Programme Information

Radcliffe And Maconie

Monday 7 March

8.00-10.00pm BBC RADIO 2

Elbow lead singer and BBC 6 Music presenter Guy Garvey

Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie have a live set from Elbow, the indie band fronted by BBC 6 Music's very own Guy Garvey, in tonight's show, live from Manchester.

Elbow perform tracks from their new album, Build A Rocket Boys!, which was released last month and follows 2008's Mercury Prize-winning album, The Seldom Seen Kid.

Listeners can hear Guy Garvey present his Finest Hour every Sunday night, from 10pm, on 6 Music. Radcliffe and Maconie will soon be joining him on the digital station, with a brand-new weekday 1-4pm show launching on Monday 4 April.

Presenters/Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie, Producers/Ian Callaghan and Lizzie Hoskin for Smooth Operations

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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George Formby – Britain's Original Pop Star Ep 1/2

Monday 7 March

10.00-11.00pm BBC RADIO 2

Ukulele player, singer and comedian George Formby

Stuart Maconie celebrates the life and career of George Formby, perhaps Wigan's most famous son, and asks whether he was, in fact, Britain's first pop star.

Born into a showbiz family, George soon outshone his father, becoming a star of stage and screen who seduced audiences as far afield as Scandinavia, the Soviet Union and South Africa.

While he might now be seen as a figure from a bygone era, his private life was actually more in keeping with that of a contemporary tabloid-fascinating rock star. Stuart discovers that Formby was a much more complicated character than the "cheeky chappie" caricature which endures.

Even in his work there were contradictions. George sang about a Chinese laundry man called Mr Wu, yet in 1946 defied threats from the National Party leader Malan and performed for black audiences in South Africa. His songs were also not always as clean as his windows, with the BBC choosing to censor some of his more suggestive lyrics.

The documentary explores allegations of morphine addiction, subversion and battles with Christian moralists. Stuart also examines George's relationship with his wife and manager, Beryl, who ruled the star and rarely allowed him to kiss his leading lady on screen.

Presenter/Stuart Maconie, Producer/Ian Callaghan for Smooth Operations

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Musician and BBC Radio 2 presenter Jools Holland

Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith, whose songs have been covered by Rod Stewart, Michael Bublé, kd lang, Nick Lowe, Feist and Curtis Stigers, joins Jools Holland this week.

Ron talks about his career and forthcoming album, Long Player Late Bloomer.

Presenter/Jools Holland, Producer/Sarah Gaston for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Donald Macleod looks at Bruch's relationship with the city of his birth, Cologne, in the first edition of this new Composer Of The Week offering.

Bruch had a very promising start as a student of Hiller and then embarked on a career in the wider world, caught up in the battle between conservative and revolutionary forces in music in the late 19th century.

Bruch grew increasingly bitter over the years that he was not able to base himself in Cologne permanently, as the right job offer never came, and the success or otherwise of his works there would always matter hugely to him.

Presenter/Donald Macleod, Producer/Megan Jones

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert

Monday 7 March

1.00-2.00pm BBC RADIO 3

Louise Fryer presents a concert by pianist Martin Helmchen, live from London's Wigmore Hall, featuring Schoenberg's six Klavierstücke Op 19 and Beethoven's Piano sonata No. 29 B flat Op 106, Hammerklavier.

Presenter/Louise Fryer, Producer/Helen Garrison

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Listeners are treated to a veritable feast of music by Rococo master Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, one of JS Bach's most talented sons, in tonight's Performance On 3, from the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, under the baton of Sir Roger Norrington, a period instrument expert, feature a wide and rich palette of the German composer's music, mixing symphonies and concerti and highlighting the significant role he played in bridging the earlier Baroque period and the later classicism of Mozart and Haydn.

The soloists are Richard Lester for the Cello Concerto in A, and Steven Devine for the Harpsichord Concerto in C.

Featured music by CPE Bach includes Symphony in G, Wq. 182/1; Harpsichord Concerto in C, Wq. 20; Symphony in G, Wq. 173; Symphony in E, Wq. 182/6; Cello Concerto in A, Wq. 172; and Symphony in E flat, Wq. 179.

A recital given by soprano Amanda Roocroft, accompanied by pianist Malcolm Martineau, follows all this week. As the programme reaches the 1860-70 decade in the Wigmore Hall's 100 Years of German Song series, Liszt, Cornelius, Jensen, Bruch and Brahms are the composers featured.

Presenter/Martin Handley, Producer/Joan Carlos Jaramillo

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Woman's Hour Drama – A Domestic Ep 1/5

Monday 7 to Friday 11 March

10.45-11.00am BBC RADIO 4

A Domestic, written by Peter Jukes, is the story of Mariola, a young Polish cleaner who works for a well-to-do lawyer couple in leafy Chiswick, and forms this week's Woman's Hour Drama offering.

Kim and Olivier Anderson have a perfect marriage. As lawyers who work mainly in the area of marital disputes and contracts, they have a lot in common. They laugh riotously at the antics their warring clients get up to, to best each other in – and out – of court.

Then, one morning, Mariola finds an earring in the marital bed and it's not Kim's. On closer inspection, she realises it belongs to Elena, the nanny.

Mariola comes from a broken family. She is very fond of the Andersons, despite finding their humour at other peoples' expense troubling. But she is very attached to their young son, Russell, and desperately wants harmony to rule, so she returns the earring to Elena's room.

From there, events unfold that threaten to bring the family towards break-up. The couple who enjoyed much humour at the expense of their clients now find themselves in their shoes.

Lydia Leornard stars as Mariola, Neil Stuke as Olivier, Clare Lawrence-Moody as Kim, Christine Kavanagh as Anna, Deeviya Meir as Russell, Sean Baker as Dr Kevin Riorty and Sally Orrick as Elena.

Producer/Peter Kavanagh for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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At a cost of more than £20m, Bristol has been turned into a demonstration Cycling City. As the three-year project concludes in March 2011, Miles Warde assesses whether it has been a success.

The original idea was to be a pioneering project, to be followed by many other cities, and originated from the umbrella organisation Cycling England. The many stakeholders in cycling culture provided a great deal of lively debate as to how the overall funding should be spent and how the success of the project should be measured.

Since the original award, Cycling England has been abolished and it seems unlikely that funding like this will be available again for some time to come.

Miles, who surveyed the early stages of the project last year, saddles up again to find out where the money has gone, how it has been accounted for and whether Cycling City has been a success.

Presenter/Miles Warde, Producer/Christine Hall for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Real-life husband and wife Richard Briers and Ann Davies star in Shelly Silas's play about the story of a man giving up the one thing that he has always loved.

Johnny Jones isn't particularly old – he's a regular man with a regular wife, two grown-up children and a handful of grandchildren. He has a good life and for that he's grateful. However, all that is about to change.

Upon being told that a series of seizures he has suffered were due to epilepsy, rather than a brain tumour, Johnny's relief soon turns to gloom. While he accepts everything the doctors tell him, he cannot accept having to give up his driving licence. For over 50 years he has driven just about everyone everywhere in his beloved almond car.

His wife, Alice, hasn't driven for years – why would she when she has Johnny to drive her everywhere? While he's happy to part with many other activities, this is one he just can't give up. Now, he has been told he must stop driving or face the consequences.

This Afternoon Play offering is the story of the day Johnny takes one last journey in his car, which reveals some of his secrets.

Richard Briers stars as Johnny Jones, Ann Davies as Alice Jones, Muzz Khan as Imran, Helena Breck as Lizzie Gray, Jonathan Holby as Ian, Ben Tosh as Patrick, Stella Duffy as Johnny's mother and Wilf and Ruby Armstrong Ashdown as Johnny's grandchildren.

Producer/Gordon House for Goldhawk Essential Ltd

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Book At Bedtime – Pigeon English Ep 1/10

Monday 7 to Friday 11 March

10.45-11.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Read by Jojo Baidoo, Pigeon English is the first novel by Stephen Kelman. It tells the story of 11-year-old Harrison Opoku, who has moved from Ghana to live with his mother and older sister on a tough North London housing estate.

Shortly after he arrives he sees a boy he knows slightly, lying stabbed on the street and he realises he needs to learn the tricks of inner city survival – fast. And as he tries to come to terms with his new surroundings he befriends a pigeon who visits the balcony of his ninth-floor flat.

Other voices are provided by Adjoa Andoh, Madeline Appiah, Amelia Donkor, Daniel Green, David Holt, Osy Ikhile and Robert Sparks.

Reader/Jojo Baidoo, Producer/Jane Marshall for Jane Marshall Productions

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Stand Up For Comic Relief Ep 1/3

Monday 7 to Wednesday 9 March

11.00-11.30pm BBC RADIO 4

• www.bbc.co.uk/rednoseday/standup

Tony Blackburn and Jenni Murray want to be laughed at for Comic Relief

Hugh Dennis hosts this series in which six radio presenters, one from each of the six BBC radio stations – Radio 1 through to 6 Music – are given just two weeks to become fully-fledged stand-up comedians by performing their first proper gig in front of the general public at London's famous comedy venue, The Comedy Store.

The contestants are: Dev from Radio 1, Tony Blackburn from Radio 2, Tom Service from Radio 3, Jenni Murray from Radio 4, Tony Livesey from Radio 5 Live and Shaun Keaveny from 6 Music.

To help them on their way, each of them is paired up with a mentor who tries to help them steer clear of the many pitfalls of performing stand-up comedy. Dev is mentored by Chris Ramsey, Tony Blackburn by Julian Clary, Tom Service by Sandi Toksvig, Jenni Murray by Mark Steel, Tony Livesey by Justin Moorhouse and Shaun Keaveny by Miles Jupp. Between them they hope to win the title of Stand Up For Comic Relief Champion 2011.

On Monday at 11pm, the contestants are given a tour and some history of the Comedy Store by stand-up legend Mark Thomas.

On Tuesday at 11pm, the presenters have their first try-out night and listeners hear how the mentors think their charges are coming along ahead of the big gig itself.

On Wednesday from 6.30-7.00pm, the presenters perform their final routines at The Comedy Store.

Listeners can tune in to hear how the presenters are coping with such a daunting challenge, and then vote online on which presenter is the funniest at bbc.co.uk/rednoseday/standup.

Presenter/Hugh Dennis, Producer/Sam Michell for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Monday 7 March

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Chapman presents all the day's sports news and takes a look ahead to this evening's Premier League football – Blackpool versus Chelsea from Bloomfield Road. Live commentary begins at 8pm.

At 10pm, in The Final Whistle, there's post-match reaction to the evening's match.

Presenter/Mark Chapman, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Swimming

Monday 7 March

5.45-8.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted commentary from the World Championship Trials comes live from the Manchester Aquatics Centre this evening.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Shaun Keaveny is joined by Paul Abel, the co-presenter of The Sky At Night, to celebrate the programme's 700th edition.

With a mathematics degree and a PhD in Cosmology from the University of Sheffield under his belt, Paul has been co-presenting the BBC's historic The Sky At Night with Sir Patrick Moore since 2009. The programme has become the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history.

Presenter/Shaun Keaveny, Producer/Lisa Kenlock

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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The Jim Jones Revue join Lauren Laverne today for a live session in the BBC 6 Music studios.

The garage rock band released their second album, Burning Your House Down, last year to great acclaim and were even hand picked by Jack White to support his band The Dead Weather live in the UK.

Presenter/Lauren Laverne, Producer/Gary Bales

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Modified Toy Orchestra are in session for Marc Riley this evening.

Five years after the release of their debut album Toygopop, the band have released Plastic Planet. MTO explore the hidden potential and surplus value latent inside redundant technology – a process creating sophisticated new electronic instruments from abandoned children's toys.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Michelle Choudhry

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Gideon Coe looks back to last year's Glastonbury festival at Muse's headline set and there's concert archive from Joni Mitchell and James Taylor.

Sessions featured include a 1970 effort from Syd Barrett, The Roots in 2003 and John Osbourne from 1984.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity