(Image) Top: L-R: Nurse Barbara Gilbert (Charlotte Ritchie), Nurse Trixie Franklin (Helen George) and Nurse Patsy Mount (Emerald Fennell) celebrate the holidays. CREDIT: Courtesy of Neal Street Productions 2015/Nicky Johnson. Bottom: Guests gather with Host Lidia Bastianich for Lidia Celebrates America - Home for the Holidays. (CREDIT: MEREDITH NIERMAN)- Highlighting the Schedule, Midwives and Nuns of Nonnatus Prepare for Their Close-up in a CALL THE MIDWIFE HOLIDAY SPECIAL; New Sherlock Special from MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! Premieres on New Year's Day; A Concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Special Guests; Christopher Walken and Rita Moreno Join Lidia Bastianich in Home for the Holidays -
Lincoln Center and New York Philharmonic Celebrate Frank Sinatra with a Star-Studded Concert Event
ARLINGTON, VA; NOVEMBER 23, 2015 - The holiday season on PBS dazzles this year with programs and specials that will delight the entire family, featuring inspirational music, savory cuisine and beloved characters from across the pond. PBS returns to London's Poplar neighborhood in time for Christmas 1960 in the CALL THE MIDWIFE HOLIDAY SPECIAL. Joyous spirits are in plentiful supply as the community pulls together to prepare for a carol concert - to be televised by the BBC. In addition, a trip to view the Regent Street lights and a full-scale manhunt for a missing Nonnatus nun make this a Christmas to remember. The special airs on Christmas day, Friday, December 25, 2015, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET (check local listings). And, as recently announced, the highly anticipated Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, a 90-minute special premiering at 9:00 p.m. ET on Friday, January 1, 2016 on MASTERPIECE MYSTERY! (see a clip here), bookends PBS' holiday programming schedule.
Kicking off in December and culminating with the Sherlock special from MASTERPIECE Mystery! on New Year's Day, our holiday schedule this year features programs we know our viewers and their families will enjoy, said Beth Hoppe, Chief Programming Executive and General Manager, General AudienceProgramming, PBS. From festive holiday music, to performances with beautiful winter backdrops, to colorful food and crafts, to the exploration of special time-honored traditions, there is something for everyone this holiday season.
Earlier in December, kicking off PBS' holiday schedule and in preparation for all of the seasonal festivities, PBS presents a celebratory evening focused on food (of course!) and crafts. At the center of LIDIA CELEBRATES AMERICA Home for the Holidays, airing Friday, December 11, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings), is chef, author and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich. Hosting six celebrity guests - Christopher Walken, Rita Moreno, Carlo Ponti, Jr., Ann Curry, Marcus Samuelsson and Padma Lakshmi - the team together prepares a deliciously diverse dinner (see a clip here). Then, from 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings), CRAFT IN AMERICA Celebration explores some time-honored traditions, including Chinese New Year Parade lion dancers and float builders in San Francisco, ceramicists in Michigan at Pewabic (Detroit) and Motawi Tileworks (Ann Arbor), Kwanzaa artists in Chicago and Oakland, and woodblock print artist Yoshiko Yamamoto, who creates Christmas cards in Tacoma, Washington.
Also this season, viewers will enjoy enchanting sounds from the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Star of stage and song Santino Fontana joins this magical extravaganza with an appearance by some special friends in one of three concerts featured on PBS this holiday season. CHRISTMAS WITH THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR FEATURING SANTINO FONTANA AND THE SESAME STREET MUPPETS airs on PBS Monday, December 21, 2015, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings). PBS then heads to Nashville, where Grammy Award-winning country recording artist Kathy Mattea hosts CHRISTMAS AT BELMONT. In a glorious presentation of traditional carols, classical masterworks, world music and light-hearted seasonal favorites, nearly 700 student musicians perform with the Belmont School of Music faculty. The program, airing Monday, December 21, 2015, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings), features the University Symphony Orchestra, Belmont Chorale, Percussion Ensemble, Musical Theatre, Jazz Ensemble, Bluegrass Ensemble and a mass choir.
In a special star-studded concert event presented by LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER, artists including Christina Aguilera, Chris Botti, Fantasia, Sutton Foster, Bernadette Peters and Sting join host Seth MacFarlane and the New York Philharmonic to celebrate the 100th birthday of Frank Sinatra. Sinatra: Voice for a Century airs December 18 from 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET. As the year comes to a close, PBS bids adieu to 2015 with joie de vivre. Continuing an annual tradition - and broadcasting highlight - LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER also presents the New York Philharmonic's New Year's Eve celebration concert, this year ringing in 2016 with a Parisian theme. Accompanying the Philharmonic, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert, are mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and pianists Inon Barnatan and Makoto Ozone in music by Ravel, Offenbach and more, as well as Saint-Sa ns's playful Carnival of the Animals. LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER New York Philharmonic New Year's Eve: La Vie Parisienne airs December 31, 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings).
The full holiday programming schedule follows below in airdate order. Please check local listings for all programs:
New Programs
LIDIA CELEBRATES AMERICA Home for the Holidays
Friday, December 11, 2015, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET
Join chef, author and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich to celebrate the holiday traditions of her native Italy and those of six guests: Christopher Walken, Rita Moreno, Carlo Ponti, Jr., Ann Curry, Marcus Samu
