Debt gets a whole day of TV

The BBC has dedicated an entire day to Britain's growing personal debt problem.

On Hey Big Spenders day, BBC1 will examine why Britain has become a nation of credit junkies.

The centrepiece of the day will be a studio show in which 100 volunteers and a team of financial advisers will look at how we spend, how we get in debt and how it can be avoided.

Other parts of the day will feature Panorama documentaries on personal debt.

Other social issues tackled by the BBC's £177 million winter schedule include the rise of the far Right and children in care.

A new drama, England Expects, charts how the demonisation of asylum seekers and Islam is feeding the far Right in Britain.

Steven Mackintosh plays Ray, a responsible family man who is fiercely protective of his daughter but, as things start to go wrong he begins to lose his grip on reality.

His behav iour becomes increasingly erratic and he looks for other people to blame, and he is seduced back to his far-Right roots as his life spirals out of control.

Taking Care is a major new season of programming taking a positive look at Britain's 60,000 children living in care and what can be done to break the negative cycle some children face. The season aims to raise awareness and tackle the stereotypes with two documentaries titled About A Child and After Care. They tell the stories of young people recently out of care and of an older generation still haunted by the past.

They run alongside similar storylines in Casualty, Doctors and Neighbours, plus special programming on CBBC.

Lorraine Heggessey, controller of BBC1, said: "One of the challenges facing BBC1 is how to get a broad audience to engage with important social and political issues.

"This season we will be using a variety of different programming styles to connect viewers with some of the toughest challenges facing contemporary Britain."

Meanwhile, the nat ion's favourite brickies are back in the return of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet; and Victoria Wood offers her take on the dieting industry in Victoria's Big Fat Documentary.

Among other highlights of the schedule we will see Rolf Harris explore the art of portraiture in Star Portraits, when each week he'll be joined by a guest celebrity who will sit for three professional portrait painters.