A quick round-up of BBC-related announcements and blog posts which appeared this week, plus a look forward to some selected highlights on TV and radio.
THIS WEEK
About the BBC launched an enhanced homepage which highlights the breadth of activities the BBC is involved in across the country. Also the BBC Journalism Trainee Scheme opened this week, closing date for applications is Monday 10 February.
The weekend saw the start of the Six Nations rugby, and on Saturday one of the games was Wales versus Italy – read our blog about BBC Cymru Wales marketing campaign for the event. The Six Nations along with the transfer deadline contributed to the BBC Sport website's busiest day for traffic outside of the London 2012 Olympics, including the highest ever number of people accessing the site from mobile devices (3.3m unique UK browsers).
Saturday also saw the last episodes of season two of Danish drama The Bridge. But fans of European drama need not grieve too long as Dutch drama Salamander starts next Saturday (8 February) and promises to provide the fix Scandi-drama fans will need in the wake of Borgen and The Bridge.
On Sunday Top Gear returned to BBC Two. If you missed the first episode you can catch up on BBC iPlayer as many viewers already do – we know this because it was also announced last week that in 2013 iPlayer had a record year with 3 billion programme requests, and the most requested programme was Top Gear with 3.4 million requests over the year.
On Monday 5Live's Daytime Editor Louisa Compton blogged about dementia previewing an interview with sufferers in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s on Victoria Derbshire's show. The interview is available via podcast. One listener was particularly impressed.
On Tuesday the BBC Singers Rossini Workshop outreach project - an opportunity for amateur choirs to work with members of the BBC's only singing group - featured in a Radio 3 interval broadcast.
Two announcements from BBC Four this week, firstly a quartet of new comedies for 2014, including The Life Of Rock with Brian Pern which airs on Monday (10 February). Secondly the channel unveiled a new season celebrating British architecture, Nation Builders.
Wednesday saw the start of League of Gentleman and Psychoville creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith new series – a selection of dark comic tales, Inside No.9. Also on Wednesday it was announced that Channel 4 News presenter Sarah Smith would return to the BBC to present Scotland 2014 which will replace Newsnight Scotland from May.
For the whole of February Radio 1 and Radio 1 Xtra open up their doors and invite people to take a look behind the scenes of the BBC radio station, details are on the Radio 1 Access All Areas website (we'll have a blog about it next week). Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw fared well in this quarter's RAJAR figures (announced on Thursday) gaining 700,000 listeners, whilst Radio 4, 6music and Asian Network all broke audience figure records. Radio 3 Controller Roger Wright explained that he was not under pressure to increase ratings for the station in an article he wrote for The Telegraph.
Tech reporter Rory Cellan-Jones met Lorna Cockayne - a woman who first used a computer in 1944. The interview features in the 7th February episode of World Service's Tech Tent.
Lastly for this week, belated birthday wishes to iconic hourly audio time check the 'pips' who turned 90 on Wednesday. Radio 4 marked the occasion with a 'special' version of the Greenwich Time Signal, you can relive the moment here.
NEXT WEEK
On Sunday 9 February BBC Wales turns 50 and is marking the anniversary with an evening of programmes on Saturday 8 February. Rhodri Talfan Davies spoke to Wales Online about the anniversary.
Popular astronomy programme The Sky at Nightreturns to screens on Sunday on BBC Four, which should please the 40.000 viewers who petitioned to keep the long running show on air.
Tuesday is Safer Internet Day which promotes the safe and responsible use of online technology and mobile phones for children and young people. The BBC has a range of programmes and online content highlighting the subject.
And finally, Wednesday sees the first episode in the second series of Jed Mercurio's tense police drama Line of Duty starring Keeley Hawes, Adrian Dunbar and Vicky McClure.
Jen Macro is Digital Content Producer, About the BBC Website and Blog
- Read previous round-ups here.
