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Russell Watson, Hayley Westenra and Aled Jones join in the Boxing Day Big Sing

Aled Jones introduces a special Boxing Day Big Sing from London's Royal Albert Hall as 5,000 voices come together for a festive sing-along of favourite carols and Christmas music, including Joy To The World, Calypso Carol, Good King Wenceslas and John Rutter's Star Carol.

A 40-piece orchestra and organist Daniel Moult, conducted by Paul Leddington Wright, are joined by the Saint Michael's Singers, the Exmoor Singers of London and the Brighton Festival Chorus to lead the congregational singing.

The "people's tenor", Russell Watson, sings O Holy Night and explains how he celebrates Christmas; Howard Goodall's Enchanted Voices perform Gaudete, a sacred Christmas carol composed in the 16th century; and best-selling international soprano Hayley Westenra reminisces about celebrating Christmas in her native New Zealand before singing traditional carol Silent Night.

Aled sings a thought-provoking song based on the Christmas story called Mary, Did You Know?. He also discovers the surprising origins of The 12 Days Of Christmas from composer and National Singing Ambassador Howard Goodall before the stars join forces to lead a packed Royal Albert Hall in a rousing rendition of this ever-popular festive song.

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This year, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One's Christmas Day Service comes live from Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucestershire, with the story of the Nativity reflected within the Anglican Eucharist.

This traditional family service is led by the vicar, the Reverend Canon Paul Williams, with the Reverend Catherine Williams giving the address.

The Abbey, which is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, lies between the Cotswolds and the Malvern Hills and at the confluence of the rivers Avon and Severn. The site has been a place of worship since the 8th century.

Attending this world-famous location is the Abbey congregation, along with others from Tewksbury churches and the surrounding area, and children from the Sunday school. They are joined by the Abbey Choir to sing traditional carols which include O Come All Ye Faithfull, Of The Father's Love Begotten, Unto Us Is Born A Son, Away In A Manger and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

The Music is supervised by Carlton Etherington, Tewkesbury Abbey's director of music.

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On Christmas Day, there is a quiet moment of reflection, as actor Paterson Joseph reads from St John's Gospel, and the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields sings O Holy Night.

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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One welcomes Christmas with a live broadcast of the service of Midnight Mass from Liverpool's Roman Catholic Cathedral – the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

A congregation of 2,000 celebrates the joy of the Nativity in the gigantic circular nave of one of Britain's most exciting modern buildings, designed to allow everyone to be as close as possible to the altar.

The cathedral choir, currently in its 50th birthday year, leads the singing of traditional carols including O Come All Ye Faithful, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Silent Night and O Little Town Of Bethlehem. The musical setting for the mass is Charles-Marie Widor's exciting Messe pour Deux Choeurs et Deux Orgues.

The Celebrant is the Archbishop of Liverpool, the Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, who also gives the homily. The director of music is Timothy Noon and the organist is Richard Lea.

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For many, the exquisite voices of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, singing in the breathtakingly beautiful college chapel with its soaring fan vaulting, heralds the true beginning of Christmas.

The service opens with a single choir boy starting Once In Royal David's City. He is then joined by the world-famous choir to sing Christmas music and carols old and new.

As darkness falls, the blue tones of sparkling medieval stained glass give way to the warmth of candlelight which create a unique atmosphere in which the Christmas story is told in the much-loved words of the King James Bible and reflected on in other readings by members of the College.

Stephen Cleobury conducts King's College Choir in a sequence of carols that includes O Come All Ye Faithful, The Sussex Carol, I Saw Three Ships, The First Nowell, Away In A Manger, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Lux Aurumque by modern American composer Eric Whitacre.

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Carols from Winchester Cathedral offers something for everyone to enjoy on Christmas Day afternoon.

It is an opportunity to relax while enjoying some of the best-loved Christmas carols and classical Christmas music, beautifully sung by the highly renowned Choir of Winchester Cathedral, with special performances from mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins and bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu.

Conducted by Director of Music, Andrew Lumsden, the Cathedral Choir, currently in exquisite voice, and including boy and girl choristers, sing from the candlelit choir stalls and also in front of the high altar, with its impressive intricate reredos.

Carols include: O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, John Rutter's Nativity Carol and Joy To The World, plus classical Christmas favourites including, For Unto Us A Child Is Born from Handel's Messiah and Morten Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium. The choir will be accompanied by an orchestral ensemble and the famous cathedral organ, with organist Simon Bell.

The music will be interspersed with verses from the Bible and Christmas poetry telling the story of the birth of Jesus.

Winchester Cathedral is known for its glorious architecture, including the medieval Lady Chapel and the ancient crypt, with its contemporary statue by Antony Gormley. Both feature as just two of the stunning backdrops to the carols and readings, giving viewers a further insight into Winchester's unique history.

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Painted more than five centuries ago, Filippo Lippi's Nativity is like no other – the birth of Christ in a dark, wooded wilderness.

Its beauty inspired Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli. But it also conceals a deeply personal story. It was painted for Cosimo de' Medici, a wealthy banker who feared that his money was dragging him straight to Hell, by an artist whose adoration of women was deeply flawed.

The artist's life was equally surprising. The most celebrated painter of his day, Lippi was also a Carmelite friar. But he was no stranger to the temptations of the flesh, to which he frequently yielded. Shortly before painting his Adoration, he caused uproar by seducing a 20-year-old nun and getting her pregnant. His paintings rejoice not just in divine beauty but also in that of women.

In later times, the Adoration's history was interwoven with that of rulers and dictators. It became a bargaining chip after Napoleon's allies seized 20 merchant ships. And, in the 20th century, it was hidden by the Nazis in a potassium mine, where American troops stumbled upon it. The painting even inspired mutiny among US officers when the American authorities tried to appropriate it for the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Now safely back in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, the painting's reputation today stands higher than at any time since its own. Its combination of divine mystery and very human beauty seems to transcend time and creed.

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