Christmas 2021 on Absolute Radio
All you need to know about our Christmas and New Year specials
Welcome to Christmas 2021 on Absolute Radio. Once again, the team has been working away in recent weeks and months to create some very special programmes that we’re sure you’ll enjoy over the festive period with some mulled wine and a mince pie.
As well as highlighting the top-notch yuletide content we have planned for Christmas, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank YOU, our beloved Absolute Radio listeners, for tuning in over the past year. We truly wouldn’t be here without you.
We wish all of you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
We also know that Christmas is not always a great time for everyone – especially in light of the pandemic - so remember that if you’re struggling there are places to get help right here.
CHRISTMAS DAY 1PM - 4PM
CHRISTMAS THROUGH THE DECADES:
We’ve got the perfect soundtrack for all the family this Christmas Day – there’s songs for granny, your parents and even the kids.
Dan Noble plays the biggest Christmas songs and festive No.1s from the last 60 years while you eat your turkey and trimmings as we go Through The Decades at Christmas.
CHRISTMAS NIGHT – 4PM - 10PM
INDIE DISCO & CLASSIC ROCK PARTY:
Christmas night might be different – but it’s still Saturday and so we’re going to be serving up special editions of the Indie Disco and Classic Rock Party.
Andy Bush will try and sober up to do a 3 hour show which will be the perfect way to get rid of the post-dinner slump. Then it gets louder from 7 when Sophie K plays the world’s biggest guitar anthems on the Classic Rock Party.
BOXING DAY – 8AM - 11AM
THE BEST OF THE JASON MANFORD SHOW:
Boxing Day falls on a Sunday and so that means you’ll wake up with The Jason Manford Show. He’ll be joined by Steve Edge in his shed to look back on the year. They’ll chat with Sarah Millican and also re-live some of the best facts they’ve heard in Hit Me With Your Best Fact.
BOXING DAY – 6PM - 10PM
THE ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL 2021:
One of the best things about this year was the return of live music and Absolute Radio was there in the front row of the Isle of Wight Festival. On Boxing Day night, we’re going to package up the weekend into one four-hour marathon. Sarah Champion and Ben Burrell are reunited to bring you Liam Gallagher, Duran Duran, Snow Patrol, Sam Fender and loads more…
BOXING DAY 10PM - 12AM
THE BEST OF THE SKIN SHOW:
The Skin Show sees Skunk Anansie legend Skin chat with some of her favourite musicians and plays the songs which mean the most to her. You can end Boxing Day with Skin delving into her record collection and chatting with Joan Armatrading, Rag'n'Bone Man, Annie Lennox and many more…
MONDAY 27TH DECEMBER 9PM
NEVERMIND AT 30:
There are some albums which deliver an immediate response from music fans and Nirvana’s 'Nevermind' is one of them. In a special programme, Claire Sturgess looks at the lasting legacy of an album which changed the music industry 30 years ago. With contributions from Dave Grohl and those close to the band, we pay tribute to this seminal grunge album.
TUESDAY 28TH DECEMBER 9PM
LED ZEPPELIN IV AT 50:
There’s been some incredible anniversaries in music this year and none bigger than half a century of Led Zeppelin IV. In a special programme, Sophie K presents a tribute to Led Zeppelin’s untitled album. Jimmy Page & Robert Plant also feature in this look at Led Zeppelin’s huge selling hard rock masterpiece, their mystical fourth album.
WEDNESDAY 29TH DECEMBER 9PM
THE SAINTS ARE COMING WITH JAY LAWRENCE:
One of the programmes we’re looking forward to most over Christmas is The Saints are coming. Jay Lawrence tells the story of how a punk song written by a 15-year-old in a Scottish library in the late 1970s came to signify the rebirth of a New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction. Find out how Green Day and U2 partnered to create something very special and create a social movement.
FRIDAY 31ST DECEMBER – 4PM
New Year’s Eve on Absolute Radio:
New Year’s Eve is starting even earlier than normal on Absolute Radio. Andy Bush is kicking things off from 4pm with an extended Indie Disco for 3 hours to get the party started before we hop back to the 80s at 7pm with Sarah Champion. Then we soundtrack the start of 2022 with the Absolute Radio mixtape where we play you the biggest party songs non-stop with no presenter and no adverts.