“Waiting for the gift of sound and vision”
We told you all about the upcoming Bowie coverage on the BBC back on November 4 (http://smarturl.it/2017BowieBlitzBBC).
Now we have full details of eleven different Bowie-related broadcasts on BBC TV and Radio, and it’s possible that list may increase nearer the time.
Hopefully we’ll have some exclusive content ahead of the dates listed below, along with links to the individual broadcasts.
Here follows the dates for your diary, keep reading for more detail regarding each programme.
1
Thursday 5 January
1.00-4.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Radcliffe and Maconie
2
Saturday 7 January
1.00-3.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Liz Kershaw
3
Saturday 7 January
9.00pm-10.30pm
BBC TWO
Bowie: The Last Five Years
4
Sunday 8 January
7am -10am
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Mary Anne Hobbs
5
Sunday 8 January
1.00-2.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Adam Buxton On Bowie
6
Sunday 8 January
4.00-6.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service
7
Sunday 8 January
6.00-8.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Now Playing @6Music
8
Monday 9 January
10.00-11.00pm
BBC RADIO 2
Exploring Life On Mars?
9
Tuesday 10 January
7.00-9.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Marc Riley
10
Friday 13 January
7.00-9.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Iggy Pop
11
Friday 13 January
10.00-11.00pm
BBC Four
Bowie At The BBC
#BowieLastFiveYears #ExploringLifeOnMars #BowieAtTheBBC #BowieAtTheBEEB #BowieBBC
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1
Thursday 5 January
1.00-4.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Radcliffe and Maconie
Mark presents solo, joined by producer and director Francis Whatley on his new BBC 2 David Bowie film. David Bowie: The Last Five Years was produced and directed by Francis Whately as a follow-up to his acclaimed David Bowie: Five Years which was broadcast on BBC Two in 2013.
This new film features rare and unseen archive footage and early Bowie audio interviews, including the original vocal which Bowie recorded for Lazarus, his last release before his death, which has never been heard before. Director Francis says ‘I always hoped that I would make another film about Bowie as we were only able to scratch the surface in the first film, but I just didn’t expect it to be this soon’.
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2
Saturday 7 January
1.00-3.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Liz Kershaw
A year on from David Bowie’s death, Liz has an insightful chat with Woody Woodmansey about the four albums he made with the iconic musician.
Drummer Woody, best known for his work with Bowie as part of The Spiders from Mars, will talk listeners through the recording of each album and will play some of his favourite tracks.
The four albums Woody recorded with Bowie are The Man Who Sold the World (1970), Hunky Dory (1971), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), and Aladdin Sane (1973).
Presenter: Liz Kershaw
Producer: Adam Hudson for the BBC
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3
Saturday 7 January
9.00pm-10.30pm
BBC TWO
Bowie: The Last Five Years
There was nothing predictable about David Bowie – everything was designed to intrigue, to challenge, to defy all expectations. But perhaps no period in David Bowie’s extraordinary career raised more fascination, more surprise, and more questions, than the last five years.
This film – to be broadcast on the night before what would have been Bowie’s 70th birthday – is an intimate portrait of one of the defining artists of our time, told by the people who knew him best: his friends and artistic collaborators. It follows the widely acclaimed film David Bowie: Five Years, first broadcast on BBC Two in 2013.
It takes a detailed look at Bowie’s last albums The Next Day and Blackstar, and his play Lazarus. Through the prism of this last work the film shows how, in his final five years, Bowie not only began producing music again but returned to the core and defining themes of his career.
These were artistic rebirth, a shedding of skins, a quest for a different palette to express the same big ideas – dissonance, alienation, otherness – the human condition. The film explores how Bowie was a far more consistent artist than many interpretations of his career would have us believe, by tracing the core themes from his final works through his incredible back catalogue.
Viewers will see Major Tom reflected in Blackstar; Diamond Dogs in the play Lazarus; and Fame in the song The Stars (Are Out Tonight). Bowie’s urge to communicate feelings of spirituality, alienation and fame underpin his greatest works, from the 1960s to 2016. This is what lies at the heart of his success and appeal, music that deals with what it means to be human in a way that goes far beyond the normal palette of a rock star. This film is not a comprehensive overview of his entire career, but an in-depth exploration of its pivotal moments and a look at how the themes, the narrative, the approach are consistent – it is simply the palette that changes.
It features every key member of the Next Day band, the Blackstar band and those who worked with Bowie on the stage play Lazarus, plus old friends and colleagues including Tony Visconti, Gail Ann Dorsey, Toni Basil, Michael C Hall, Donny McCaslin, and old school friend Geoff MacCormac. And, as in David Bowie: Five Years, there is a wealth of unseen and rare archive.
Produced and Directed by Francis Whately, Executive Producer Phil Dolling
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4
Sunday 8 January
7am -10am
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Mary Anne Hobbs
English poet and novelist, Lavina Greenlaw, re-visits a poem that she wrote on the day of David’s passing.
Also, excerpts from superb interviews with Jonathan Barnbrook and Donny McCaslin.
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5
Sunday 8 January
1.00-2.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Adam Buxton On Bowie
In a special show as part of 6 Music Celebrates David Bowie, self-confessed Bowie nut and former 6 Music presenter Adam Buxton returns to the network to take listeners on a journey through the weird and wonderful world of one of the UK’s most colourful pop stars.
Featuring rare interviews, some unheard for over 30 years, Adam handpicks some classic BBC Bowie moments, capturing the alternative spirit of the legendary musician’s ever-changing persona.
Presenter: Adam Buxon
Producer: Adam Hudson for the BBC
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6
Sunday 8 January
4.00-6.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service
In a special show as part of 6 Music Celebrates David Bowie, Jarvis Cocker plays highlights of his Bowie special on what would have been his 70th birthday.
The Bowie-themed programme, which originally aired in January 2016, featured archive clips of BBC interviews with the Star Man, classic singles, alternate demos, live versions of his songs and more.
Presenter: Jarvis Cocker
Producer: Adam Dineen for the BBC
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7
Sunday 8 January
6.00-8.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Now Playing @6Music
In a special show as part of 6 Music Celebrates David Bowie, Tom Robinson and the audience build a playlist built on the iconic musician’s lasting influence.
Presenter: Tom Robinson
Producer: Alex Burnard for Somethin’ Else
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8
Monday 9 January
10.00-11.00pm
BBC RADIO 2
Exploring Life On Mars?
In this documentary, Martin Kemp – with the help of music expert and former EMI A&R Tris Penna – explore the 1971 David Bowie song, widely regarded as a masterpiece.
With access to exclusive unreleased music archive, the documentary examines how Life on Mars? came into being and the significance of the lyrics. Kemp and Penna explore whether it could be seen as the musician’s legacy song – the one for which he will be most remembered.
The programme will feature never before broadcast archive recordings and Bowie’s original piano and voice demo. It hears from those who worked and played closely with Bowie to create this memorable recording, including original producer Ken Scott, studio engineer Ray Staff, keyboard player Rick Wakeman, Mick Rock (who shot the video), singer Dana Gillespie, singer Marc Almond, friend Wendy Kirby, singer/actress Sophia Anne Caruso from the Lazarus Musical, biographers Kevin Cann and Nicholas Pegg, music publishers Bob Grace and Geoff Heath, and Mike Garson who accompanied Bowie on piano in his live performances, notably at his headlining 2000 Glastonbury appearance.
Martin Kemp says: “In celebration of the genius that is David Bowie, I’m excited and honoured to present this programme for Radio 2 to mark what would have been his 70th birthday. For me, Bowie was a great inspiration and influence on my own music career.”
Presenter: Martin Kemp
Producer: Tris Penna for Sue Clark Productions
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9
Tuesday 10 January
7.00-9.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Marc Riley
On the anniversary of his death, Marc Riley celebrates the life and times of David Bowie.
This special show will include an interview with Bowie’s childhood friend, backing singer, dancer and travelling companion, Geoff MacCormack, who has so far been largely silent on his friendship and adventures with arguably the greatest rock ‘n’ roll star ever.
There will also be another chance to hear Bowie’s final radio interview, which he gave to Marc in 2004 a few weeks before his last tour came to an end. All the music featured in tonight’s programme will be related to the Star Man.
Marc says: “Of course when we went to meet David in London we had no idea it would prove to be his last radio interview. He was marvellously playful, and his usual witty and charming self. A special man.”
Presenter: Marc Riley
Producer: Michelle Choudhry for the BBC
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10
Friday 13 January
7.00-9.00pm
BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC
Iggy Pop
As part of 6 Music’s programming celebrating David Bowie this week, here’s another chance to hear Iggy Pop’s tribute to his close friend.
Presenter: Iggy Pop
Producer: Adam Dineen for the BBC
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11
Friday 13 January
10.00-11.00pm
BBC Four
Bowie At The BBC
Bowie At The BBC is a patchwork portrait of Bowie in performance and interview, as he evolved over five decades in the spotlight. A variety of BBC programmes and presenters kept track of this most ever-changing of artists.
Through a compilation of clips from the BBC archive, the programme gives an overview of Bowie’s extraordinary career from 1964 to 2016 featuring legendary and rarely-seen performances, interviews and insights into his many personas.
The earliest footage is from 1964 with the 17 year-old David Jones who, driven by a desire to escape suburbia, and never be considered ‘normal’ – was interviewed by Cliff Michelmore about being the founder of the Prevention Of Cruelty To Long Haired Men Society.
Within five years he was David Bowie, the artist who created a world and a persona which let his influences and imagination run wild. The programme includes classic Top Of The Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test performances of Bowie singing Queen Bitch, Oh You Pretty Things and The Jean Genie, plus his seminal 1973 Top Of The Pops performance of Starman.
There is footage from Later with Jools, Top Of The Pops 2, Newsnight and Parkinson, and from his incredible set at Glastonbury in 2000. There’s also a look at Bowie the actor with interviews about his roles in The Elephant Man and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence.
Bowie at the BBC gives an insight into the one of the most significant performers of the 70s and beyond, with interviews and performances showing just how innovative, funny, surprising and influential Bowie and his many personas were to generations.
Exec Producer: Mark Cooper
Producer: Dione Newton