A round-up of BBC announcements and press releases and blogs, plus some highlights from our TV, radio and online output this week.
Blogs
Following the announcement of entertainer Ronnie Corbett's death, we selected twenty pictures from the BBC Picture Library to pay tribute to the great man.
In a special edition of Blue Peter broadcast on Thursday 31 March presenter Radzi Chinyanganya has retraced the path of the 50 mile walk, meeting the survivors of the 1965 march between Selma and Montgomery in Alabama, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. We spoke to Radzi and assistant producer Andy Hassall about the project they worked on together.
On Friday we announced the launch of a new app for students studying for their GCSEs. BBC Learning's Executive Editor Lisa Percy introduced the new app in a blog post, including some of the research that was carried out prior to its development.
Announcements
Casting for one of the sitcoms which features in our 60th anniversary celebration of the genre was announced earlier this week. Kevin Bishop will star in the Porridge remake. Details about the BBC Four sitcom re-makes were also announced.
BBC Store announced on Friday that it was launching a new service, making the BBC's back catalogue available in VHS format. Anyone interested might want to check the date and time the story was published.
50 years of the BBC World Service's Outlook programme will be celebrated with 50 inspirational stories from individuals the world over who have inspired others. From 29 March - 1 May, the BBC is inviting nominations from the public for people they would like to suggest for Outlook Inspirations. Learn about what kind of nomination the Outlook team are looking for on the BBC World Service website.
In drama, BBC One announced that Ordinary Lies would be returning for another series, this time around featuring Griff Rhys Jones, Angela Griffin, Rebekah Staton, Matt Di Angelo, Kimberley Nixon, Con O’Neill and Joel Fry.
Also on BBC One the return of a daytime series of Animal Park this summer to celebrate 50 years of the UK's first drive-through safari park. Each of the five 45-minute episodes will tell a different story about the 50 years which have passed since the 6th Marquess of Bath decided to allow the public to drive their cars through a field of lions and picnic among the giraffes, in 1968.
In radio, Radio 1 announced a new show, created and presented by different student radio stations from across the UK. The weekly playlist-based shows will feature an hour-long mix of themed music that reflects students' lives. The show will air on Monday nights on Radio 1 for 12 weeks from May.
For the fourth year running, BBC Local Radio announced plans to provide 800 hours of county cricket coverage. Head of Sport, BBC English Regions Charles Runcie wrote about the plans on the About the BBC Blog.
Also on the subject of sport, we announced on Friday that Former England captain and European Cup winner Rio Ferdinand will join the BBC Euro 2016 presentation team this summer.
On Wednesday the nominees for the BAFTA awards 2016 were announced, you can see some of the BBC contenders in our round up blog.
This year the BBC is encouraging audiences to discover their ‘inner volunteer’ and Do Something Great with a new volunteering campaign.With a wealth of inspiring and heart-warming programmes across TV and radio, and a bespoke online quiz to help people discover their perfect volunteering match, the BBC will be putting people and charities in touch, to help each other.
In music news Mark Knopfler, John McCusker, Lynched and folk duo Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman were all confirmed to perform at the Radio 2 Folk Awards 2016.
Meanwhile World Service Radio announced that the BBC Burmese audience-participation radio programme, Lut Latt Ah Twe, Swey Nway Pe Lair (Have Your Say), will bring together a wide cross-section of Burmese youth for its first ever edition from Myanmar/Burma, to discuss what they hope the newly elected government will achieve.
BBC Wales coverage of 2016 Welsh Assembly Elections started on Wednesday aiming to engage voters with its most comprehensive coverage ever.
Broadcast highlights
Broadcast Highlights
Some of the programmes which have caught our eye on TV this week include:
- Episode one ofBake Off: Creme de la Creme
- First episode of BBC Two comedy Two Doors Down
- Series two ofBoomersgot underway on BBC One
- Episode two of police drama Line of Duty
- Many Faces of Ronnie Corbett tribute
- BBC Four Steam Railways collection on BBC iPlayer
- The live semi-final of The Voice UK
- First episode of Sunday night drama Undercover
- Peter Maxwell-Davies at the BBCtribute presented by Tom Service
- Timeshift: Looking for 007 on BBC Four
Some of our radio highlights include:
- Episode 2 of Series 10 of Clare in the Community on BBC Radio Four
- A discussion about coercive control and domestic abuse on Woman's Hour
- The culmination of the Helen and Rob domestic abuse storyline in the Archers
- Episodes 3 and 4 of Radio 2's Pet Shop Boys documentary
- A celebration of Graham Greene in Words and Music on BBC Radio 3
- Also on BBC Radio 3, the first Catholic vespers sung at Hampton Court Palace
