Over 24 days of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe the BBC venue will be jam-packed with familiar faces from BBC TV, radio and online. Nick Grimshaw, Nina Conti, Paul Merton and Nicholas Parsons are just some of the names appearing live at the venue, not only recording shows on site but also taking people behind the scenes to explain how BBC shows are made.
Visitors to the site will be able to watch the Radio 1 Fun and Filth Cabaret recording with Scott Mills and Nick Grimshaw, as well as Radio 4’s Just A Minute with Nicholas Parsons. They can also get the insider’s guide in a series of special events, hearing directly from the people who star in and produce the shows, asking the questions they’ve always wanted the answers to and learning more about the BBC and its output.
Supported by BBC Learning, this exciting range of free activity runs throughout the Fringe. Highlights include:
• Listen, Watch, Share: Making Pictures for Radio. Hosted by BBC Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw, it explores the rise of the visual radio revolution and goes behind the scenes at the Radio 1 Fun & Filth Cabaret show, which will screened on the Red Button during the Fringe.
• Just a Minute’s Nicholas Parsons and Paul Merton discuss the last 45 years of this BBC Radio 4 classic, with plenty of opportunities for the audience to buzz in with their questions.
• Cognitive Neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott’s part-gig, part-experiment and part-discussion will explore what lies beneath our laughter, while Professor Richard Wiseman gets inside the minds of Fringe comedians, discussing their work from a psychological perspective.
• Great Comedy Writing And How It’s Done. This masterclass will share the writing secrets behind hit BBC shows Him & Her, Whites, Getting On and Cabin Pressure.
• 6Music’s Shaun Keaveny discusses why ‘Breakfast is the Most Important Show of the Day’ with his production team from the award-winning Station of the Year.
• In partnership with the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Artistic Director Orla Loughlin will talk on writing for theatre and radio in 'Crossing the Media’.
• Al Murray talks about his creation the Pub Landlord in a ‘Character Building’ comedy masterclass led by Marcus Brigstocke.
• Take your first steps in stand-up with the BBC Radio 2 New Comedy Award masterclass with tips from past winners.
• Learn the secrets of the QI Elves in ‘How to Make Facts Funny’ with producer of the hit BBC Two show, John Lloyd.
• Following a screening of her BBC Four documentary Her Masters Voice, Nina Conti joins Arthur Smith for a Q&A with the audience, plus a hands-on Ventriloquism class for younger fringe-goers.
• The BBC College of Production help you to ‘Make it in the Media’ with expert advice, tips and insights in this candid session with some of the broadcast industry’s leading practitioners.
• Premiere of BBC One’s brand new autumn drama Good Cop, followed by a Q&A featuring the lead actor, Warren Brown, writer Stephen Butchard and BBC Drama Controller Kate Harwood.
Tickets are available now from bbc.co.uk/tickets on a first come, first served basis.
Abigail Appleton, Head of Commissioning, BBC Learning says: “With so many parts of the BBC coming together, this unique event gives us the ideal platform to offer an insight into the world of broadcasting.
"We’re putting one of the BBC’s central aims, to create inspiring opportunities for learning, at the very heart of the largest arts festival in the world, with an exciting programme of masterclasses, workshops and hands-on activities that will help demystify the media, give insights into the art of comedy and give audiences the chance to create and share content themselves.”
If you don’t manage to get your hands on a ticket to one of the recordings or behind-the-scenes talks, there is still plenty to get involved with at the BBC village. Entry is free and visitors can get a hands-on experience of how BBC programmes are made. The on-site, working radio studio will allow visitors to take the hot seat, whether it's reading the 5 Live Sports News, playing in Radio 1 jingles or starring in your own production of the Archers. Head to BBC@Potterrow at the Fringe this year and become the star of our show.
To find out more follow @BBCEdFest or visit bbc.co.uk/Edinburghfringe for full listings
It’s an exciting programme that will help demystify the media, give insights into the art of comedy and give audiences the chance to create and share content themselves."
