Fine. Here’s your cheat sheet. For normal Friday editions (like Later with Jools Holland), it’s usually 10:00 PM or 11:00 PM on BBC Two depending on the season. But for the Big Daddy Hootenanny on New Year’s Eve, it’s almost always 11:30 PM. Check your TV guide the day before because BBC schedulers are known to enjoy a pint of confusion with their lunch.
My advice? Set an alarm for 11:20 PM. Make a cup of tea. Stretch your legs. Prepare a small snack—something you can eat without making crumbs, like a single grape. Then, at 11:30, settle in. You’re about to watch a man in a sparkly suit yell “Good evening!” to a room full of people who are legally required to clap on beat. It’s a beautiful, chaotic, late-night mess. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.
Oh, and whatever you do, do not fall asleep during the washboard solo. It’s considered a national crime. You’ve been warned.
