Blankety Blank Christmas special - start date, star guests as Bradley Walsh hosts

Blankety Blank Christmas special 2020 with Bradley Walsh
(Image credit: BBC/Thames)

Bradley Walsh will front The Blankety Blank Christmas special

The Blankety Blank Christmas special will be one of the highlights of BBC1’s Christmas Day line-up.

Bradley Walsh will be on hosting duties as the iconic game show makes a welcome comeback. The Chase presenter has a busy festive period ahead as of course he’s also starring in The Doctor Who Christmas special. Doctor Who is being shown on New Year’s Day.

When is the Blankety Blank Christmas special on?

The Blankety Blank Christmas special will air on BBC1 at 7pm on Christmas Day. It’s 40 minutes long and will be followed by the Call the Midwife Christmas special at 7.40pm.

Who are the celebrity guests?

It’s not yet been announced who will be the stars taking part. We’re hoping for some big names!

How does it work?

Bradley Walsh will read out a statement and the contestants have to fill in the missing words or BLANKS. To win prizes their answers have to match up with the answers provided by the panel of six celebrities. So, basically the stars and the contestants have to be on the same wavelength.

Blankety Blank was always famous for its rubbish prizes. And the BBC has confirmed that the famous Blankety Blank Cheque Book and Pen will be making a comeback!

Who has presented the show before?

Terry Wogan was the show’s original host when the series began on BBC1 in 1979. Terry managed to turn it into a hit. Les Dawson then took over presenting duties from 1984 to 1990. Paul O’Grady as Lily Savage then fronted a special in 1997 and then a series in 1998. It then transferred to ITV where it was called Lily Savage’s Blankety Blank. David Walliams also fronted a one-off special for ITV in 2016.

Meanwhile, it emerged earlier this year that Colonel Tom Moore took part on the show back in the 1980s when Terry Wogan was hosting!

The special will air on Christmas Day (see our TV Guide for more shows to enjoy).

David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!