Programme Information

Listeners can enjoy highlights of a fundraising spectacular at London’s Royal Albert Hall, which was recorded last month.

Gary Barlow invites an all-star line-up of rock and pop's finest to take part in Children In Need Rocks The Royal Albert Hall to help raise money for the 2009 Appeal. Radio 2 offers highlights of this concert, with performances from Take That, Robbie Williams, Lily Allen, Dame Shirley Bassey and a rousing finale from Sir Paul McCartney.

Producer/Sarah Gaston

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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DJ Chris Tarrant and Eighties pop star and songwriter Nik Kershaw look at the Great British Songbook Of The 80s in the third in a series of programmes where British artists and DJs reflect on the Great British Songbook of each decade from the Sixties to the Noughties.

Over three hours, Chris and Nik take a trip down memory lane as they play the best British songs from this decade, including suggestions from BBC Radio 2 listeners. With a playlist that includes Duran Duran, The Smiths, Wham! and Kim Wilde, they reflect on the work of some of Britain's greatest songwriters and share their own memories from the decade.

The Great British Songbook is Radio 2's celebration of the work of British songwriters.

Presenters/Chris Tarrant and Nik Kershaw, Producer/Bequi Sheehan

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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The Beatles – Here, There And Everywhere Ep 1/2

Wednesday 30 December

5.00-6.00pm BBC RADIO 2

Paul Gambaccini presents a two-part series in which a range of artists and record producers talk about the legacy of The Beatles.

The band's entire catalogue was recorded more than 40 years ago, yet in both artistic and commercial terms its power shows no sign of fading. In part one of the series, Paul focuses on the various elements within the group that combined to make The Beatles so musically powerful: their strengths as performers, both instrumentally and vocally, plus the brilliance of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison as songwriters.

Interviewees include writer and film director Cameron Crowe, Dave Grohl (of Foo Fighters and Nirvana), Jeff Lynne (ELO), Mika, Tom Petty, Slash and Susan Werner.

The second part of the programme can be heard at 5pm on New Year's Eve, Thursday 31 December.

Presenter/Paul Gambaccini, Producer/Kevin Howlett

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Charles Hazlewood presents the best of the BBC Maida Vale 75th anniversary celebrations with sessions from Stereophonics, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Nell Bryden and Jamie Cullum. The programme also includes special archive performances from artists such as David Bowie, recorded at the legendary London recording studios.

Presenter/Charles Hazlewood, Producer/Lou Foley

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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BBC 6 Music presenter Huey Morgan

Fun Lovin' Criminal Huey Morgan brings his BBC 6 Music Sunday afternoon show to BBC Radio 2, playing an eclectic mix of the best music from the last six decades, spanning rock, rap, reggae, blues, disco, soul and Latino.

Inspired by his New York upbringing and his experiences as a musician, Huey accompanies his playlist with personal anecdotes and stories, in his own inimitable laid-back style.

In the programme, he meets fellow New Yorker and quirky chanteuse Regina Spektor, who has recently achieved success with her latest album release, Far.

Spektor grew up in the Soviet Union and trained as a concert pianist before moving to the Bronx in New York at the age of nine with her family, where she became exposed to rock, hip hop and Latin music. She became a part of the Lower East-Side anti-folk scene in the late-Nineties, alongside the Moldy Peaches and Ben Kweller, releasing her first solo album in 2001.

Her fifth release this year was accompanied by a world tour and festival appearances. Huey talks to her about achieving mainstream and critical success, their shared love of New York, her musical career from touring with The Strokes and the Kings Of Leon to working with Jeff Lynne on her new album and what her plans are for 2010.

Presenter/Huey Morgan, Producer/Becky Maxted

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

With unique access to secret government papers, Martha Kearney presents a look at the political events of 1979 as told through the Cabinet minutes, Prime Ministerial papers and Foreign and Commonwealth Office documents, which are being released to the public at the end of the year.

Domestic stories include the growing crisis of confidence in the Labour government, the handling of backbench rebellions, the winter of discontent and the hand-over of power to Margaret Thatcher following the Conservative victory in the 1979 General Election.

The papers reveal the government's first response to the Ayatollah's return to Iran and a threat to Anglo-American diplomatic relations.

The programme weaves together dramatised extracts from the papers, news footage material, discussion with studio guests – including former cabinet ministers and top-level civil servants – and special reports compiled by correspondents.

Presenter/Martha Kearney, Producer/Emily Williams

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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When Max Coleman is suspended from work for the alleged verbal abuse of a colleague, he hasn't the faintest idea what he might have said.

When he finally meets his accuser at the tribunal and hears how an historical allusion has been misunderstood, his attempts at self-justification are derailed by the fact that none of his superiors has sufficient education to understand what he is talking about.

Written by Mark Lawson, What Did I Say? features Neil Pearson as Max Coleman, Amy Marston as Juliet Coleman, Piers Wehner as Chubbs, Chris McHallem as Tom Neades, Aine McCartney as Susan Brogan and Tessa Nicholson as Alice Irvine.

Producer/Eoin O'Callaghan

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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This week's Thinking Allowed comes from the University of Bedfordshire as part of BBC Radio 4's university tour.

Laurie Taylor is joined by an audience of students as he discusses class and social mobility with a team of expert panellists. In 2003 Tony Blair announced that he wanted the number of teenagers who went to university to rise to 50 per cent. While numbers are up, a report from The Higher Education Statistics Agency shows that the social background of those who go to university has barely changed, with the middle classes providing the majority of students. The programme asks if education provides a means to social mobility, whether social mobility is even a meaningful expression and whether society has ignored class barriers in favour of focusing on identity politics.

Laurie is joined by: Lynsey Hanley, Guardian journalist and author of Estates – An Intimate History; Richard Reeves, director of think tank Demos; Danny Dorling, Professor of Geography at Sheffield University; and sociologist Dick Hobbs from the London School of Economics. They discuss questions of class barriers, social divides and whether Britain will ever shed its class system and the divisions it creates.

Presenter/Laurie Taylor, Producer/Pam Rutherford

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Designated driver Luke Walsall and his disastrous social life returns for a half-hour Christmas special of All Bar Luke, the comedy drama of late-licensed, binge-drinking embarrassment.

Written and performed by Tim Key, Edinburgh Comedy Award winner 2009, All Bar Luke offers a funny, embarrassing and frighteningly realistic hero for our times.

Producer/Seb Barwell

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Wednesday 30 December

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Eleanor Oldroyd has all the day's sports news and, from 8pm, introduces Premier League commentary on Manchester United versus Wigan Athletic, live from Old Trafford with John Murray, Ian Brown and Mark Lawrenson in the commentary box. There are also regular updates from Portsmouth against Arsenal at Fratton Park.

Presenter/Eleanor Oldroyd, Producer/Louise Sutton

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

As part of vintage DJ week, BBC 6 Music hosts a special show playing the biggest tunes from 1999 – the year when dance music went massive. The programme features tracks from Basement Jaxx, Fatboy Slim, Groove Armada, Masters At Work and Planet Perfecto, and memories of this landmark year for electronic music.

BBC 6 Music counts down to 2010 with a celebration of 2009 and the preceding seminal nines before it: 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999.

Presenter/Dave Pearce, Producer/Gary Bales

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Bob Dylan selects two related themes tonight – Dance and Party. His song choices include tracks by Wanda Jackson, Louis Jordan, The Ramones, Delroy Wilson and Bunker Hill.

Presenter/Bob Dylan, Producer/Frank Wilson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

The Oklahoma city of Tulsa may look quiet, but beneath the surface there's always plenty going on.

This one-off documentary gets a down-and-dirty insight into the underside of city life from the viewpoint of one policeman: Officer Jay Chiarito-Mazzarella has developed a remarkable skill as a storyteller through his "Street Stories" podcast for Tulsa Police Department.

Listeners join him on patrol and hear his tales of violence, lust, greed and sheer human stupidity. Jay tells the story of the one-metre-tall gangster, and the one about the gang who stole a number of air-conditioning units but were given away by the frosty air emanating from their hideout.

Producer/Hugh Levinson

BBC World Service Publicity

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Exploring the frontiers of science and their impact on society, philosopher AC Grayling questions the world's leading scientists about their work as he concludes this five-part series recorded as part of a unique series of events created by BBC World Service and the Wellcome Collection.

In the final programme, AC Grayling talks to Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in California, which searches for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. He discusses the hunt for life beyond Earth, the possibility of success and what the discovery of sentient beings on other planets may reveal about life on Earth.

Presenter/AC Grayling, Producer/Charlie Taylor

BBC World Service Publicity