Special

9:30pm – Wednesday, January 2 on ABC2

This is the amazing story of a remarkable couple whose love is tested to the very edge of life. Kirstie is 21 years old, born with cystic fibrosis and has always known that her life would be short. In March 2011 she was put onto the transplant waiting list, having been told that she had endstage lung disease and could be dead within six months.

This film follows Kirstie’s extraordinary experience of living on the transplant list, the fear and uncertainty, the realities of having constant pain, taking endless medications, relying on oxygen machines 24 hours a day to breathe – and doing all of this while planning for her wedding.

It follows Kirstie being rushed to hospital three days before the wedding, and then bravely making it down the aisle through sheer willpower and determination. As her condition becomes more critical and the chance of a lifesaving lung transplant seems more remote, we follow Kirstie’s husband Stuart facing the very real possibility of his new wife dying – after being married for just three weeks.

Monday December 17 at 8.30pm on BIO

In Alison Grist’s revealing documentary, homegrown star Immodesty Blaize examines the world of British burlesque and and its resurgence in popularity With classy showgirl costumes big its resurgence in popularity. With classy showgirl costumes, big–band band sounds decadent stage sets and elaborate sounds, decadent stage sets and elaborate prop routines, the risque routines are making a storming comeback as shows sell out across the UK.

8:30pm – Saturday, December 22 on Seven

Seven’s Matt White and Natalie Barr co-host the 2012 Woolworths Carols in the Domain.

The much-loved Christmas event will star this year’s The X Factor winner Samantha Jade and finalists The Collective. Also taking to the stage will be Carols favourite Mark Vincent, Jay Laga’aia and Georgie Parker.

The Christmas cheer will continue with a special performance from the cast of Legally Blonde The Musical, The Ten Tenors, Rachael Beck, John Waters and Troy Cassar-Daley, with more all-star performers to be announced.

The Salvation Army OASIS Youth Support Network is once again the Woolworths Carols in the Domain official charity. OASIS will receive all funds from the sale of official candle bags at the event.

Woolworths Carols in the Domain is proudly presented by Airwick and will be staged at The Domain, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.

6:00pm – Monday, December 24 on ABC1

In the Christmas musical tradition long established by the Kings College Choir of Cambridge, join one of Australia’s finest cathedral choirs and celebrate Christmas in friendly and magnificent family style.

From Adelaide and its very fine St Peter’s Cathedral and choir, tune into ABC1 and recall a little popular carolling and uplifting choral music.

Popular and lustily sung carols like Away in a Manger, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and O Come All Ye Faithful are lavishly covered by your ABC. You might even like to sing along as you toast a very special season…

6:00am – Sunday, December 23 on ABC2

ABC4Kids is the channel to watch this Christmas as preschoolers will enjoy a special holiday-themed line up of their favourite programs from Sunday, December 23.

The Play School Concert: Big Ted Prince of Bears (Sunday, December 23 at 9.30am) kicks off the Christmas period and is followed by the Giggle and Hoot Christmas Special (Sunday, December 23 at 10.15am) where preschoolers will enjoy watching Jimmy and Hoot getting ready two days out from Christmas.

The Gruffalo (Sunday, December 23 at 5.30pm) and The Gruffalo’s Child (Monday, December 24 at 5.30pm) return to ABC4Kids as well as The Octonauts Christmas Special (Monday, December 24 at 10am).

Additional Christmas-themed programs which preschoolers will love include Yo Gabba Gabba!, Mister Maker, Mike the Knight, Bananas in Pyjamas, Octonauts, Peppa Pig, Timmy Time, Thomas and Friends, Fireman Sam and much more.

And ABC4Kids also has a special gift for preschoolers – the Australian premiere of Peter Rabbit’s Christmas Special on Monday, December 24 at 3.45pm. Peter, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail have been charming the children of the world for 110 years and star in this new half-hour Christmas Special.

For those families who are out and about on Christmas Day but still need to entertain the kids, key ABC4Kids Christmas-themed programs are available online from the ABC4Kids home page http://www.abc.net.au/abcforkids/video/ and on mobile devices and other ABC online services whenever and wherever you are.

8:30pm – Friday, December 28 on ABC2

Louis Theroux spends a week with 1980s showbiz couple and once the indisputable king and queen of British light entertainment – TV magician, Paul Daniels and wife, Debbie McGee.

Paul Daniels’ Magic Show enjoyed a 14-year run on British television from 1979 to 1993. Its star, Paul Daniels, combined magical expertise with well-timed quips. His assistant (and wife), Debbie McGee, was everything he was not – blonde, attractive and exceedingly glamorous. Together they made a seemingly perfect celebrity couple: in love, in the limelight and in demand.

But now the magic has faded. Paul has packed up his box of tricks and stepped out of the spotlight; and after 14 years in the shadows, it is Debbie’s turn for stardom, on her own terms. Debbie has decided she wants to fulfil her long-cherished ambition of creating her own ballet company, for which she will also be costume designer, dance choreographer, and instructor. Paul’s role is to pay for it!

8:30pm – Tuesday, December 25 on ABC2

Louis spends a strange Christmas with some of the more outrageous stars of his Weird Weekends series in Louis Theroux’s Weird Christmas.

Christian fundamentalist Randy James attempts to get to grips with porno star JJ Michaels’ daily routine. A man who lives in a hole, bearded Mike Oehler, tries to make it big as a folk singer, and Reverend Robert Short sticks to what he does best – contacting aliens and offering his body for them to communicate through…

4:00pm – Monday, December 24 on ABC3

ABC3 has gone Christmas crazy and is screening Christmas-themed episodes of all your favourite shows this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Kicking off Christmas Eve at 4pm is Casper’s Scare School, followed by Rated A For Awesome, Monk, Life With Boys, Dani’s House, Horrible Histories, My Life as A Popat and much more.

PLUS there’s the premiere of My Friend Bernard at 7pm.

Then if you’re up at 6am and waiting for the rest of the fam to wake up, turn on ABC3 for more Christmas-themed shows.

The Christmas Day line-up includes Bernard, Horrible Histories, Robbie The Reindeer: Close Encounters of the Herd Kind, Almost Naked Animals, The Twisted Whiskers Show, Shaun the Sheep, Oggy And The Cockroaches and much, much more!

8:30pm – Sunday, December 16 on ABC2

Ozzy Osbourne’s four-decade track record as a culturally relevant musical artist is unprecedented, but his personal struggles have been shrouded in myth and secrecy. In some ways, Ozzy’s fame has been predicated on his prodigious drug and alcohol intake, his musical accomplishments overshadowed by his ‘Madman’ persona.

God Bless Ozzy Osbourne is the first rock documentary to tell the story of a major icon’s torturous and emotionally fraught journey to sobriety, which Ozzy regards as his greatest accomplishment. Featuring interviews with his brothers and sisters, as well as Jack, Sharon, Aimee and Kelly Osbourne, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne is a film about the intoxicating rush of success and the redemption that comes from pulling away from the very thing that made you successful.

Featuring never-before-seen footage uncovered from the archives and interviews with Sir Paul McCartney, Tommy Lee, Henry Rollins and others, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne is the first documentary to take viewers inside the mind and psyche of a legendary and timeless cultural figure.

10:10pm – Sunday, December 16 on ABC1

Sunday Arts Up Late presents LIFE IN MOVEMENT.

In 2007 the Sydney Dance Company appointed 29-year-old choreographer Tanja Liedtke as their first new artistic director in 30 years. However before she could take up the position, she was struck and killed by a truck in the middle of the night.

Admired internationally as a dancer and celebrated for her fresh choreographic voice, she was known as a dedicated artist, intelligent, dorky, funny and generous. Eighteen months after her death her collaborators embark on a world tour of her work, and in the process they must deal with their grief and explore the reasons for her death.

Interspersed with intimate footage of her artistic process and previously unseen interviews, LIFE IN MOVEMENT is a film about moving creatively through life and loss. Filmmakers Bryan Mason and Sophie Hyde give us a powerfully rendered take on art and artists, creativity and our own mortality.