ITV

Top TV Picks: 19th December

Christmas City 

BBC One, 9.15am (continues throughout the week)

Christmas City is a five-part series presented by Rav Wilding and Hayley Hassall that looks at what it takes to deliver a special Christmas.

They go behind the scenes to show all the organisation that goes into making sure everyone coming into Manchester has a safe and memorable Christmas, such as how the market stall holders keep up with festivities.

ITV to show Chris Eubank Jnr World Title fight

Chris Eubank’s fights captivated audiences on ITV more than 20 years ago, and now his son is following in his footsteps.

The IBO World Super Middleweight Title fight between Chris Eubank Jnr, Britain’s number one middleweight, and Quinlan, holder of the IBO World Super Middleweight Title, will be shown on ITV Box Office, ITV’s new pay-per-view channel, early in 2017. This will be the first time ITV will show a pay-per-view event.

BBC Worldwide & ITV join forces to launch US subscription service

The service, named BritBox, will bring a huge catalogue of British content to the United States in one ad-free subscription service.

The platform, which is set to rival providers like Netflix and Amazon in carrying British content across the Atlantic, will premiere shows including Anthony Horowitz-created BBC drama New Blood, and ITV’s historical epic Tutankhamun.

An RTS Futures Careers Fair success story

Rhys Cartwright

I found out about the RTS Futures Career's Fair on Twitter, and thought that even though travelling from Manchester to London for it specifically might be extreme, you never know who you'll meet at these events. I found everyone at the fair to be very friendly, and had no issues striking up conversations with other visitors; after all, we were all in the same boat.

This week's top TV: 12 - 18 December

Ian McKellen Vicious ITV

Monday: David Blaine: Beyond Magic

Channel 4, 9pm

Following his critically acclaimed ratings for David Blaine: Real or Magic, Blaine returns with his most revealing performance yet. 

Magic meets documentary in the one-hour special, which has been two years in the making, as Blaine blows the minds of David Beckham, Johnny Depp and Patrick Stewart, along with others.

Event Report: Women in Comedy

Stage Award winner in the 2016 Funny Women Awards, Harriet Braine, performs her comedy song 'Pablo Picasso' at the event

Lynne Parker was that panellist, and the attitude represented in that quote was one of the things that inspired her to found the Funny Women Awards in 2003. Seventy women entered in the first year; this year there were more than 500 entries.

Musical comedian Harriet Braine won the 2016 Funny Women Stage Award and she entertained the RTS audience with songs about Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

ITV announces plans to launch The Nightly Show

David Walliams, Lip Sync Battle, UK, Mel B, Professor Green

The 30-minute weeknight entertainment show will air at 10pm for five nights of the week, shifting ITV News at Ten to the later slot of 10.30pm in a move to draw a late night audience. 

The Nightly Show will incorporate aspects of the popular American talk show format mixed with British comedy panel shows and include a topical monologue, celebrity guests and studio games.

The show will have a variety of celebrity hosts for each week, with comedian and presenter David Walliams confirmed as the guest host for the first week of the series.