History of Ski Sunday

Current presenters Matt Chilton and Hazel Irvine

Ski Sunday began in 1977 following the success of the 1976 Winter Olympics.

How could anyone forget Franz Klammer's epic run to come from behind and win the downhill gold medal, and Ron Pickering's accompanying commentary.

David Vine took on the role as presenter on the new programme - a position he held for 20 years.

Skiing was a novelty on television in those days, and a show which was nothing more than one link into some recorded skiing was enough to satisfy the demands of its new found audience.

The names of Klammer, Ingemar Stenmark and Anne-Marie Moser-Proell were the biggest name's skiing has known.

Vine presented Ski Sunday for 20 years

These greats certainly helped to launch the sport on television.

Over the years, the programme's appeal has always been the stunning mountain scenery, the death-defying feats of the downhillers, the spectacular crashes, and the great moments - like Britain's Konrad Bartelski coming second in Val Gardena in 1981.

There have been some great Olympic moments as well. Bill Johnson from the USA coming from nowhere to win downhill gold in 1984, Alberto Tomba's double slalom gold in 1988, and Hermann Maier's huge crash in the Nagano Olympics in 1998.

Vine finally hung up his ski boots in 1997, and Hazel Irvine took over and brought a livelier presentation style to the programme.

In the last couple of years, the show has added to its talented team, bringing in Matt Chilton's commentary skills, and Graham Bell's technical expertise.

Bell is a veteran of five Olympic Games and he is now performance director at the British Ski and Snowboard Federation.

Ski Sunday is back on 16 December at 1330 GMT on BBC Two.