Christmas Crackers, Cheggers, Stephen Fry, Nicholas Parsons, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Comedy, Requests, Christmas pantos and The 3rd New Year’s Eve Big Broadcast live for 20 hours – they are all part of HRB’s line-up for Christmas and New 2014.
The special programmes start on December 14th with Neil Ogden’s Sound of Sunday Christmas Show featuring the Great Christmas Cracker Dash, special guests and lots of festive fun as well requests from patients and staff.
There will be live request shows every day throughout the holiday period, including Christmas Day and Boxing Day, making sure that HRB continues to play the music our listeners want to hear. Dave Warren will be playing requests on Christmas morning and meeting up with Father Christmas as he visits the children’s ward.
As well as request shows, there are plenty of other programmes of interest. The surviving members of Led Zeppelin talk about the new music they have been making and there are interviews with Phil Collins and the rest of Genesis who reflect on their musical success in The Genesis Story.
Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra and Queen all feature in other documentaries, and Matt Monro’s daughter Michelle plays some of her father’s favourite music in two hospital radio specials.
Stephen Fry and Nicholas Parsons star in new radio plays and there is an hour-long interview with Nicholas Parsons who talks about his career.
There is also an interview with Mary Tamm, who played the original Romana in Doctor Who alongside Tom Baker. This was recorded shortly before she sadly passed away in 2012.
Finally, Richard Smith is back with another 20 hour live extravaganza on New Year’s Eve. The 3rd New Year’s Eve Big Broadcast will be live on at least 51 hospital radio stations around the UK, playing requests, featuring special guests including singer Kiki DeVille, who got to the battle rounds of the 2014 series of The Voice as part of Team Will.
Big Ben will signal the start of the new year and on New Year’s Day the shortlists will be announced for the 2015 National Hospital Radio Awards.