Fresh comedy voices, school tours and a celebration of dance as BBC announces partnership ahead of Bradford 2025, UK City of Culture

Today, the BBC announces that it will be the official broadcast partner of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture. This means there will be unforgettable coverage on local and national BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, Radio, BBC Sounds and Online, bringing audiences together to celebrate Bradford.

The BBC is also commissioning a range of new arts, education and factual content for the city’s landmark year.

The BBC is committed to supporting Bradford 2025, UK City of Culture throughout the year and further announcements of new programming, events and celebration coverage will follow.

BBC Director General Tim Davie welcomed what he described as a fantastic opportunity to showcase Bradford’s creativity.

He says: “Bradford is home to vibrant, authentic storytelling and proud multi-cultural communities.

“We will draw on this rich history to bring people together through the joy and celebration of the arts, poetry, film, comedy and much, much more.

“It’s a huge honor to be part of a legacy that will no doubt attract thousands of tourists and millions of pounds of investment to this extraordinary city.”

Katrina Bunker, Head of BBC Yorkshire, says: “2025 promises to be an amazing year for Bradford. The BBC is the best place to capture all the excitement, ambition and energy that the UK City of Culture will bring to the region.

“We will have coverage of the development and all the highlights through our online, radio and TV services. It’s going to be a very interesting year.”

Shanaz Gulzar, Creative Director Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, says: “The UK City of Culture puts all eyes on this incredible region and, with the support of the BBC, we’re showing what a fantastic place it is. Flagship programs such as Countryfile will profile the district’s rurality, and the in-depth education program with Bitesize invests in our young people.

“But this is just a sample of what’s to come and is a sign of the network’s commitment to Bradford, showcasing its people and the district to the UK and the world.”

BBC programs and events coming to Bradford include:

Children and Education

• BBC Bitesize is offering all secondary schools in the Bradford District Bitesize Careers Tour. Organized and delivered by BBC Education, the careers tour is a chance to inspire young people in Bradford about their future. Working closely with the Bradford City of Culture team, the panel-style careers roadshow will feature representatives from the organization and a variety of local businesses across the district sharing their professional knowledge. The events will be hosted by a host of BBC talent including BBC Asian Network’s Jasmine Takhar and BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Fee Mak.
• BBC Teach is filming for one of their live lessons in Bradford in 2025. The live lessons bring primary school subjects to life and feature some of the BBC’s biggest brands and presenters. Teachers can check the BBC Teach website for the latest autumn term programme.
• My Life on CBBC on BBC iPlayer is a critically acclaimed documentary series featuring incredible children with amazing, inspiring and thought-provoking stories. In 2025, two episodes will focus on the children of Bradford. My Life: World’s Fastest Boy (WT) follows Alfie, a ten-year-old who says his ADHD and autism help him focus when it comes to his passion for motorcycle racing, as he is set to break a new world land speed record. . My Life: Neza Bazi (WT) features 11-year-old Jaleel from Bradford and 15-year-old Subhaan, part of a new generation of British riders who are taking up NezaBazi, a highly competitive sport which involves galloping at full speed using a long spear to drive wooden nails into the ground.

TV

• The Read – Wuthering Heights from BBC Arts. Read on BBC Four and iPlayer brings two gothic classics to life. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, the haunting love story of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw set in the West Yorkshire Moors, will be read by Bradford-born Vinette Robinson and directed by Rachel Lambert; while Robert Louis Stephenson’s thought-provoking Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde will be filmed in Bradford. It will be directed by Yorkshire-born Keiran Stringfellow.
• Dance Passion Bradford on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. Dancers, choreographers and bands, both professional and amateur, use pavements and landmarks as stages to create exciting work and showcase Bradford and the surrounding areas. Expect all forms of dance to be represented, from ballet to ballroom, contemporary to cutting edge. After the successes of Dance Passion Liverpool and the upcoming Dance Passion Swansea, this will be Bradford’s time to shine and bring dance to the screen.
• Countryfile on BBC One and BBC iPlayer has a special Bradford episode to explore the cultural history and influence the city has had on the surrounding countryside.
• Bargain hunters on BBC One and BBC iPlayer will uncover city treasures in a special Bradford episode.

Comedy

• The BBC New Comedy Awards are the biggest search for comedy talent in the UK, with an average of 1,500 entries a year. The BBC New Comedy Awards are the main way to discover diverse new comedy voices from across the UK. Entrants are whittled down to a series of unaired shows, before thirty artists are chosen to perform in six regional series taking place in cities across Northern Ireland, Wales and the West, Midlands, South, North of England. and Scotland. The 2025 grand final will be hosted in Bradford, where six finalists will compete to be crowned BBC New Comedian 2025 and take home the prize of a script commission, £1,000 cash, plus the chance to perform live on Red Nose Day on at Comic Relief 2026. .
• The BBC Comedy Grants, now in their second year, are small grants awarded to 10 groups, organizations or charities across the UK working on inclusion and development projects for those passionate about working in comedy. This year, two grants were limited to projects in Bradford; the first is a comedy group from Bradford, The South Asian Comedy Collective, who are hosting a comedy night of new material for members of the local community. With the proceeds of the grant, they will organize a new event called the Mega South-Asian Comedy Night, which will take place in Bradford towards the end of 2024. The second is Theater in the Mill, a Bradford-based arts organization committed to developing, supporting and showcasing socially responsible art and performance. They will organize comedy workshops for women to develop their comedy skills and act as an experimental space for the development of new comedy tropes.

Audio

• Front Row – on BBC Radio 4 Nick Ahad will present a BBC Radio 4 Front Row Bradford Special in January 2025 to kick off the New Year, looking at some of the city of culture’s highlights and talking to the artists taking part.
• BBC Contains Strong Language (CSL) – the UK’s largest poetry and performance festival for new writing. As well as bringing key national, local and international BBC radio programs to Bradford, the festival will bring together a cast of the UK’s most exciting poets for a series of free events, workshops and talks over the long weekend – Thursday 18 September – Sunday, September 21, 2025.
• Born in Bradford is an annual long-running Radio 4 series which follows the team behind one of the world’s leading longitudinal studies. They are tracking thousands of babies born in the city and analyzing a range of data collected from them and their families. Now those babies are teenagers and the BBC team of Winifred Robinson and Sue Mitchell have been with the youngsters as they enter this new phase of life. Researchers explore a wide range of aspects of mental and physical health and well-being. Young people are partners in this, sharing their thoughts on what could help and developing new approaches in all the city’s secondary schools. The BBC worked with doctors, parents, teachers, specialists and the 14,000 young people to bring unique perspectives across all groups in this diverse and important city.

BBC Academy

• The BBC Young Reporter Festival returns in 2025, coming live from Bradford. Over the two days we will be lining up some of the best workers in the creative industries, particularly from Yorkshire, to meet them and share their experiences with our young people. We plan to invite screenwriters, producers, journalists, curators, presenters, actors and influencers, all giving young people (11-18) the knowledge of what it’s like to work in front of and behind the camera and what it takes to succeed in creativity. industry. The festival is a partnership between BBC Academy, BBC News and BBC Teach.’

Local

• BBC Radio Leeds is at the heart of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture 2025 celebrations, bringing programs and special events directly into people’s homes throughout the year – telling the story of Bradford residents and revealing what makes and shapes the city. Most highlights will also be available on demand via BBC Sounds.
• BBC Look North will be there amid the celebrations in Bradford 2025 in the UK’s City of Culture, delivering the latest news and stories that matter to local audiences and beyond.
• BBC News Online will cover events and moments of the year with the best coverage to be found at bbc.co.uk/Bradford

The BBC is committed to supporting Bradford, UK, City of Culture 2025 throughout the year and further announcements of new content, events and celebration coverage will follow.

N.S