The BBC has announced that Salford will be the new home for both Children in Need and Comic Relief events.
These special fundraising telethon events – which are broadcast live on BBC One every year – are two of the biggest nights in the TV calendar, presenting jam-packed evenings of entertainment with line-ups of famous faces coming together to raise money for charities.
BBC Children in Need exists to change the lives of children and young people across the UK and Comic Relief has a vision of a world that’s free from poverty.
From 2021, both shows will be filmed and broadcasted live from MediaCityUK.
We have a new home! 🏠🥳
From this year the BBC Children in Need appeal show will be broadcast live from @dock10 studios at @MediaCityUK.
Our 41st show will be on @BBCOne, Friday 19th November. We already can't wait!
Children in Need, which is now in its 41st year, will shoot in November – with the live show hosted at the biggest multi-camera purpose-built TV studio in the UK, dock10.
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Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day will also be beamed from Salford – which is where the Sport Relief show has been broadcast from for several years.
The BBC says the move of these major shows to Salford will enhance its “commitment to the nations and regions” after the broadcaster revealed that it would favour the North over London in “ambitious plans” for its biggest transformation in decades, with more “power and decision-making” brought to the region.
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dock10 is the biggest multi-camera purpose built TV studio in the UK / Credit: BBC / MediaCityUK
“We are hugely excited to be bringing the BBC Children in Need Appeal show to Pudsey HQ in Media City,” said Simon Antrobus, Chief Executive BBC Children in Need.
“The past year has left lasting effects on the lives of children and young people facing disadvantage and the 2021 appeal show will be a chance for us to come together as a nation and demonstrate that we will always be here for the children and young people across the UK that need us most.”
Samir Patel – Chief Executive of Comic Relief – added: “We can’t wait to film from Salford next March [as] the support we get from the public all around the country, but particularly in the North, is simply outstanding.
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“To get back in a studio with a full crew and studio audience at our new ‘home’ will be a treat.”
Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day appeal show will also be broadcast from Salford from 2022 onwards / Credit: BBC One / Comic Relief
Salford is already home to some of the BBC’s best-known programmes including A Question of Sport, Dragons’ Den, Match of the Day, Blue Peter, University Challenge, BBC Breakfast and North West Tonight.
Children in Need and Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day are the latest to make the city their new permanent production base and broadcast location.
BBC Children in Need will air on 19 November 2021, and the next Comic Relief Red Nose Day will take place on 18 March 2022.
Featured Image – BBC One
TV & Showbiz
Elbow get behind campaign to save Jodrell Bank from closure
Danny Jones
Manc band Elbow are among the latest to get behind the campaign to save Jodrell Bank Observatory from closing permanently.
The Greater Manchester natives famously played a sold-out gig at the important scientific and cultural landmark for a very special live album recording well over a decade ago, and know all too well the site’s national and, indeed, global heritage.
Choosing the Observatory and the rare chance to perform a show in the shadow of the world-renowned James Lovell Telescope, it probably remains one of their most significant standalone UK date ever.
With that in mind, the local lads have been left just as worried by the news of its impending closure as everyone else, and have therefore issued a fresh appeal to help keep it open.
Posting a timely statement on social media, the group wrote: “Jodrell Bank has long been close to elbow’s heart. In 2012, the band played beneath the Lovell Telescope for one of the most memorable shows in our history.
“The recent news that funding for the e-MERLIN radio telescope network is set to end in 2028 puts the future of the scientific work at Jodrell Bank under serious threat. It is a remarkable place, with an extraordinary history, and one that continues to play an important role in science, culture and education.”
In addition to reliving clips and images from the historic live set all the years later, they also pointed people towards their ‘elbow – Live at Jodrell Bank‘ album documentary, which has now been made available online for the very first time as part of wider efforts to raise awareness around the cause.
Directing people to key online resources shared by the institution and astrophysics centre itself following their unfortunate update late last month, the push to not only find the funding but sustain support for the facility continues to ramp up throughout the world of science, arts and industry.
For anyone who somehow missed the news – 2028 being the current deadline handed down as per budget cuts across the sector – concerned parties here in the North West and all over the country have since started petitioning to save Jodrell Bank Observatory from shutting down for good.
In addition to being described as a “huge blow” to the field by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), some have even gone so far as to describe the decision as a form of “vandalism” when it comes to research and British culture as a whole.
Having also served as the host venue for the annual bluedot Festival since 2016, the multi-genre science and arts celebration could soon be forced to find a new home.
The battle is far from over yet, and the community has time to rescue Jodrell Bank Observatory from its fate, but it will take lots of money and more notable public figures to make it happen.
Once again, you can do your bit by signing the petition mentioned above right HERE.
Featured Images — Emma Farrer (via Wikimedia Commons)/The Manc Group
TV & Showbiz
New BBC series based on bestselling book to film in Manchester with big-name actors
Emily Sergeant
A new BBC series based on a bestselling book is set to begin filming in Manchester.
The new series, titled You Are Here, is described as being an ‘honest, witty, and tender’ love story based on David Nicholls’ critically acclaimed novel of the same name – with the author having also written the eight-part adaptation set to be directed Lenny Abrahamson, who is best known for BBC‘s cult-classic miniseries Normal People, and the Oscar-nominated Room (2015).
Set along the Coast to Coast walking trail from the Lake District to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire, You Are Here tells the story of Marnie and Michael.
When a mutual friend throws them together, Marnie and Michael unexpectedly find themselves setting off on an epic walk.
Against the odds, they end up on the brink of a relationship that neither was looking for, but might be exactly what they both need.
Treading the tricky path from loneliness to love, Marnie and Michael go coast-to-coast across the stunning English countryside, navigating an undeniable attraction along the way that is just as exhilarating as it is terrifying.
📚 Claire Foy and Matthew Macfadyen lead the cast of You Are Here, adapted from David Nicholls' best-selling novel
Producers say the series is about finding a connection when you least expect it and overcoming the obstacles of midlife.
Set to be filmed across Manchester and the Lake District, it has been announced that respected actors Claire Foy and Matthew Macfadyen will take on the lead roles of Marnie and Michael.
“I’m so delighted to be working on You Are Here with Element, the BBC, Starz, and Lenny, whose work I’ve admired for many years,” commented David Nicholls.
“And Matthew and Claire are both just dream casting, wonderful in comedy and drama, so detailed and thoughtful and sympathetic.
“The intention with the novel was to write a close-up study of a relationship, but set against this magnificent landscape, and that’s our ambition here too – to make something both intimate and epic, funny and dramatic, a romantic comedy with real emotion.
“We can’t wait to bring Marnie and Michael’s journey to the screen.”
Featured Image – Juankr and Josh Wool (via BBC Press Office)
Emily Sergeant -
23rd July 2021 
