Programme Information

Lifegivers

Easter Monday 13 to Friday 17 April

9.00-9.45am BBC ONE

• www.bbc.co.uk/lifegivers (website available closer to transmission)

Last year more than 3,000 lives were saved or improved by organ transplant operations. These and countless others were made possible by blood donation. But, sadly, more than 500 people died while waiting for a life-saving transplant operation and more than 7,000 people are still on the waiting list.

In a new live BBC One Daytime series, Lifegivers, presented by Nadia Sawalha and Dr Jonty Heaversedge, takes a look at the life-saving world of organ and blood donation.

Featuring a mix of live studio guests and powerful personal stories from across the UK, the programme explains the facts, dispels the myths and raises awareness of the issues surrounding organ and blood donation.

Today's opening episode features the moving story of Jennifer Foster, who became Scotland's first living liver donor when she donated two thirds of her liver to save her dying husband Daniel.

As the week continues, Lifegivers features the first woman in the UK to have four separate transplants – a new heart, lung, liver and kidney – and a young man who had 90 operations and four kidney transplants before his sixth birthday.

Alongside filmed interviews, Nadia and Jonty are joined live in the studio each morning by guests including people who have recently undergone operations; the families of donors meeting the people who have benefited from their loved one's life-saving gift; and celebrity guests, including actor David Harewood, comedian Eddie Large, sports presenter Gaby Logan and former Olympic athlete Colin Jackson, who talk about their own experiences and work in the field of organ and blood donation.

Each day there will be an update on blood stocks and donor sessions happening across the country, while viewers can get further information from bbc.co.uk/lifegivers or by phoning the BBC Action Line.

RB

Great British Menu seeks out a taste of the north

With so many talented chefs in the north of England, Great British Menu has split the former northern region into two, North East and North West, as the series enters week three.

First it's the battle between proud Geordies Kenny Atkinson (The White Room at Seaham Hall, County Durham) and Ian Matfin (Abode, Manchester) to be crowned regional winner for the north east.

Kenny plans a starter of salad of Aberdeen Angus beef, carrots, horseradish and Shetland Black potatoes followed by a fish dish of Craster fish pie, a main course of Northumberland Blackface lamb, asparagus, baby leek and pease pudding and finally strawberry textures for desert.

To achieve this, Kenny visits a smokehouse to get some tips for his fish course and a local farm to seek out an alternative to Parma ham for his Great British main course. He also visits a chilli farm in Northumberland to try some of the 70 varieties of hot fruit chillis.

Rival Ian goes for a ham hock starter with parsley jelly and pease pudding. His fish dish is braised turbot with oysters, mussels and basil sauce with a main course of fillet of beef, mushrooms, marrow bone and red wine sauce. For dessert, it's warm honey tart with glazed lemon curd and blackberry milkshake.

Ian, meanwhile gets tips for pease pudding from a butcher in Whitley Bay and visits an oyster farm next to Holy Island. He also sees how his favourite cut of beef gets to the kitchen at Monkridge Hill Farm near Otterburn.

Former Great British Menu champion, the double Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wearing, is on hand this week. The competing chefs also visit the Royal Marine Reserves in Otterburn to cook a hearty meal using ration packs and ingredients scavenged from the local area. How will they cope when faced with an open fire, freshly caught game and a Swiss army knife?

CI2

To top

Stewart Lee reminds viewers that he’s one of the country’s finest stand-up comedians

"I live opposite a fire station. One day, one of the firemen asked me what I do for a living and I said I was a stand-up comedian, and he said: 'You must be very brave. Stand-up comedy is the hardest job in the world.' I said: 'It is, and I am glad that you, of all people, appreciate that.'"

Stewart, one of the finest stand-ups working in Britain today, reminds the audience, in case anyone had forgotten, that he is, in fact, a comedian. Tonight, he talks about the comedian who has been the biggest influence on his career, how the noble art of stand-up comedy works, and where he sees it going in the future – in retrospect probably not a good idea.

Each episode of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle sees him explore a different theme in a stand-up routine, illustrated with sketches featuring an ensemble cast including: Paul Putner, Kevin Eldon, Tony Law, Stephen K Amos, Simon Munnery, Gail Brand and with voice over from Peter Serafinowicz.

CS

To top

With a key witness in custody, McNulty and Daniels debate how to protect him in the months before he testifies, as the Baltimore-set American drama continues.

Meanwhile, Sydnor and Carver track down the Barksdale crew's main stash house, Prez shows off his "gift for the paper trail", Proposition Joe brokers a meeting between Omar and Stringer Bell; and Orlando attempts to become a player.

The Wire's ensemble cast includes: Dominic West, Lance Reddick, Idris Elba, Clarke Peters, Wendell Pierce, Domenick Lombardozzi, Andre Royo, Sonya Sohn, Michael K Williams and Wood Harris.

RN

Timmy accidentally kicks a football through the nursery window in the week's first visit to the nursery school in an old farm nestling in some rolling hills.

After a spell on the naughty stump, CBeebies' newest star tries to be more careful, but ends up knocking down Otus's sandcastle with a careless kick of the ball. After much soul searching, Timmy realises it's not enough to say sorry, you have to show you're sorry too.

Complete with messy play area, story corner and garden, this is the perfect place for a young lamb to start finding his place in the world... Only on CBeebies, Timmy Time is Aardman's first pre-school series, specially created for boys, girls and animals between two and five years old. It combines the studio's world class stop motion style with the colourful simplicity of classic pre-school animation.

Timmy's nursery world is stylised, bright and colourful and the stories are presented with charm, humour and bags of fun.

FW