The Choir: New Military Wives (BBC2, 9pm)

CHOIRMASTER Gareth Malone thought another group of military wives would be the perfect choice to launch the nation’s centenary commemorations of the outbreak of the First World War.

As a result he went off in search of another dedicated wives super-choir to stage a special Prom, in association with the National Theatre’s Warhorse team. The cameras take up the story three years after Malone created a chart-topping military choir, which has seen the organisation mushroom to more than 80 choirs and 2,000 members around the globe. Now the bespectacled choirmaster starts the audition process for another 100-strong group of nervous singers.

As the gruelling rehearsals get under way Malone discovers that the wives’ dignity, in the face of the ever-constant threat to their loved ones, is as strong as ever, and the wives discover powerful parallels with their counterparts 100 years before them. The first episode culminates in an emotional performance at RAF Brize Norton for some of Britain’s last deployment of troops to return from Afghanistan.

In the second episode Gareth works the wives harder than ever, as they prepare to share the stage of the Royal Albert Hall with some of the world’s top professional musicians last August - the eve of the day that Britain entered the Great War. The repertoire forces the wives to confront their own vulnerability, and one of the serving wives makes the momentous decision to leave the Armed Forces. This episode culminates in Malone and his amateur choir giving the most consummately professional and emotionally engaged performance.

The challenge came just weeks after teaching a group of celebrities to sing in aid of Children in Need, and choirmaster Malone had to persuade women more used to belting out pop songs, that they should adapt to First World War-era classical hits such as Gustav Holst's Ave Maria set in eight-part harmony. Then there’s Tennyson’s Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead, unaccompanied in four parts on the subject of surviving the loss of a loved one.

Only the best technical singers are going to make it and there’s plenty of weeping, wailing and warm-hearted moments to come.

You wonder if Malone minds being typecast as a choirmaster but he says: “But I am a choirmaster. Everyone worries about their next job. Nobody in the public eye thinks they’re totally secure. I think I’m in a nice position because I do television about something I really love. I’m not planning on revealing my dancing talents, especially since I had Craig Revel Horwood in one of my choirs. I’m not sure I’d want to put myself on the other side of the table to him.”

The Great British Bake Off Christmas Masterclass (BBC2, 8pm)

PAUL Hollywood and Mary Berry are here to remind us that you don't have to stop with the old British favourites like Christmas cake and pudding, and the experts are going to show us how it's done.

Hollywood starts off with St Lucia buns, saffron concoctions that are traditionally eaten throughout Advent in Scandinavia. He also offers up a variation on the mice pie in the form of a mincemeat and marzipan couronne, but his real showstopper is a kranskake, a spectacular tower made up of rings made from a delicate mixture.

Berry is getting busy too with a French galette, a fruit-filled Genoa cake that works as an alternative to the more traditional Christmas variety, and a white chocolate and stem ginger cheesecake.

The Missing (BBC1, 9pm)

POOR Tony (James Nesbitt) only took his eyes of his five-year-old son for a split second in a crowded bar, but it was long enough for the youngster to disappear without a trace - until eight years later, the bereft dad spotted a familiar-looking yellow scarf in the background of a Facebook friend's photo.

It may not have seemed like much, but it was enough to persuade retired detective Julien (Tcheky Karyo) to take up the case again, and to hook viewers for eight episodes. Now, the investigation comes to an end, and Tony, Emily (Frances O'Connor) and Julien finally get the answers they've been waiting for. But does this give them any kind of future?