War and Peace for BBC Radio 4 at Christmas

An ambitious, ten-hour production of War and Peace starring John Hurt, Simon Russell Beale and Lesley Manville is the highlight of Radio 4's Christmas schedule. 

Leo Tolstoy's epic novel about the events leading up to Napoleon's invasion of Russia will air on New Year's Day in a dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker, the award-winning playwright behind Our Country's Good.

The production will be accompanied by a ten-hour 'Twitterthon' that will include family trees, maps, historical trivia and running commentary on the social media website.

Another highlight is the first dramatisation of end-of-the-world cult novel Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Mark Heap and Peter Serafinowicz join forces to play an angel and demon trying to prevent Armageddon because 'it's all rather inconvenient'.

The cast also includes Colin Morgan, Josie Lawrence, Clive Russell , Julia Deakin, Louise Brealey and Charlotte Ritchie.

It's the end of the road, however, for Cabin Pressure, the sitcom starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Roger Allam. The finale, in two episodes, takes off with special guests Anthony Head and Timothy West.

In the mix are Archbishop Justin Welby and actor Ray Winstone as Kirsty Young's special guests on Desert Island Discs in December.

Imelda Staunton, meanwhile, breathes life into 1950s St Custard's schoolboy Nigel Molesworth, based on the popular books written by Geoffrey Willans.

Listeners can gorge themselves on an adaptation of Nigel Slater's food memoir Eating for England, starring Celia Imrie and Rhind Tutt.

There's also David Attenborough in World Tweet of the Day, a festive fortnight of short stories about birds from around the world; an adaptation of Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol; and Ian Hislop, star of Have I Got News for You and editor of Private Eye, choosing his favourite pieces of writing with the help of Jim Broadbent and Tamsin Greig for With Great Pleasure on Christmas Day.

Programmes with specials include Dead Ringers, The Infinite Monkey Cage and The Archers. In a first for the radio soap, listeners will hear a full production of Blithe Spirit staged for the Ambridge Christmas show in a 90-minute episode.

Gwyneth Williams, controller of Radio 4, said: 'I'm thrilled to have such a rich collection of programmes to bring to Radio 4 listeners over the festive season.'