This week is Comedy Week for the BBC in the North. In fact the BBC is so keen on comedy we've even made a sitcom about ourselves: W1A is on BBC Two starring Hugh Bonneville.
The third Salford Comedy Festival is taking place – the event where we first discovered sitcoms Citizen Khan and Hebburn – and where we are looking for the next Royle Family or Last of the Summer Wine, Victoria Wood or Peter Kay. Top producers from the UK and across the globe are gathering. The region isn't just world famous for sport and music, after all.
Other key events have a more spiritual theme, especially as Easter approaches, with many strong programmes from our Salford based Religion & Ethics teams.
First up though, The Minster, a trio of films about York Minster, produced by BBC teams based in Leeds and broadcast in the Yorkshire region on BBC Two followed by a pan UK transmission. It's lovingly made with tiny cameras helping us get inside every nook and cranny of this ancient cathedral.
Songs of Praise is coming from Bradford Cathedral on Palm Sunday and features Hull's finest Tom Courtenay reading the story of Christ's passion in the city where he made the iconic British film Billy Liar.
On Good Friday BBC North's most daring creative partnership yet comes live from South Shields, the culmination of a relationship with the North East's Cultural Spring group. Twelve different communities from Woodhorn to Middlesbrough, a 1,000 strong choir plus more than 60 shipping containers – many of them converted into unique artistic commissions – will be brought together at noon for the remarkable Great North Passion programme live on BBC One, presented by Fern Britton.
Finally on Easter Sunday itself, Yorkshire is very much God's Own Country, as BBC Breakfast host Bill Turnbull explores Greek Orthodox, Moravian and Polish Catholic traditions and music from Whitby Abbey through Leeds to Huddersfield.
The creative spirit of the North is at the heart of events and content made in the North West too.
The first ever Manchester BBC Radio 6 Music Festival, also filmed for TV on the red button, filled the Victoria Warehouse in Trafford for two days, rocking to the sounds of Jake Bugg, Damon Albarn and The National; from Halifax the Northern Ballet company and CBeebies channel have combined to make The Three Little Pigs, a ballet for tiny kids and yet another strong partnership; Liverpool previewed Jimmy McGovern's latest powerful film Common, starring Nico Mirallegro and Jodhi May, produced for a BBC One broadcast later this year by the city's LA Productions; while Chester Zoo's early years will be at the heart of a BBC One drama series set just after World War One which starts filming shortly.
If you miss anything in the packed BBC schedules over the next few weeks, then there's always a catch up on the revamped BBC iPlayer, much of which is developed and operated by Future Media technologists at MediaCity. The new BBC iPlayer will underpin our approach to BBC Three – a way of saving money and trying to keep up with young audiences' fast-changing viewing habits.
The 40p a day the BBC licence fee costs is very much part of Parliament's Culture Media and Sport review of the Corporation. MPs from the committee were in Bradford and Salford talking to BBC teams and partners and producers from as far apart as Newcastle, Leeds and Liverpool. Radio 5 live, just about to celebrate 20 remarkable years, met MPs as did BBC Sport teams working on our Six Nations Rugby coverage. The star attraction for visiting MPs were Cookie Monster and Elmo, currently filming the new Sesame Street / BBC Children's co-production The Furchester Hotel. Enough to melt even the toughest parliamentary heart.
Finally, it's Sport Relief 2014 and spare a thought for our intrepid presenters. Harry Gration and Amy Garcia from Look North in Leeds have been cycling the Yorkshire stages of the Tour De France – 400 kilometres. Match of the Day pundits Alan Shearer and Robbie Savage with their Battle of the Backsides, were racing to sit on all 90,000 Wembley seats over five days to raise money. A big TV weekend of Sport Relief programmes is looming but I doubt if Harry or Amy, Robbie or Alan will be sitting particularly comfortably through it.
Peter Salmonis Director, BBC North
- Read our blog Reflecting on the first BBC 6 Music Festival
- Read more of Peter’s blogs on About the BBC
