Animals With Cameras is one of the most exciting projects I have worked on in over 20 years of making factual television because it is a genuine collaboration between film-makers and scientists.

For some time now there’s been a movement in the scientific community to use cameras to learn more about animals’ lives. The problem is that there are enormous technical challenges involved in building cameras which are small enough for an animal to wear comfortably, without affecting their behaviour, but which can also generate footage of a high enough quality to be useful. With hindsight, it was a no-brainer to bring the Natural History Unit’s accumulated 60 years of camera-innovation experience to bear on solving the scientists’ problems.

Animal welfare was our number one priority. Before even thinking about putting a camera on an animal we had to be certain that the camera wouldn’t inconvenience it or cause discomfort. Building the cameras involved a constant dialogue between us and the scientists. They would specify the size limits, the best way to attach the camera, the maximum length of time it could be deployed and the best way to get it back afterwards. The production team would then source the parts and work through a number of designs and prototypes until everyone was happy. Without the scientific experts’ sign-off on animal welfare there was no deployment.

There also had to be a clear potential scientific benefit to putting the camera on-board. We only got involved if the scientists felt that the footage would help them to better understand their animals’ lives and we were led throughout by the questions they wanted to answer. The reality is that it is very hard to observe animals everywhere they go. How do you follow meerkats through their labyrinth of burrows, a chimp into the treetops? Sometimes an on-board camera is the only way and the knowledge gleaned can be of great value in protecting the animal into the future. Understanding more about how and where penguins feed, for example, could help to shape decisions about fisheries policy.

Most of our camera systems were designed and built by Chris Watts, for whom camera innovation runs in the blood. Chris’ father, Jonathan, has been building bespoke specialist cameras for wildlife film crews since the Eighties.

The cameras really are marvels of miniaturisation. Most were built from scratch, with the components - batteries, lenses, circuit board etc - often plundered from other cameras. It’s only been in the last few years that technology has moved to the point where it’s possible to make cameras on this scale that can shoot in High Definition and have enough battery power to run for hours at a time.

We went to great lengths to ensure there was as little disruption to the animals as possible – shaving the penguin cameras down millimetre by millimetre to minimise drag for example, or cutting holes in the cheetah head harness to create a cooling flow of air between head and camera. Most of the cameras could be removed by the animal (though this did result in some being destroyed in spectacular fashion, most notably by Kimbang, our orphan chimp) and the maximum length of time they stayed on was a couple of days (most were just on for a few hours).

Picture quality was also crucial and we have the perfectionism of Chris and Marcus Shirley, our underwater camera designer, to thank for helping us achieve that. Marcus dived into the sea off Plymouth at night in mid-winter in order to test the light sensitivity of a range of different potential underwater cameras and spent months working with a Portuguese engineering company to perfect the innovative ‘Devil Ray Cam’ (a ground-breaking design which is towed along behind the animal). Chris spent long hours making sure his camera could see past a baboon’s chin and testing different ‘Guardian Dog Cams’ on his pet Labrador.

Perhaps my favourite example of perfectionism, however, came with the meerkat cameras. Not only did he manage to fit miniature infra-red LEDs on to the camera collars to help us to film in the pitch black of the tunnels (without disturbing the meerkats) but he also adjusted the LEDs so that the lights bounced off the walls, rather than pointing directly down the tunnel. This gave the lighting a much softer feel, resulting in much more attractive images, and also enabled the cameras to pick up much more of the detail of what was going on.

The revelatory footage we’ve shot has enabled us to tell some great new stories about animals’ lives and allowed us to see the world through their eyes in a way that’s not been possible before. As wildlife film-makers, however, there’s something even more satisfying about this series. We rely constantly on scientists to point us to exciting new animal behaviour so it’s great for us to be able to give something back and help the scientists in return.

Dan Rees is Series Producer, Animals with Cameras

Animals with Cameras continues on BBC One on Thursdays at 8pm, or catch up on iPlayer

There is a ‘matter of factness’ in the way contributors tell their story, so is the emotional reaction rooted in our own projection?

I think it is perhaps the fact that we cannot help but be moved, hearing many of the individual stories for the first time ever. However, for the survivors, who have experienced so much loss, they have wept all their tears over the past seven decades and can be quite stoic about it now. When you look at documentaries on the Holocaust you see images of horror on such an enormous scale that it’s overwhelming, people don’t seem like individuals, they are statistics in a way. But that changes when you actually meet somebody like Axel and hear a very personal story. You come to understand that he was an only child when he came over on the Kindertransport and then both his parents, who had to remain behind, killed themselves rather than go to Auschwitz. Here he is as a man in his late eighties, telling us his story of being all alone, a young boy in England with nobody.

How do you verify the stories?

There are some stories you can verify easily because people like Sir Nicholas Winton, who brought so many children over from Prague on the Kindertransport, kept meticulous notes and records. So there are records to a degree, but also I think what we were relying on was family stories. For example the children of the survivors of the holocaust whose parents passed on their stories to them. Together these descendants of some of these survivors made memory quilts to pass on their stories to future generations. Of course it also goes without saying that we had our commentary checked by an academic for cultural and historical accuracy.

At the time the Holocaust was happening there was a lot of chaos. Some of the children were very young and some of the facts might have been confused, they might also have been told sanitised versions, to protect them.  Zahava - didn't know that her mother had kept so many artefacts from their experiences in Bergen-Belsen because her mother was keen that she live her life without this enormous great shadow over it and wasn’t reminded on a daily basis of her time at Belsen. It was only when Zahava's mother died that they found all the items in the attic.

It struck me that there wasn't much dialogue, and the information wasn’t overwhelming and yet the detail I was provided with was striking enough for it me to have such an emotional reaction....

The survivors were incredibly eloquent, what they had to say was powerful. They were quite difficult pieces to edit for broadcast because we allowed a fair amount of time for each recording and each story could almost have been an hour in its own right. But we had to take them down to short interviews. What we decided to do was to look at the Holocaust as a whole and tell the stories in chronological order, from Judith Kerr's fleeing in 1933, right up to liberation and post liberation. Each piece told a specific period of a family's or individual's story.

I worked very closely with assistant producer Sophie Wogden. We visited most of the contributors in their homes before the filming. We wanted to ensure that they would be comfortable telling their stories on camera - for some it was the first time - and that they understood what we were asking them to do, so that they weren't made vulnerable in any way. 

I'm thinking a lot about the board game…

When I first came across that board game it was in the Wiener Library in Russell Square. It stops you in your tracks because you can't believe that non-Jewish German families were sitting down to play a board game called 'Jews Out’, encouraging their children to have this whole attitude of the Jews being evil and bad and something to be gotten rid of. While they were playing these games at home, in schools the Jewish children were being segregated. Jewish children were being made to sit at the back of classrooms or even sent to different schools completely, the teachers were ridiculing them, it's horrific really.

You made a quite understandable decision not to value the items that were brought to the programme, but what currency do those items have?

At the start Fiona Bruce says that they are, historically, priceless. It feels quite clichéd but they genuinely are. For example, the pair of striped trousers from Auschwitz, the material cost nothing, but when you come into contact with a pair of those trousers having seen the images of people wearing them in concentration camps, they are incredibly poignant and potent. When I met up with the owner Sybil before filming and she handed them to me I felt a mixture of awe and respect and horror all at the same time. You almost want to get rid of them, or put them down, or hand them on as quickly as you can, and yet you know that they are such a stark reminder of the holocaust that you can't help but be drawn to them at the same time on a very human level.

Were there contributors who were reluctant to participate?

I think a lot of the survivors want to make sure their story is told. Some of the contributors that we interviewed came via the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation and they had given their testimony for the new archive, which is due to be built and therefore had already spoken about their experiences. We put out an appeal on the Antiques Roadshow in October inviting people to get in touch with us if they would like to be involved and we had a tremendous response. We had several hundred people get in contact, so there were enough people who wanted to be involved and who wanted to share their stories.

How did the process change you?

I thought I knew a fair amount about the Holocaust, but working on the programme made me realise how little I actually knew. I found it a very humbling experience. It really made me think in real terms about how some of the contributors had lived through the most horrific times. I was taken by how these survivors managed to carry on, after suffering so much, often having lost their families, starting again with nothing, building themselves a new life in Britain and creating their own families.

When you are making a film like this, you are really immersed in it – for example, I spent time watching a great deal of horrific archive footage then went back into the edit suite, carried on editing, putting the programme together and was being very matter-of-fact about what we were producing. The next day, I had to give a presentation to our department about the programme and as I started to talk about the programme in front of a room full of people, I started to choke up as I told some of the stories. At that point I realised that it does affect you, of course, these human stories of family members who have been killed. You realise how close to home it could be. It could have been your mother, your son, your brother. 

The Antiques Roadshow Holocaust Memorial is on BBC One on 15 January at 7.30pm

There are moments when I watch or listen to programmes on television or radio and have a sixth sense that this programme has been made especially for me – a treat or a personal indulgence for which I can legitimately wrest control of the TV remote from my partner and make some demands. All Together Now – a four episode challenge to find the most inspiring UK amateur orchestra – is a good example.

Gemma McAusland from Stirling Orchestra, one of the groups who participated in the Final of the competition staged at the Royal Albert Hall, helped illustrate the common misunderstanding about the word ‘amateur’ during an interview a few days before.

"It’s a strange word to describe things. My perception of it is that there is this stigma that ‘you’re not quite good enough to be professional’. For me we need to define the word. For example, we have some amazingly talented musicians in our orchestra, but the expertise they’re paid for is in a different field."

I’ve written before on this blog about my love of classical music – a lifelong friend that has always delivered, never let me down, and always surprised and delighted. A lot of that appreciation comes from my experiences as a teenager playing in training orchestras and amateur groups. For some of those who learn how to play an instrument, playing in an orchestra is the next step. But the amateur scene also brings a wide range of different people together.

"Our cello section in the Stirling Orchestra has a real mix of ages," continued Gemma during the interview. "We are a group of people who just have the same sense of humour. We love music of course, but it’s more about the fun for us. We play because it is our hobby: it’s that fine balance between not wanting it to be professional or perfection. If it’s professional it’s no longer is a hobby. Amateur means you’re doing something because you love it; it doesn’t mean you’re not good enough’."

Broadcasting has a habit of insisting on the very best exponents in a particular field. It showcases professionals - audiences have come to expect that – and puts them on the screen or behind the microphone. In other cases it creates entertainment with the tantalising prize of being a professional at the end of the process.

All Together Now differed by celebrating the amateur and in the process encouraging others to do the same. That’s why seeing the North Devon Sinfonia and Stirling Orchestra join forces for a special performance of Nimrod from Elgar’s Enigma Variations when the finalists convened at the Royal Albert Hall was such a special affair.

There was an egalitarian quality to the concert experience which made for an emotional interpretation. The music – seen by many as the epitome of British identity in musical form – is made all the more potent we identify with the performers. To see people like us perform in an iconic concert space like the Royal Albert Hall brought a new energy to the piece.

Something similar occurred in episode one of the series when all of the competing orchestras got the chance to perform their symphonic extracts in BBC Maida Vale studios – the iconic home of the BBC Symphony.

We weren’t listening out for the ‘best’ performance; we were experiencing a different kind of performance, one hyped-up by playing in one of many aspirational spaces for an orchestral musician. The energy from the London Gay Symphony Orchestra’s excerpt from Tchaikovsky’s sixth symphony was electric. The Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of a section of Rachaminov’s second symphony was similarly gripping. As a demonstration of the inclusivity of participatory music-making, the People’s Orchestra rendition of the March to the Scaffold highlighted the fun in playing classical music which is often overlooked.

These, like all of the repertoire each orchestra had to learn during the series, challenged the players. Winners North Devon Sinfonia performed an excerpt from Beethoven’s fifth symphony.

Speaking before the final, conductor Emma Kent explained the impact having to learn what was unfamiliar repertoire for the orchestra:

"When you’re dealing with Beethoven or Mozart – you have to be clear and precise. Broad brush strokes – our specialty – is not what works. Broad brush strokes helps amateur orchestras engage emotionally with the music – it’s easier to take people on that emotional journey.

But where the music of Mozart or Beethoven is concerned for example, precision and neatness is incredibly important. That can present a real challenge for amateur musicians. So to be presented with Beethoven 5 like we were in the first episode was a really good way of forcing us to look at the detail.”

That challenge is evident in each performance too. Above all else, I appreciated the fragility evident in the playing. With fragility comes an authenticity which helps give familiar music a human angle that we miss with the standard of professional performances we’ve come to expect. It is through amateur music making that players and listeners alike come to understand a work a little better. And there are – as far as I recall – very few occasions in broadcasting where that opportunity arises.

Jon Jacob is Editor of the About the BBC website and blog.

• Watch all four episodes of 'All Together Now: The Great Orchestra Challenge' on BBC iPlayer.
• Read Jon Jacob's interview with the BBC Symphony Orchestra's Chief Conductor 'In Conversation with Sakari Oramo'.

Despite a wet winter, snow in April and a distinct lack of sunshine it’s been a good year for gardening.  The teams behind Gardeners’ World and the Flower shows have been working tirelessly to bring the very best in gardening and horticulture to our loyal viewers.  We produced almost 13 hours of coverage from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in all its glory and then followed it with 2 1/2 hours from Hampton Court.  We are currently in the middle of recording another two-hour long show from Tatton and the sun is finally shining. Away from the Flower Shows the team behind Gardeners’ World has being working on some exciting developments for the autumn.

This September, Gardeners’ World will be extended to hour-long episodes which will run from September until to the end of the series in late October.  It’s an exciting time and one that offers a great opportunity to expand the breadth of gardening we cover.  We are going to introduce a range of new strands with some new faces to sit alongside the familiar faces of  Monty, Joe, Carol and Rachel.

These strands will cover topics as diverse as tropical plants to city gardens and inspirational garden designers to the science of gardening.  We’ll spend time with head gardeners from some of the country's leading gardens and meet passionate amateurs.

Here’s just some of the strands viewers can look forward to over the eight hour-long episodes: Garden Doctor Nick Bailey will be solving your gardening problems and Frances Tophill will meet gardeners who garden in extreme conditions; Nick Macer will look at tropical plants; and Florence Headlam will cover city gardens.  We are going to follow garden designer Adam Frost as he moves into a new house and sets about redesigning the garden and Joe Swift will try to rekindle the nation’s long-lost love for rockeries. Carol will look at plant families and of course we will be spending time with Monty, his dogs Nigel and Nellie at Longmeadow every week.

Alongside the regular faces we’ll see items from Nick Bailey, Florence Headlam, Nick Macer, Jane Moore, Alan Power, Zephania Lindo and Frances Tophill who will offer inspiration and practical tips from gardens and gardeners the length and breadth of the country.

Next year Gardeners’ World will celebrate its 50th anniversary and plans are being made to ensure it's an unforgettable year for gardeners and our legion of loyal viewers.

Paolo Proto is Executive Producer for Gardeners' World

BBC Africa commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Soweto Uprisings in South Africa this week with a series of special programmes on the BBC World Service.

On Tuesday June 16 1976, thousands of black students in Soweto took to the streets to protest an order from the apartheid government which forced them to be taught in Afrikaans; widely viewed as the language of white supremacists.

The students were attacked by the police with tear gas and bullets whilst the route was blockaded. 23 died that day alone, as the students defended themselves against the police and the army with humble stones from the floor.

The Soweto events triggered confrontations across the rest of South Africa and ultimately played a key role in ending Apartheid. June 16 is now a public holiday in South Africa and is called “Youth Day” as a tribute to the young people who sacrificed their lives for equality.

The BBC World Service’s flagship current affairs discussion programme, BBC Africa Debate was broadcast live from Soweto on Wednesday. Presenters Aubrey Brown and Busisiwe Gumede hosted an invited audience and a panel of distinguished guests including Nomsa Sindani who was a student in Soweto when the uprising started, Khathu Nasha, student leader from University of Johannesburg and Vuyani Pambo, one of the founders of the “Fees Must Fall” student movement.

A study by the Africa Development Bank found that Africa has the most youthful population in the world with 200 million people between the ages of 15 and 24.

Focus on Africa discussed the issue of youth discontent and explored what the Soweto protests of 40 years ago achieved for South Africans today.

“It was worth it because now we have our freedom…” Barney Mokgatle, who experienced the uprisings as a child.

Shamima Debar, BBC Comms Trainee.

• Read more about BBC Africa's special programming on the BBC Media Centre
• Listen again to BBC Africa Debate and Focus on Africa

8.27am.  The Alhambra Palace.  We’ve been here since dawn. We have one more piece to camera to shoot, and in three minutes the gates will open and the public will pour in.

Outside, they’re getting restless. Visitors from all over the world have forked out 50 euros a piece for a tour of Granada’s stunning 14th century Islamic palace. They are in no mood to have their enjoyment marred by a British film crew.

Two and a half million people come here every year. Not all on the same day of course, but this is still one of the most popular destinations on the planet.

"Stand by", I say, just as the first wave of tourists comes round the corner, through the massive carved entrance way, arriving in their hundreds in the Room of the Two Doors. This is one of the many ante-rooms to the main part of the palace, currently littered with film crew, presenter, lights, camera, boxes of lenses and filters, and general filming gunk.

This group is French, they’ve been queuing for hours, and they are in no mood to wait.

"Silence sur le plateau" I plead. "All quiet on set". The French stop, as one. I hear a low murmuring. "Qu-est ce qui se passe?" "What’s happening?"

It’s now or never.

"Action!" I yell, and the man in the white Panama hat strides up to the right hand door, which towers over him, turns to the camera and explains that this, contrary to appearances, is not actually a door. It's a fake.  

And the reason is the Nasrids, the last Moslem dynasty in Spain and the architects of the Alhambra, feared attack so much, they created false doors and passageways leading nowhere, to confuse and repel their enemies.

The final line to camera is expertly delivered: "This tells you all you need to know about the paranoia, fear and duplicity in the Alhambra palace." 

"Cut!" I yell, and that’s a wrap.  We start to gather up our things. Finally, breakfast awaits. The French, as one, applaud. "Bravo!" This is better than any guided tour, they tell each other. Our presenter smiles modestly, and waves at his newfound Gallic army of fans. Just another day on location with Simon Sebag Montefiore.

Blood and Gold – The Making of Spain was my first experience of working with Simon Sebag Montefiore and what fun, and how informative it turned out to be.

There are not many presenters who so cleverly and entertainingly combine tales of preposterous popinjays with stories of beautiful concubines and scheming, venal, bloodthirsty barons.  It’s like filming with the most erudite and charming of teachers and guides.

Spain was the perfect setting for the latest in Simon’s epic historical television tours, following on from Jerusalem, Istanbul and Rome.

This time the formula was opened out to encompass a country, and Spain was the ideal choice. The first two programmes are set in Andalusia. They cover the conquest of the peninsula by the Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths and Moslems and then the re-conquest by the Christian Kings, with Spain united under Ferdinand and Isabella and the Jewish and Moslem population expelled.  The final programme focuses on nationhood. Shot mainly in Madrid it tells the story from Philip II to the present day.

What makes Spain so interesting is that, as Simon explains so vividly, it is part of Europe and yet in many ways it is so very different. It’s almost entirely surrounded by water. It’s only 14km from Africa, and its position at the gateway to the Mediterranean means through its early history Spain was subject to repeated waves of invasion. Those influences live on, in the architecture, in the language, which is infused with Arabic words, in the music, in the food and in the culture.

Spain is the most visited destination of all by British travellers, though not many venture too far from the Mediterranean coast. I hope this series persuades them to explore further and soak up the incredible atmosphere of Spain’s southern cities of Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada and Seville, and of course to travel further north to Madrid.

We all learnt so much filming this series. Incredible to think there is so much history, and such exotic stories, just a short plane ride away. Who knew the story of Spain would prove to be so thrilling.

Marion Milne is Series Prodcer/ Director, Blood and Gold: The Making of Spain with Simon Sebag Montefiore

• Watch Blood and Gold: The Making of Spain with Simon Sebag Montefiore on BBC Four from Tuesday 8 December at 9pm
  

Clothes, like music, can be as enchanting, as political as much art as it can be vacuous and fickle. The theatricality of fashion, its characters, the extraordinary nuggets in the industry that have influenced culture. Zeitgeists of the old and new are those with the tales and astonishing talent that I hold close. This I've found fun to explore on air. I have fought for live broadcasts backstage at fashion shows and developed a regular style barometer feature on my show before moving to early breakfast at Radio 1. When I heard that 6 Music were collaborating with BBC Four for The Sound Of Style, a season exploring the intrinsic link between fashion and music, I was compelled to get involved.

Every trailblazer deserves their story told, the glorious detail of their genius marvelled. I have been itching to tell this story for years. The story of a shoemaker called Terry de Havilland. Labelled 'The Rock & Roll Cobbler', Terry's shoes make shoe and rock ‘n’ roll lovers whimper. Not just because of how they look - mostly shiny, swirly, technicolor sexy dreams - but because of how they make you feel, and most importantly the stories that they tell. His name has been imprinted on the soles of designs since the 1960's, long before another shoemaking legend, Christian Louboutin, decided to paint the soles of his red. 

Terry got into 'fashion' accidentally. His father was injured by some machinery in the family's shoe factory in the East End of London when Terry was just a young teenager so he took on the business. This he has done with such a vigour and remarkable energy over the years. During his twenties, living through those heady times, he breathed new life into shoe design. People queued from dawn till dusk to get their hands on a pair of his revolutionary three-tier wedges.

Fifty years on, he continues to make shoes. His cult status remains untouched and has continued to capture the imaginations of some of the world’s most innovative fashion tastemakers. His East End geezer humour, his tales of Kings Road back in the day, his effervescence and relentless belief in collaboration has led him to make shoes which have been seen on the feet of some of the biggest names of the day - David Bowie, Bianca Jagger, Viv Albertine, Marilyn Manson, Amy Winehouse, Depeche Mode, Noel Fielding, Alison Goldfrapp, Kate Moss and so many more over the years. There’s a reason they all want to wear his footwear. They are, quite simply, incredible creations.

I hope my show will illuminate the imaginations of 6 Music listeners on a Sunday afternoon. I’ll be their guide, chatting to Terry de Havilland about his fifty years of stomping and grooving through Britain's most definitive musical eras. He shares his rock ‘n’ roll tales of excess - car racing with Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, attempting to set up a shoe factory in Nigeria with Cream's Ginger Baker, hand-painting Amy Winehouse's Zap Pow shoes for Coachella Festival and making shoes for his muse, Kate Moss. In Never Mind The Cobblers, expect lashings of golden disco dreams, prolific gigs, alluring fashion icons, great music and the ridiculous anecdotes that are always entwined with legends. We’ll hear from his legions of fans including Vivienne Westwood, Zandra Rhodes, Fred Butler, Viv Albertine, Ana Matronic, Tom Baker and Noel Fielding. It’s my contribution to The Sound of Style season, and also London Fashion Week (which can be about the past as much as the future) bringing fashion to life on the radio.

Gemma Cairney is a presenter on Radio 1

• 'Never Mind the Cobblers' will be broadcast on Sunday 21 September on BBC 6 Music at 1pm.
• Find out more about The Sound of Style season on BBC Four and 6 Music and iPlayer.
• An image gallery taken at Terry de Havilland’s studio and accompanying audio clip is availble to see on the 6 Music website.

Described as the 'first lady of British Musical Theatre', Elaine rose to prominence in the lead role of Eva Peron in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita, played Grizabella in Cats and other roles in Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sweeney Todd and Benny, Bjorn and Tim Rice's Chess. No wonder then that someone with such a musical theatre pedigree remains popular with our listeners. Every Sunday at 1pm, Elaine’s show dedicates two hours to playing the very best in musical theatre, and is enjoyed by an audience of over 2 million listeners. 

Another familiar musical theatre face (and winner of last year's Best Actor in a Musical Olivier Award for his role in Sweeney Todd), Michael Ball will continue our coverage of this year's Olivier Awards on Radio 2 with a two-hour highlights programme on Saturday 19 April (6pm-8pm). Michael will bring news of all the winners plus performances from the night’s glittering affair to listeners at home. He'll also be joined by Anneka Rice who will be backstage on the night talking to this year’s winners.

Friday Night Is Music Night - once known as 'Radio's Hall of Melody and Song' and the world's longest-running orchestral live music programme on radio set up in 1953 - is a natural home for musical theatre. Very early on the BBC's newly formed Concert Orchestra under the baton of Sidney Torch regularly featured music by the likes of Stephen Sondheim as well as film music numbers and scores. Just this month, we on Radio 2 also featured an evening of music and wit by masters of the operetta - W.S Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. This special  show featured songs from The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, Patience, The Gondoliers, Ruddigore and The Yeomen of the Guard. It was recorded at the Watford Colosseum in late February, and also featured the world premiere performance of an unknown piece - Lady Sangazure's song, called ‘In Days Gone By’, from The Sorcerer. Written in 1877, the song was cut from the first production and has never been performed since. It has been reconstructed by the eminent Gilbert & Sullivan scholar Dr David Russell Hulme, with Richard Balcombe conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra and London Voices - with guest soloists Rebecca Bottone, Sylvia Clarke, Heather Shipp, Oliver White, Bruce Graham and Simon Butteriss.

And on Friday Night Is Music Night's 4th April show, Clare Teal will be joined by the BBC Concert Orchestra to celebrate the 90th birthday of one of the world's biggest box office stars and recording artists - Doris Day. Hers is a long list of movie and musical credits including The Lullaby of Broadway, April in Paris, By the Light of the Silvery Moon and Calamity Jane. Our Radio 2 show will see guests Matthew Ford and A J Brown recall some of the great ‘Doris’ songs from her fabulous career.

And on Easter Sunday - something I'm particularly looking forward to - Radio 2 will broadcast Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s classic production of the one-woman musical Tell Me On a Sunday, starring the original cast member Marti Webb. There's a special one-hour programme on Sunday April 20 at 7pm including interviews with both composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Don Black plus a full performance of Tell Me On a Sunday recorded at the St. James Theatre. This seminal piece means a great deal to much of the musical theatre fans and Radio 2 audiences and I’m thrilled that we can re-create it again in such style. The writing and story are as relevant today as they were when it was first created some 35 years ago. It’s an absolute Easter treat for our listeners.

And looking ahead even further, Radio 2 will be looking at the Tony Awards from New York in June this year to see what is currently the toast of the town on the Great White Way – Broadway.

Radio 2: Musical theatre's home on the BBC. Why go anywhere else?

Lewis Carnie is Head of Programming at Radio 2.

• Listen to episodes of 'Friday Night is Music Night' ond other shows on the BBC Radio 2 website.
• Read more blog posts about Radio 2.

Quite simply this is the kind of incident that What Happened Next? was made for. Within 24 hours of this game being played the video was a YouTube phenomenon, people's Twitter feeds were full of links to the story and the player involved had been interviewed on radio and television. The problem with using this footage in the quiz is once we have recorded a show there is normally a 3-4 week period before transmission, sometimes longer. By which stage the world and his wife will have seen the clip countless times, making our show look very dated.

Another problem is that some of the biggest Tweeters are sports people, none more so than our captain Matt Dawson. So the probability that they will have seen it, or retweeted it, by the time they are on the panel is high. I had already accepted that funnies from the Premier League, 6 Nations, Wimbledon or any of the major sporting events were no longer possibilities – their profile and coverage is simply too great. However when that sphere of exclusion starts to include Swiss football then our options do start to become very limited. 

As the Series Producer I am desperately keen to still try and include WHN? within the show whenever possible. Maybe we will have to dig further to find gems like this golf clip from the Women's European Tour. 

We are not throwing in the towel on What Happened Next? just yet.…

 

Gareth Edwards is Series Producer of A Question of Sport, the next episode is broadcast on Wednesday 17 April, on BBC One.

Joining Phil were two of the longest serving captains and crowd favourites Bill Beaumont and Ally McCoist.

 

To be perfectly honest the recording of what is meant to be a half hour show, took well over an hour and very often recording came to a complete standstill as Sue, all the guests, the studio audience and us in the gallery were in stitches at some anecdote or other. The editing of the show has been quite an effort and luckily we have got an extended version of 40 minutes for our repeat, which means we can cram even more nostalgia in.

It was a real laugh recording the show and great for old friends to catch up. I hadn't seen Ally since he finished as captain six years ago so to have a beer and catch up with him afterwards was all part of the fun. It might sound a big cliché and very “media lovey”, but it is a real team atmosphere on QS. The Production team and the on-screen talent genuinely get on very well off-camera so bringing back ex-captains is like welcoming back old friends.

At the end of the show Sue says: “and here's to the next 1000”. Episode 2000 is due for transmission in December 2040 when I will have just turned 64. I'm sure there is a song in there somewhere!

On QS we have to do a lot of our own promo work. So, over the past few months we've managed to film some our celeb friends as part of a trail for the big show. Whenever the team were out filming mystery guests or were with some big sporting names we gave them our QS ball. This is the result… 

Gareth JM Edwards is Series Producer, A Question of Sport.

Watch more clips from the 1000th show on the Question of Sport website.

2. Continuing the natural theme, Wild Arabia has been a compelling watch on BBC Two, this clip shows two Nubian Ibex dramatically locking horns.

3. Another animal clip, though not as wild, was spotted by editor Jon Jacob, it’s a touching story from BBC Breakfast of how a kindly cat called Bob turned around his owner’s life. 

4. Howard Goodall’s Story Of Music is one I’ve recorded and know I’ll go back to again and again, I’ve particularly enjoyed his insights into music and composers I don’t know so well, like this clip about Liszt.

5. I couldn’t put together a clips post without having something food-related, and as Great British Bake Off and Masterchef aren’t on at the moment I’ve chosen a clip from the touching BBC Two series about the life of Bake Off goddess Mary Berry.

6. Stephen Poliakoff’s Dancing On The Edge has been a firm Monday-night favourite in our house; drama, music and Chiwetel Ejiofor – who could ask for anything more?

7. Another musical programme we’ve enjoyed on BBC Four, produced by BBC Scotland, is Danny Baker’s Great Album Showdown. In this clip from the programme guests Trevor Nelson, Mica Paris and Martin Freeman talk about what makes a great R&B album.

8. It’s fair to say a lot of hours a week are tuned into CBeebies in our house, so I had to include a clip from In The Night Garden. 

9. Our comedy fix has come this week, care of Sue Perkins’ new programme Heading Out. 

10.  Finally, I’m a long-time fan of Charlie Brooker, so I was thrilled when his Weekly Wipe programme started on BBC Two this year. Choosing a clip to include proved pretty difficult however, as it’s pretty strong stuff… so you'll have to make do with Charlie previewing an episode, in a typically Charlie way.

Hannah Khalil is Digital Content Producer, About the BBC Website and Blog.

Editor’s note –Ynyr Williams remembers TV director and former head of drama at BBC Wales, John Hefin who died earlier this week. He was one of the creators of the BBC’s longest-running TV soap opera Pobol y Cwm.

Monday began splendidly. We leave the office bright eyed and bushy tailed for the MIND Media Awards at the BFI; day is sorted - catch the 12.25 Cardiff/ Paddington, bite to eat, meet at House of Lords for 17.00 and then on to the BFI for 18.30. No worries.

But my day takes a turn for the worst as I walk onto the platform and am told that John Hefin has died.

John founded Pobol y Cwm with the talented Gwenlyn Parry back in 1974 and he was a mentor to many of today’s TV practitioners, be they sparks, chippies or producers.

I met him first when I was an actor in 1981, when I performed a short play made for TV with Pete Edwards directing.  John was around, John was always around.

He had this ability to be there, chatting, laughing, holding on to ideas, capturing thoughts and always seeming to be doing nothing at the same time. He had a great talent for that. He also had a great talent to get people to do things for him …"I’m going to Tehran next week to talk to them about soaps. Tell me how you do Pobol nowadays?"  was a question he fired at me last year. He then sat back, relaxed and let me talk for about an hour, write out the complete “How-to-do–a-soap-opera-in-ten-easy-steps”, while he just enthused about how we did it today compared to his time. He’d then heap on the praise (he had a talent there as well) :“You’re bloody fantastic… you’ve got such a talent… what would we do without you?”I didn’t deserve it, but he certainly did.

Back to the train and I’m thinking about an acceptance speech if we win at MIND awards; who should I thank, who should I not forget to name and then, if we won, should dedicate the award to John? We didn’t win but he certainly did. If it wasn’t for him and the guys back in the 70s we wouldn’t even be on the train.

Strange day in the end. Typically November-ish – started bright, clouded over and pissed down after dark. The day John Hefin died.