The Night Before Christmas
Short Cuts
BBC
4.8 • 788 Ratings
🗓️ 21 December 2021
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Josie Long presents short festive documentaries about the night before Christmas.
A joyful Christmas scene discovered on an old tape, a poet holds the beauty and melancholy of a trip home on Christmas Eve, and Albert Woodfox reflects on 40 years of enforced isolation and the illumination and comfort offered by a group of schoolchildren in Liverpool.
Forwards and Backwards Featuring The Djursland Fiddlers recorded by Torben Harbo in the 1970s. Produced by Rikke Houd
Christmas Eve Written and read by Liz Berry Produced by Alia Cassam
Albert Featuring Albert Woodfox and David Moorhead Produced by Sarah Cuddon
Curated by Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall Executive Producer: Axel Kacoutié A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:08.8 | Ho, ho, ho, welcome to the podcast of shortcuts. |
| 0:12.9 | I'm Josie Long. |
| 0:14.2 | It is our Christmas episode. |
| 0:15.9 | We're thrilled to be making another Christmas episode. |
| 0:18.5 | And I really hope that you can carve out a bit of special |
| 0:21.5 | Christmas time to listen to this at your leisure it is full of all kinds of merriment and all |
| 0:27.3 | kinds of deep beautiful feeling this is Christmas shortcuts brief encounters with a |
| 0:36.1 | yule log true stories of a warpath fire radio adventures on an open sled and found christmas cheer sound |
| 0:50.3 | Merry Christmas Albert I don't have a lot of money or anything really, but I can send you the gift of hope. |
| 0:58.0 | They did snow here last year, where the trees dressed with white coats. |
| 1:03.4 | Honestly, I'd give up everything I've worked for or thought I wanted in this life to be with you tonight. |
| 1:13.7 | Today, the night before Christmas. |
| 1:19.2 | Although technically this is being broadcast in the afternoon of the 21st of December, |
| 1:24.1 | but listen, it's near enough, we don't control scheduling, |
| 1:28.8 | get yourself in the festive spirit the 21st is basically the Christmas break if you're still having to work |
| 1:34.4 | I say take it very easy ho ho ho we're going to start with a little Christmas moment, made for us by one of our producers, Regahoot. Down the stairs, through the doors, into the street, |
| 2:13.1 | into cars, buses, boats, planes and trains that go forwards and backwards at the same time. |
| 2:20.3 | Through a forest. They did snow here last year. |
| 2:41.0 | Where the trees dressed with white coats? |
| 2:59.6 | Did I follow little footpaths made by birds in the snow? Big birds and little birds. Like Harry a lantern and move like a ship through time? |
| 3:09.3 | Did I forget something? |
... |
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