(Image credit: BBC)

Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock will mark the 200th anniversary of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures with a genuinely ambitious, thought-provoking and daring trio of talks on space – specifically, the potential for extraterrestrial life.

You can watch Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2025 online from anywhere with a VPN and potentially for free.

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It's a divisive topic even within scientific circles, one that pits probability, theory and imagination against cold, hard evidence. On the one hand, how could anyone possibly entertain the notion that our planet is the one place in the infinity expanse of the universe with the properties to sustain life. On the other, when's the last time you saw an alien?

Using images captured by the James Webb Telescope – not just the most powerful space telescope ever created, but one that Aderin-Pocock herself helped to develop – the William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize-winning honorary research associate at UCL and Sky at Night presenter will set out in search of fellow ‘Goldilocks Planets’ beyond the Milky Way.

Aderin-Pocock will also tip her hat at her predecessors, including Warren De La Rue, Carl Sagan and Kevin Fong, by dipping into the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures archives to unpack the manifold ways in which fresh scientific breakthroughs have altered our understanding of space.

Expect to feel old, as you're reacquainted with original props from yesteryear, and perhaps even a historical demonstration or two.

Read on as we explain how to watch Royal Institution Christmas Lectures from anywhere.

Can I watch Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2025 for free?

Yes. Viewers in the UK can watch Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2025 FREE of charge on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. Everyone else can tune in for free via the Royal Institution YouTube channel.

Outside the UK this festive season? Use to unlock your free streams.