Joe Dolan: Sweet Little Rock `n' Roller, RTÉ One, 6.30pm
It's five years since the great Joe Dolan passed away on St Stephen's Day, 2007 and in this film, those who knew him best - family members, colleagues and friends alongside key musicians and songwriters recall the life and times of this legendary, much-loved performer. Even now there is still "no show like a Joe show". Joe Dolan was Ireland's Elvis Presley. The only Irish singer to register chart hit's over five successive decades, he evolved from being a rural Rocker in the early sixties to become Ireland's first international pop star.
House Party NYE, Channel 4, 11.50pm
RTÉ One has The Gathering, over on Beeb Two, they're throwing ye olde Scottish Hootenanny, Beeb One has eh, Gabby Logan with some fireworks, and UTV is showing the news but check out the hipsters on Channel 4. House Party is back for a 2012 send off which invites viewers to throw parties with live DJ sets by six top international acts, including Annie Mac, Frankie Knuckles, Norman Jay, Hercules and the Love Affair, Charlie Sloth and Toddla T Sound. The event brings house parties together from around the UK, and, by turning the television or laptop into the ultimate DJ booth, gives everyone the opportunity to celebrate the New Year with their personal line-up of world-class DJs and VJs, who are playing directly to the TV audience, rather than a packed studio. Bleedin' hipsters! What's wrong with Auld Lang Syne and a bottle of year-old cooking sherry? Tsk!
Top Of The Pops New Year's Eve Special, BBC One, 7.00pm
This New Year's Eve sees the return of Top Of The Pops for a special hour-long celebration of all things pop. Hosts Reggie Yates and Fearne Cotton will review the year in pop, taking in 2012's greatest hits and brightest chart stars. The show will feature special performances from some of the year's biggest acts including the final number one of 2012. Now that the charts have become unpredictable again why don't they just bring it back every week?
Jools' Annual Hootenanny 2012/2013, BBC Two, 11.10pm
The Dubliners bring their 50th anniversary year to a rumbustious close with an appearance on Jools' annual Hootenanny and they'll be performing a couple of their classic tunes, including the barnstorming The Irish Rover. Also on hand for the knees up is Petula Clark who performs two of her biggest songs along with a surprising cover of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy from her upcoming album; the biggest selling act of 2012, designer soul singer Emeli Sandé will perform numbers from her million-selling Our Version Of Events. Also in the studio will be Soul legend Bobby Womack with a track from his recent album The Bravest Man In The Universe along with a number or two from his vast back catalogue. The lovely Lianne La Havas will perform her ode to going out with an older man in Age plus an Ella Fitzgerald number; King of the charts in the early Eighties, Adam Ant will perform some of his classic pop tunes along with a number from his upcoming album. The Hives will be dropping in to dazzle with their rock and roll tunes including crowd favourite Hate To Say I Told You So; from Detroit, soul singer Bettye Lavette will be performing her 1965 tune Let Me Down Easy along with her take on The Black Keys I'm Not The One from her new album. Frontman of Dexys Midnight Runners, Kevin Rowland, will be reprising a couple of their classic Eighties tunes along with a number from their 2012 album. And Nottingham's newest star, singer-songwriter Jake Bugg who had huge success in 2012 with his debut album. Sounds good!
Unclaimed Baggage - the Unrevealed Story of Marilyn's Last Trunk, TG4, 10.05pm
This investigation is looking for a legendary Louis Vuitton trunk which contained something of great historical importance - Marilyn Monroe's wardrobe. This journey brings us from Paris to Tokyo, via New York and Hollywood, where we cross the path of Louis Vuitton's grandchild, as well as families of the East Coast Establishment, a famous heiress, celebrities, and a Japanese "Lady Gaga". The film we will try to open this legendary trunk, to discover Marilyn's life, her intimacy, her travels and her secrets.
A source added to the newspaper: "They had been planning it for a while. They are both so happy and very much in love.
Like all the best telly, you end up watching repeat episodes of The Zoo over and over again, even though you know exactly what's going to happen. Fellow addicts, help is at hand this evening in the form of this new, hour-long special which finds narrator Tom Dunne heading up the North Circular Road to Santa's Grotto to meet some of the humans who make the show so special. With four years of episodes to choose from, zookeepers and presenter look back on some of their favourite moments, provide updates on the residents who got us feeling all mushy inside and, for maximum awww factor, we also find out how those i-want-two baby red pandas have been getting on. You are perfectly entitled to eat a whole box of chocolates yourself while watching - you can always walk them off with a visit to the Zoo in person over the Christmas break.
In February we'll have the treat of watching Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren as husband and wife Alfred and Alma in the biopic Hitchcock, but before that here's Tobi Jones as the great director and Sienna Miller as the object of his obsession, Tippi Hedren. The Girl tells the story of how Hitchcock cast the unknown model in his 1962 film The Birds, and the numbers they subsequently did on each other's minds. Writer Gwyneth Hughes interviewed Hedren and surviving members of Hitchcock's crew for this BBC/HBO movie, and the cast also includes Imelda Staunton as Alma and Penelope Wilton as Hitchcock's longtime assistant Peggy Robertson. Like Mirren for Hitchcock, Jones and Miller are Golden Globe-nominated for their performances in The Girl. And, if you're still hungry for more Hitch, The Girl is followed by Rebecca (10:30pm) and Paul Merton Looks at Alfred Hitchcock (12:35am).
For those whose dinner party/drinks after work/couch conversation hobbyhorse is that there simply isn't enough of Stephen Fry on television, well, the people at ITV agree with you and here he is in an adaptation of Ian Rankin's Edinburgh-set heist caper. Dougie Henshall plays Mike Mackenzie, the self-made millionaire who together with art expert Professor Gissing (Stephen Fry) and banker Allan Cruickshank (Kenneth Collard) embarks on a scam to replace masterpieces with brilliant forgeries - all in the name of the greater good and winning back his ex (Lenora Crichlow). Such noble causes matter little to the underworld, though, and when the low-lifes get involved a crazy plan becomes even crazier.
Given its disappointing performance at the box office last December (hey, it was hardly a Christmas movie), we may be waiting a long time for there to be Hollywood follow-ups to the David Fincher-directed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In the meantime, here's the original Swedish adaptation of that opening book in author Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy. While the first film in the series is the classiest of the three, Noomi Rapace's performance as genius anti-hero Lisbeth Salander is superb throughout and there are loads of twists and turns to keep you hooked. The sequels, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, are on Channel 4 on Friday December 28 (12:10am) and Saturday December 29 (12:45am).
In the words of Semisonic: "Nobody knows it, but you've got a secret smile. And you use it only for me." For those of us whose late-night Monday to Thursday entertainment involves looking at Vincent while he looks back under lowered lids and convinces you that he's addressing you and you alone, here's a chance to enjoy him in hopefully fine festive fettle as he trawls through the big stories of the year in the company of The Rubberbandits and Mary O'Rourke. Some fantasies are best kept secret... Aw, what the heck, it's Christmas: any chance the four of them will team up for a rendition of Horse Outside as the closing credits roll?
She said: "This is my advice to Seth - based on my own experience. You have to try to strike a balance between keeping the people of the room entertained and keeping the people at home from thinking you're nuts."
