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Chris kicks off that Friday feeling with a tremendous trio of film stars: Harry Hill, James Nesbitt and Ben Stiller, plus there is live music from Wet Wet Wet!

Chris kicks off that Friday feeling with a tremendous trio of film stars: Harry Hill, James Nesbitt and Ben Stiller, plus there's live music from Wet Wet Wet!

Harry Hill chats about life after the multi-award-winning TV Burp and making the move to the silver screen. James Nesbitt "dwarves" the competition, as the second instalment of Peter Jackson's blockbuster, The Hobbit, hits the cinemas. And Ben Stiller lifts the lid on the secret life of Walter Mitty!

Plus the Glaswegian band Wet Wet Wet, soundtrack the show with some of their greatest hits.

2 hours, 59 minutes

Music Played

  • James Blunt

    1973

    • (CD Single).
    • Atlantic.
  • Nell Bryden

    All You Had

    • (CD Single).
    • 157 Records.
    • 1.
  • Michael Bublé

    You Make Me Feel So Young

    • (CD Single).
    • Warner Bros.
    • 001.
  • Kelly Clarkson

    Underneath The Tree

  • Coldplay

    Christmas Lights

    • (CD Single).
    • Parlophone.
    • 1.
  • Nat King Cole

    The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot

    • That's Christmas (Various Artists).
    • EMI.
  • The Communards

    You Are My World '87 (Remix)

    • Heartbeats (Various Artists).
    • Solitaire Collection.
    • 6.
  • Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters

    Mele Kalikimaka

    • Christmas Memories (Various Artists).
    • Emporio.
    • 1.
  • Sammy Davis Jr.

    The Candy Man

    • Hits Of 1971 & 1972 (Various Artists).
    • Polydor.
  • Bob Dylan

    Here Comes Santa Claus

    • Christmas In The Heart.
    • Columbia.
    • 1.
  • Dave Edmunds

    I Hear you Knocking

    • The Greatest Hits Of 1970 (Various).
    • Premier.
    • 4.
  • Gnarls Barkley

    Crazy

    • (CD Single).
    • Warner Bros.
  • Haircut One Hundred

    Love Plus One

    • Pelican West - Deluxe Edition.
    • Cherry Pop.
    • 002.
  • Bobby Helms

    Jingle Bell Rock

  • The Human League

    Don't You Want Me

    • Dare!.
    • Virgin.
  • The Jacksons

    ABC

    • The Best Michael Jackson & Jackson Fi.
    • Polygram Tv.
    • 1.
  • Elton John

    Step Into Christmas

    • Caribou.
    • Mercury.
  • Jona Lewie

    Stop The Cavalry

    • The Ivor Novello Winners.
    • EMI.
  • Maroon 5

    One More Night

    • (CD Single).
    • A&M.
    • 1.
  • Cliff Richard

    Wired For Sound

    • Cliff Richard - Private Collection.
    • EMI.
  • U2

    Christmas (Baby Please Come 91Èȱ¬)

    • A Very Special Christmas (Various).
    • A&M.
  • Robbie Williams

    Dream A Little Dream Of Me (feat. Lily Allen)

    • Swings Both Ways.
    • Island.
    • 006.

Pause For Thought: Richard Coles

Pause For Thought: Richard Coles

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

Ìý

Advent has finally arrived, and with it the church begins to catch up with the High Street, where it’s been Christmas since Wimbledon. On Sunday, in the country church where I’m parish priest, we had our first candlelit service of the season, but the wattage was tiny compared with the great blaze of lights in a former parish, where on the meanest street on the roughest estate a display of Christmas lights was put on so bright it rivalled the Great Wall of China as the only man-made thing visible from space.

Ìý

Life on that estate could be cheerless and hard so it was heartwarming to find people putting on such a show in spite of everything (even if I did seem to be powered by a makeshift cable coming out of a junction box).

Ìý

But the most memorable display was not on that estate, nor in the parish church. It wasn’t the biggest, nor the brightest, but it did show Santa, waving electronically from his sleigh, pulled by reindeers with glowing red noses… over the gateway to the town’s crematorium. I often wondered, sitting in the hearse accompanying the coffin, what the mourners made of the Yo Ho Ho overhead on their way to the funeral.

Ìý

If that strikes you as inappropriate, or incongruous, it shouldn’t. Because Advent is all about looking from the deepest darkness towards the light. Ìý

Ìý

When I was a boy, impatient for Christmas, I used to try to sneak a preview at the last square on my Advent Calendar by holding it up to my bedside light, which shone through he unopened windows to reveal Mary and Joseph in a dark stable looking into a manger full of miraculous light. That’s more than a twinkle and a jingle and a yo ho ho: it is unimaginable joy, that banishes all darkness, and warms the iciest heart. May it come to you.

Ìý

The Revd Richard Coles

Broadcast

  • Fri 13 Dec 2013 06:30

Farewell Chris Evans: The best bits from his last shows at Radio 2

After eight years of hosting the Breakfast Show, Chris Evans leaves Radio 2.

500 Words

91Èȱ¬ Radio 2's story-writing competition for kids.