Mrs Brown’s Boys returns for another Christmas special as BBC reveals bumper line-up-Cydney Yeates-Entertainment – Metro

Good news for Mrs Brown’s Boys fans (Picture: BBC)

Mrs Brown’s Boys has landed yet another Christmas special on the BBC as the network confirms its bumper programming for this year’s festive season.

The broadcaster has announced a plethora of yuletide extras will keep audiences entertained throughout the holiday, including Strictly Come Dancing, Call The Midwife, EastEnders, Bad Education, Ghosts, Malory Towers, Motherland, The Cleaner, Inside No 9, and Detectorists.

Brendan O’Carroll’s comedy Mrs Brown’s Boys will be back on screens once again, despite being heavily slammed by armchair critics year after year.

The sketch show, starring O’Carroll as matriarch Agnes Brown, was first broadcast on BBC One in 2011 and has since become one of the biggest comedies on TV.

The corporation has also confirmed a Strictly Come Dancing special after last year’s spin-off proved a ratings hit and claimed the most viewers outside of the Queen’s Christmas message.

The comedy show will be back on television screens this Christmas and New Year (Picture: BBC)

The celebrity dancing show saw pop star Anne-Marie and her professional dance partner Graziano Di Prima win, with an average of 5.8 million viewers tuning in.

It was recently revealed that Coronation Street’s Les Dennis and Derry Girls actress Siobhan McSweeney will serve as guest stars in the second festive special of Caribbean crime drama Death In Paradise.

The final chapter of the adaption of Philip Pullman’s novel trilogy His Dark Materials will also be broadcast over the Christmas period along with another adaption of JK Rowling’s Cormoran Strike crime fiction series, which she penned under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Strictly Come Dancing will also have another Christmas special (Picture: BBC)

Happy Valley also returns to the BBC for its third and final series, starring Sarah Lancashire as Sergeant Catherine Cawood.

A cheeky teaser ahead of the drama’s return has revealed Sgt Cawood will discover remains of a gangland murder victim in a drained reservoir, which leads her to Tommy Lee Royce, played by James Norton.

In music, Top Of The Pops will be back on television screens for a Christmas special hosted by Radio 1’s Clara Amfo and Jack Saunders.

Meanwhile, Sir Cliff Richard will chat to Sara Cox about his 64-year career and also performs some of his Christmas classics, new songs and best-loved hits in Cliff At Christmas.

On New Year’s Eve, Jools Holland will host his annual Hootenanny while Eurovision runner-up Sam Ryder will be joined by some of music’s biggest stars to put on a spectacular New Year’s Eve party.

The Graham Norton Show will come back for its regular New Year’s Eve edition which this year will see Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman and Top Boy’s Michael Ward, who co-star in Sam Mendes’ romantic drama Empire of Light, House actor Hugh Laurie, comedian Romesh Ranganathan and Lioness Leah Williamson.

It’s A Sin’s Callum Scott-Howells and The Handmaid’s Tale’s Madeline Brewer will also perform songs from a West End revival of Cabaret on the celebrity interview show.

Happy Valley’s third and final series will air during the festive season (Picture: BBC)

An animated film based on Charlie Mackesy’s best-selling book, The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse will also be released while Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s intergalactic adaptation, The Smeds And The Smoos, will be made into a half-hour special.

Mayflies, starring Line Of Duty’s Martin Compston, Outlaw King actor Tony Curran and Ugly Betty’s Ashley Jensen, will also be released. It is about the summer of 1986 where two friends go from a Scottish town to a magical weekend in Manchester.

That’s not all though, as there will also be specials of popular quiz shows including Blankety Blank, Romesh Ranganathan’s The Weakest Link, The Hit List, Question Of Sport, Pointless, University Challenge, Would I Lie To You and QI.

Plus Richard Osman will open the doors to brand new episodes of his Festive House Of Games.

On top of that, comedian Mo Gilligan will debut his music game show That’s My Jam and comedian Michael McIntyre will be joined by Gino D’Acampo, Alesha Dixon and Bear Grylls where they will ‘spin the wheel’ to win money for charity.

The Great British Sewing Bee also returns with Strictly’s Johannes Radebe, EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy, podcaster Rosie Ramsey and TV personality Penny Lancaster.

Live At The Apollo and Frankie Boyle’s 2022 New World Order will also be broadcast over Christmas.

Elsewhere, Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse will leave Britain behind for the first time in Gone Fishing’s history to visit Norway – ‘the country where cod is God’.

Dame Mary Berry will share her ultimate Christmas feast with chefs Angela Hartnett and Monica Galetti and presenter Rylan Clark as MasterChef judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace are back once again for two specials.

The Repair Shop and Antiques Roadshow will also have special festive episodes.

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Natural history lovers will see Sir David Attenborough’s Dynasties II and Frozen Planet II return for specials and Gordon Buchanan documents huskies in Snow Dogs: Into The Wild.

In My Life At Christmas, actress and comedian Sally Phillips will meet presenter Reverend Richard Coles, author Lemn Sissay and Strictly’s Shirley Ballas to explore how their memories of Christmas reflect career, family, life and faith changes.

There will be special episodes of inspiring hymns in Songs Of Praise as Dancing On Ice judge Oti Mabuse reads the story of the first Christmas from the Gospel according to St Luke in On Christmas Night. The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award also comes live from MediaCity UK in Salford over the festive period.

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