Programme Information

Friday Night Is Music Night

Friday 19 March

7.30-9.15pm BBC RADIO 2

The BBC Concert Orchestra is the undisputed star of the show in this week's special edition of Friday Night Is Music Night, presented by Paul Gambaccini, live from London's Mermaid Theatre, as the programme shines a spotlight on the orchestra and its soloists.

Richard Balcombe conducts tonight's box of delights which includes All The Things You Are; Rumpole Of The Bailey, arranged specially for the orchestra's bassoon players; and a show-stopping turn from the percussion section.

Presenter/Paul Gambaccini, Producer/Jodie Keane

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Eve Pollard celebrates World Poetry Day this week and interviews guests from the art world.

Presenter/Eve Pollard, Producer/Jessica Rickson

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Performance On 3

Friday 19 March

7.00-9.15pm BBC RADIO 3

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor Jiří Bĕlohlávek continue their cycle of Martinů with Synphony No. 5, along with Brahms's German Requiem, live from the Barbican in London.

Martinů's Fifth Symphony, written for the Czech Philharmonic and premièred by the orchestra at the Prague Spring Festival in 1947, sets out the composer's vision of truth in music of tender lyricism, rhythmic animation and crystalline structural clarity.

Brahms, like Martinů, is central to Jiří Bĕlohlávek's repertoire. The conductor turns here to the German Requiem and its uplifting message of comfort to those who mourn. Ana María Martínez (soprano) and Markus Eiche (baritone) are tonight's soloists.

Presenter/Petroc Trelawny, Producer/Peter Thresh

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

China – manufacturer of Nunzilla the fire-breathing Nun; Mummified Mike, the Egyptian mummy-shaped elastic band holder; and the Dashboard Jesus.

Britain – home of the creative types who send these often ironic, and sometimes blasphemous, novelty gift designs to the Chinese for manufacture.

Writer and comedian Anna Chen asks what these throwaway gifts tell the British about both its society and its relationship with China. She looks at how although their economic relationship flourishes, their respective cultures perhaps remain poles apart.

Anna follows a novelty toy from design through manufacture to the gift shops. Workers on the production lines in a South Chinese factory give their take on just what it is they're making and British designers try their best to deconstruct the joke.

Presenter/Anna Chen, Producer/Sally Heaven

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live At Cheltenham

Friday 19 March

2.00-4.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

John Inverdale presents live coverage of the final day of the Cheltenham Festival 2010, Gold Cup day.

Clare Balding and BBC Radio 5 Live's racing correspondent, Cornelius Lysaght, are joined by former Gold Cup-winning jockey Mick Fitzgerald and multiple champion jockey Peter Scudamore for all the latest news and predictions.

Comedian Kevin Day, meanwhile, is out and about around the course chatting to the punters and soaking up the festival atmosphere.

John Hunt and Luke Harvey are also on hand to provide commentary on the day's big races, including the Gold Cup at 3.20pm.

Presenter/John Inverdale Producer/Steve Rudge

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

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Colin Murray is joined by regular guests Pat Nevin and Perry Groves for Kicking Off With Colin Murray, taking a look ahead to the weekend's sporting action, including Arsenal versus West Ham United, Aston Villa versus Wolves and Manchester United versus Liverpool.

Presenter/Colin Murray, Producer/Francesca Bent

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Rugby League

Friday 19 March

7.55-9.45pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted Super League commentary of St Helens versus Warrington Wolves comes live from Knowsley Road this evening.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Vitalic joins Nemone for this afternoon's Friday re-mix. French-born Vitalic, aka Pascal Arbez, first illuminated the world's dance floors in 2005 with his debut OK Cowboy. His latest album, Flashmob, continues in the same vein as OK Cowboy, with pummelling compressed shards of intense mentalist disco and brain-frazzling wonkiness.

Presenter/Nemone, Producer/Jax Coombes

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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The impressively coiffured Claudio Sanchez, lead singer of progressive hard rockers Coheed and Cambria, joins Bruce Dickinson on his Friday Rock Show this evening.

Claudio chats to Bruce about the band's fifth studio album, Year Of The Black Rainbow, and what it was like working with producers Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction) and Joe Barresi (Queens Of The Stone Age and Tool).

Claudio also reveals why he chose to co-write a new novel which accompanies special edition copies of the new record.

Presenter/Bruce Dickinson, Producer/Ian Callaghan

BBC 6 Music Publicity

A distraught Mary shouts for help when Dr Masud suddenly collapses while they are walking down the street laughing, in the final visit of the week to Silver Street.

Elsewhere, Sean comes face to face with his father, Jai, who has been on the run. Jai begs for a chance to explain but will Sean listen?

Later, Rita tells the family about Dr Masud while, at the hospital, Mary breaks down at his bedside.

Mary is played by Carole Nimmons, Dr Masud by Saeed Jaffrey, Sean by Lloyd Thomas, Jai by Ravin Ganatra and Rita by Bharti Patel.

BBC Asian Network Publicity

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Spurred on by recent guests Dame Kelly Holmes, Lawrence Dallaglio and a host of British-Asian stars, Tommy Sandhu previews the weekend's Big Bollywood Mile in Birmingham, part of Sport Relief.

Presenter/Tommy Sandhu

BBC Asian Network Publicity

In China, people are unable to use the internet in ways that many around the world take for granted. Many sites are out of bounds, the use of certain words triggers alarm bells and China's net is dominated by names like the search engine Baidu and the shopping website Alibaba.

In this documentary Weiliang Nie of the BBC Chinese Service, meets Chinese internet users and finds out more about the censorship often referred to as "The Great Firewall". China's economic miracle has, in many ways, been driven by its technological revolution, but the web also presents the authorities with issues about control and access.

Hillary Clinton recently spoke about the importance of internet freedom and against blocking but, as this documentary reveals, users in China are browsing a different kind of internet.

The Other Internet – Beyond China's Great Firewall is part of Superpower, a major season on BBC World Service, BBC World News and bbc.com, exploring the extraordinary power of the internet.

Presenter/Weiliang Nie, Producer/Tim Mansel

BBC World Service Publicity