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From Adam Lambert and Queen to Mapp and Lucia: what to watch on New Year's Eve

Who said you couldn't celebrate the start of 2015 from your sofa?

Gerard Gilbert
Wednesday 31 December 2014 12:53 GMT
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The cast of BBC period drama Mapp and Lucia
The cast of BBC period drama Mapp and Lucia (BBC/Nick Briggs)

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Mapp and Lucia, 9pm, BBC1

In the final visit to EF Benson’s interwar world of social one-upmanship - as channelled by Steve Pemberton – Lucia (Anna Chancellor) begins a series of musical evenings, although Mapp (Miranda Richardson) begins to notice the odd moan from the locals. Could they be tiring of her ways?

New Year’s Eve Fireworks, 11.55pm, BBC1

Take a few moments to feel smug that you’re not squeezed on to the Thames Embankment wondering how you’re ever going to get home.

Queen + Adam Lambert Rock Big Ben Live, 11.15pm & 12.10am, BBC1

Joined again by the runner-up in the 2009 American Idol series, the surviving Queen members play the classics.

Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This, 10pm, ITV

Another chance to catch David Threlfall as the fez-topped comedy genius in Simon Nye’s biodrama, concentrating on Tommy Cooper’s triangular love life – shared between wife “Dove” (Amanda Redman) and devoted personal assistant Mary Kay (Helen McCrory). And if you find the drama flagging, there are always the jokes, such as “I backed a horse at 20 to one. It came in at half past four.”

Jools Annual Hootenanny, 11.20pm, BBC2

The line-up this year features British singer-songwriters Ed Sheeran (left), Paolo Nutini, Ellie Goulding, Paloma Faith and Joss Stone, while America is represented by Ronnie Spector and Boz Scaggs.

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