18/12/2011 Something for the Weekend

Good morning. Only six more advent calendar doors to open before

Christmas Day so, to celebrate,we have the British/Irish all boy pop

group who have performed alongside Justin Bieber and Britney Spears.

They are The Wanted. And completing a musical line up for us today is

the 20 year-old who Turned It Up and is now Young, Foolish and Happy

- chart topper Pixie Lott. They're here for Christmas cooking,

cocktails, chat and to take a look at the best of the festive telly.

We did where Christmas jumpers. Welcome to Smash hits! Welcome to

Something For The Weekend. Smash hits, can you remember that? It was

great. Of course I can, I am that told. Simon came up with a good

idea to wear our Christmas jumpers. He knew in his locker he had a nice

fashionable stylish design. Louise also has a stylish fashionable

Christmas jumper. I think mine is quite Christmassy. I had to go and

buy one, and this is horrible. Yours just looks like you are going

skiing. It has Christmas trees, snow, and skiing people. It is

Scandinavian. You should have really gone for report, with ties,

and Rudolf. This is traditional Christmas Chelsea blue. You have

rarely entered into the spirit of it, well done. It is a bit rubbish,

isn't it? Am are going to carry on wearing it through the show? Yes,

you are. It was Strictly Come Dancing last night's. Is it called

Strictly Come Dancing, have I made that up? People just call it

Strictly. It was the final with Harry, Jason Donovan and Chelsee

Healey. That law is sprung loaded. You us, it is called a sprung floor,

which is great as a dancer to dance on. Is that the Tower Ballroom at

Blackpool? I have seen gigs there. There was a lot of glitter and fun

and festivity. Here is the result. Oh. Here is the result for you!

Harry Judd! A clean sweep this year. Have you seen on the tour they have

to do it behind closed doors now because of the pitch invasion for

the band. Next year, we are going for a clean sweep for Something For

The Weekend. We are going to win X- factor next year with owl erasure

Act. -- our Erasure act. What am I doing? You are doing the jungle.

worries. It will be a clean sweep. We are going to do all of them.

Since 2009, Pixie Lott has sold a million albums. She has had three

number-one singles, been nominated for three BRIT Awards, plus had a

sell-out UK tour. She will be telling us about her plans to crack

America. On her new album, did you know she has Stevie wonder

performing on it? And John legend. I am a big fan of both. The Wanted

will be telling stories about touring with Britney Spears and

Justin Bieber, also talking about their album and single, also about

having an army of screaming fans. If you have a question for either

of our guests, or who you think won the Christmas jumpers. I think I

won, but mine is too small for me. I wanted it to look like my little

brother's jumper. They didn't make a lot of these, bizarrely! This is

a one-off. Discomfort is the best part of it. You look absolutely

roasting. I am going to get a sweaty top lip by the end of the

show, always attractive on a woman. It is our last show before

Christmas, what will you be cooking? We will be starting with

tequila cured salmon. We all like a bit of cured meat at Christmas, so

curing it in tequila and sugar is delicious. It is nice.

intrigued by that. It has a nice flavour, nice texture. Texture is a

big thing when you are during things. It doesn't sound nice.

it not? I think anything with tequila sounds nice. It is lovely,

you will like it. You will be the main course, venison loin

Wellington. Look at that beast. Venice and, pate, mushrooms, gravy,

vegetables, what is not to like? For dessert, a traditional Danish

rice pudding. The story behind it, I will tell you when we do it with

The Wanted boys. Finally, leftovers today - sprouts are always left

over in my house. I love them. you not like them? We were saying

how much we like to brussel sprout. How and they are not just for

Christmas. Does anybody still do bubble and squeak? I like bubble

and squeak. I like it, but I don't think people do it. They eat their

food, don't they? They buy to eat. You can go to the website to follow

the recipes. Here is what Som the rest of the show today. -- what is

on the rest of the show. Who are you calling a little? You are quite

small. At the universe is explained in Brian Cox's Night With The Stars.

They behave more like waves and water. Gillian Anderson stars in

Great expectations. All of me is cold. Will your cocktails be making

us slightly more Christmassy today? I haven't got a Christmas jumper. I

have got this. That doesn't help you. You do look good today. I have

nice celebratory drinks for Christmas and New Year, bottled

they can't which has been much during in the fridge. -- bottled

eggnog. Did you see on X-factor last week, one of the contestants

had a shirt with no tie. Gary Barlow was really excited, wasn't

he? Worse than me! Let's Cook. Morning, Gary. We know that he

watches the show. He doesn't need to get up early in the morning!

Smash hits today! Come on, Gary. then we have tequila, soft brown

sugar and salt, chilly, mustard seeds, cumin seeds. Whatever

tequila you have got in the cupboard. Go on, in one! Come on,

it's Christmas. It is been drinking time. By the way, it is putting

stress and strain on our services, don't do it. Do your homework, tidy

your bedrooms. First things first, I am going to toast the cumin seeds,

the mustard seeds. Ideally, into a cold pan, let it warm gently. Tim,

the first job for you, we will have some lime zest and some chopping.

Louise, in the meantime, if you would like to combine the tequila,

sugar and salt, and makes that together. We are trying to impart

flavour. Literally just put it in like that? That is a lot of sugar.

Yes, you want to cover the salmon with all these flavours. The longer

you leave this, the better. Ideally, you would want to leave it for

about 48 hours. If you can do it even longer, that is nicer. This is

really potent. How much would you like? The zest

of all three, ideally. Thanks very much! That was a real reaction.

the girls are like that. I feel really told off. I forgot I was on

television then! What?! As my fashion correspondent, I have a

question to ask. I am shopping, am I? We don't need the juices. I went

shopping for my daughter's the other day, I won't mention a brand,

but everything is pink in the shops. My kids hate pink. Was it a real

bright pink? No, for orchids, little girls. They assume my

children are Katie Price. They are not! And they don't want to wear

pink. With boys, it is so different. Football shirt. Yes, literally. I

know it is hard if you have little girls who don't like pink because

everything comes in pink under a certain age. Did you buy things?

because they won't wear it. I buy my boys' school clothes and all

they want is football kits. -- cool clothes. Jot that, the line goes in

there. All of that in here? Yes, pretty much, a fine job. That is

beautiful. We have lime zest, the toasted spices, so now you get the

delicious flavour. It smells like a proper restaurant smell. That is

praise indeed. Press that on to the surface of the delicious salmon.

really should have done this a bit finer. Yes, but you get the idea.

It is about flavour because this gets wiped off at the end of the

day. That goes on, press that down, then we spooned all this lovely

mixed on to there. If you don't like tequila, you could do this

with vodka as well. It is the same principle. The alcohol starts to

cook the salmon slightly. It is just going to cut in the alcohol?

Yes, and all that happens now, the salt and sugar... I am so intrigued

by this. It is very clever. The alcohol is cooking? Yes, the

acidity is working here. Keep doing it, Little by Little. Obviously it

will still be wet. You then wrap it up really tightly. The tin foil

round, then we put another tray on top, and weigh it down. Why do you

have to do that? We want to press it down so we are squeezing moister

talking nonsense. I'm not sure you can put flavour in whilst getting

moisture out. I'm not sure of the science. If we compact it we are

changing the structure. I think it makes sense. The more it is pressed

down, the more the alcohol is seeping into it and it is curing.

But as he is saying that, the moisture is coming out at the same

time. I'm not having it, I'm sorry. Now combine the yoghurt and the

goat's cheese... Tim, get Professor Brian Cox on the phone right now.

That can't work. Now, chop some mint. Stop questioning everything,

Lovejoy. I'm not questioning everything, I just don't believe

the logic. Chop that and put into it the goat's cheese and yoghurt

mix. Here is our 12.5 kilo weight on top. I wondered what those

weights were this morning. I thought they were door thingies.

What else could you use to do that? Two house bricks. Get Jamie to

stand on it. Look what happens. the flavour's gone in and all the

moisture has gone out. That's exactly what's happened Tim.

believe you, Simon. Add the lime juice. How many? Just the one will

do. Here is this beautiful piece of salmon. What we do, we take it out.

It's compacted. Oh look, all the moisture has come out! Feel this

now. It's hard. And why is that? Because all the moisture has come

out. Thank you! LAUGHTER But Simon, all the flavour's gone in. LAUGHTER

Who needs to watch that Brian Cox show? We've got you doing it.

love Brian Cox. So do I, but I don't understand a word he says.

you like me go ych, yep, no, no, and then white noise? I start

thinking about his haircut and what a nice jacket he's wearing. That's

so me, what you just said that. I thought it was only me who watched

nice, intelligent programmes and after ten minutes think, what is

this actually about? See how lovely and dry this is. This is beautiful.

That does look amazing. Look at that, that's glorious. Are we

coming round here now? We are. Lovely slices of this. I do love it

when it is so far over. It's brilliant. And then we have our

lovely bits of salmon. And the goat's cheese, which works

brilliantly with it. Did you taste that? I don't really like goat's

cheese, so it's wasted on me. like goat's cheese. That's really

good. I'm going to try a bit of goat's cheese. Actually, that's

alright. It is a time commitment, you need look it -- leave it for a

couple of days. But that's better than salmon from the supermarket.

And the main course? The venison Wellington. That is really good.

You can follow our recipes on our website -

bbc.co.uk/somethingfortheweekend. It's time for a Christmas

adaptation of a classic story, starring Stephen Fry and Victoria

Wood, amongst others. This is one for the whole family. This is The

I can't believe she was right. My own little person. Who are you

calling little? Well, you are quite small. No I'm not. It is you who

are too big. You are a great big overgrown giant. We are just the

right size. There's more of you? didn't say that. Get back! Ow! I

was only going to help you out. aren't going to eat me? Eat you?

What would be the point? My name's James. Harietti.

Do you want a hand? Yes, please. If that was supposed to be funny...

Serves you right for stealing my gun. We don't staerblgs we borrow.

So -- We don't steal, we borrow. there are more of you? What's that?

How about I show you? What exactly does this thing do...

Are you alright? Look, I'm so sorry. You can enter the world of The

Borrowers on Boxing Day at 7.30 on BBC One. Our first guest readily

admit to being a manufactured boy band, but the auditions worked,

because in two years they've built a huge fan base in the UK and

abroad, plus turned out hit after hit, including these.

# I'm in pieces # It seems like this is the only

thing I've never known # How do you get it from an all-

# The sun goes down # The stars come out

# The universe will never be the same

# I'm glad you came, I'm glad you came #

. With we are glad you came. Welcome to The Wanted. You are

cheating, where are your dance routines? Has no-one tried to get

you to do dance routines? Back in the day we did try but we are so

bad we thought it's better not to ruin the singing. It is hard when

you are singing live and you've got loads of routine. You get out of

breath and can't sing properly. Louise said earlier you are a

manufactured band. Where are you all from? Bolton. Gloucester.

Nottingham. Dublin. Where were the auditions advertised? I Googled for

auditions. Doingle the answer. that a joke? I Googled auditions.

And someone said to me that the thing they had on the website was

Wanted, male singers" and then Nathan decided to call us The

Wanted. Do you all write? Did you all write beforehand? Yes. I saw

you at the Jingle Bell Ball. I did see instruments going on there.

it true, Max, that you had a chance to sign for Preston North End?

used to play football a lot when I was younger. I played a couple of

Games for England schoolboys. I love football. What position but

play? I was the smaller of the two forwards. But it didn't work out.

read that you had to make the decision. It was either the

drinking or football. Is it a good life? Are you enjoying it, the last

two years? It is amazing. You see things you never thought you would

see and go places you never thought you would go. It's quite busy.

never get to be home very much, which is the downside. But we've

been to Brazil, America, Australia, Asia. It's been a mad year. And the

second album you guys were much more involved in the writing. You

played a big part, which people don't realise takes up a huge

amount of time. What was the album structure? Did you all write on the

album? On the first album we contributed. But the record company

had an idea and helped us make that. But the second time it was

controlling. We don't like this track. Did you set out with a set

idea of what you wanted to do Manchester Unitedically? All the,

it was different to the stuff we did on the first album. When we

first heard it... We were used to catering for the younger market.

Boy bands are everywhere now. We'll probably maybe have more longevity

if we try to write stuff that everyone would like. It is hard,

because you have to always think of doing something different. There've

been so many bands before you and will come after, so it is

identifying your sound and your look and getting your own fan base.

Is that something you think about? These boys, the new single... I

mean, they incorporated a bit of dubstep. I'm a massive fan of

dubstep. It's become really big in the last year or so. To incorporate

dubstep in a boy band in general is a risk. A piano ballad! I think

we've got a clip of that single. # I know, I just gotta let it go

# I, I, I should have known # I gotta let you say goodbye now

# I through my armour down # I'm leaving the battleground for

the final time now # I, I, I know I'm running from a

war zone # So you are releasing that on Boxing

Day? Yes. You are not going for the Christmas Day number one? No, the

Boxing Day sales. Is the Christmas Day number one a write-off because

of X Factor? I think so. Because X Factor sets the standard, only

crazy songs with a story normally make it. Army Wifes are doing it

this year... Military Wives. They are saying that is going to win.

And nirvana have reached the anti-X Factor song as well. There is

always going to be a certain spin with that to go with that. You've

got a bit of time off over Christmas. It is eur last day today

and we are off for Christmas. We go away from a bit of a holiday over

new year. And then you are off to the States. How is it going there?

We are doing it anonymously I think. We went over, released the song...

That's not the way to celebrate! we go out there and say, we were a

boy band, a lot of people say no. Kiss FM in New York took it

straight away. We are so grateful for that. It's had really good

feed-back. You have to literally go everywhere to be successful

everywhere. It is quite nice, because we are going back to the

start again. We traipsed around schools and clubs and pubs for

three or four months. When we go to America we are doing the Rock and

Roll Hotel in Denver. It's going be a trek. It is maidsing that you see

parts of the world you will sever see... Like Denver! Make sure you

get your questions in for them. Tweet us at @SFTW or e-mail via the

website - bbc.co.uk/somethingfortheweekend.

We've got some pretty un- Christmassy headlines but a really

Christmassy song and film to help you guess the year in today's Deja

View. # Baby, all I want for Christmas is

Matt Busby was and remains an unsullied public figure, which

explains the loss of his death which goes far beyond the world of

football. Television screens are dominated by the court case with

the American footballer OJ Simpson. The President of the European

Commission Jack delor is disappointed that Norway voted

against joining the European Union. He said the door is open if it

changed its mind later in the decade.

# Make my wish come true # All I want for Christmas is you #

You are a very good Santa Claus. Your beard's stuck on real tight.

Usually the store's Santa Claus whiskers are a bit loose. Your as

realistic. That's because they are real. You give them a tug. I've

never seen that film. You? East 17 is the best one. The po Box

always win, that one is probably the best. What came next? It was

good, bizarrely. Who came third? East 17? Am I losing my credibility

for sticking up for East 17? Tim. 1993? 1994? I haven't got a

clue. Christmas songs all fade into one. What did you go for? Now 1994.

I will go with 1992. Cocking, what have we done this week? Christmas

jumper time. This is not as good as yours. He made the roulade, the

second attempt they have to walk all the way to his house. It is a

nice time, romance at Christmas. bended knee. Let us know. De do get

on bended knee when you propose? not with my knees. My knees, my

Achilles. I drew a picture of myself on my knees! You have got to

go on one knee, or otherwise for the rest of your life you're wife

will say you didn't go down on one knee. A couple engaged in my

restaurant this week. He did go down on one knee and it was very

romantic. This is probably one of the best pictures we have ever had.

This couple are from Liverpool originally, they are currently in

Uganda, and still found time to make the chocolate roulade. Finally,

Lucy and Victoria from Skipton, again they have made the roulade.

They are going to see The Wanted in Sheffield. They are not playing in

Sheffield in February? Must be wrong. Whatever you cook over

Christmas, do send in your pictures. This, Tim... This is exciting.

you want to do something exciting over the Christmas period, we are

going to do a venison Wellington. We have venison, field mushrooms.

So you sealed it first? The problem with venison is it is very easy to

overcook it. Season it in the pan until you get some colour, take it

out and then let it go cold. When you put it in the pastry and in the

oven. That's fine, we have protection now. As long as you only

like, but we have pate and pastry in the fridge. The first job for

you, Tim, is too finely chop some mushrooms. This is a duxelles of

mushrooms, which means finely chopped. Put them into the food

processor, pulsing them until they get to be fine. The other thing

about venison, it is quite rich meat. You need a good gravy or

something, don't you? A good reduction or something. We have a

rich stock gravy, we have port. In the gravy, a bit of Madeira is nice

for something like venison. In here, we have cooked some shallots, some

butter goes into there, then the finely chopped mushrooms go into

their as well. Let them start cookout a little bit. I went for a

fitness test this week because I am going to do the bike ride. This is

with Mark Cavendish, isn't it? but he's not cycling, he is the

ambassador for it. I have to cycle for three days, 100 miles a day.

That doesn't sound like a lot but I am assuming it is a lot, I don't

know. I went to do this fitness thing and this man said a brilliant

word - he said abs are created in the kitchen. So do have a dietary

plan? No, I haven't. Have you started cycling? No, I haven't.

good start! I was cheating because we have got to finish it. We have

got to sit them, until they squeak. Lots of water in there, then put

the port into there. Port really goes with venison, doesn't it? Or a

rich red wine. Anything that fortified. Even Cherie is good

because you want the rich flavour. Let this bubble down to pretty much

nothing, and you end up with this. Venison is very lean, isn't it?

There are your abdominal muscles in that. Now, with Wellington so

victor often we wrap them in pancakes. I am wrapping them in

streaky bacon, you could use Parma ham. We spread this duxelles a

cross here. Is that what this is for? I got one of these were the

set of knives once. For this one is blunt! We're really looking for a

platform to sit the venison on. That is beautiful. There is a lot

of flavour in that. Then we have the field mushrooms, the shallots,

so that is a delicious flavour in its own right. The venison we have

sealed, now we are going to sneer pate all over it. -- smear. We have

folded the venison in half so we have a fat joint. If you work your

hands, it might be easier to do but we are pressing it round. Do you

want a thick layer? It depends how much you like it. If you don't like

pate, you could leave it off. This is chicken liver pate, but it could

be anything you fancy. Stick that in the middle. Wild you wash your

hands, I will wrap this. We rolled it around on this side. It is a bit

of a faff, but the end result is worth it. I did one of these once,

didn't I? I did the Beef Wellington. Wrap it up, put it in the fridge,

and chill it. Then we end up with this here. That has been in the

fridge for about 20 minutes, an hour, two hours. It is nice and

solid now so we have a beautiful flavour. Next we stick the venison

on there, then we roll it around until it just over laps. It is

important you get a good contact with it. You wanted to be really

tight around it. This is one of those things that you know will be

beautiful. You don't want to have loads of pastry around here because

you don't want it to be soggy. tight. That's what we want, to him.

Then we want a nice neat end so we can be pretty as it can be. Like a

parcel? Yes, imagine it is a present, like all those presents

you bought yesterday. I have been struggling with my Christmas

shopping. All I have got to do is buy a present for my wife, then I

have a few bits and pieces for my kids. Most things I have fought

online, I will be honest. Use it this on to the board, then let this

chilled after you have a washed it. Let it Cheal, then a wash it again

so that is really glossy. -- chill, then eggwash it. A big fat piece of

that. We have our roast potatoes. This, on Christmas Day. Then a

little bit of rich gravy goes on there. Go for it. We will stand at

the back and watch. We are all right. The pastry is crispy. That

is absolutely awesome. What is for dessert? Danish rice pudding!

is still stirring. You can find Brian Cox is trying to make sure

our brains don't turn to mush over the festive period so he has filled

a lecture theatre with celebrities. Here, he is trying to explain

electrons to Sarah Millican in his Night With The Stars. A place where

there is no waves, then some waves, then no waves. You see that pattern.

If you were to draw a detector along there, you would see that.

Here you would see nothing, no waves, no electrons, here we have

waves and electrons. So what can week in For? Have you not done your

homework today? This is just the experimental data. This was done in

the 1920s and it was a shock, but the inference is...? That looks

like... This could be a long game! GCSE grade C remember. This pattern

here. What do you think? Just tell us. The electrons are behaving more

like the waves in the tank, water waves. That is a classic pattern

you see when you get waves passing through. This is what you might

have expected electrons to do, but they don't behave like sound. They

behave more like waves and water. Oh, that's me! Merry Christmas.

What were you thinking? I was thinking I am really hot. Yes, you

are. Ouch! You can learn from Brian Cox with Night With The Stars on

BBC Two tonight. With 1 million albums sold, three number-one

singles, over 100 weeks in the charts, a UK sell-out tour, are

next guest is one of UK's brightest # You'll have to cry me out

# You'll have to cry me out # # What would my Mama Do

# All the boys and the girls got it # Don't think I can take any more

# Don't know what you think I'm after

# What are do you take me for # Welcome back to Something for the

Weekend Lott lot. Will you be singing a song for us in a minute.

Ben will be standing by there, who you take everywhere, Christmas

shopping, the lot. Before that we'll talk to you about other stuff.

Let's go back to the beginning, you went to the same school as Louise?

I did, yes. Italia Conti. Did we have some of the same teachers?

D, ne? Rest in peace. Quick! Go to an ad break! LAUGHTER I went to a

Saturday school? Chislehurst, so I saw him not too long ago. He was

still exactly the same. It feels funny to go back. A great school

though. A great place. You can always tell a Conti girl. When you

go to a school like that you obviously do acting and singing.

Louise said she always wanted a pop career. Was that the same with you?

I went there because he heard of Italia Conti as being a school

where you could do dance, singing and acting as well as your school

work. Soy wanted to go there. We trained in musical theatre. I

always knew I wanted to be a recording artist. I did this

separate to school. Do you think it gives awe good grounding, when you

do musical theatre. I think it helps when you become an artist

100% it helps. I do shows but I don't feel too nervous, because

it's second nature. Just growing up in an environment where everyone is

into the same thing. It gives you confidence and gets you used to it

a bit. You have a very successful album. Your new album features some

legends, as in John Legend and Stevie Wonder. That's amazing. How

did it come? It happened naturally. I was in the right place at the

right time. I was just very lucky. With the Stevie Wonder thing it

happened because I was in a restaurants in LA. Just before I

left I bumped into an old friend. I didn't realise he knew Stevie and

was meeting him for dinner. Before we left he said, "Don't leave yet,

I've got a friend I want you to meet." I thought it was a random

guy. An old guy. Stevie walked in and it was such a moment for me. Oh,

my gosh. I was caught off guard. And the John Legend thing, we have

a mutual friend. Was you in the studio together or did you do it

separately? We met first of alls and looked at our schedules. We

were in New York for two hours on a Sunday, so we got into the studio.

He was on the piano and we came out with it really quick and recorded

the vocal. So John Legend plays the piano on the track? And sings.

Stevie Wonder plays the harmonica? Yes. But spend much time in the

States? Yes, I spent two months there with writers and producers.

But in London there is great people I work with here, so it is a

mixture between the two. We are going to get tow sing for us now.

Ben, would you like to come in? The Wanted are here as well to listen

to you. Hi, Ben. Have you got a mic? I have, yes. How are you?

pretty good. What song are you going to do? I'm going to do the

one that I wrote with John Legend. World Trade Center piano on the

recording, but Ben's playing the guitar. No pressure for you then,

Ben! # I don't get caught up

# Always have the upper hand # I'm the one who knows

# Even when I'm in love # I never give it all to one man

# But you came into this # I'm facing my first defeat

# I said I would never be a silly fool

# But look what you've done to me # Said I will never lose

# But you came in and changed the rules

# You win # I love you

# I don't care any more # Because who's keeping score - you

# I love it and my heart is surprised

# It's yours every time - you win # It's yours every time - you win #

APPLAUSE Lovely. Definitely a John Legend

vibe there. Well done. Are you going on tour soon? Next year I

think I will be touring. Probably next year. We haven't got any dates

but I'm excited about it. Are you taking Ben with you on tour?

Definitely. Ben Wes been with us from the beginning. Sam says what

are your plans for the 21st next month? It is on 12th January and

I'm having a massive party. I've looked at some venues but not

picked anything yet. I've got to get organised for. This boys, feel

free to come down. They'll be there like a shot. That's it from Pixie

for now but she will be cooking with Simon later. If you still want

to ask her anything, tweet us at @SFTW or go to our website -

bbc.co.uk/somethingfortheweekend. This is still to come:

If you like Dickens you can have Great Expectations. I am expected.

He is. You're not. Simon's final Christmassy dish is

sprout and potato quiche. And the girls are back looking Ab Fab.

whole house is alarmed now. Go! Go! It is our last show before

Christmas, so our gadget expert Lucy has some crackers, including

an iPhone dock that looks like a gramophone, a modern update on a

retro camera, and a radio- controlled stunt Buggy. She will be

here later to explain all. How does she change so quickly? Maybe I just

said it really quick. We are joined in the kitchen by two guys from The

Wanted. Tom and Max. How are you? Hello.

Did you cook? I love it. That surprises me. I'm not quite to the

venison standard yet. A bit of rice pudding. We should be able to nail

that. This is Danish rice pudding that. This is Danish rice pudding

with almonds. Have you done Denmark yet? We have,

yes. If you are there at Christmas. Instead of Christmas pudding they

do rice pudding. In olden days when we put sixpences in our Christmas

pud, finding the almonds in your rice pud is said to be good luck in

Denmark. You have a massive Christmas dinner and then you have

to neck this rice pudding to find the almond. I'm not sure how much

fun that would be. Our milk is coming to the boil. So we add sugar

and our pudding rice. What do you boys cook? I like chili con carne.

Mexican. I like Mexican. That's quite impressive. Spanish as well

bit of tapas. My mum taught me when I was younger. That's good when

mums teach their kids. I would like my boys to be able to cook when

they are older. Can you cook? this is the problem I'm facing at

the moment. They must be fantastic already, Lou, because with you it

is non- stop cooking in Redknapp Towers! They know what to order.

cook this slowly. It is a bit of a pain in the backside that you have

to stir it all the time. Rice pud. That on its own is lovely. Max,

what we are going to do now is set it, so the gelatine, we've soaked

it in water. Squeeze the moisture out of that and pop the gelatine

into that and beat it. It is quite weird to handle, gelatine. Squeeze

as much moisture out as you can. This isn't very vegetarian friendly

then? Jay, you are out of luck, mate. You could use a agar and

white still set. Beat that. It goes in when it is hot. That starts to

break down. A quick question from Rachel. Who did you prefer touring

with, Bieber or Britney Spears? think Britney Spears. That's a

surprise. You grow up can people like that. And she is pretty

amazing, what she's achieved. was new audience, an older audience.

Was she lovely? A really nice girl. She's done this a long time. She

was so nice. Cool. OK. We let that set. Tom, oh to you. This now

becomes our set one. That's quite solid. What we are going to do is

beat in this cream. So little by little, a spoonful of that goes in.

Start beating that in. The first bit, you are almost breaking it

down rather than trying to beat it in. Bizarrely we have set it and

now you want to soften it. This means it is holding together really

well. Now that you are engaged to Michelle Keegan, now you are going

to be the next celebrity couple are you taking over from the next

Redknapps? You think you are so funny, Simon! My girlfriend fancies

Jamie. He likes hearing autumn that. Does he? Of course! Are you aware

of the fact that as a couple it must put extra pressure on you? But

find that when you first started going out together? You don't think

like that. It is nice to just keep, sometimes you sound a bit hard work,

but keep as much of it out of the limelight as you confirm no matter

who you are, when you go home and shut the door, you are normal and

there is no rock 'n' roll. Well, there isn't in my house. There

might be in yours. But in our house there is no rock 'n' roll. We're

norm. That's what important. Like you say, she just sees me as Max.

She sometimes finds it weird watching me at gigs. And she does

her own thing as well, which helps. I find it weird that she is on

Corrie. I used to watch it as a kid. I go on the set quite a lot and I

feel a bit funny. Do you guys live in London or up north? The boys

live here but I still live many Manchester. So you get to see each

other. You are not struggling. lot of the time we are away, so

whenever I'm in England I'm in Manchester. If not I'm on Nathan's

sofa. My daughter did an acting class with Michelle last week and

said how brilliant she was, and normal. She went back to her old

acting schooling to help out. She loved it. The kids were really nice.

Yours included. There you go. that was fantastic. Beautiful. Now,

here's where, what you need to do is half fill each of those.

looks very creamy. It's a really creamy pud. Imagine you've had your

big Christmas dinner. Half fill each one to start with, Tom.

that it? Did you think it would be thing. One almonds goes in the

middle of these. You are all sitting round on Christmas Day,

really fall. Whoever gets the almonds will be lucky for the rest

of the year. This is where you can get creative. It is a bit messy,

sorry about that. You have put your own touched on it, it is safe to

say. Have I got time for one more e-mail? If you weren't sinners,

what would you be doing now? would be a chef. Probably not, from

this effort! My dad will be gutted. When I said we were making rice

pudding, he said remember to use nutmeg. We are using cinnamon. You

could use nutmeg. Maybe we can spoon a few out, or do we not need

to? Of course, only one of them has almonds in it.

Everyone grabbed the spoon, have a go. I missed the bit - why is it

Danish? It is traditional. Whoever gets the almonds gets good luck for

the rest of the year. What are we making next? Sprout quiche.

favourite. Anyone found the almonds in it? I have found gelatin.

Christmas cocktails next, but now your last chance to guess the year

Matt Busby was and remains an one solid public figure. The sense of

loss around his death goes much further than football.

OJ Simpson stands accused of murdering his ex-wife and her

friend. They President of the European Commission has said he is

disappointed that Norway voted against China in the European Union.

He said the doorway remained open if they changed their mind later in

the decade. # Make my wish come true.

# All I Want For Christmas Is You. There is no doubt about it, he is

real. Susan? What? What else did you ask him for? A baby brother.

Goodbye! Mariah Carey first bell to doubt her Christmas Classic this

year, but which year? 96. I am going to go with 1995. A bit you

have just tuned in by the way, I am wearing this because... Because

that is his taste in clothes. very next season. Simon decided we

should wear Christmas jumpers but he knew he had won in his Christmas

wardrobe, a nice taste for one, and Louise is obviously looking good in

hers. You didn't wear one because you didn't have one. So you are

going to make cocktails. I am going to do a really nice bottled egg nog.

It goes back to medieval traditions, Anglo-Saxon. When it came over to

the Atlantic, it was shortened to Beat the eggs, get them nice and

fluffy. Is it OK to drink raw eggs? Yes, because alcohol perverse and

Cox the eggs. The might get ill but you will be drunk and you won't

realise. That is a question that people do think about. It is just

not if you are pregnant, I would imagine. In which case you

shouldn't be drinking anyway! We have fresh eggs with the lion mark,

it is very slim chance you will get is to serve six people by the way.

You can make this before Christmas Eve, you could give it to your

family as a gift. We have golden rum Cognac, traditional, that goes

in and helped to preserve the eggs. You can put it in the fridge, ready

to go. You don't like the idea of raw eggs? When you watch what goes

into it, it is quite creamy. will taste like a very well-known

creamy liqueur when you taste it. Bay leaves, they have a nice earth

the herbal flavour. He said this aside, cover it with clingfilm.

Leave it overnight and it has a nice Christmassy smile. -- smell.

We have made this, this is not something we are adding. If you

want to serve its warm, you can put it in a pan and heat it up. This is

lovely fresh Christmassy drink. bit of nutmeg on top. Yes, and nice

drinking straw for the wheeze here. Have a drink of that, it is lovely.

-- for Louise. It is very strong, weighing.

That is really nice, very good. This one is called Prosperity. If

you have people at your house over the Christmas season, or on

Christmassy... This goes with my Christmas jumper. This has Ginn,

creme de cassis. When people come to your house, you shake this up,

it has a lovely warm colour. It is a lovely way of serving it and

changing the simple champagne into a more elegant, sophisticated drink.

More elegant and sophisticated?! nice Christmassy colour. Cheers.

Making gorgeous cocktails all year, you are a star. That's nice. You

can track down those cocktails on He was said to be the man who

invented modern Christmas so what better way to spend the holidays

than watching a bit of Charles Dickens starring Julian Anderson

and Ray Winstone. This is greater One day to you, Hannah. Tradesmen's

is round the back, as you well know. I am expected. Heat is, you are not.

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 44 seconds

You are pip from the Ford? Yes, madam. I am not Madam, I am not

married. You can call me Miss Haversham. Sorry, Miss. Are your

feet not cold, Miss? All of meat is cold. -- me. There begins on

Tuesday 27th December at 9pm on BBC One. Our gadget expert is here,

along with Siva and Jay from The Wanted. Have you done your

Christmas shopping? The S, a little bit. I have got a lot of nieces and

nephews to buy presents for. Do you like a good trip? Siva is very into

gadgets. When you go on the road? Yes, we have I pads. We have our

headphones on. The swan is not suitable for a tour bus because it

is pretty heavy. No, this is a Trumstand, basically a glorified

iPod. It is not exactly portable, you will not be carting it from

room to room. This horn stand is crafted from brass, plated in

nickel. I love about this, there are no electronics. It is natural

Acoustics, so play this. Old school. Very old school. I don't know if

you can hear that at home but the sound is odd, isn't it? You us, it

is designed to replicate the gramophone sound. It is a nice bit

of art, the acoustics are not necessarily what you would expect

from something that costs �1,500. Oh! For once I can agree with you

this gadget is expensive. It is more of an ornament, isn't it?

is for people with deep pockets or people who don't mind eating from

tins! Let's move on to the next one, this will be great for you guys.

This is a retro camera that has been reinvented for the 21st

century. We all know that Polaroid cameras are famous for instant

snaps. Press this button here and take a picture. Three models

together! That takes about a minute to come through. This is a 40 mega

pixel digital camera in one sense. Where has the picture gone? It will

take about a minute. There is the photo. Can you hear it printing? On

the one hand you can take the digital photos, but you can also

This is great. That's really good quality. Really good. This one has

that Polaroid look. Yes. That is a good picture there. You can add

borders. You can edit your photos, it's got red eye correction. You

can trim them. We've got some borders here. It is really clever.

Let's have a look. It looks like a night out. It is really cool. A

retro camera with a modern twist. Very nice. We'll sell that for

dental students. How much is that? �230. Expensive but it is good.

think that's well justified. Guys, grab a controller. I've got one of

these. The GX Buggy. Awesome. going to hold this one up. Go on,

Lewisy. This is the fastest acrobatic stunt car in the world

acrobatic stunt car in the world right now. Put it on the floor.

Driving skills don't come in the box. So if you are not very good,

don't worry. Whether you perform a good trick or a bad stunt it's got

this plastic roll wing, which means it will land on its feet every time.

OK. Do you like those, guys? You do, you liked it so much you bought one.

They are really fast. Jay? I love it. Brilliant. Thank you to Lucy,

Siva and Jay. For more information on the gadgets, e-mail us via the

website - bbc.co.uk/somethingfortheweekend.

There's been lots of talk about the return of Eddy, Patsy and Co. This

You're late. I am not late. Anyway, darling, you've got work to do when

I'm gone. You've got to update my website. My weapon site is me. It

must be fresh and happening. Vitamin B. Drink up. Alright

darling. Now, more blog, more flog. I want, "I met Ulrika at a party...

My favourite cheese" Shall I Twitter that? Yes, Twitter it. City

here and don't let my mother in. It's alright. I'm here already,

dear. Well, howdy stranger. It looks as though your jeans have

exploded. It's a skirt! It's a skirt. What are you doing here? I

haven't got time. You stay here and make sure she is not ever left

alone, and frisk her before she leaves. The whole house is alarmed

now. Go! Go! Go! And you can see Absolutely Fabulous on Christmas

Day at ten on BBC One. Pixie is with us now. I won't ask how your

cooking is. Last time you were on it was terrible. What were you

cooking? It was something toad with cooking? It was something toad with

a lemon. Something wasn't working. This is not my forte. Have you done

any cooking since? I'm really good at Heinz tomato soup. There are

other brands out there which are also good. This is leftover time,

so we are going to make a sprout and potato quiche. We've got

tarragon, old spice, sprouts, peas, lemon, eggs, cream, cabbage and

mayo. And a pastry case we've cooked already. Do you like

Brussels sprouts? I eat them when they are on my plate at Christmas

but they are not my first... you don't hate them? I don't hate

them E I kind of just eat them. Crack two eggs into that bowl.

this bowl? That in that bowl, yes. The pressure's on. One, two,

three... LAUGHTER It's good. There's no shell in there! That's a

different way of doing it but I like it. There's a bit of shell in

there. The key to that, if it goes in, you

can use the eggshell to get it back out. One, two, three... That was

good. It's a different technique that. Might catch on. It only looks

a bit mangled because it fell on this. Otherwise it would look

perfect. Whisk that together. You can be quite aggressive with it,

like you were with the egg. Is this cream? Cream in there. Salt and

pepper. We are adding old spice for flavour. Put the zest of the lemon

in there. This way? Yes. So you've learnt. Brilliant. I learnt this

from last time, this skill. Perfectly done. You've mastered it.

Are you left or right-handed? hand. That doesn't feel natural

that way either. Slowly by surely I'm getting somewhere. What you are

making there, Pixie, is all the custard, the bit that will set

around it. I'm chopping all the other things. The lemon will give

freshness. The potatoes that are cooked, I'm just crushing those.

Herb-wise we've got tarragon, for the aniseedy flavour going on in

there. Then we've got our sprouts. Is that enough? That's fine. Those

all go in. We've got peas. Why have you chosen this combination? What

are you likely to have left over after Christmas? Sprouts, spuds. If

you've got sausages left over you can chop them and put those in.

could just bungning in there? Absolutely. Slice the sprouts in

half and chuck those in as well. What is likely to be most left over

at the end of the day? Even if you had a bit of... I'm not sure I can

watch this. I'm quite impressed. When I did

some cooking at my little boy's school, who is five. What they

taught him to do with the knife is they said, "You make a little

tunnel and the train tunnel, the knife, goes through the middle." So

you don't cut your fingers. Make a tunnel. Through the tunnel. That

was right wasn't it? But that finger was so hit to being hit by

the train! Let's forget about that one! LAUGHTER I'm feeling stressed

now. We mix that together and pour that into there. That all goes in

there. Tell us something about Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder,

amazing. He is one of my idols. People say you shouldn't meet your

idols. But he was just as I expected. Was he genuinely

interested in you? Was he just fantastic? I hope so. He was just

lovely. He had so much time for everyone. Really gentle and humble.

Someone can so much success and was just really lovely. And charisma. I

love that. He certainly has that. It must be stressful to sing in

front of him. I was saying before, to sit on the sofa with a team and

a crew there, that must be stressful. But to sing in front of

your idols... But he wasn't in the same room. He would lay down his

bit and it is added afterwards. it was done at a different time.

I've slice ed a bit of onion. Carve a V. Like you are carving a pum

kin? Yes. It's stuck. What we do is we cut that in half down the middle.

With the we do is chop... Oh, no. am getting better at this stuff. I

might try this when I get home. I've got onion in there. We've got

our carrot as well. That's alright isn't it? I'm just worried about my

thumb. I chopped my thumb doing that. It was that this year or

last? I think that might have been this year. I don't know. I cut

myself on the show once as well. It was one of those moments when you

don't concentrate and you nick it. There was blood everywhere. We've

got carrot, chestnuts, onion. Pixie, put all of that cabbage into there.

Shove it all in? Yes. Our mayo goes into this as well. We squeeze a bit

of lemon again, just to freshen it up. Then we add plenty of pepper, a

bit of salt. Just give that a good mix. It looks at the moment when

you do it that you need more mayonnaise, but you don't. People

tend to put way too much mayo in a coleslaw. Then it settles. The

moisture comes out and it ends up being really sloppy and greasy.

What you want is just enough mayonnaise to coat the ingredients.

Where are you spending Christmas, Pixie? I'm going back to my mum ace

on Christmas Eve. I've got a big family on my dad's side, a big

family party, lots of food and drink. I won't be cooking. Then I'm

going on holiday, somewhere really nice. Cool. We've got to remember

it is Pixie's birthday as well. thought you meant we were going the

sing the Erase your thing. -- Eraser thing. Will you do a

rendition for me now? No, he is Andy Bell. Will you perform at my

birthday? What are we going to do, catering or singing? We could do a

bit of both. There are singing tenors at charitys do, we could do

singing Erasuee and be chefs. while you plate that up we can

cross to Louise, who has the answer cross to Louise, who has the answer

to the Deja View. The year when Matt Busby died and Mariah Carey

sang this number and the film Miracle On 34th Street was released,

what year was it, Tom? 1994. Anyone got it right? I'm going to do a

quick tweet The Wanted from Daniel. Is it true that you are working

with Rihanna on new songs? It is true. Example is our new song,

coming out some time next year. date planned! That's good. The

Wanted from Chloe Fisher. What do you think of One Direction? Are you

raising your game? Is there a lot of competition between you boys?

The boy band thing is back. We met them on the Extra Factor when we

were guests. They were really nice. We are happy they did well. They

weren't idiots. And we've met them again and they have stayed that way.

Don't you think there should be more competition, that you should

have a pop at eech other? -- each other? Maybe a few years ago.

That and East 17. What side were you on? I was East 17. I was Take

That. I absconded. You didn't get involved? No. Pixie, are you

playing Top Of The Pops. Has it been done? We've done it already.

Christmas top of the pops back. Christmas Top Of The Pops. On

Christmas Day. Did you not think they should bring back Top Of The

Pops 2? Everybody says that. get to see everything. It was great

institution. That's it. Time's up. Thanks to Pixie. Is that good?

Beautiful. And thanks to The Wanted. That's it for 2011. We'll be back