Christmas: travel programmes on TV A team of adventurers and scientists, including naturalist Chris Packham and diver Andy Torbet, visit the Arctic to explore the world of icebergs. In this two-part film, they head for Store Glacier in Greenland and look at the forces at work in this unpredictable environment. Tales from Northumberland with Robson Green (ITV1, 8.00pm) In the final episode of the series, the actor visits three landmarks which have played a key role in Northumbrian and British history - Hadrian's Wall (Romans), Kielder Water (the biggest man-made lake in northern Europe) and Hexham Abbey (Anglo-Saxon crypts). Wednesday - December 25 The Bachelor King and Galápagos with David Attenborough (Sky Atlantic, 12.30pm) Two of Sir David Attenborough's more recent documentaries begin with The Bachelor King, a rites of passage story shot in South Georgia and artfully and movingly telling the moving story of one King Penguin from adolescence to adulthood. In Galápagos (2.00pm), Attenborough explores how life on the island has continued to evolve in biological isolation. Bear's Wild Weekend with Stephen Fry (Channel 4, 8.30pm) Bear Grylls takes Stephen Fry on an expedition to the Italian Dolomites, setting him a series of challenges, from descending a 500ft waterfall to sleeping in a First World War trench. Thursday - December 26 Ben & James Versus the Arabian Desert (BBC Two, 9.15pm) Ben Fogle and James Cracknell follow in the footsteps of British explorer Wilfred Thesiger and attempt to trek across a part of the Rub" al Khali desert - known as the Empty Quarter. Thesiger travelled extensively in the region between 1945 and 1949. Part two is on December 27 at 9pm. Friday - December 27 Africa 2013 (BBC Two, from 8.30am) A series of African wildlife related programmes shown on the BBC throughout the year begins with Countdown to the Rains (BBC Two, 8.30am) in which Kate Humble and Simon King report from Zambia near the Luangwa River, where the rains have finally come and everything has changed for the local wildlife. At 9.30am in Africa, David Attenborough explores the landscape and wildlife, beginning with meerkats, insects, a giraffe fight and the rarest fish in the world in the Kalahari. And in Earthflight (10.30am) the landscape of the continent is viewed from the sky in a film narrated by David Tennant. Bear Grylls Survival Academy: roasted rat for dinner Bear Grylls survival academy to launch in Africa Sir David Attenborough on the Galápagos Islands Inside the 24th ICEHOTEL