BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle is the home for Christmas music, chat and cheer this year.

The big seasonal switch on for BBC Radio Ulster/ Foyle is on Friday 8 December with the station launching a jam-packed, selection box of treats including Christmas specials and music to get listeners feeling festive. And there will be plenty of goodies on BBC Sounds for listeners to unwrap over the winter weeks.

Christmas officially starts with Connor Phillips, Hugo Duncan and Kathy Clugston on Friday. They will be rocking around the Christmas tree at the Island Arts Centre in Lisburn, bringing audiences festive fun live throughout the day with the best Christmas carols, celebrations and craic. Packed full of guests and surprises with Connor Phillips from 10.30am, with Hugo Duncan from 1.30pm and The Ticket with Kathy Clugston from 3pm.

Home For Christmas

In the run up to Christmas Day, many BBC Radio Ulster presenters will be broadcasting from their homes and keeping listeners company over the festive season with great music, guests and chat.

On Friday 22 December Connor Phillips will broadcast from his living room with celebrity guests, live music, mince pies and mulled wine from 10.30am. On Saturday 23 December at 11am John Toal will be joined by Paula McIntyre in his home to cook up a festive storm in the kitchen.

And on Christmas Eve, Ralph and Kerry McLean will count down to the big day from 8pm with Christmas With The McLeans featuring music and craic from their home on the north pole …Sorry! North coast! The programme features Ricky’s Rockin Christmas as Ricky Warwick turns up the volume with tracks from AC/DC, Lemmy and more.

One of BBC Radio Ulster’s annual highlights and a listener favourite Calling Home With John Bennett, 8am on Christmas morning, will see John hop aboard his virtual sleigh to drop in on people from Northern Ireland who will be spending Christmas overseas. He’ll hear how they will be celebrating and play their requests for family and friends back home.

The station will also celebrate John’s career in the year in which he was awarded an MBE and inducted into the IMRO Irish Radio Awards Hall of Fame. This Is Your Life – John Bennett on Boxing Day reflects on his illustrious career and the many stars he has interviewed over the years.

Out And About At Christmas

Barra Best and Lynette Fay pull on their walking boots (and Santa hats!) for The Big Christmas Walk
BBC Radio Ulster/ Foyle will also be encouraging listeners to get out and about at Christmas with crisp winter walks and enjoy the best of the great outdoors in December.

Your Place And Mine Christmas Special on Saturday 23 December at 8am will feature festive music, stories and chat from across Northern Ireland.

Join David Maxwell and the gardening gang on Saturday 23 December at 9am for the Gardeners’ Corner Christmas Special. David and guests will engage in fireside chat at Kilcoan Gardens in Islandmagee.

Nicola Weir will be nibbling her way around Northern Ireland in the Countryside Christmas Special at 2pm on Christmas Eve when she will be sampling puddings in Armoy, chocolate in Kilkeel, Ulster Fry in Newtownards and cheese in the Belfast Hills.

On The Big Christmas Walk BBC Radio Ulster presenters Barra Best and Lynette Fay pull on their walking boots (and Santa hats!) for a Christmas walk along the Community Greenways in east Belfast on Christmas Day at 3pm.

Music & Merriment

Good Morning Ulster and BBC Newsline’s annual week of Christmas Carols will return for 2023, from Monday 18 December. This year’s choirs are Moira Primary School, St Mary’s Primary School in Newcastle, Enniskillen Integrated Primary School, Sandelford School in Coleraine and Scoil an Droichid in Belfast.

Mark Patterson kicks off the Christmas weekend on Friday 22 December on BBC Radio Foyle at midday with the The Radio Foyle Christmas House Party! There will be choirs and craic, but will Mark dish out the turkey sandwiches? Join Mark and the team with memories of Christmases past, and hopes for 2024.

Phil Taggart will keep the momentum going in Phil Taggart’s Christmas House Party on Saturday 23 December at 6pm. From Soul to House, Funk to Techno, he will have it covered. Listeners can get in touch with their Christmas party requests.

Vinny Hurrell and Cate Conway will get heads scratching as they host the Annual BIG Radio Ulster Christmas Quiz at 3pm on Christmas Eve. And throughout the week Donna Legge and Rigsy get festive on The Christmas Social.

Other unmissable moments include Boxing Day concerts, beginning at 8pm with Snow Patrol, recorded in the Limelight Belfast, followed by legendary crooner Tony Bennett in concert from the Ulster Hall, recorded in 1996. Introduced by John Bennett, the concert will include standards from the Great American Songbook.

Neil Hannon will bring the year to a ‘divine’ and eclectic end with a special New Year’s Eve party edition of Neil Hannon’s Europop from 4pm.

Celebrations on the station will culminate in the New Year’s Eve live broadcast from Sandino’s Bar, Londonderry as Inna Rhythm with Kwame Daniels goes back-to-back with special guests, taking revellers on a dance floor journey, spinning Disco to Boogie, Electronica to Afro Beat, Jazz to Funk live from 9pm.

And there will be another chance to hear the ground breaking ska and reggae band The Wailers at Stendhal on New Year’s Day from 7.30pm.

Reflect & Rejoice

The Bandstand Christmas Special at 6.30pm on Sunday 17 December will feature a mix of secular and traditional carols. Then, on Christmas Eve, Audrey Carville and guests will gather for a seasonal Sunday Sequence to reflect on the meaning, spirit and significance of Christmas. Later the same morning, Sunday With Brian D’Arcy will feature music and thoughts that will resonate at this time of year.

That evening, Richard Yarr celebrates classic and contemporary favourites on Sounds Sacred at 5pm, followed by a special Classical Connections with John Toal which will include live recordings from the ‘Magic of Christmas’ concert with the Ulster Orchestra.

On Christmas Day, Morning Service at 9am reflects and gives thanks for Christmas with carols and hymns from the Chapel Choir of Methody College, Belfast.

On New Year’s Eve, Thought For The Year, will bring together some of the most appropriate contributions for the season from Thought For The Week.

Christmas Magic

For those who still believe in the magic of Christmas – BBC Radio Foyle’s The Santa Phone in Special with Mark Patterson, on Friday 22 December at midday, will feature the ‘one and only’ Santa Claus for a live phone in.

On Christmas Day at noon, Lynette Fay will host the finale of Two Minute Tales, BBC Northern Ireland’s creative writing competition for 5 – 16 year olds. This year’s theme is “What happened this winter…”. There will be festive music, fantastic stories and maybe a little bit of magic.

Also from 27-29 December 2023, William Crawley will have in-depth conversations with special guests as part of BBC Talkback’s annual Christmas specials. These include broadcaster Pamela Ballantine and education expert Tony Gallagher.

Festive Sport

BBC Sport NI will keep sports fans across the latest scores and news from all the action during the festive period.

There will be live commentary from the Northern Ireland Football League fixtures across the festive period, alongside Ulster Rugby’s Champions Cup games on December 9 and 16 and their United Rugby Championship derby away to Leinster on New Year’s Day.”

BBC Sounds

BBC Radio Ulster/ Foyle is releasing two special collections of festive highlights both on Friday 8 December and Boxing Day for listeners to enjoy whenever they want over the coming weeks.

Available from Friday 8 December on BBC Sounds

• Ricky’s Rockin Christmas – Ricky Warwick turns up the volume with festive tracks from AC/DC, Lemmy and more.

• Bandstand Christmas Special – Have yourself a brassy little Christmas.

• ATL Carol Service Classics – Gemma counts down some of the highlights of twenty years of Irish acts covering their festive faves.

• Scott’s Jazzy Little Christmas – Scott Flanigan and friends make your yuletide smooth, recorded live last year in Scott’s Jazz Club, Belfast.

• Tony Bennett live in Concert – The late, great crooner recorded at the Ulster Hall Belfast performing standards from the Great American Songbook.

• Snow Patrol live in Concert – the world-renowned indie rockers perform an exclusive and intimate set in the Limelight Belfast.

• The Wailers live at Stendhal – Some of reggae’s greatest hits live performed at Ballymully Cottage Farm last summer.

• Siobhan Brown Christmas Special – A soulful seasonal soundtrack from our resident diva.

• Vinny and Cate’s Christmas Hamper – Daniel O’Donnell joins the duo for a countdown of listeners’ favourite Christmas songs while school children bring the magic of the season to life, reading Christmas Stories including T’was the Night Before Christmas.

• Vinny and Cate’s BIG Christmas Quiz – the Christmas spirit turns competitive when our presenters are pitted against one another.

• The Christmas Hymnal with Donna and Rigsy – A quiet and reflective playlist from the presenting pair with some hushed, alternative Christmas anthems.

Available from Boxing Day on BBC Sounds

• Neil Hannon’s NY Europop – The Divine Comedy frontman gets the new year’s party started in his own inimitable Europhile style.

• Irish Music Icons – The greatest local musical talent in conversation. Featuring a new interview with Moya Brennan and chats with Gary Lightbody, Paul Brady and more.

• Criminal Records – Tim McGarry and friends on the worst records that they love and the best records they hate.

• New Year with Nigel – Paddy Raff’s alter-ego celebrates the turning of the year BT9 style.
Steven Rainey’s Christmas Takeaway – Steven goes off the beaten track to present a selection of songs you won’t hear on a supermarket playlist.

• Steven Rainey’s New Year’s Eve Takeaway – Steven looks back (and forward) for this New Year musical celebration, capturing highlights from 2023, and predicting what we might be listening to in 2024.