BBC

The first series saw four pairs of stars and one of their relatives compete to get from Africa to the Arctic without the use of phones or flights.

The journey took place over road, rail and sea across 24 countries, featuring McFly drummer Harry Judd and his mum, Emma, and weatherman Alex Beresford with his dad, Noel. Alex and Noel won the contest by just four minutes, while Emma succeeded in winning fans’ hearts.

Race Across The World, the show’s original format featuring members of the public, first aired in 2019.

“From the moment I got the results… I had a lot of questions I didn’t know what to do with. I thought… if I put it all into the structure of a film... then I could make sense of it.… Films have always saved me.” This was RTS Futures Award nominee Luke Davies, co-producer and subject of BBC Three’s life-affirming documentary Stranger in My Family.

Those results were from Davies’s DNA test. His journey to redefine his identity, uncovering two key, long-buried secrets that would turn his and his extended family’s worlds upside-down, was documented over the next four years.

BBC News Russia editor Steve Rosenberg spoke via a sometimes erratic video link from Moscow, posing the question: “In today’s Russia, does a foreign correspondent still have the opportunity to do journalism?

Rosenberg joined the BBC’s Moscow Bureau as a producer in 1997 “at a time when Russia and the West were still partners – it’s very different now… in recent months, journalists from ‘unfriendly’ countries [largely the UK and the West] have been barred from major events such as the Victory Day Parade on Red Square.”

As the allegations against Russell Brand circled the broadcasters gathered at Cambridge, there was particular interest in this session about – as the panel chair, John Gapper, put it with an ironic smile – “the incredibly unlikely situation” in which a media crisis erupts involving a well-known TV figure.

Another week, another BBC media storm. As allegations of rape and other forms of sexual abuse emerged against Russell Brand, a former Radio 2 and Radio 6 Music presenter who resigned in 2008 following a prank phone call to actor Andrew Sachs, the BBC’s Director-­General, Tim Davie, once again found himself having to defend the corporation’s culture.

Since its debut in 2000, Doctors has followed the fictional lives of NHS doctors, nurses, and receptionists, as well as their families and friends. Alongside these continuing story lines, they also have a story of the week which focuses on a patient and their individual life, usually for a one or two episode arc.

Both semi-finals and the final itself will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The contest will be taking place in Sweden, with the Grand Final taking place in the Malmö Arena on Saturday 11 May next year.

The BBC has also confirmed that the search for the United Kingdom’s act and song entry took place over the Summer. It was led by Lee Smithurst, executive producer at BBC Studios and Will Wilkin, commissioning executive at BBC Music.

Details over the UK’s entry, though, are yet to be announced.

The three-hour fundraising extravaganza will also be hosted by ex-Bake Off presenter Mel Giedroyc, comedians Jason Manford and Chris Ramsey, and sports stars Alex Scott MBE and Ade Adepitan MBE. Lenny Rush’s new post means he will be the youngest presenter CIN has ever had.

2022’s show saw Doctor Who’s new companion exclusively revealed on stage, included segments from The Repair Shop, Blankety Blank and The Weakest Link, and featured live performances from Lewis Capaldi and Diversity. £35 million was raised for charity.