Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (1966-)
Specials
1998 | 1 Episodes
Season 0 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 27, 1998
1966
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 1
1967
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 2
1968
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 3
1969
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 4
1970
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 5
1971
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 6
1972
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 7
1973: The Languages of Animals
| 6 Episodes
No airdate for Season 8
Sir David Attenborough on animal communication. Episode 4 is lost.
1974
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 9
1975
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 10
1976
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 11
1977
| 6 Episodes
No airdate for Season 12
1978: Mathematics into Pictures
| 6 Episodes
No airdate for Season 13
1979
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 14
1980
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 15
1981
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 16
1982
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 17
1983
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 18
1984
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 19
1985: Communicating
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 20
1986
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 21
1987: Crystals and Lasers
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 22
1988
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 23
1989
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 24
1990
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 25
1991: Growing Up in the Universe
1991 | 5 Episodes
Season 26 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 26, 1991
1992
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 27
1993: The Cosmic Onion
1993 | 5 Episodes
Season 28 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 26, 1993
1994
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 29
1995: Planet Earth, An Explorer's Guide
| 5 Episodes
No airdate for Season 30
1996: The History in our Bones
1996 | 5 Episodes
Season 31 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 26, 1996
1997: The Magical Maze
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 32
1998: Staying Alive: The Body in Balance
| 5 Episodes
No airdate for Season 33
1999: Arrow of Time
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 34
2000: Rise of the Robots
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 35
2001: The Secrets of Life
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 36
2002: Smart Stuff
| 0 Episodes
No airdate for Season 37
2003: Voyage in Space and Time
2003 | 6 Episodes
Season 38 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 26, 2003
2004: To the Ends of the Earth: Surviving Antarctic Extremes
2004 | 3 Episodes
Season 39 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 16, 2004
2005: The Truth About Food
2005 | 5 Episodes
Season 40 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 25, 2005
2006
2006 | 5 Episodes
Season 41 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 25, 2006
2007: Back from the Brink, the Science of Survival
2007 | 5 Episodes
Season 42 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 23, 2007
2008: Hi-tech Trek - The Quest for the Ultimate Computer
2008 | 5 Episodes
Season 43 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 28, 2008
2009: The 300-Million-Year War
2009 | 5 Episodes
Season 44 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 21, 2009
2010: Size Matters
2010 | 3 Episodes
Season 45 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 28, 2010
2011: Meet Your Brain
2011 | 3 Episodes
Season 46 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 27, 2011
2012: The Modern Alchemist
2012 | 3 Episodes
Season 47 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 26, 2012
2013: Life Fantastic
2013 | 3 Episodes
Season 48 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 28, 2013
2014: Sparks Will Fly - How to Hack your Home
2014 | 3 Episodes
Season 49 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 29, 2014
2015: How to Survive in Space
2015 | 3 Episodes
Season 50 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 28, 2015
2016: Supercharged - Fuelling the Future
2016 | 3 Episodes
Season 51 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 26, 2016
2017: The Language of Life
2017 | 3 Episodes
Season 52 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 26, 2017
2018: Who Am I?
2018 | 3 Episodes
Season 53 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 26, 2018
Professor Alice Roberts and Professor Aoife McLysaght take viewers on an immersive voyage through our evolutionary past and ask challenging questions about what our future holds.
2019: Secret & Lies - The Hidden Power of Maths
2019 | 3 Episodes
Season 54 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 26, 2019
Dr Hannah Fry reveals the hidden rules and patterns that govern every aspect of our world.
2020: Planet Earth: A user’s guide
2020 | 3 Episodes
Season 55 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 28, 2020
2021: Going viral: How Covid changed science forever
2021 | 3 Episodes
Season 56 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 28, 2021
England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van-Tam will be joined by a host of top UK scientists to take a deep dive into the science of viruses.
2022: Secrets of forensic science
2022 | 3 Episodes
Season 57 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 26, 2022
Professor Dame Sue Black reveals the secrets of the real-life scientific detective process she uses to identify both the dead and the living.
2023: The Truth about AI
2023 | 3 Episodes
Season 58 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 26, 2023
2024: The Truth About Food
2024 | 3 Episodes
Season 59 of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures premiered on Dec 29, 2024
In this year’s Christmas Lectures, Dr Chris van Tulleken delves deep into our guts – to reveal the revolutionary latest science around what happens inside our bodies when we eat. He investigates how food has fundamentally shaped human evolution, uncovers the importance of our microbiome – as the extra ‘organ’ we didn’t know we had – and asks how we can all eat better in future, for the sake of our own health and the health of the planet. Chris will reveal how what we eat can have a massive effect on both our bodies and our brains. He’ll bring the science to life through a series of fact fuelled demos, special guest appearances, festive food hacks, and a healthy dose of self-experimentation. From tastebuds to toilet, we’ll find out what happens in the body when we eat. How we eat with our eyes (green eggs and ham anyone?) and how smell and even sound can affect the taste of our food.