What to watch tonight: TV choices, 17 December

Fresh Meat co-star Greg McHugh joins Jack Whitehall for the Bad Education Christmas special

Gerard Gilbert
Tuesday 17 December 2013 12:53 GMT
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Jack Whitehall (centre) in the Bad Education Christmas Special
Jack Whitehall (centre) in the Bad Education Christmas Special (BBC)

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Bad Education Christmas Special

BBC 3, 10pm, 12.30 & 3.30am

Some of those involved in Jack Whitehall’s sitcom have been so much better in other comedies. Still, Bad Education is very popular with its BBC3 audience and ABC are even re-making it for America, so what do I know? The Christmas special has its moments – many supplied by Whitehall’s Fresh Meat co-star Greg McHugh as a violent Glaswegian tramp – as the Hertfordshire secondary school puts on a Christmas show, a mash-up of RoboCop and The Nutcracker.

The Call Centre Christmas

BBC3, 9pm & 1am

Shy, retiring CEO of Swansea’s third-biggest call centre, Nev Wilshire (aka “the real-life David Brent”), returns for a one-off seasonal special. And given how pumped-up he is first thing on a Monday morning, this almost doesn’t bear thinking about – Wilshire puts together an office choir.

Last Tango In Halifax

BBC1, 9pm

Enter Gemma Jones into Sally Wainwright’s already meatily cast drama. Jones plays Celia’s sister, introduced to Alan (Derek Jacobi) by a reluctant Celia.

Pilgrimage With Simon Reeve

BBC2, 9pm

Reeve concludes his series walking up the Via Dolorosa – the route on which Jesus carried his cross – in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Heston’s Great British Food

Channel 4, 9pm

Roasts gets the Blumenthal treatment. A chicken is dressed as a medieval knight riding a pig into battle, and a joint is made up of different cuts, all treated differently and stuck together with meat glue. Was he never told not to play with his food?

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