by Thinus Ferreira
As DStv subscribers fret since it doesn't appear on the schedule, M-Net says it has acquired The Royal Variety Performance 2024 which will be broadcast on 1 January 2025.
While the annual Royal Variety Performance broadcast remains a sought-after TVspecial, the past few years, its acquisition by M-Net (DStv 101) seemed dicey, with DStv subscribers now wondering every year about the will-it-or-won't-it potential since it doesn't appear weeks before on the M-Net programming line-up.
This year there is again no appearance of The Royal Variety Performance on the M-Net schedule, once again prompting DStv subscribers to speculate whether MultiChoice's premiere blue-ribbon channel has stopped buying it.
M-Net, in response to a media query, says The Royal Variety Performance 2024 will be shown on M-Net (DStv 101) this Wednesday, 1 January 2025 at 19:00.
The Royal Variety Performance 2024, an ITV Studios production which was recorded on 22 November, doesn't appear on the DStv electronic programme guide (EPG), with DStv subscribers unable to set a recording or a reminder or being informed that it will be shown.
The Royal Variety Performance 2024 was attended by King Charles in the Royal Albert Hall in London although Camilla was sick with a chest infection, with Alan Carr and Amanda Holden as the co-hosts this year.
Acts and appearances this year include the Starlight Express musical, Scott Bennett, Cirque Du Soleil, magician Stephen Mulhern, as well as Elton John and David Furnish and the musical version of The Devil Wears Prada.
Also included are James Bay, political comic Matt Forde, an outtake from the upcoming musical Oliver!, Penn and Teller, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, comedian Larry Dean, as well as the Britain's Got Talent winner Sydnie Christmas who is accompanied by Dave Arch and The Royal Variety Orchestra.
Also part of the variety special are Ellie Taylor, The National Ballet's Nutcracker and Lorraine Kelly's Change and Check Choir led by Marti Pellow. Nemo - not the fish but his year's Eurovision winner - is also part of the line-up.
There is also a sneak preview of The Comedy About Spies, with the American actress and singer Marisha Wallace who leads the UK's national anthem accompanied by the Fanfare Trumpeters of the Band of Welsh Guards.
