Press Packs

BBC Proms – Classic Goldie

Drum 'n' bass pioneer, poet and graphic artist Goldie was the hero of BBC Two's classical music challenge Maestro in 2008.

Now Goldie has received a commission to write a seven-minute composition to be performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall. The new work will reflect the theme of Evolution.

Lacking a traditional classical music education, Goldie must develop his composing skills for the acoustic instruments of a symphony orchestra and chorus, plus the mighty Royal Albert Hall organ. Helping him with this new challenge will be his Maestro mentor, Ivor Setterfield, and composer Anna Meredith.

Viewers will follow Goldie's amazing journey from the moment he is first invited to write this new work to its world premiere performance at the Family Prom.

BBC Two also continues its commitment to televising the BBC Proms with performances this year including work by Daniel Barenboim and Sir Charles Mackerras. BBC Two will also broadcast, live, the first half of Last Night Of The Proms, which includes music by Purcell to mark the 350th anniversary of his birth.

CF2

Best: His Mother's Son

Award-winning writer Terry Caffola charts the effects of George Best's meteoric rise to stardom on himself, his family and, most significantly of all, his mother.

As George stacks up the trophies, his parents and sisters are thrust uncomfortably into the limelight in troubles-ridden Belfast, driving his mother to seek solace in alcohol. This is the story of Britain's first footballing superstar, and those who loved him.

George Best will be played by Tom Payne (Waterloo Road), recently tipped as one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow. Michelle Fairley (The Others, The Street) will play the role of George's mother. Best will be produced by the same team that made Maxwell and 10 Days To War.

Set in the Sixties and early Seventies in Belfast and Manchester, this carefully crafted film is a subtle study of the impact of alcoholism on one family. It will be aired with the support of Headroom, the BBC's mental health initiative.

CD3

The Birth Of British Music

Charles Hazlewood explores the development of British music through the lives and music of Henry Purcell, George Frideric Handel, Joseph Haydn and Felix Mendelssohn in a major new four-part series.

The Birth Of British Music marks significant anniversaries for each of these composers and reveals how classical music became a key component of British national identity between 1650 and 1850.

Charles journeys through locations integral to the personal stories of these major cultural figures. Contributors to the series range from poet laureate Andrew Motion and astrophysicist Dr Chris Lintott to comedian Phill Jupitus and historian Tim Richardson.

Sir John Tomlinson, Danielle de Niese and Ian Bostridge are among the soloists joining Charles and his ensemble Army Of Generals to perform music throughout the programmes. The Birth Of British Music celebrates these composers' anniversaries along with BBC Radio 3's Composers Of The Year 2009.

CF2

Brand New Home

With more people turning to home improvement rather than moving house, designers Jamie Anley and Phil Nutley are on a mission. They believe that too many people live with bland neutral interiors which say little about the people living there; their personalities and passions.

Inspiring viewers to transform their interiors from the tired and familiar into a personalised haven, this new interiors series aspires to make people think differently about their homes.

Phil and Jamie want the British public to stamp their true DNA on to their homes. Forget neutrality for the sake of sellability, a person's pad should reflect the rich lives and histories of the inhabitants.

As successful branding consultants, Phil and Jamie are employed by top names to create a design strategy that represents the essence of a brand. With their fresh perspective on interior design, they bring these skills into the domestic arena, inspiring viewers to be a bit more creative and fall in love with their homes all over again.

KA

Caribbean Food Made Easy

Levi Roots, who first found fame after his successful foray in BBC Two's Dragons' Den, presents this exciting new series about Caribbean cuisine.

The Jamaican-born cook, musician and food enthusiast brings the food and flavours of the Caribbean to life with a range of mouth-watering, accessible dishes.

From traditional recipes learned as a child in his grandmother's Jamaican kitchen to the latest in nouvelle Caribbean cuisine, Levi reveals the full range of this extraordinary fusion food.

As well as taking a journey back to Jamaica in search of the history and culture underlying some of his best-loved dishes, he travels the UK, persuading those who have never tried Caribbean dishes before to tuck in.

He makes a case in Cornwall for patties alongside pasties, champions the red-hot Scotch Bonnet chilli and shows the fishermen of Mull how to spice up their seafood and their sea shanties.

BBC Front Desk Publicity

China's Capitalist Revolution

When Chairman Mao died 35 years ago he left China in chaos and poverty. He was succeeded by Deng Xiaoping, who overturned Maoism and taught the Chinese to love capitalism, creating special zones where the West could invest. But Deng's crash course in capitalism went wrong when inflation grew and workers lost their jobs.

By 1989 China faced disaster. Now, 20 years after the tragic events in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, this programme reveals an interpretation of the motives of the demonstrators that may well overturn the West's conventional view of China.

The demonstrators did not begin by demanding democracy. Corruption, inflation and the hardship caused by economic reforms drove students and workers to confront the government and the army.

Students went on hunger strike and troops killed more than 2,000 people. Deng Xiaoping gave the order to fire, but his ideas prevailed. This film argues that Deng's capitalist revolution created today's China.

BBC Front Desk Publicity

The Culture Show

The Culture Show returns to BBC Two this summer in a revitalised and extended prime time slot and from a different UK location or event each week. Presented by an ensemble cast including Lauren Laverne, Mark Kermode, Andrew Graham-Dixon, Tom Dyckhoff and Miranda Sawyer.

The Culture Show aims to cover every aspect of cultural life in Britain today – the visual arts, literature and poetry, theatre, film and TV, music of every kind, architecture, design, fashion and the media.

The new series will also feature a host of one-off special documentaries and come from major festivals and events around the country – the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Manchester International Festival and Edinburgh Festival. Exclusive content from the show is available online.

JF

The Death Of Respect

From the rise in family break-ups, to public drunkenness and violence, to the explosion of bad language on television, John Ware examines the apparent crisis of "respect" in Britain today.

In two one-hour programmes, John meets the academics whose groundbreaking work proves scientifically that British society is fragmenting, and talks to writers and church leaders, who conclude that the unintended consequences of "progress" are a country with the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and family breakdown, in which the relationship between young and old is in danger of being permanently poisoned.

Asking if the genie can be put back in the bottle, John meets people who are refusing to let Britain go to the dogs, including a village policeman tackling teenage drunkenness and fire fighters who have set up a gym for the youths who have been attacking them.

At the heart of Britain's traditonal values is the family, an institution that has been in near terminal decline for 30 years. If we can get the family right, John argues, other pieces of the puzzle will fall into place. He meets a man whose mission is to help couples stay together and a high court judge who wants to re-think the way we look at family break-up.

BBC Front Desk Publicity

Defying Gravity

Ron Livingston (Band Of Brothers, Sex And The City) stars in an exciting new adventure drama series set in the near future about the exploits of eight astronauts from five countries who undertake a mysterious six-year international space mission through the solar system.

With the eyes of the world upon them (everything they do is monitored and every emotion they feel is scrutinised) the four male and four female astronauts soon discover that their real assignment is not what they thought.

Defying Gravity is created and co-executive produced by James Parriott (Grey's Anatomy) with executive producer Michael Edelstein (Desperate Housewives). Executive producers include Brian Hamilton and Michael Chechik (Omni Films) and Tim Haines (Impossible Pictures).

The cast includes: Laura Harris as Zoe; Eyal Podell as Mintz; Christina Cox as Jen; Zahf Paroo as Ajay; Florentine Lahme as Nadia; Paula Garces as Paula; Karen LeBlanc as Eve; Malik Yoba as Ted and Ty Olsen as Rollie.

AF

Down The Line

Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson, who first brought controversial phone-in host Gary Bellamy to BBC Radio 4, are now set to unleash their Sony award-winning creation on the Great British television-viewing public. Bellamy is let out of the studio to meet people face-to-face as Down The Line moves to BBC Two.

As with the radio show, Down The Line will be performed in a semi-improvised style with Bellamy taking to the road each week in his "Bellamymobile", eager to meet the great British public and discuss everything from immigration and religion to class and culture... except, of course, that the people he meets will not be real people at all but the cast of the show.

Starring alongside Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson will be Lucy Montgomery, Felix Dexter, Amelia Bullmore, Simon Day and Rhys Thomas as Gary Bellamy.

SM4