"Creature Comforts"

BBC America Holiday Shows

20,000 Streets Under the Sky – U.S. PREMIERE

This story of unrequited love, set in the grimy streets and bars of 1930s London, captures a moment shared by three twenty-somethings who pour out their stories of passion, ambition, and disappointment. Each part of the trilogy focuses on a different character, Bob the barman (Bryan Dick, Viva Blackpool) who is working on a novel, Jenny the prostitute (Zoe Tapper, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) who is contemplating real love, and barmaid Ella (Sally Hawkins, Tipping the Velvet) who weighs her working-class options. Beautifully shot, this bittersweet trilogy is based on the autobiographical work of novelist and playwright Patrick Hamilton (Hangover Square, Gaslight).

20,000 Streets Under the Sky premieres Tuesday, December 27, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

MR. HARVEY LIGHTS A CANDLE – U.S. PREMIERE

High school teacher Mr. Harvey (Timothy Spall, Shooting the Past, Secrets & Lies) is completely misunderstood — and not just in the classroom. He’s been carrying a secret which has shaped his entire identity, but he is about to shed it. The kids, and his colleagues, think he’s always been an old, humorless, fuddy-duddy. But before the end of a field trip to a 13th century cathedral, they’ll learn about his painful secret. Before the end of the trip the students, staff, and Mr. Harvey himself will experience an epiphany. Also starring Celia Imrie (Wimbledon, Bridget Jones’s Diary), Ben Miles (Coupling, A Thing Called Love), and David Bradley (Viva Blackpool).

Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle premieres Saturday, December 24, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

CREATURE COMFORTS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL — U.S. PREMIERE

This hilarious collection of film shorts from the makers of Wallace & Gromit puts interview responses about the holidays into the mouths of a collection of animal characters. This half-hour holiday special is part of BBC AMERICA’s season of Creature Comforts (see page three).

The Creature Comforts Christmas special premieres Friday, December 23, 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS — U.S. PREMIERE

Robson Green (Wire in the Blood) stars in this heartwarming story of love and friendship, centered on two lifelong friends who take rivalry to extremes and forget what Christmas is really about. Colin (Robson Green) and Howie (Mark Benton, Murphy’s Law) are in their thirties, happily married, and living on the same street. But despite their grown-up responsibilities, they're still locked in a schoolboy obsession with outdoing each other. Once it was football, girls, and clothes — now they compete over cars, jobs, and Christmas decorations! As they cover their houses with an ever-expanding and expensive array of lights, they seem oblivious to the damage their competition has had on their marriages and their lives. Can anything bring them to their senses?

Christmas Lights premieres Friday, December 23, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

LIVING IN THE MORNING, LAUGHS IN THE AFTERNOON

This holiday season BBC AMERICA is giving the greatest gift of all — daily marathons of viewer favorites for an entire week! Each morning kicks off with marathons of the best lifestyle programs, including Ground Force, Changing Rooms, What Not To Wear, Cash In the Attic, Bargain Hunt, and House Invaders. Each afternoon features the best in British comedy with marathons of The Kumars at No. 42, Blackadder, My Family, Father Ted, The Office, Coupling, The Alan Partridge Experience, and Absolutely Fabulous. And don’t miss holiday episodes of Ground Force, Changing Rooms. The Kumars at No. 42, Blackadder, My Family, Father Ted, The Office, and The Alan Partridge Experience.

The BBC AMERICA holiday marathon runs Saturday, December 24 through Saturday, December 31.

MONTY PYTHON NEW YEAR’S BINGE

Fall off the comedy wagon this New Year’s Eve with BBC AMERICA when we bring you a full day of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. We’re serving up round after round of the best in absurd sketch comedy. Last call isn’t until well after the New Year, so belly up to your set and get ready to overindulge.

The Monty Python New Year’s Binge begins Saturday, December 31, 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT.

DECEMBER PREMIERES AND MARATHONS

CREATURE COMFORTS — U.S. PREMIERE

This hilarious collection of film shorts from the makers of Wallace & Gromit puts interview responses from the British public into the mouths of over one hundred animal characters. In the series, a shar-pei will do his best impression of Naomi Campbell, hens will explain how feng shui should be incorporated at the work place, and sea lions will speak out against liposuction. BBC AMERICA will roll out nine, thirty-minute episodes, most of which have never been seen in the U.S. These episodes also include a Christmas special and an Oscar-winning short.

Creature Comforts premieres Friday, December 2, 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT.

WAKING THE DEAD (SEASON FIVE) – U.S. PREMIERE

Waking the Dead follows the crack team from the Cold Case unit, led by Chief Inspector Boyd (Trevor Eve, Heat of the Sun, The Politician’s Wife) as they reopen files on old crimes, applying cutting-edge techniques. The team always seems to unearth chilling new dangers, probably because they are the only ones who can bring a murderer to justice several years after a crime. As the fifth season begins, the team is still rattled over the death of a colleague, and they’re wondering if their new recruit is a mole.

Waking the Dead premieres Monday, December 5, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

SILENT WITNESS (SEASON EIGHT) — U.S. PREMIERE

Forensic pathologist Sam Ryan (Amanda Burton, The Whistle Blower) believes passionately in her work and will not rest until she has solved the mystery of how and why the person in front of her has died. In the eighth season of this award-winning series Ryan embarks on a journey home to Northern Ireland when her team is called out to investigate the death of two men killed by paramilitaries twenty years ago. As Sam struggles to find reconciliation with her estranged son, the investigation takes a darker turn. She has to face the possibility that her father may have been involved in police corruption and even murder. Season eight introduces Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox, Pride and Prejudice), a driven young apprentice pathologist on the rise.

Silent Witness premieres Thursday, December 1, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

MILE HIGH FREQUENT FLYER CLUB

Fasten your seatbelts, place your seats and tray tables in the upright position, and get ready for takeoff with BBC AMERICA’s hot new primetime soap, Mile High, that follows the lives and loves of six young flight attendants working for the budget airline, Fresh. From sharing a wild house in London, to gallivanting across different countries and time zones, you won't want to miss any leg of this journey.

Tune in to see the first six episodes of Mile High Saturday, December 3, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. This marathon will repeat on Sunday, December 4, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.

SATURDAY NIGHT WITH THE BAD GIRLS

Spend Saturday night locked in with Bad Girls, the new BBC AMERICA drama from the makers of Footballers Wive$. Lesbian love affairs, lecherous officers, bloody cat fights, illicit drug use, and stabbings are all part of everyday life for the bad girls in Larkhall jail. You’ll meet the two Julies, team prostitutes with the motto, “She knobs, I robs”; the maniacal Shell, a character hailed by the U.K. press as “An Alexis Colby for the millennium”; Nikki, the rebel with a crush on the warden; and Crystal, the Bible-thumping thief.

Catch the first five episodes of Bad Girls on Saturday, December 10, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. This marathon will repeat on Sunday, December 11, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.

NIGHT OF VICE

Don’t miss a night of fighting prostitution, pornography, and murder in this marathon of The Vice. Past demons, compromising situations, and dangerous tactics are central themes in this dark series set in the Vice Unit of London’s Metropolitan Police. Starring Ken Stott (Messiah) as Inspector Pat Chappel, who struggles to keep home life separate from the seamy London underground in which he works.

Catch four back-to-back episodes of The Vice on Saturday, December 17, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. This marathon will repeat on Sunday, December 18, 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT.