Round up week 23-24 (2-15 June)

A bumper round up of BBC announcements, press releases and blogs, plus some highlights from our TV, radio and online output from the last two weeks.

500 Words

The six winners of this year’s BBC Radio 2 Chris Evans’ Breakfast Show 500 Words competition were announced this week in a special broadcast live from Hampton Court Palace Festival attended by The Duchess of Cornwall. Meanwhile, Plastic, the ocean, Emmeline Pankhurst, Donald Trump, Brexit, Korea, Grenfell Tower, unicorns, slime and the computer game Fortnite are just some of the people and subjects that influence British children’s creativity and use of language, says a report published by Oxford University Press (OUP).

BBC to build a new legacy in East London

Tony Hall, BBC Director General, has announced that the BBC intends to build a new music legacy in East London, with a proposed move to brand new music studios to be constructed by the London Legacy Development Corporation, as part of its Stratford Waterfront development.

BBC Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park

BBC Radio 2 this week announced the line-up for BBC Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park - including Kylie Minogue headlining - which takes place on Sunday 9 September in Hyde Park, London in front of 50,000 music lovers.

Summer of Arts TV

This summer BBC Arts is putting artists centre stage with a range of programmes across BBC One, Two and Four to brighten even the dampest of British summer days.

Announcements and blogs

Corporate

News came this week that BECTU and the NUJ trade union members have voted in favour of the proposed changes to BBC Terms and Conditions. Elsewhere, details of expenses, gifts and hospitality and declaration of personal interests for Q3 2017/18 for senior managers who earn over £150k as well as for the Chairman and Non-Executive Directors were published.

On Friday the BBC 's new distribution policy  following the conclusion of a four month consultation process on a draft policy was published.

Drama

BBC One confirmed that award-winning writer Russell T Davies is to write an epic new BBC One drama, Years And Years, which follows the lives of a single family over 15 years in a Britain rocked by unstable political, economic and technological advances.

The media pack for series four of BBC One's Poldark was also published and news confirmed that crime-solving cleric Father Brown is to return to BBC One Daytime.

Meanwhile, BBC Two announced further casting for MotherFatherSon, Tom Rob Smith’s original eight-part drama for the network. As previously announced, Richard Gere will star alongside Helen McCrory and Billy Howle as the family at the heart of the series.

Elsewhere an interview with Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director, Royal Court was published to co-incide with Snatches: Moments From 100 Years Of Women's Lives.

On Friday it was confirmed BBC Wales’ record-breaking hit drama Keeping Faith will be shown across the UK on BBC One this summer.

Factual

BBC Two confirmed that this June they'll broadcast Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus’ series Inside The New York Times: The Fourth Estate, following the inner workings of one of the most prolific American media outlets during the first 12 months of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Meanwhile, a range of new commissions were confirmed for BBC Factual - documentaries fronted by Stacey Dooley and Mim Shaikh, films offering astonishing access to subjects at the forefront of national conversation and new Storyville commissions showcasing the best in international documentaries amongst those announced.

Elsewhere, BBC Two announced Depression And Me - a film with Alastair Campbell.

On Friday, BBC Two announced a three-part documentary series following the £5bn project to build London’s 20 mile-long ‘super sewer’, cutting through the heart of the capital deep below the Thames.

Entertainment

This summer BBC Two is bringing viewers Britain’s first medical themed quiz show. Britain’s Best Junior Doctors (5x30) pits teaching hospitals from far and wide against each other as a host of junior doctors put their new found skills and knowledge to the test.

Elsewhere Oncology Research Biobank Technician, Pippa Middlehurst (29), has been crowned the winner of BBC One’s Britain’s Best Home Cook.

Digital/iPlayer

This week Doctor Who returned to BBC iPlayer - with every episode since 2005 available to watch. It was also confirmed that classic comedy boxsets will returning to BBC iPlayer over the summer.

Radio

Radio 4 confirmed that sitcom Ability starring Lost Voice Guy is to return for second series. elsewhere, BBC Radio 1Xtra confirmed they will be heading to Ibiza to take over Ibiza Rocks on Saturday 4 August.

BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra announced two new and exciting signings for the station - Jack Saunders and Snoochie Shy will both be joining the Radio 1 and 1Xtra family on a permanent basis.

Regional

BBC Northern Ireland announced Adam Smyth as new Head of BBC News NI.

Elsewhere, BBC Radio Wales confirmed Welsh athlete Colin Jackson MBE and his sister, Casualty and Keeping Faith actress, Suzanne Packer, will join the station as new presenters for Sunday Morning with… for summer 2018. Plus BBC Two Wales confirmed it will launch in HD later this year - enabling BBC Wales to deliver all its programming in HD for the first time.

International

BBC World Service has created a huge shout-out in Mumbai by illustrating a new public splash to support their Make More Of Your World campaign. This was a successful on-ground marketing event, featuringcelebrities like Bollywood actress Divya Dutta.

Elsewhere it was confirmed that on 14 June, BBC World Questions comes to Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, to debate the future of a people divided with an audience made up of those at the heart of this story, and to find out what South Koreans themselves think about world events.

In addition BBC World Service and the British Council, with co-producers The Open University, announce the shortlisted scripts for the 2018 International Radio Playwriting Competition. Plus the BBC World Service also announced a brand new podcast series for young listeners in India, presented by the acclaimed Bollywood actor Kalki Koechlin.

Blogs

Chris Price, Head of Music, BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra blogged about BBC Radio 1’s Brit List in 2018, Sara Beck, Director of BBC Monitoring, discusses the service's move to Broadcasting House and its role in analysing fake news across the world; plus

series producer, John Griffin and director Brian Grant discuss filming with the Rohingya in Malaysia for Our Girl's Bangladesh Tour in the final four episodes of Series 3. 

Rosie Turner was our roving reporter for the annual TV Writers' Festival, which this year, for the first time, covered Comedy in addition to Drama.

As the World Cup starts Martha Figueroa-Clark BBC Pronunciation Unit Manager helped us out with World Cup tongue-twisters: how to pronounce players' names, while Kateryna Khinkulova, Senior Producer, BBC News Russian wrote about Filming a World Cup legacy debate in Russia. 

The, on Friday Steve Titherington, Senior Commissioning Editor, BBC World Service blogged about the upcoming Money and Power season  across the BBC's global services.We also published the weekly BBC iPlayer Highlights for 9-15 June and 16-22 June.

Broadcast Highlights

• Nothing Like A Dame, Saturday 2 June, BBC TWO
• Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley, Monday 4 June, BBC ONE
• Versailles, Monday 4 June, BBC TWO
• The Richard Dimbleby Lecture, Wednesday 6 June, BBC ONE
• Poldark, Sunday 10 June, BBC ONE
• Grenfell, Monday 11 June, BBC ONE
• Deadly Dinosaurs with Steve Backshall, Wednesday 13 June, CBBC
• World Cup 2018 Preview, Wednesday 13 June, BBC ONE
• French Open 2018 – Men’s Final, Sunday 10 June, BBC RADIO 5 LIVE
• The Tony Awards 2018 with Elaine Paige, Friday 15 June, BBC RADIO 2