BBC announces partnership and commissions for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture
The BBC has announced various TV, audio, performance and education commissions to celebrate Bradford’s 2025 UK City of Culture year.
The New Comedy Awards, Contains Strong Language poetry festival, a Countryfile special, and a BBC Bitesize Schools Tour will be some of the creative and cultural highlights from the corporation to mark the event.
It comes as the BBC today announces that it will be an official broadcast partner of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, meaning there will be “unforgettable” coverage celebrating the city across BBC local and national TV, BBC iPlayer, Radio, BBC Sounds and online.
The BBC is also commissioning new content across arts, education, and factual departments for the city’s momentous year.
Further announcements about new programming, events and coverage of the celebrations will follow, says the BBC.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie said: “Bradford is home to vibrant, authentic story-telling and proud multi-cultural communities. We’ll be drawing 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 honour to be a part of a legacy that will no doubt attract thousands of tourists and millions of pounds of investment to this outstanding city.”
Katrina Bunker, BBC Head of Yorkshire, says that “2025 promises to be an extraordinary year for Bradford. The BBC is the best place to capture all the excitement, ambition and energy that UK City of Culture will bring to the region.
“We’ll have coverage of the build-up and all the big moments across our online services, radio and TV. It’s going to be a very exciting 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 BBC’s support we are showing off what a fantastic place it is. Iconic programmes like Countryfile will profile the rurality of the district and the in-depth education programme with Bitesize invests in our young people.
“But this is just a taste of what’s to come and is a mark of the network’s commitment to Bradford, showcasing its people and the district to the UK and the world.”
Here are some of the BBC programming and events coming to Bradford:
Children’s and Education
- BBC Bitesize is offering every mainstream secondary school in the Bradford district
the Bitesize Careers Tour. Organised and delivered by BBC Education, the careers
tour is a chance to inspire the young people of Bradford on their futures. Working
closely with the Bradford City of Culture team, the panel style careers roadshow will
feature representatives from the organisation and from a variety of local businesses
across the district who will share their professional insights. The events will be
hosted by a range of BBC talent including Jasmine Takhar from BBC Asian Network
and Fee Mak from BBC Radio 1Xtra.
- BBC Teach is filming for one of their Live Lessons in Bradford in 2025. Live Lessons
bring subjects to life for primary schools and feature some of the BBC’s biggest
brands and presenters. Teachers can check the BBC Teach website for the latest
schedule during the autumn term.
- My Life on CBBC on BBC iPlayer is a critically acclaimed documentary series,
featuring children with amazing, inspiring and thought-provoking stories. In
2025, two episodes will focus on children from Bradford. My Life: The Fastest Boy in
the World [WT] follows Alfie, a ten-year-old who says his ADHD and autism help him
focus when it comes to his passion of motorbike racing as he sets to break a new
land speed world record. My Life: Neza Bazi [WT] features Bradford-based 11-year-
old Jaleel and 15-year-old Subhaan, part of a new generation of British horse riders
taking up NezaBazi, a highly competitive sport which involves galloping at full speed
using a long spear to strike wooden pegs in the ground.
TV
- The Read – Wuthering Heights from BBC Arts. The Read on BBC Four and iPlayer
brings to life two gothic classics. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, the brooding 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 troupes, both professional and enthusiast, use pavements and landmarks as
their stages to perform exciting work and showcase Bradford and surrounding areas.
Expect all forms of dance to be represented, from ballet to ballroom, contemporary to
cutting edge. Following the successes of Dance Passion Liverpool and the forthcoming Dance Passion Swansea, this will be Bradford’s moment to shine and bring dance to the screen.
- Countryfile on BBC One and BBC iPlayer is having a special Bradford episode to explore the cultural history and influence the city has had on its surrounding countryside.
- Bargain Hunt on BBC One and BBC iPlayer will be uncovering treasures from the city in a special Bradford episode.
Comedy
- BBC New Comedy Awards are Britain’s biggest comedy talent search, with an
average of 1,500 entries per year. The BBC New Comedy Awards are its main
pipeline to discovering new diverse comedy voices from all corners of the UK.
Entrants are whittled down over a series of non-broadcast showcases, before thirty
performers are chosen to perform in six regional heats which are held in towns and
cities in Northern Ireland, Wales and the West, the Midlands, the South, the North of
England and Scotland. The Grand Final in 2025 will be hosted in Bradford, where six
finalists will compete to be crowned BBC New Comedian 2025 and take home the
prize of a scripted commission, £1,000 cash, plus a chance to perform live on Comic
Relief’s Red Nose Day 2026.
- BBC Comedy Grants, now in their second year, are small grants given to 10
groups, organisations or charities from across the UK who are working on inclusion
and development projects for those passionate about working in comedy. This year
two grants have been ring-fenced for Bradford-based projects; the first is a Bradford
comedy group, The South Asian Comedy Collective, which hosts a comedy new
material night for members of the local community. With the proceeds of the grant
they will be organising a new event called the Mega South-Asian Comedy Night, that
will take place in Bradford towards the end of 2024. The second is Theatre in the Mill,
a Bradford-based arts organisation committed to developing, supporting and
presenting socially responsible art and performance. They will be organising comedy
workshops for women to develop their comedy skills and act as an experimental
space for developing new comedy tropes.
Audio
- Front Row - on BBC Radio 4, Nick Ahad is to present a BBC Radio 4 Front Row
Bradford Special in January 2025 to kick off the New Year looking at some of the
upcoming highlights of the city of culture and speaking to the artists taking part.
- BBC Contains Strong Language (CSL) - the UK’s biggest poetry and performance
festival for new writing. As well as bringing key national, local and international BBC
radio programmes to Bradford, the festival will bring together a cast of the most
exciting poets from across the UK for a series of free events, workshops and talks
across the long weekend – Thursday September 18 – Sunday, September 21, 2025.
- Born in Bradford is a long running annual Radio 4 series following the team behind
one of the world’s most important longitudinal studies. They track thousands of
babies born in the city and analyse 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 young people as they enter this new phase of
life. The researchers explore a wide range of aspects of mental and physical health
and wellbeing. The young people are partners in this, sharing their thoughts about
what might help and developing new approaches across all of the city’s secondary
schools. The BBC has partnered with doctors, parents, teachers, specialists and the
14,000 youngsters to bring unique insights across all groups in this diverse and
important city.
BBC Academy
- The BBC Young Reporter Festival is back for 2025, coming live from Bradford.
Over the two days we’ll line up some of the best working in the creative industries
particularly from Yorkshire to meet and share their experiences with our young
people. We plan to invite script writers, producers, journalists, commissioners,
presenters, actors and influencers all giving young people (11-18’s) the low down on
what it’s like working in front and behind the camera and what it takes to succeed in
the creative industry. The festival is a partnership between BBC Academy, BBC
News and BBC Teach.’
Local
- BBC Radio Leeds is at the centre of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture 2025
celebrations bringing special programmes and events straight into people’s homes
throughout the year - telling the story of the people of Bradford and uncovering what
makes and shapes the city. The most moments will also be available on demand via
BBC Sounds.
- BBC Look North will be there in the middle of the celebrations throughout Bradford
2025 UK City of Culture, delivering the latest news and stories that matter to local
audiences and beyond.
- BBC News Online will be covering the events and moments of the year