The Story of Disco
Sunday 27 December 10pm
Monday 28 December 10pm
Tuesday 29 December 10pm
Wednesday 30 December 10pm
Keith Graham tells the story of disco music in 4 parts.
We are Not the BBC
Sunday 27 December 4pm
A light-hearted look at the radio drama production process as seen by the members of an amateur dramatics society in a sleepy suburb of Swansea.
It can’t be difficult to make your own play for radio can’t it? And with a LAMDA-trained professional actor at the helm, surely nothing could go wrong? After their attempt at Mike Leigh-inspired improvisation doesn’t exactly produce satisfactory results, things start to look up when a visiting celebrity agrees to step in and play the lead role.
Starring : Adam Hall, Susan Casanove, Andrew Macbean, Nick Lucas, Katharine Waugh, Ceri Gifford and Christopher Timothy.
We Are The BBC
Sunday 27 December 8pm
We Are The BBC is the sequel to We Are Not The BBC
Rob Sterling Davies is on the crest of a wave: a celebrated scriptwriter, actor, TV personality, the new doyen of Just a Minute, and apparently, Stephen Fry’s new best friend. But all isn’t quite as it seems, and when Stephen discovers that Rob’s BAFTA-winning script was stolen, he undertakes to expose Rob for the fraud he is.
We Are The BBC is the follow-up to We Are Not The BBC, and features Nicholas Parsons and Stephen Fry as themselves.
Starring: Adam Hall, Susan Casanove, Simon Stanhope, Andrew Macbean, Nick Lucas, Ann Theato, Alison Mead, Claire Wyatt, Cheska Moon, Katharine Waugh and Silas Hawkins with Nicholas Parsons and Stephen Fry.
Mary Tamm: The Original Doctor Who Girl
Sunday 27 December 1pm
Mary Tamm was perhaps mostly known for her role as Romana in Dr. Who, but she had had a long and varied career in TV, film and theatre.
Fellow actress and friend Jenny Runacre speaks here with Mary about her work in this touching and funny interview – one of the last she did before sadly passing away in 2012.
Dream Lover, Mack the Knife and Things – The Bobby Darin Story
Monday 21 December 8pm
Iain Smith presents the programme which won gold in the 2005 HBA awards, Specialised Music category – a documentary on the life and career of singer Bobby Darin.
Barbara Applin – Basingstoke’s Historian
Monday 28 December 1pm
A chance to hear again an interview recorded in 2005 with Barbara Applin, who sadly died earlier in 2015.
Frequency Cast December Edition
Monday 28 December 1.15pm
Pete and Kelly return with HRB’s tech and media show for December covering the following stories… Tim Boldly Goes: Major Tim Peake takes off for the ISS. Vtech Hacked: Another month, another hack attack. Kids toy firm Vtech has been the latest victim with over 6 million children’s accounts and nearly 5 million parent accounts being hacked. BBC Red Button to go? Elsewhere in the show we discuss the imminent closure of BBC 3, but it's also been announced that the BBC plans to phase out the Red Button service, saving £16 million. Will it be missed? Let us know!. Broadband Speed: Suffering from slow home broadband speeds? UK regulator Ofcom has released a smartphone app to identify whether your Wi-fi setup could be causing a slow-down. Up to 6 million people could see a speedup with this app. The app's had mixed reviews, but as it's free, it's worth a try. Ofcom reports that one possible cause of a slowdown could be your Christmas lights interfering with Wi-fi.
Google Star Wars: Google's been busy celebrating the launch of Star Wars – Type www.google.com/starwars to have your Google experience flipped to the dark or light side of the Force. And finally… Dominos Pizza will be releasing a pizza button this month. Tucked inside a mini pizza box, will be a single button. Press this, it'll make a Bluetooth connection to your phone, and order your favourite pizza.
Also this month, the end of BBC Three, the Raspberry Pi Zero, Black Friday, TomTom’s new products and more.
Top 40 Most Requested of the year 2015
Monday 28 December 3pm
Neil Ogden presents the annual chart compiled from requests collected at Basingstoke and North Hants Hospital in 2014.
Matt’s Kind of Music
Tuesday 29 December 4pm
A hospital radio special in which Matt’s daughter Michelle remembers the music of her father.
The New Year’s Eve Big Broadcast
New Year’s Eve 12pm live for 24 hours
Richard Smith is back for another live marathon broadcast.
He will be live on radio stations around the UK and Ireland for 24 hours featuring special guests, competitions and requests, plus some surprises and special features.
Join Richard and his team for the only show that lasts for two years!
Turn it On Again – The Genesis Story
Tuesday 29 December 5pm
Wednesday 30 December 5pm
Genesis are one of the most successful rock acts of recent times, this remarkable two part documentary explores the characters and the pulsating music that came from this most English of groups. Featuring interviews with members Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks revealing life inside the ranks also features comments from Daryl Stuermer, Ray Wilson and Chester Thompson.
The programme explores the groups early years (1966 to 1975) hearing about their progressive rock triumphs pioneering stage theatrics and atmospheric music on the albums 'Foxtrot and 'Selling England By The Pound'. The programme hears lead singer Peter Gabriel explaining his departure after the release of the concept album 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The programme culminates with band returning to the studio as a quartet and the release of their Trick of the Tail' a surprisingly up beat album which confounded critics and confirmed Genesis's long term future.
Later, we continue to hear how Genesis recorded their multi platinum selling albums, 'Duke', 'Abacab' and 'Invisible Touch' growing into one of the great stadium rock bands of the 90's. The band's comment about Phil Collins all conquering solo career and its impact inside the ranks. We hear about Collins departure and the recruitment of Stilskin front man Ray. Part two culminates with how Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford reformed for their European and American tour of 2007.
In Conversation: Nicholas Parsons
Wednesday 30 December 4pm
Nicholas Parsons (OBE) began his theatrical career as a Carroll Levis Discovery doing impressions and working in small repertory theatres in Glasgow, whilst serving an engineering apprenticeship on Clydebank.
He became very successful in cabaret in the Fifties and was a resident comedian at The Windmill Theatre in 1952. He worked a lot in West End revues, was part of BBC Drama Repertory Company, and in 1956 teamed up with Arthur Haynes, forming a successful comedy partnership that ran for ten years on ITV and included a season at the London Palladium in 1963.
Nicholas appeared in many British comedy films in the Fifties and Sixties but returned to the West End stage in 1967 to star in Boeing-Boeing. He later starred in Say Who You Are and Uproar In The House.
More recently, he has appeared in the big West End musicals Charlie Girl, Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods and The Rocky Horror Show. He has presented three different one-man shows at the Edinburgh Festival and the latest, The Nicholas Parsons Happy Hour, played to great acclaim on the Fringe for two years. His successes on the small screen include regular appearances on The Benny Hill Show, hosting The All New Alphabet Game on LWT, Laughlines and, for a record 14 years, The Sale Of The Century on ITV.
Parsons has been the host of the BBC Radio 4 panel game Just A Minute since its first broadcast on the 22nd December 1967. His autobiography, The Straight Man – My Life In Comedy, was published in 1994.
In this interview, he talks about his time on Dr. Who, The Rocky Horror Show and some very witty and inspiring advice to anyone wishing to get into showbiz!
The Trial of Sherlock Holmes
Monday 28 December 9pm
A brand new comedy adventure from the writers of our number one download – Sherlock Holmes Strikes Back!
Sherlock Holmes, the world’s greatest consulting detective, is on trial for his life!
Trapped in a nightmarish court room and charged with endangering the public and his friends, Holmes is forced to relive some of his most bizarre cases with only Doctor Watson to aid his defence.
Gasp at the Adventure of the Lizard’s Hands! Work your brain into a frenzy of confusion as our heroes uncover the mystery of a dead man found in the middle of Regent Street! Steady your nerves as you bear witness to some snakes! On a train!
But is all this evidence enough to satisfy a mysterious judge with a vendetta against our hero?
Starring: Peter Davis, Matthew Woodcock, Simon Kane, Laura Marshall and Ben Whitehead
Andy McCormick’s Big Slice of Kiwi
New Year’s Day 1pm
Andy plays two hours of music from artists who come from New Zealand. All the tracks were first played during his monthly Postcard from New Zealand.
Queen – We Will Rock You
New Year’s Day 6pm & 9pm
It’s hard to believe that its now over 20 years since the passing of vocalist Freddie Mercury, but in the past two decades the music of Queen has remained very much alive, and remains as fresh as it did decades ago.
In this two hour special, original members Roger Taylor and Brian May talk about the making of some of their biggest hits including Radio Gaga, We Are The Champions, I Want To Break Free, Somebody To Love, Don't Stop Me Now and of course the blockbuster Bohemian Rhapsody.
Brian May also talks about the formation of the band, his first meeting with Freddie and the how the band's sound evolved over the years.
Packed with lots of great music and some great stories, this is the perfect 2 hour tribute to one of Britain's finest rock bands.
The Secret of Springheel’d Jack
Episode One: The Peril of the Empires
UNITED KINGDOM, 1877. When Aldershot Barracks is attacked by the flame-wreathed ‘Night Terror’, Jonah Smith is called out of retirement by Her Majesty’s Government and sent on one final, deadly mission – to capture Springheel Jack!
To be continued in 2016…!
The History of Superman
Sunday 3 January 11am
He’s one of the world’s most popular superheroes and has been around since the 1930s. This special documentary tells the story of Superman back from the beginnings of the comic and the radio series up to the big films of the 70s and 80s.
