The Snowman (9.30 am R4). Are snowmen pagan survivals? This and other questions considered by experts in folklore, theology, philosophy …
The Civil War: The Cause (10.00 am History Channel, and for rest of week). Another reshowing of Ken Burns’s classic series about the American Civil War starts here. (It’s in one-hour chunks, so it may not be the full version.)
Christmas Story – Myth or History? (11.00 am R4). More questions, more answers from ( inter alios ) classicist Peter Gandy, theologian Elaine Storkey, astronomer Simon Mitton.
» The West : Empire Upon Trails (11.15 am BBC2). Ken Burns’s series about the North American West, part two (1806–1848).
Fantastic Tales (3.30 R4). Autumn Sorcery by Joseph von Eichendorff, read by Jamie Glover.
» Twenty Minutes (8.00 R3). On Alan Bush, Marxist composer, who was born 100 years ago.
Case Notes (9.00 R4). Health precautions for travellers.
Five Steps to Tyranny (9.00 BBC2). Are ordinary people capable of carrying out horrific atrocities? Documentary featuring experiments in social psychology that suggest the answer is 'Yes', plus the expert comments of psychologists Philip Zimbardo and Mark Levine, human rights specialists and others.
Royal Portraits (10.00 ITV). The Queen Mother.
Faces of Islam (11.25 BBC1; 11.55 in N. Ireland, Scotland, 12.05 am in Wales). Sultan Ghalib Al-Qu’aiti.