Programme Information

Dan Walker and guests discuss the latest talking-points and look ahead to the weekend's fixtures, including tomorrow's game between Liverpool and Manchester United. Kenny Dalglish's reign as Reds boss began with defeat at Old Trafford earlier this year, so the Scot will be eager to exact revenge at Anfield.

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Athletics – European Indoor Championships

Saturday 5 March

1.00-4.30pm BBC ONE

• www.bbc.co.uk/sport

Jonathan Edwards introduces the action from the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris. Great Britain will be looking to improve on their performance in 2009, when they returned from Turin with four medals, including golds for Mo Farah in the 3,000m and Dwayne Chambers in the 60m. Highlights today include the women's shot put and triple jump finals, plus the men's high jump final. Coverage continues on BBC Two today from 4.30pm.

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Let's Dance For Comic Relief Ep 3/4

Saturday 5 March

6.40-8.00pm BBC ONE and BBC ONE HD

• www.bbc.co.uk/rednoseday

Steve Jones and Alex Jones introduce the last heat

In the third and final round of heats, six more acts squeeze into their Lycra and strut their stuff in a bid to win a coveted place in the final. Tripping the light fantastic are Joe Swash, Caroline Flack, the competition's Eighties super group – otherwise known as Toyah Willcox, Clare Grogan, Chesney Hawkes and Limahl – and comedy stars Adrian Edmondson, Marcus Brigstocke and Lee Nelson.

This week's panellists, John Bishop, Felix Dexter and Jo Brand, are on hand to review each performance, as hosts Alex Jones and Steve Jones introduce the celebrities paying homage to iconic dance routines.

Once again, viewers have the chance to vote for their favourite dancers and the two acts with the most votes will hit the dance floor once more at the spectacular final on Saturday 12 March, where one act will be crowned the Let's Dance champion, with proceeds from the votes going to Comic Relief.

There are also guest performances from Jessie J and The Wanted, who treat viewers to Comic Relief's official song, Gold Forever.

Let's Dance For Comic Relief is simulcast in HD on BBC One HD on Freesat channel 108, Freeview channel 50, Sky channel 143 and Virgin Media channel 108.

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Kirsty (Lucy Gaskell) is worried about Nita

Nita has run away, as the medical drama continues. Kirsty is out of her mind with worry and she's not the only one, as Jay also has to face up to his problems.

Nita hitches a ride with a truck driver who is anxious to take her home. However, she has other ideas and, when they pull over at a burger van, she jumps out and into a parked car, claiming that she has been abducted.

The car driver, Allie, is also on the run. She and her brother Vincent, who has learning difficulties, are off to collect their mum before fleeing to Scarborough. The man Allie slept with last night and robbed this morning is on their tail.

But there is a shock in store when they arrive at Allie and Vincent's mum's house and, when Allie's "boyfriend" comes knocking, they are trapped. Nita tries to escape from an upstairs window but plunges to the ground. Injured and in pain, she makes a call to her mum.

Meanwhile, Jay is feeling the stress of the cancer scare and receives an unwelcome visit from Maryam. He finally realises that, with everything he has going on in his life, she'll need a carer from now on.

Elsewhere, Lenny and Mads deal with an unlikely bomber and Adam makes a shocking discovery when Nita eventually arrives at the hospital.

Holly Earl plays Nita, Lucy Gaskell plays Kirsty, Ben Turner plays Jay, Souad Faress plays Maryam, Steve Miller plays Lenny, Hasina Haque plays Mads and Tristan Gemmill plays Adam, with guest stars Helen Latham as Allie and Andrew Ashford as Vincent.

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Gary Lineker presents highlights of the day's Premier League games, including Arsenal's match against Sunderland.

A month after surrendering a four-goal lead at Newcastle, the Gunners again face North East opposition. The Black Cats, meanwhile, have yet to lose in London this season, having won at Chelsea and held both Tottenham and Fulham. However, Sunderland have not won a league match at Arsenal since 1983.

West Brom make the short trip to play derby rivals Birmingham City, with both teams looking for points in their battle against relegation. Title-chasing Manchester City host Wigan at Eastlands, where the Latics face the unenviable task of stopping Carlos Tevez, who scored a hat-trick in this fixture last season.

At Craven Cottage, Fulham entertain Blackburn in a match that sees Whites boss Mark Hughes reunited with his former club. Elsewhere, Bolton play Aston Villa, Newcastle meet Everton and West Ham face Stoke.

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Britain excels at motorsports and has produced more Formula 1 World Champions than any other country. The place they all started out is the kart racing track.

As a possible stepping stone into the glamorous world of Formula 1, kart racing is taken extremely seriously by its young competitors. Jake, Ben and Charlie all have a dream – they want to be the next Lewis Hamilton or Jensen Button, but do they have what it takes to make it to the top of this fiercely competitive sport?

Jake has enjoyed significant success to date and has won so many races that he has to house most of his cups in the garage. This has also brought him the much-needed backing of commercial sponsors.

Ben, his friend and rival, began his career by driving tractors on his father's farm when he was a toddler. He, too, has had many successes on the track but so far sponsorship has eluded him. This means that it is harder for him to take part in some of the international events, as it is expensive for his family to fund his racing ambitions. Boy Racers asks if the boys can maintain their friendship through the trials of a succession of major championships.

Narrated by Jake Humphrey, the programme follows Jake and Ben, alongside promising youngster Charlie, over the course of a season as they compete in the British, European and World Championships. It could be the summer that changes their lives for ever.

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Athletics – European Indoor Championships

Saturday 5 March

4.30-5.00pm BBC TWO

• www.bbc.co.uk/sport

Jonathan Edwards presents more coverage of the European Athletics Indoor Championships from Paris. The British team will have high hopes of claiming a medal this afternoon in the men's 400m, given that Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney claimed silver and bronze in last summer's outdoor European Championships, respectively.

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Presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon, this half-hour film tells the story of World Book Night. The film follows the preparations for the night, as a million books are printed and distributed to 20,000 givers, who have volunteered to hand out 48 copies of their favourite book, which features on World Book Night's list of selected titles.

With 25 different books on the special list, there's something for everyone to enjoy, from Nigel Slater's Toast and Seamus Heaney's New Selected Poems to The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John le Carré.

World Book Night is about sharing through word of mouth the pleasure of reading. This film explores that pleasure by talking to famous and non-famous readers about the books they really love.

And as the massive nationwide book giveaway gears up for the evening of Saturday 5 March, BBC cameras capture some of these passionate readers as they hit the streets to encourage other people to take home and read these books.

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In this Culture Show Special, Sue Perkins investigates crime and experiences "new romance" in an attempt to discover the essential ingredients of a best-selling novel.

As an English graduate and past Booker Prize judge, Sue's reading material generally consists of quite difficult literary fiction.

Now she tries to find out just what she's been missing and what makes a bestseller so readable.

Her journey takes her to the home of Agatha Christie to find clues as to why she's the best-selling crime author of all time. She visits the racetrack with Dick Francis's son Felix to find out what makes the perfect backdrop for a thriller. And she meets author Lee Child to discover why men and women love his anti-hero, Jack Reacher.

Furthermore, she tests the popularity of a Sophie Kinsella chick-lit novel in a flashmob-style raid on an Edinburgh hairdressing salon.

Along the way, Sue also meets best-selling authors Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Colin Dexter, Anthony Horowitz and Joanne Harris along with some of the UK's biggest crime, thriller and romance fans to find out what they like best about their favourite authors.

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The world of publishing is changing fast – bookshops are closing, e-books are starting to challenge the traditional book market and some critics are even wondering if the novel has had its day.

There's never been a tougher time to be a debut writer in the field of literary fiction.

To highlight the brightest new talent in this area, The Culture Show has formed a panel chaired by professor of English John Mullan to examine the debut novels of writers published in the last two years and to identify the most important new voices in British literary fiction right now.

The film witnesses the in-depth discussions of the panel as they narrow the list of new novelists down to just 12. It then introduces each of the writers and their work.

John Mullan puts the search into context by exploring the literary landscape, its recent past and likely future. He also looks back at previous lists of new writers to see whether they fulfilled their early promise.

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Comedian and Doctor Who star Catherine Tate drops by Dick and Dom's comedy club this week only to find herself trying to stop the duo splitting up.

The crammed comedy line-up also includes Edinburgh Festival favourites The Ginge, The Geordie And The Geek, Nathaniel Tapley and magician Pete Firman, who conjures up plenty of laughs.

There are animal antics as The Ginge, The Geordie And The Geek bring viewers their mouse sketch, while Nat Tapley performs as Gary, an utterly useless lion who fails to make the grade as the king of the jungle.

The laughs continue with backstage antics from Kelly-Anne Manhattan, Dick and Dom dish up another lesson in the art of slapstick, and the Lycra-clad Devastation Brothers limber up for another bout.

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