PICKS OF THE DAY
Panorama,
Documentary: BBC1, 7.30pm
As customers gear up for Christmas, reporter Jane Corbin (left) asks if the UK’s supply chains can deliver in time. She goes on the distribution frontline to hear from companies struggling to find enough HGV drivers to move essential foods around the country and chats to farmers who fear their crops will be left to rot if they cannot find enough workers. With wages rising and the recent hike in energy prices putting pressure on costs, are families facing a new year hangover?
Comedian Paul O’Grady (above) follows the lives of the four-legged friends at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. In the penultimate episode of the series, Paul meets a gentle giant Great Dane that is looking for a loving home, and a pair of Lakeland Terriers who need to be taught how to rein in their mischievous behaviour. He also meets a feisty Dachshund whose enormous bark makes up for his compact stature.
Documentary: BBC2, 8pm
Inside The Factory,
In this special Christmas edition of the programme that explores how the nation’s foods are made, presenter Gregg Wallace (left) takes a trip to a factory that produces two million tins of festive chocolate assortments a year, with 5,500 individual sweets packaged and dropped into containers every minute. Elsewhere, co-host Cherry Healey finds out how the Royal Mail produces Christmas stamps, and travels to Germany to join a crew of 35 ornament decorators applying glitter and paint to glass Santas. Historian Ruth Goodman goes on the trail of the festive turkey, a tradition that began in the 16th century when the birds were first introduced from Mexico.