The 12th episode of the science fiction drama series Men Into Space airs on CBS, starring William Lundigan. Guest starring Whit Bissell, this episode acts as a Christmas special.
The 47th episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Art Carney and John Fiedler star in an episode written by Serling.
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The 25th episode of Sydney Newman’s spy series The Avengers, starring Ian Hendry and Patrick Macnee, airs on UK broadcaster ABC. This episode is now missing from the archives, but will be recreated in audio form in the 21st century by Big Finish Productions.
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NASA and the United States Weather Bureau launch the eighth experimental TIROS weather satellite, TIROS-8. With TIROS-7 still fully operational, TIROS-8 expands coverage of Earth’s weather (including early detection and tracking of Hurricane Betsy, the first hurricane in American history to cause over $1,000,000,000 in damage) and tests new technology, including a high resolution, slow-scan imaging system. TIROS-8 is the second longest-lived of the early experimental TIROS satellites, remaining in service for three and a half years.
ABC airs the 13th episode of Leslie Stevens’ anthology series The Outer Limits. Janet Blair and Henry Silva star.
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UK broadcaster ATV Midlands airs the 13th episode of Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation science fiction series Thunderbirds, featuring the voices of Shane Rimmer, David Graham, Sylvia Anderson, Ray Barrett, and Peter Dyneley.
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The 15th episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series The Time Tunnel airs on ABC, starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. Whit Bissell and Lee Meriwether geust star.
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ABC broadcasts the 16th episode of the Filmation animated series Journey To The Center Of The Earth, very loosely based on the 1959 movie of the same name. Ted Knight, Pat Harrington Jr., and Jane Webb lead the voice cast.
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The 186th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. Patrick Troughton plays a double role, starring as both the Doctor and as the ruthless dictator Salamander, in a story set in Earth’s future. Previously missing from the BBC’s archives, a copy of this episode was recovered in Nigeria in 2013.
NBC premieres the second episode of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, an anthology series of original short plays and short story adaptations hosted by Serling himself. Diane Keaton, Burgess Meredith and Joseph Campanella guest star.
The 25th and final episode of The Sixth Sense airs on ABC, starring Gary Collins. Percy Rodrigues (Star Trek), Tom Bosley (Happy Days), and Frank Ashmore (V) guest star.
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The 14th and final episode of the British comedy series Robert’s Robots airs on ITV licensee Thames Television, starring John Clive (A Clockwork Orange, Yellow Submarine) as eccentric inventor Robert Sommerby and Nigel Pegram as one of his robot creations. In addition to being the show’s Christmas special, this episode is also both a musical and the series finale.
The 41st episode of Gerry Anderson’s space adventure series Space: 1999 airs on British broadcaster ITV, starring Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, and Catherine Schell.
CBS airs the 16th episode of the Space Academy spinoff series Jason Of Star Command, starring Craig Littler, Sid Haig, and James Doohan (Star Trek). This brings the series’ first season to an end; it will return in 1979 in a slightly longer format.
The 496th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, continuing the Key To Time storyline. Philip Madoc, Glyn Owen and John Abineri guest star. Despite the proximity of the broadcast date to Christmas, this is not considered a “Christmas episode.”
The Black Adder Christmas special Blackadder’s Christmas Carol airs on BBC1, starring Rowan Atkinson. Nicola Bryant (Doctor Who) guest stars.
The seventh episode of children’s science fiction series Aquila premieres on BBC1, starring Ben Brooks and Craig Vye. The series is adapted by Andrew Norriss from his own novel of the same name. This episode brings the first season to a close.
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Big Finish Productions releases the 38th Doctor Who audio drama in its Companion Chronicles range (short stories performed audiobook style with one or two actors). Carole Ann Ford and Tara-Louise Kaye star.
British-born shuttle astronaut Piers Sellers dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 61. A veteran of over 559 hours in space as a crew member of shuttle missions STS-112, STS-121 and STS-132, Sellers was trained as a meteorologist and did much of his research on climate change, eventually becoming NASA’s acting director of Earth sciences after retiring from flight duty.
Streaming service Amazon Prime releases the 50th episode of the science fiction series The Expanse, based on the series of novels by James S.A. Corey (a pseudonym for writers Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham).