Programme Information

Dermot O'Leary is joined by Turin Brakes, English duo Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, for a live session.

The childhood friends cite musical influences ranging from Miles Davis to Fugazi. Though they shy away from genre labels, they would describe their music as "folk-tinged indie rock".

In September 2009, they released Bottled At Source, a double album featuring all the hits from the early years, unreleased tracks and B-sides, which marked the 10th anniversary of their debut single.

Presenter/Dermot O'Leary, Producer/Ben Walker

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

To top

"The King" Elvis Presley

Comedian and Elvis fan Rob Brydon revisits the King's golden period in Las Vegas, where he did a seven-year run between 1969 and 1976.

The 1969 Memphis Sessions at American Studios in Memphis re-established Presley as a musical force, returning him to the charts and producing some of his most acclaimed work. Presley's manager, Col Tom Parker, was planning Presley's return to live concerts with a series of shows at the International Hotel in Las Vegas later that year.

Elvis assembled a new live band for his first Las Vegas concerts. The programme features contributions from lead guitarist James Burton and legendary Presley road manager Joe Esposito, who discuss the rehearsals in the summer of 1969.

Singers Myra Smith and Estelle Brown also reveal what it was like performing on stage, night after night, with Elvis. Elvis went on to perform regular shows there for seven years – a total of 637 consecutive, sold-out performances, in front of 2.5 million people.

Presley completed his four-week stint on 28 August 1969. When he returned, in January 1970, for his winter season, he and his entourage made a considerable impact on life at the Hilton International Hotel, as described by valet Lonnie Pope and bell-boy Dan Hakata.

However, things did become intense on the road and the FBI and Presley's personal body guards were on full alert following a death threat which claimed the King would be shot on stage, as described in the documentary by Jerry Schilling, one of Presley's inner circle and "Memphis mafia".

The winter of 1976 was Presley's 15th season at the Las Vegas Hilton International Hotel and his last. Grappling with his weight and personal problems, it was while preparing to play yet another series of concerts that the Presley's heart gave out in Graceland on 16 August 1977.

Presenter/Rob Brydon, Producer/John Sugar

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

To top

BBC Radio 2 presenter Bob Harris

American Midwest-born Israel Nash Gripka has recorded an After Midnight session for Bob Harris with his band.

He was brought up in a place where country music ruled the airwaves. His father was a Baptist minister, preaching in Ozark churches, but also playing Israel the songs of The Beatles, the blues of the Stones and the stories of Townes Van Zandt and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Now based in New York City, Israel has been labelled as a child of the Seventies, with a penchant for sing-along folk rock that marks him out as a rival to Ryan Adams and Richard Thompson.

Presenter/Bob Harris, Producer/Mark Simpson

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

In the first of three programmes, Lucy Duran visits the island of Madagascar. Lying in the Indian Ocean, off the east coast of Africa, one of the many things that makes this island of strange dreams, ancestral worship and sorcery so special is its music. This week, Lucy profiles musician Justin Vali and records his Malagasy Orkestra, an all-star collection of the island's best musical talent.

One of the island's best-loved and most skilled musicians, Justin Vali is a master of the Valiha – a tube zither originally made of bamboo. Listeners can hear him play and talk about his life, from his childhood in rural Madagascar to his experiences as a Malagasy immigrant in France. The Malagasy Orkestra showcase many of the different styles found throughout the island.

Presenter/Lucy Duran, Producer/James Parkin

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

To top

Opera On 3 – Live From The Met: Hansel And Gretel

Saturday 2 January

6.00-8.30pm BBC RADIO 3

Miah Persson and Angelika Kirchschlager play brother and sister Hansel and Gretal

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Fabio Luisi conducts Humperdinck's take on the Brothers Grimm fairytale Hansel And Gretel.

Miah Persson and Angelika Kirchschlager star as the brother and sister lost in the woods, looking for food, and finding an inviting gingerbread house to feast on. Philip Langridge sings the role of the Witch, with more than just gingerbread on her mind for her next meal.

Always a Christmas favourite, Hansel And Gretel has drama, humour and some ravishing music.

Presented by Margaret Juntwait, with guest commentator Ira Siff, the programme includes live backstage interviews during the interval.

Presenter/Margaret Juntwait, Producer/Ellie Mant

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Jazz singer Gwyneth Herbert performs Jane Austen's favourite songs – many of them newly discovered – and scholars and biographers discuss how they cast a new light on this most enigmatic of writers.

Jane Austen collected songs throughout her life. However, many of them have only just come to light in manuscripts inherited by one of her descendents.

Professor Richard Jenkyns inherited a pile of music manuscripts which are only just being looked at by the Austen scholars. Some have been laboriously copied out by Jane herself – and, among the music manuscripts in Austen's handwriting, is a piano piece which he believes she composed.

In this programme, presented by world-class concert pianist David Owen Norris, listeners can hear this and more of Austen's favourite songs, each of which has something to say about the much-loved writer.

David visits Austen's house in the village of Chawton, Hampshire, to meet biographers and scholars who discuss what these songs reveal about her life and work.

With contributions from: Professor Richard Jenkyns; Samantha Carrasco, a young musician who has been part of the research team studying the manuscripts; and Austen scholar and author Deirdre le Faye.

David also accompanies Gwyn on the piano and is joined by clarinettist Andrew Lyle.

Presenter/David Owen Norris, Producer/Elizabeth Burke

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

To top

Actors Helena Bonham Carter and Bill Nighy co-star on BBC Radio 2

Noel Coward's sublime comedy stars Helena Bonham Carter and Bill Nighy as a divorced couple who discover they are staying at the same hotel on the first night of their honeymoons with their new partners.

Elyot and Amanda realise that they are still in love with each other and should never have divorced. So they abandon their new spouses, Sibyl and Victor, and run off together. However, they soon find themselves caught up in the same violent arguments that originally plagued their stormy marriage.

The cast also stars Andrea Riseborough as Sibyl and Paul Ritter as Victor.

Helena Bonham Carter and Bill Nighy were keen to work together. Both are admirers of Coward's urbane comedy, so Private Lives seemed the perfect opportunity and they approached BBC Radio 4 with the idea.

Producer/Sally Avens

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

To top

This weekend listeners can enjoy the last two programmes in the 1989 series presented by Sir John Tusa, retracing the year's major political, cultural and social events as they happened.

On this day in 1989, reorganisation begins in Romania as fledgling political parties take shape – and, in the final instalment, General Noriega gives himself up to US forces in Panama.

Presenter/Sir John Tusa, Producer/Joby Waldman

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Saturday 2 January

12.00noon-6.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch presents coverage of an afternoon of live sport, including news of the FA Cup third-round ties, plus reports from the day's rugby union Premiership matches.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Mark Williams

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Football

Saturday 2 January

2.55-5.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted live commentary comes from one of the afternoon's FA Cup third-round matches.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Legendary DJ Derrick May returns for the third instalment of his 6 Mix residency.

Fresh from his New Year's Eve DJ dates around Europe, the techno pioneer kicks of 2010 with a selection of the hottest beats from Detroit and beyond. Best known for hit single Strings Of Life, Derrick has been the leading light of Detroit's electronic music scene for over two decades, working alongside musicians Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atikins to keep the motor city's musical flag flying, as well as running his own label, Transmat recordings.

For the third of his 6 Mix shows, Derrick broadcasts live from BBC 6 Music's studios, sharing his favourite tunes and tales from 2009. In the last hour there is another one of Derrick's infamous "May Day" club mixes, playing classic, old-skool club tunes alongside brand new music from around the world.

Presenter/Derrick May, Producer/Rowan Collinson

BBC 6 Music Publicity