Find out more about the 2026 CHRISTMAS LECTURES®
In the 2026 CHRISTMAS LECTURES® theoretical physicist, broadcaster and author, Jim Al-Khalili, will investigate what time actually is, and reveal why it remains one of science’s most tantalising and mysterious topics.
Watch the Lectures on the BBC and iPlayer in late December or join us as a Member for exclusive access to the live filming in our Theatre.
Watch the 2025 CHRISTMAS LECTURES
Dame Maggie Aderin takes us on an epic voyage through time and space.
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Help us to bring young people and scientists together to explore the science through the 2026 CHRISTMAS LECTURES®
Watch past CHRISTMAS LECTURES
Catch up with past CHRISTMAS LECTURES for free on our ever expanding online archive.
History of the CHRISTMAS LECTURES®
Initiated by Michael Faraday when organised education for children was scarce, the CHRISTMAS LECTURES® established an exciting new way of presenting science to young people. World-famous scientists have given the Lectures, including Nobel Prize winners William and Lawrence Bragg, Sir David Attenborough, Carl Sagan and Dame Nancy Rothwell.
The CHRISTMAS LECTURES® were the first science programme broadcast on UK national television, 90 years ago in 1936. They have been broadcast every year since 1966 on the BBC and in later years on Channel Five, Channel Four and more4. In 2010, the Lectures returned to the BBC.