with Selling Houses' Amanda Lamb. Fifth Gear duo Vicki Butler-Henderson and Tiff Needell combine their wits, and weather forecasters John Hammond and Laura Tobin also compete.

BBC orders 204 more episodes of Pointless

The BBC has commissioned a further 204 episodes of Pointless, which will take it up to its 10th anniversary in 2019. The order comes as a fresh run of new episodes begins on BBC1.

Xander said:

I cannot tell you how much I adore hosting Pointless and I’m thrilled that the BBC commissioned us to produce over 200 more episodes. I cannot wait to meet a whole host of Pointless contenders and of course, be reunited with Richard who I’ve genuinely missed. But don’t tell him that.

The new shows, 165 daytime programmes and 39 Pointless Celebrities specials, will be filmed at  the newly reopened BBC TV Centre in White City. Free tickets for the recordings will be available in due course.

Alexander Armstrong on tour

Following the release of his third solo album at the end of November, Alexander Armstrong will be touring in 2018.

The dates are as follows, with tickets going on general sale on 15th September.

21 May	Birmingham	22 May	Sheffield
23 May	Gateshead	25 May	Glasgow
26 May	Manchester	27 May	Liverpool
29 May	Nottingham	30 May	Southend-on-Sea
31 May	London	2 June	Cambridge
3 June	Brighton	4 June	Cardiff
6 June	Bristol	7 June	Bournemouth
8 June	Oxford	11 June	Northampton

In A Winter Light

Alexander Armstrong has announced details of his third solo and first Christmas album, In A Winter Light.

Xander said:

Christmas music is so important to us, it’s such a central part of how we embrace the festive season, I kind of need Christmas music – you don’t just listen to it, you kind of live through it and build your Christmases on it.

What do you think Christmas would be like without any music? I mean I daresay you could possibly still find some joy in an old mince pie or something, but just imagine if you took away all the music. There’d be no carols, no Bing, no more boys of the NYPD choir, no more “it’s Chriiiiiiiiiistmaaaaaaas”, now that really would be a bleak midwinter. The truth is we haven’t got time to hang about in December so we use our favourite Christmas music to take us straight to where we want to be: right at the happy heart of every Christmas we’ve loved. 

The track listing of the album, to be released on 24th November, is:

1. Angels in a Winter Light (Prologue - instrumental)
2. White Winter Hymnal
3. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
4. This Glorious Morrow (feat. The Choir of New College, Oxford)
5. Let it Snow (feat. trebles of The Choir of New College, Oxford)
6. I Still Believe in Christmas
7. O Holy Night (feat. trebles of The Choir of New College, Oxford)
8. Little Girl Blue (feat. Jools Holland)
9. Girl in the Dark (instrumental interlude)
10. Silent Night (feat. The Squadronaires)
11. There is no Rose
12. Winter Wonderland (feat. The Squadronaires)
13. In the Bleak Midwinter
14. Bethlehem Down
15. A Spotless Rose (feat. The Choir of New College, Oxford)
16. Angels in a Winter Light (Epilogue - instrumental)

Having spent years performing in choirs, Xander’s beloved musical heritage is on full, glorious display on In A Winter Light, recorded with the City of Prague Orchestra, abetted by the Choir of New College, Oxford, the RAF Squadronaires big band and Jools Holland. It can be pre-ordered from all usual sources.