CBC have got you covered for all your Holiday programming with a mix of originals and favourites! Note, times are subject to change.
NEW ORIGINAL HOLIDAY MOVIES:
Leslie (Glenda Braganza) has done everything right in her life except find Mr. Right. That is… until the spirit of Christmas leads her there in an unusual way.
Boston children’s book author Margot is heartbroken. She and her siblings have to sell their late parents’ Cape Cod house. Every Christmas was spent there – and this last one will be so special, it might even prevent the sale! When Margot runs into Chris, her childhood sweetheart, she has an idea.
When perfectionist event planner, Amy, takes on rising pop star’s ten year family reunion as her latest project, disagreements within the family threaten disaster unless a plan can be made to satisfy everyone including handsome yet stubborn family member, Calvin.
A successful jingle writer is cajoled into returning to her hometown to write a song for the 50th anniversary of the annual Christmas Eve concert.
When Sam, an interior designer, returns home during the holidays to help renovate the Bell Harbor Inn, she gets paired with Coop as her contractor. The only problem – he’s the guy who broke her heart and she’s the one who got away.
Global acts and stars of the West End are brought together for one night only to showcase the best of entertainment on one single stage.
*Exclusive Canadian Broadcast Premiere*
The circumstances surrounding the death of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey are mysterious, but there’s one thing that renowned Detective Benoit Blanc knows for sure — everyone in the wildly dysfunctional Thrombey family is a suspect.
NEW HOLIDAY-THEMED EPISODES:
Nonnatus House and the surrounding area is evacuated when an unexploded bomb is found nearby. Meanwhile, Shelagh has doubts about her wedding to Patrick, and Jenny and Trixie help a man who is suffering from shell shock.
Four bakers from seasons past return to The Great Canadian Baking Show Tent for the chance to become the Holiday Star Baker.
If you loved Jamie Oliver’s 15-Minute Meals, then you’re likely to fall in love with this one-off Christmas cooking segment. In this one-hour episode, Jamie shows us how to create the ultimate Christmas dinner spread with the minimum of fuss, as the dad-of-five applies his quick and easy principles to cooking at Christmas.
The story of one of the Street’s most iconic landladies, Liz McDonald, revisiting her most memorable moments and finding out just what Beverley Callard thinks of her character’s style icon status.
A collection of bloopers from Coronation Street (1960), with reflections from members of the cast.
Albert seeks the Christmastime joy of his youth; Victoria is threatened by a relative; romantic tension surrounds the palace.
The Great New Year’s Baking Show sees Noel, Matt, Prue and Paul reunited after Christmas and back in the tent. Joining them are Helena and Henry from 2019, Nancy from 2014, and 2018 winner Rahul, all hoping to impress the judges with their skills and creativity and take home the coveted Festive Star Baker title. Together they’ll see in the New Year with a cosy sing-song round the piano.
NEW YEAR’S EVE:
Join host and Canadian comedy icon Rick Mercer for a truly Canadian New Year’s Eve countdown featuring musical performances and fireworks displays from celebrations all across Canada.
HOLIDAY MOVIES AND SPECIALS:
ANIMATED HOLIDAY CLASSICS:
TELEVISION HOLIDAY SPECIALS:
CBC KIDS HOLIDAY SPECIALS:
Paddington has accidentally sent Jonathan’s Santa letter to Peru by mistake. He tries to find out what Jonathan’s wish list is. He sends Pigeonton to The North Pole with a new list but now he’s missing. A storm causes a power cut in Windsor gardens which means Christmas will be ruined for everyone. Mr. Curry ever the Eagle Ranger is always prepared so comes to the rescue and its turkey for all at the town hall. But what was Jonathan’s Christmas wish?
Mandy must deliver a load of late Christmas letters to the North Pole, then all the trains join in to help Santa deliver the presents during a big storm.
Everyone in Rainbow Kingdom is gathered to celebrate Winter Wishfest, but when Forever Frost escapes the Ice Kingdom, the day might be ruined. Can True and the Wishes set everything right?
In order to seize Santa Claus’ mysterious technologies, Tiberius tries to take over the North Pole on Christmas Eve.
When the conveyor belt Santa uses to load gifts from his workshop into his gigantic toy bag breaks, Rusty, Ruby, and Liam head to the North Pole to fix it. Frankie stows away to find the present he really wants for Christmas.
HOLIDAY MARATHONS:
CBC RADIO ONE AND CBC MUSIC:
Back for another year, CBC Music will air the annual JOY TO THE WORLD: Euro-Radio Christmas Music Day on Sunday, Dec. 19 from 9 a.m. (9:30 NT) until 5 p.m. (5:30 NT). Hosted by Julie Nesrallah, this year’s radio special will feature traditional holiday music from Germany, Bulgaria, Estonia, England and Vancouver, BC.
From the Producer of Schitt’s Creek, Andrew Barnsley and Project 10 comes SON OF A CRITCH, based on the Best-Selling Memoir by Mark Critch. The Series, filming now in Newfoundland, will star Critch, Malcolm McDowell and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth!
Syopsis:
“Son of a Critch” is the hilarious and very real story of 11-year-old Mark coming of age in St. John’s, Newfoundland in the 80’s. It’s a heartfelt window into the life of a child – much older inside than his 11 years – using comedy and self-deprecation to win friends and connect with the small collection of people in his limited world. With production starting today in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the comedy stars Mark Critch as his father and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (Pinocchio) as young Mark. Ainsworth can currently be seen as one of the leads in the limited series “The Haunting of Bly Manor” for director Mike Flanagan on Netflix, and stars as Pinocchio opposite Tom Hanks in Walt Disney Pictures’ upcoming live action remake of Pinocchio for director Robert Zemeckis. Additionally, Claire Rankin (Molly’s Game) has been cast as Mark’s mother, Mary, alongside newcomers Sophia Powers and Mark Rivera, who are cast as classmates of young Mark. Golden Globe nominee Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) to star as Pop.
The Series arrives in Canada on CBC January 2022. Lionsgate will handle global distribution.
(Photo/video credit: CBC)
FEAR OF DANCING explores the global fear of many to dance! It is coming soon to CBC Gem.
Synopsis:
FEAR OF DANCING is a documentary Channel original film chronicling director Michael Allcock’s global quest to understand why he and so many others on this planet are terrified by the simple act of dancing – what science calls chorophobia. Along the way, he encounters a celebrity chorophobe, dancing robots, virtual reality and a mysterious dancing plague.
See the Trailer:
FEAR OF DANCING arrives on CBC GEM Friday, November 27, 2020.
(Photo/video credit: CBC)
In 2013, a man was killed for a fisherman for poaching lobster, sending shockwaves through an entire community in Nova Scotia.
Synopsis:
The Killing of Phillip Boudreau, a new documentary from award-winning filmmaker Megan Wennberg, Tell Tale Productions, and CBC Docs POV, tells the story of a death that tore apart the Nova Scotia community of Isle Madame. On June 1, 2013, halfway through the spring lobster season, the crew of the lobster fishing vessel the ‘Twin Maggies’ killed notorious local poacher Phillip Boudreau. The gruesome crime shook the close-knit community to its core, with repercussions that are still felt today. The homicide underscored the glaring and complex social issues within a remote Maritime community wrought with hardened ideals of masculinity, pride, and history. The crime was dubbed ‘Murder for Lobster,’ and while this made a clickable headline, it ignored the larger problems at play, causing harm that is still felt throughout the community seven years later.
See the Trailer:
THE KILLING OF PHILLIP BOUDREAU airs on CBC DOCS POV. Coming soon.
(Photo/video credit: CBC)
The Internet is something we cannot live without, but has our obsession now led to feelings of dread against it? Filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores what is known as a “Techlash” in his latest Documentary, airing on CBC DOCS POV, THE INTERNET OF EVERYTHING.
Synopsis:
The Internet of Everything directed by award-winning filmmaker Brett Gaylor (Rip! A Remix Manifesto, Do Not Track) is a documentary that examines the hype and hubris hurtling towards the next frontier in the Internet’s evolution. Using the never-ending list of devices we are told we want, the film provides a landscape for a broader discussion about whether the Internet has indeed been a democratizing force or, instead, a fertile ground for the formation of new empires.
Kristina is developing a device that transmits fertility data to the cloud from inside a woman’s private parts; Nellie Bowles, a journalist for the New York Times, introduces a survivor of domestic abuse who was terrorized by her partner’s “smart home.” China’s smart city vision reward citizens for behaviour conforming to social norms, as well as Alphabet’s vision for a corporate neighbourhood built “from the Internet up.” In Barcelona, we grasp a new potential for the Internet to allow for the copying of physical goods, turning the material world of atoms into digital bits that can be transmitted at zero cost anywhere on earth.
See the Trailer:
THE INTERNET OF EVERYTHING airs Sunday, March 22, 2020 on CBC DOCS POV 9:00 PM EST. It will also stream on CBC GEM.
(Photo/video credit: CBC)
Nominations for the 2019 Canadian Screen Award were announced this morning at The Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto, honouring accomplishments in Canadian Film, Television and Digital Media. Leading this pack once again this year are ANNE WITH AN E and SCHITT’S CREEK with 14 nominations each.
Dominating the Film categories are French-language Films Just a Breath Away (Dans la brume) and The Great Darkened Days (La grande noirceur), the latter which partly is English.
Others to be honoured at the Awards this year include: The Kids in the Hall receiving the Academy Icon Award, Deepa Mehta, receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award, Mary Walsh receiving the Earle Grey Award and Golden Globe nominee Stephan James who will be named the first ever recipient of the Radius Award.
Women were front and center this year with receiving 50% of all nominations in Writing, Film Direction, Feature Film and Web Performance categories. We continue to see a focus on equity and diversity in the Canadian Entertainment landscape with several initiatives like #AfterMeToo and #ShareHerJourney aiming at sharing the female voice and addressing women’s concerns.
Canadian Screen Week runs March 25 – 31, 2019 and includes five Galas:
•The CTV Gala Honouring Non-Fiction Programming (March 26, 2019)
•The CTV Gala Honouring Creative Fiction Storytelling (March 27, 2019)
•The Gala Honouring Digital & Immersive Storytelling (March 28, 2019)
•The Cinematic Arts Gala (March 31, 2019)
•The Canadian Screen Awards: Broadcast Gala (March 31, 2019)
Canadians can vote for their favourite screen personality to win the Cogeco Fund Audience Choice Award here.
The 2019 Canadian Screen Awards Broadcast Gala airs on CBC Sunday, March 31, 2019 at 8 PM ET.
A complete list of this year’s Nominees here.
(Photo credit: Canadian Academy)
For those of you home this Sunday night, CBC has a fascinating Documentary which looks at gender roles in the animal kingdom. Do humans have it backwards?
Synopsis:
Mommy Wildest is a compelling, intimate portrait of three animal families where it’s the females that rule and mother who knows best. We enter the lives of fierce lion sisters, majestic elephant grandmothers, and regal baboon mothers who form sisterhoods to raise their families.
See the Trailer:
More here: http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/m/episodes/mommy-wildest
MOMMY WILDEST airs 8 PM ET on CBC Sunday, January 21, 2018.
(Photo credit: CBC)
The legacy of Anne of Green Gables is unparalleled. With over 50 million copies of Lucy Montgomery‘s novel being sold and fans spanning the globe, CBC is ready to unveil a new seven-episode television adaptation of the beloved story, known simply as ANNE. Its sights are set high working with a substantial budget, comparable to that of a U.S. cable television series (and it certainly looks it), and it already has secured global distribution via leading internet television service Netflix. Acclaimed Filmmaker Niki Caro (Whale Rider, McFarland, USA) signed-on to direct the two-hour premiere. Fans old and new can expect this to be a darker take, exploring deeper some of the aspects of the story previous Films and Mini-Series had not, speaking to an audience of now.
At the center of it all is fresh-faced and well-spoken 15-year-old actress Amybeth McNulty whom while being part-Canadian (her mother is from Calgary), resides in and is home-schooled in Ireland. McNulty, whose background primarily has been in theatre, starred in 2016 Thriller Morgan as the ten-year-old version of the titular character. She takes on the ambitious task in Anne of portraying the iconic talkative red-haired orphan and does so more than ably.
We sit down and chat with McNulty at the CBC Headquarters coincidentally on St. Patrick’s Day, about becoming Anne and winning the coveted role over 1,800 young actresses in an international search just last year. On what we can expect from the Series, she tells us “It really shows a lot more of her abuse and the trauma. It shows with full brutal honesty what she and a lot of orphans went through back then.”.
McNulty, who actually is a natural blonde, tells us about filming in P.E.I. where the story is set in the late 1800s. “I live in Ireland myself, so it reminds me a lot of Ireland with its rolling hills and those beautiful cliffsides.”. She even went to the actual Anne of Green Gables Store (it actually exists!) and shares an awkward but humorous anecdote. “I went down to the Anne shop when I had just got my red hair done and the people there were like, ‘Oh, you’d make a great Anne!’ she laughs. “And I was like ‘thank you’ and then I just quickly left!”.
While being a huge fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery‘s books, the Series’ source material, she admits never to having watched the previous Mini-Series and Films which followed. “It wasn’t really a conscious decision”, she says. “I didn’t really want to be affected. I wanted my portrayal really to come from me and Moira (Walley-Beckett, Series Writer) and the rest of the team.”.
Spending much of her spare time dancing and singing, working on Anne also has taught McNulty a thing or two about filmmaking, developing her own YouTube channel, chronicling her life and travels. “I learned a lot about filming and editing through the crew and I use it in filming vlogs.”. Check it out here.
“I think anyone living in P.E.I. is going to be very proud of their hometown and how beautiful it looks”, McNulty leaves us on a parting note as she gets ready to head out to do a live hit on TV downstairs – a face that soon will be familiar around the world.
Our Chat:
Some Snaps:
CBC premieres ANNE Sunday, March 19, 2017 at 8 PM. It streams globally on Netflix this May.
Photos taken on the NIKON D3300, Selfie taken on the Samsung S7.
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
It’s that time of the year again and you can bet we’re super-pumped for CANADIAN SCREEN WEEK! As in previous years, FAMILY FAN DAY will give us a chance to connect with some of our favourite Canadian stars of the screen! Taking place Saturday, March 11, 2017 at Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, the event runs from 10 AM to 2 PM and guess what? It’s free!
Exciting activations and contests are being planned and did you know that the first 100 in line will get a free swag bag? There will be doughnuts from JELLY MODERN, a MAC booth giving you inspiration for your spring 2017 look, exciting animals from HANDS ON EXOTICS and also a coding workshop by LADIES LEARNING CODE.
Stars in attendance this year include:
• Dan Riskin and Ziya Tong, Daily Planet (Bell Media)
• Kristian Bruun, Orphan Black (Bell Media)
• Simu Liu, Andrea Bang and Andrew Phung, Kim’s Convenience (CBC)
• Hélène Joy and Lachlan Murdoch, Murdoch Mysteries (CBC)
• Alisha Newton, Heartland (CBC)
• Janaye, Tony, Victor, Gary the Unicorn and Dot, CBC Kids (CBC)
• Dwight Drummond, CBC News Toronto (CBC)
• Kim Coates, Bad Blood (Rogers Media)
• Dina Pugliese and Kevin Frankish, Breakfast Television (Rogers Media)
• Victoria Baldesarra and Shelby Bain, The Next Step (Family Channel)
• Chelsea Clark and Ehren Kassam, Degrassi: Next Class (Family Channel)
• Devyn Nekoda, Colin Petierre and Julia Tomasone, Backstage (Family Channel)
• Hosts from Global’s The Morning Show (Corus Entertainment)
• Mike Holmes and Mike Holmes Jr., Holmes + Holmes (Corus Entertainment)
• Noah Cappe, The Bachelor Canada (Corus Entertainment)
• Anthony Farnell, Global News (Corus Entertainment)
• Ella Ballentine, Sara Botsford, Kate MacDonald Butler, L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (Corus Entertainment/Breakthrough Entertainment)
…and several more!
YTV‘s Carlos Bustamante will fill hosting duties.
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Here’s a couple tips for taking the best selfies with the stars, from your resident expert, Mr. Will:
1. Be calm, stars are more like us than we are led to believe.
2. Ask nicely. If you are a real fan, let them know how they have touched your life.
3. Give them space and let them initiate it if they want to get closer to you.
4. Make sure there’s no glaring light behind you in the photo. This is v. unflattering and will almost always ruin your photo. If there is light, make sure it is shining on your faces.
5. Nobody likes a double-chin, so tilt that camera/cell phone up just a bit and tilt that chin down.
6. Look into the lens of the camera, not the screen on your cell phone and smile! Keep your eyes open!
7. Take an extra snap quickly just in case the first didn’t turn out – it’s always good to have a back-up.
8. Thank the star.
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Enjoy and g’luck! We’ll be seeing you around Canadian Screen Week!
More on Family Fan Day here.
(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong/Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television)
Nominations were announced earlier today at Oliver & Bonacini‘s Aperture Room for the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards, now in their fifth year. Announcing nominees were a trio of Canadian talent including actors Maxim Roy (Shadowhunters), Simu Liu (Kim’s Convenience) and Amanda Brugel (The Handmaid’s Tale).
With 134 categories, divided by Digital Media, Television and Film, the Awards brought out some familiar and new names. Leading the Television nominees once again is ORPHAN BLACK with a stellar 14 nominations (and wins in the past three consecutive years) including Best Dramatic Series and Actress (Tatiana Maslany). SCHITT’S CREEK, also a multi-CSA winner which just premiered in its third season, follows closely in second with 13 nominations, while KIM’S CONVENIENCE gets 11 nominations in its debut. The latter two, both from CBC, compete for Best Comedy Series.
Leading the Film nominations with nine nods is Xavier Dolan‘s IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD including Best Motion Picture and Direction, Canada’s Best Foreign Picture entry at the upcoming Academy Awards. RACE, also filmed in Montreal like WORLD, gets eight nominations, while BEFORE THE STREETS, OPERATION AVALANCHE and WEIRDOS each get six nods apiece.
Newly-appointed Academy CEO Beth Janson who returned to Canada recently after a stint in the U.S., comments on the lack of a star system in Canada and hence the necessity of recognizing our own Canadian talent which she is certain has no shortage of. “The stories we tell are increasingly reflective of our diverse experiences as Canadians, and that is a trend to cherish”, she tells a room of industry, media and nominees.
Some Snaps from the Breakfast:
Academy President, Martin Katz
Actress, Amanda Brugel
Actor, Simu Liu
Actress, Maxim Roy
Nominees Jennifer Dale and Adrian Holmes
Team Schitt’s Creek congratulate Catherine O’Hara on her nod!
See you in March!
More here on Facebook!
The 2017 Canadian Screen Awards air live on CBC Sunday, March 12, 2017 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, hosted by Howie Mandel. Academy Award winner Christopher Plummer that night is slated to be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The Awards cap-off Canadian Screen Week, which takes place between Monday, March 6 – Sunday, March 12, 2017. Academy Award winner Christopher Plummer that night is slated to be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Like previous years, Fans will have a chance to engage with various events set to take place leading up to the Awards. Visit ACADEMY.CA for updates.
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
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