Programme Information

Actor and presenter of BBC 6 Music's Soul And Funk Show Craig Charles crosses over to BBC Radio 2 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of Miles Davis's album In A Silent Way. He explores the extraordinary music that Miles produced in the period dubbed the Electric Era, from 1969-75.

Poorly received at the time, the records from this time-frame include Bitches Brew and On The Corner and represent the final creative flourish from one of the 20th century's major musical figures.

The documentary includes newly sourced interview material from musicians who collaborated with Miles, including Wayne Shorter, John Mclaughlin, Jack De Johnette and Dave Liebman.

Presenter/Craig Charles, Producer/Henry Lopez-Real

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Marc Riley

Marc Riley and his musical time machine head back to 1995 in the final programme of the series. This was the year that Nick Leeson was arrested for his role in the collapse of Bearings Bank, Richey Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers went missing and comedian Peter Cook passed away.

This episode features an interview between Stuart Maconie and revered pop star Scott Walker for BBC Radio 4's art programme Kaleidoscope. Famed for being one third of the Walker Brothers and known for classics including The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore and Make It Easy On Yourself, Walker enjoyed massive success in the Sixties.

In May 1995, he had just emerged from an 11-year hibernation following the release of his 12th record, Tilt. He discusses the European influence on his American sensibility, his writing technique and his notions of crime and punishment.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Ian Callaghan

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

BBC PROMS 2009
Prom 53 – Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment

Tuesday 25 August

7.00-9.30pm BBC RADIO 3

• www.bbc.co.uk/proms
• Press pack

Sir Roger Norrington leads the Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment in a celebration of BBC Radio 3's four Composers Of The Year – Handel, Haydn, Purcell and Mendelssohn.

Purcell's suite, Abdelazar, which gave Britten the theme he used 250 years later in his Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, opens the concert, broadcast live from London's Royal Albert Hall, which ends with Mendessohn's evocative "Scottish" Symphony. In between, American mezzo-soprano Joyce diDonato joins one of the world's leading period instrument orchestras for famous arias by Handel and a dramatic scena by Haydn.

This Prom will be repeated on Tuesday 8 September at 2.15pm.

Presenter/Sara Mohr-Pietsch, Producer/Peter Thresh

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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One hundred years after the founding manifesto of Italy's most audacious art movement, Futurism, one of its least-documented aspects is examined: Luigi Russolo's Art Of Noises.

Russolo, the most influential Futurist musician, argued for a complete reappraisal of classical orchestras to include sounds of the modern world. He designed and built early mechanical synthesisers, or intonerumori, to recreate the sounds of factories, cars and whistles.

Robert Worby travels to Milan, the birthplace of Futurism, to visit reconstructions of the intonerumori and re-imagine the sounds of the trams and the mighty railway station which inspired them.

Presenter/Robert Worby, Producer/Joby Waldman

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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BBC PROMS 2009
Prom 54 – Michael Nyman Band

Tuesday 25 August

10.15-11.45pm BBC RADIO 3

• www.bbc.co.uk/proms
• Press pack

Now best known for his soundtracks to such movies as The Piano, Gattaca and Wonderland, Michael Nyman started out as a musicologist, editing scores by Handel and Purcell. He makes his BBC Proms debut at London's Royal Albert Hall, performing well-known works from the Draughtman's Contract to The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover.

The Michael Nyman Band also give the world première of The Musicologist Scores, which has been specially commissioned by the BBC for this concert.

This Prom will be repeated on Wednesday 9 September at 2.30pm.

Presenter/Fiona Talkington, Producer/Roland Taylor

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

They may be a shadow of their former infrastructural selves, but railways still hold a curiously affectionate place in national life. Nowhere is this more true than in the world of music where chuffing, whistling, steaming and "clackety-clacking" have been the inspiration for hundreds of songs.

Pianist and broadcaster Simon Townley has never counted himself among railway enthusiasts but he's always had an ear for the things that inspire composers and songwriters.

Train Tracks is a restless journey through the rhythms, themes and metaphorical uses of the train in music from Honneger's Pacific 231 to many American blues tracks, such as Love In Vain and Freight Train Blues. It's a journey that tackles the predestination of the train track; the business of the train as a life that you can either take or miss; and it's full of pulse and motion.

Country and Western star Laura Cantrell, music professor Alan Moore and composer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett contribute their thoughts on this mass transit system which has provided such a rich seam of inspiration over the last 200 years or so.

Presenter/Simon Townley, Producer/Tom Alban

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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The Incomplete Works Of Dave McCabe is a musical romantic comedy by actor, writer and musician Nick Underwood.

Dave is an aspiring singer-songwriter. When he gets a call asking him to MC at a folk festival, he's reticent as the festival is run by his best friend's dad, and he's not spoken to his friend for six years. But when he discovers that folk goddess Lola Guthrie is headlining, he jumps at the chance.

Dave is wild about Lola – this is the opportunity of a lifetime to meet his muse and woo her with a song. But he has a problem – he can't get past his opening lines.

Punctuating this romantic comedy are some unforgettable moments – a tango class in which Dave dances with an octogenarian soup chef; a disagreement over the ethics of selling a prize-winning pony to fund a music festival; and streams of tenderly funny opening lines peppering the play with songs.

Simon Donaldson stars as Dave, brandishing his own guitar and singing his heart out, and Lorraine M McIntosh, the female vocalist from Deacon Blue, stars as Lola, and sings her own uncompleted song.

The cast also features Sandy Grierson as Mike, Claire Knight as Malena, Ann Scott-Jones as Queenie and Finlay Welsh as Frank.

Producer/Kirsty Williams

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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EDINBURGH FESTIVAL 2009
Comic Fringes Ep 1/3

Tuesday 25 to Thursday 27 August

3.30-3.45pm BBC RADIO 4

Comic Fringes presents three new short stories written and read by leading comedians Janey Godley, Sarah Millican and Jon Richardson, recorded in front of a live audience at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The first story of the series is May Contain Nuts by Glasgow comedian Janey Godley, which presents a brilliant, unsentimental insight into father/daughter relationships. A woman glimpses her own mortality when she calculates that only 27 years separate her from her cantankerous father.

On Wednesday, it's the turn of award-winning comedian Sarah Millican who reads her story, details of which will be confirmed closer to transmission.

Comic Fringes forms part of a stellar line-up of BBC Radio 4 shows being recorded at The Pleasance for this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Producer/Kirsteen Cameron

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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That Mitchell And Webb Sound Ep 1/6

Tuesday 25 August

6.30-7.00pm BBC RADIO 4

David Mitchell and Robert Webb return with more off-beat sketches combining their trademark silliness and intelligence.

Running sketches in this series include: The Old Lady Hearings, in which everyone has to explain what they do to a panel of old ladies who then decide if it's a proper job or not; and a very ordinary office that just happens to have among its office equipment a portal to another universe – if only the staff would use it responsibly and not just nip through it for a crafty fag.

One-off sketches include: an exciting new quiz game, Metal Or Normal, in which contestants say if something is metal or just, well, normal; the invention of the ampersand; a charity for ghosts; a new reality TV show, Make Me A Celebrity Centaur, that uses some controversial horse-grafting technology; and a very unusual interview about how to count whales.

David and Robert are joined by James Bachman, Olivia Colman and Sarah Hadland, and this series features material by the duo along with Mark Evans, Toby Davies, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, to name but a few.

Producer/Gareth Edwards

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah investigates the role of community leaders – those charismatic figures who the media turn to when they want the inside story on a local crisis.

When the microphone is thrust in their direction, these community leaders are happy to oblige but, as Kwame finds out, it's not always clear on whose authority they speak. He visits Birmingham and meets leaders from the Muslim, Hindu and Afro-Caribbean communities, discovering how these individuals are selected – and in some cases elected – to speak on behalf of others.

Kwame discovers that some leaders came to prominence through the church, others through business connections and, for the younger generation, Government-approved schemes are becoming the launch pad. For older community leaders working on behalf of ethnic groups, the role was a practical one – helping people find their local GP or writing letters on their behalf. The younger leaders see their responsibilities as more political, such as addressing why young black men are disproportionately represented on the DNA register.

Kwame also joins community leader Bishop Joe Aldred on his weekly radio show for Birmingham's Afro-Caribbean community to debate the issues with a panel of opinionated locals. They consider how community leadership agendas have responded to our increasingly diverse society and question whether the notion of community is still possible in a world of multiplying lifestyles and opinions.

Presenter/Kwame Kwei-Armah, Producer/Paula McGinley

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Tuesday 25 August

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch presents all the day's sports news as well as live commentary of one of the evening's Uefa Champions League play-off round second-leg matches.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Ed King

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Tom Ravenscroft's (John Peel's son) second foray into live music sessions sees him invite AJ Holmes And The Hackney Empire into the studio. Describing their music as "The New Electric Hi-Life", the band play a unique blend of African and European pop.

AJ Holmes And The Hackney Empire are currently the resident band at monthly London tropical party Secousse and have recently played with David Byrne at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Presenter/Tom Ravenscroft, Producer/Michelle Choudhry

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Camden scenesters Ultrasound leave NW1 for a 1998 Glastonbury performance, while school-age sensations Kitty Daisy and Lewis can be heard live from the Summer Sundae in 2007 in tonight's programme. Sessions include early Captain Beefheart, folk-tinged Britpoppers Drugstore, brutal Baltimore trio Oxes and Cats In Paris.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity