Starting this week, we're publishing a quick round-up of announcements made and blogs posted from across the BBC plus some highlights of next week on TV, radio and online. Round-ups will be posted every Friday.
THIS WEEK
Head of BBC iPlayer Dan Taylor blogged about the catch-up service’s Christmas usage stats and included some interesting figures showing that on Boxing Day views of iPlayer content via tablet overtook PC for the first time ever. More information is available over on the Internet Blog.
Also on Monday, the press launch for The VoiceUK was hosted at New Broadcasting House in London. The third series starts this weekend. New coach Kylie Minogue took part in the press launch hosted at New Broadcasting House and joined ‘super-coach’ Will.i.am on the The One Show sofa later in the programme’s first broadcast in its new central London home. Series 3 starts Saturday 11 January at 7.00pm on BBC One and BBC One HD.
Ariel – the online news service for BBC staff - reported that journalist Jonah Fisher has become the first resident correspondent in Myanmar (also known as Burma). In December 2013 Director of Global News Peter Horrocks announced that the BBC had been given official permission to open a news bureau in the country.
BBC Films received a total of 11 BAFTA nominations, for Philomena, Saving Mr Banks, The Invisible Woman and Good Vibrations. The awards ceremony is on Sunday 16 February at the Royal Opera House in London.
The nominees for the 2014 Audio Drama Awards were also announced this week. Also in Radio and Music, 21 year old Sam Smith from Cambridgeshire was announced as the winner of Sound of 2014.
Peter Capaldi began filming his first scenes on Doctor Who this week, although as the Guardian pointed out, the picture doesn’t feature the actor in his new costume.
Finally, the BBC’s coverage of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games was unveiled in a special release on the BBC Media Centre website yesterday.
COMING UP
For the first time last year some of the BBC Proms Chamber Concertseries were filmed. Starting on Friday 10 January, three of them will be broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Four HD. Introduced by Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny, the series is complimented by a collection of classical music treats from the BBC archive. Petroc explains more on the About the BBC Blog.
Series 1 of Dynamo: Magician Impossible begins on BBC One and BBC One HD. British magician Dynamo brings illusion and magic to the streets.
A new comedy series starts on BBC Three on Monday. One of the main characters is a complete juvenile, the other is his nephew. (We can't take the credit for that sentence - it's derived from a marketing trail.) Uncleairs on BBC Three and BBC Three HD next Monday at 10pm.
Fans of competitive baking who are missing Bake Off can obtain a charitable fix in series 2 of The Great Sport Relief Bake Off which begins on Monday at 8.30pm on BBC Two and BBC Two HD. Among the celebrities staring intently at their creations through the oven door glass this time around are Johnny Vaughan, Olympic long jumper Greg Rutherford and Desert Island Discs host Kirsty Young.
On the wireless, 4Extra extracts material from the BBC archive to tell the story of former host of TV programme ‘What’s My Line?’ Gilbert Harding - in The Rudest Man in Britain. The programme airs on 4Extra on Saturday 11 January at 9.00am.
A three-part series of Hidden Histories starts on Radio 4 on Thursday 16 January at 9.00pm. Produced in association with the Open University, the first episode features butcher Richard Balson whose business has been in the family for nearly 500 years.
Also on Radio 4, Radio Heaney on Sunday 12 January at 4.30pm compiles great radio moments from Seamus Heaney’s life.
The Documentary strand on the World Service this week focuses on male prostitution in London. BBC reporter Mobeen Azhar talks to male escorts based in the UK capital, men who are in high demand for their services.
Lastly, Sherlock fans probably won’t need reminding, but just in case … the 3rd and final episode of this series is on Sunday 12 January.
