Radio 2 has announced the return of Piano Room month in February along with the new Radio 2 weekday schedule launching later this month, plus a number of exciting new shows and specials across the station, including a celebration of Elaine Paige’s incredible 60 year career in showbusiness, a new five-part series – Eras: Bob Marley hosted by Trevor Nelson, and much more…

From Monday 3 February to Friday 28 February in Vernon Kay’s weekday mid-morning show, a month of incredible Piano Room performances return. The season will feature 16 of pop’s most loved artists singing live whilst being accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra from London’s BBC Maida Vale studios. Each artist will perform a new song, a classic and a cover version – and, as well as being on BBC Sounds, will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer from later that day.

Line-up for Piano Room 2025

The 100th Piano Room will air on Thursday 27 January, featuring one of the UK’s most successful singer songwriters, Gary Barlow. Each Friday’s show will feature highlights from that week’s Piano Room performances. Vernon’s Ten To The Top quiz – which sees two contestants compete in a pop quiz – remains daily at 10.30am. A BBC Audio production.

This year’s stunning line-up is:

Mon 3 February – Coldplay, performing a cover by The Proclaimers

Tue 4 February – Kim Wilde, performing a Crowded House cover

Wed 5 February: Tom Grennan, performing a Harry Nilsson cover

Thu 6 February: Mica Paris, performing a Bob Marley cover for Piano Room on what would have been Bob Marley’s 80th birthday

Mon 10 February: Myles Smith, performing a Green Day cover

Tues 11 February: Kiefer Sutherland, performing a Phil Collins cover

Wed 12 February: Celeste, performing a Labi Siffre cover

Thu 13 February: 10cc’s Graham Gouldman is reuniting specially for this Piano Room with fellow band co-founder Kevin Godley in the 50th anniversary year of their seminal hit, I’m Not in Love, and performing a cover by The Everly Brothers.

Mon 17 February: Natasha Bedingfield, performing an Oasis cover

Tue 18 February: Deacon Blue, performing a Beyoncé cover

Wed 19 February: Chesney Hawkes, cover to be announced

Thu 20 February: Kate Hudson, cover to be announced

Mon 24 February: Franz Ferdinand, performing a Britney Spears cover

Tue 25 February: Elkie Brooks, performing a Rag N Bone cover on her 80th birthday

Wed 26 February: Teddy Swims, performing a Nat King Cole cover

Thu 27 February: Gary Barlow, performing a Sam Fender cover for The 100th Piano Room

Coldplay will also be broadcast as a special on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer at a later date.

Exclusive live performances from Coldplay will also be broadcast on Jo Whiley’s Radio 2 show.

Jeff Smith, Head of Music, Radio 2, says: “Radio 2 prides itself in presenting listeners with live music from some of the world’s most popular musicians, so I’m delighted to be bringing another stellar line-up of artists to the Piano Room in February. This list is bursting with iconic entertainers who have sung some of the best songs ever written.”

Vernon says: “It’s been a privilege to feature some of the world’s best loved performers in the Piano Room across the past year. The line-up for this February is awe-inspiring and represents the huge range of music from across the decades that I love playing on my show every day, so please do join me for what will be a very special month of music.”

Matthew Swann, Director of the BBC Concert Orchestra, says: “Piano Room month is now a much-anticipated annual occasion for the BBC Concert Orchestra, and we are delighted to be embarking on our fourth year. The BBC CO will be working with another star-studded line-up of world-class musicians and will perform some of their best-loved songs. Reimaging their tracks with the depth and colour of the live orchestra never fails to create an evocative listening experience for audiences, and we can’t wait to showcase it on Radio 2 in February.”

Kim Wilde says: “I’m a big fan of Radio 2’s Piano Room performances, so it’s a real honour to be asked to do this! We’re really looking forward to it!”

Tom Grennan says: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be doing Radio 2’s Piano Room, it’s a pleasure and an honour. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now and I just hope I can do it justice.”

Mica Paris says: “And just like that it’s 40 years in music… seems only fitting, this year, that I return to my beloved Radio 2 – to perform for Piano Room – to mark this milestone with a world premiere of a brand new song and two very special classics!”

Myles Smith says: “I’m incredibly excited and grateful to be invited to collaborate with the BBC Concert Orchestra for Radio 2’s Piano Room. Growing up, music was always my way of making sense of the world, and being able to bring my songs to life in this way feels like such a special moment. To have these stories elevated by the richness of an orchestra is both humbling and inspiring. It’s an opportunity to connect with people on an even deeper level, and I can’t wait to share this experience with everyone listening and watching.”

Kiefer Sutherland says: “I’m thrilled to be invited by the BBC to perform for Radio 2’s Piano Room. It will be my first time playing with an orchestra and I’m very excited for the opportunity.”

Celeste says: “In the last two years I have had the opportunity to perform with orchestras, the LCO, and Hans Zimmer for the Queens Jubilee, and it has come to influence my style and the outcome of my second studio album. I am especially looking forward to having this opportunity to perform and record in this style with the BBC Concert Orchestra at Maida Vale.”

Graham Gouldman says: “It’s a huge honour to be asked to do a Piano Room session. Kevin and I have worked together on several projects over the years, he’s guested with 10cc at the last two Royal Albert Hall concerts, so we didn’t have to think long about accepting. Writing a new song and picking a cover track to perform were stimulating and enjoyable challenges.”

Natasha Bedingfield says: “I’ve always loved orchestras and I’m excited to reimagine my songs for Radio 2’s Piano Room with the legendary BBC Concert Orchestra.”

Deacon Blue says: “We are thrilled to be a part of BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room month this February. There really is no other feeling like performing alongside a live orchestra! This ain’t Texas… This is Maida Vale!”

Franz Ferdinand says: “We’re thrilled to be part of Piano Room Month for Radio 2 with the BBC Concert Orchestra. This is something that we’ve wanted to do for a long time so it’s an honour to be asked. It’s a chance to hear songs like you’ve never heard them before and maybe something that you’ve definitely never heard us do before. Can’t wait!”

Celebrating her 80th birthday on Tuesday 25 February by performing live for BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room, Elkie Brooks says, “What a way to mark the day, the BBC Concert Orchestra, my fantastic band, making music in the company of great musicians – I couldn’t honestly want for more.”

Teddy Swims says: “I’m so excited to be heading back to the UK to perform for BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room with the amazing BBC Concert Orchestra at the legendary Maida Vale studio! It’s going to be a blast!”

New weekday schedules

Launching on Monday 27 January are The Scott Mills Breakfast Show (Monday to Friday, 6.30am-9.30am), Trevor Nelson (Monday to Friday, 2-4pm) and The Good Groove with DJ Spoony (Monday to Thursday, 10pm – midnight).

Scott will be joined by Tina Daheley as newsreader and Ellie Brennan as traffic and travel reporter. Ellie will also join Vernon Kay’s presentation team in his mid-morning show (9.30am – 12 noon), the UK’s most listened to radio programme, with 6.8m listeners (RAJAR Q3 2024).

Scott says: “I am counting down the days until I get to host the Radio 2 Breakfast Show. It’s the biggest breakfast show in the UK and a career dream for me come true. I feel honoured to be a part of the morning routine for millions of listeners as they wake up and start their day.”

Ellie, who currently presents the travel news on BBC 5 Live Breakfast and Drive shows, says: “I’ve had the most brilliant time at 5 Live and couldn’t be more thrilled to join the fabulous Radio 2 team. I can’t wait to get the show on the road with Scott and Vernon, bringing the travel news to millions of people across the UK.”

Tina says: “I can’t wait to get started with Scott and Ellie on the new Breakfast Show – we are going to have so much fun!”

Richie Anderson will move from The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show and Vernon Kay’s show, to afternoons to be the traffic and travel presenter from Monday to Thursdays on Jeremy Vine (midday-2pm), Trevor Nelson (2-4pm) and Sara Cox (4-7pm). Bobbie Pryor will continue to be the traffic and travel presenter each Friday afternoon, as well as across the network during the year.

Richie says: “I can’t wait to throw away my alarm clock and join Trevor and Sara for afternoons on Radio 2, bringing listeners traffic and travel news to help them navigate the school run, work journeys or wherever they’re heading.”

On Friday 31 January, Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco – following her New Year’s Eve concert on BBC One (available now on BBC iPlayer) and Kitchen Disco special on Radio 2 (available now on BBC Sounds) – launches with her new weekly two hour show (9-11pm). A Listen Entertainment production.

Beverley Knight is back with a new series of Beverley Knight’s Gospel Revue exploring fifty years of gospel music. Across three episodes with the third edition to be aired on Sunday 19 January, she explores how gospel made it into the pop charts, onto film screens and into the clubs. From house and electronic dance music to R&B slow jams and early hip hop experimentation, artists with a church background have created some of the most iconic music moments. An Unedited production.

Radio 2 Folk Show

The Radio 2 Folk Show will present a special programme from the Celtic Connections festival on Wednesday 29 January (9-10pm). Recording with an audience at the BBC’s Pacific Quay studios in Glasgow and presented by Mark Radcliffe, the show will feature live performances, including from award-winning high-energy Scottish band, Elephant Sessions. Glasgow’s Eddi Reader who, since fronting Fairground Attraction in the 1980s, has turned her talents to traditional folk and contemporary roots songs, and more. This year’s Celtic Connections festival runs from 16 January to 2 February and, founded in 1994, has grown to encompass 300 events featuring many genres of music and takes place in venues across the city. A 7digital production.

Mark says: “Glasgow’s Celtic Connections is the world’s greatest gathering of folk talent and so it’s a complete joy to be able to reflect that for our listeners.”

Radio 2 Celebrates Elaine Paige

Radio 2 honours Elaine Paige – the station’s host of Elaine Paige on Sunday (1-3pm) – and her extraordinary 60 year career in showbusiness in Radio 2 Celebrates Elaine Paige. Following her two Christmas Crooner specials, Zoe Ball hosts a world exclusive concert at the London Palladium on Friday 25 April 2025 with performances from artists from the world of musical theatre plus special guests and a surprise or two along the way, together with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Richard Balcombe. A BBC Audio production.

The concert will feature stars of the West End and Broadway, including Samantha Barks (Frozen, Les Misérables, Oliver!, Chicago), Mazz Murray (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Chicago, We Will Rock You), Julian Ovenden (Bridgerton, Downton Abbey, South Pacific), Charlie Stemp (Half a Sixpence, Hello, Dolly, Kiss Me, Kate), and Summer Strallen (Love Never Dies, The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls). They will perform some of Elaine’s most loved songs, including some classics she recorded herself. The concert will be broadcast on Radio 2 on Sunday 4 May.

Elaine says: “Presenting ‘Elaine Paige On Sunday’ allows me to shine a light on the West End and Broadway’s best-loved shows and songs, as well as introduce my audience to new, upcoming stage productions, so I’m thrilled that Radio 2 are sharing in my love of the genre by celebrating my own 60th anniversary in musical theatre. I’m really looking forward to what promises to be a very special evening.”

Zoe says: “As a huge fan of musical theatre, it’s an honour to be a part of this celebration as we pay homage to the original Queen of the West End, the gorgeous and beyond talented, Elaine Paige.”

Visit the BBC Radio 2 ticket website for full details.

Michelle Visage – who hosts her own Radio 2 show every Friday night from 7-9pm – will also be sitting in for Elaine Paige on Sunday (1-3pm) from Sunday 2 February to Sunday 9 March.

Eras: Bob Marley

In Eras: Bob Marley, Radio 2’s new weekday afternoon host Trevor Nelson tells the story of reggae’s first and greatest superstar. A rock star, poet, visionary and peacemaker, Bob Marley rose from the slums of Kingston, Jamaica, to the heights of global fame. To mark what would have been his 80th birthday on 6 February 2025, Radio 2 and BBC Sounds celebrate his life with this new five-part series.

Bob’s lasting legacy continues to spread the message of love. Featuring rare BBC archive and new interviews with Bob’s friends, fans, and industry insiders, the series tells a remarkable tale of perseverance, raw talent and dedication, taking listeners from the village of Nine Mile to the height of his global fame, his death in 1981 and his legacy. We meet Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Lee Scratch Perry and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, and hear Bob in his own words and in the words of those who loved him, all soundtracked by the incredible music he created.

The final episode features newly-recorded interviews with Bob’s daughter Cedella and grandson Skip. Other contributors include Bob Marley fans Babatunde Aleshe, Pauline Black, Corinne Bailey Rae, Levi Roots and more. Radio 2 broadcasts the series from Sunday 2 February, with episodes 1-4 available exclusively on BBC Sounds from Monday 20 January. Episode five will be available on BBC Sounds and in vision on BBC iPlayer from Monday 3 February. This is the latest instalment of the Eras series, following Eras on ABBA, The Beatles, Kylie and Sting which are all available on BBC Sounds. A Cup & Nuzzle production.

Trevor says: “This story is about so much more than a musician. Bob Marley was a poet, a prophet, a voice for the voiceless and an inspiration for generations. More than forty years after his death, he is still reggae’s mightiest ambassador and the music that he did so much to spread around the globe is still going strong. He was a man who grew up poor, but left the world so much richer than he found it.”

… at the BBC

To mark significant moments in the lives and careers of world-renowned much loved figures, Radio 2 premieres new compilations for its ‘… at the BBC’ strand, unearthing performance and interview gems from the BBC Archive from the past 60 years:

Holly Johnson at the BBC (Saturday 8 February) celebrates Holly’s 65th birthday by looking back at his BBC radio interviews with presenters including Sara Cox, Chris Hawkins, Janice Long, Graham Norton and Andy Peebles. With humour and honesty, he discusses his childhood, singing in the church choir and being inspired by Bowie and Bolan. He remembers punk, his role in the house band Big In Japan at Liverpool’s Eric’s nightclub, which resulted in Frankie Goes To Hollywood. The band put out demos and a homemade video which garnered sessions on Janice Long and John Peel, which attracted the attention of Trevor Horn, who produced Relax and Two Tribes. Holly also discusses their videos, and the court case which led him to becoming a solo artist. A BBC Audio production.

Peter Gabriel at the BBC (Sunday 9 February) celebrates the singer’s 75th birthday by looking back at his BBC interviews with Tom Robinson, Andy Peebles, Ro Newton, Johnnie Walker, Steve Wright, Richard Skinner, and OJ Borg. With his usual humour, Peter discusses his early releases, his surprising departure from Genesis and his breakthrough 1986 LP, So, which changed him from prog rock artist into a superstar and World Music pioneer. He remembers the history behind his Sledgehammer video with Aardman Animations, and songs Biko, Don’t Give Up, and In Your Eyes. He discusses his contribution to Nelson Mandela’s 46664 campaign, his work on films Babe 2 and Wall-E, and how Brian Pern (Simon Day’s parody of a similar character) makes him see the funny side of his life. BBC Audio production.

Smokey Robinson at the BBC (Sunday 16 February) celebrates Smokey’s 85th birthday on 19 February via BBC radio and TV interviews. He discusses his amazing life, Motown career and song catalogue with Paul Gambaccini, Alex Jones, Natasha Kaplinsky, Matt Everitt, Martin Freeman and producers Stuart Grundy and Tim Blackmore. Smokey – who Bob Dylan named America’s greatest living poet – remembers his musical childhood and as a teenager, singing for the first time in Detroit and meeting his idol Berry Gordy (when Berry was Jackie Wilson’s songwriter, before he created Motown Records). He discusses working with Mary Wells and The Temptations, how he constructs songs and his solo success. A BBC Audio production.

Dame Julie Walters at the BBC (Saturday 22 February) celebrates her 75th birthday featuring Julie herself and her contemporaries. Listeners hear about her early life in Birmingham, her first career in nursing, her debut at Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, meeting Alan Bleasdale and Willy Russell who changed her life with roles in Boys From The Blackstuff and Educating Rita. Her stage and screen roles, including Paddington, Harry Potter and Mamma Mia!, are discussed by Victoria Wood, Sir Billy Connolly, Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Michael Caine, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Jessie Buckley, Michael Ball and Richard E Grant talking to presenters Steve Wright, Victoria Derbyshire, Sue McGregor and Janice Long. A BBC Audio production.

And now available on BBC Sounds are REM at the BBC and Rod Stewart at the BBC.

BBC Radio 2 is the UK’s most listened to radio station, with a weekly audience of 13.3 million (RAJAR Q3, 2024) and The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show was the most listened to Breakfast show in the UK with 6.3 million listeners (RAJAR Q3, 2024). Vernon Kay (Monday-Friday, 9.30am-12pm) hosts the biggest radio show in the UK. The network’s presenters include Michael Ball, Zoe Ball, Rob Beckett, Tony Blackburn, OJ Borg, Revd. Kate Bottley, Rylan, Fearne Cotton, Sara Cox, Jamie Cullum, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Gary Davies, Paul Gambaccini, Mark Goodier, Angela Griffin, Bob Harris, Vernon Kay, Shaun Keaveny, Cerys Matthews, Paddy McGuinness, Scott Mills, Jason Mohammad, Trevor Nelson, Dermot O’Leary, Elaine Paige, Mark Radcliffe, Romesh Ranganathan, DJ Spoony, Liza Tarbuck, Jeremy Vine, Michelle Visage, Jo Whiley, Phil Williams and Owain Wyn Evans.

At the 2024 Audio and Radio Industry Awards, also known as the ARIAs, Scott Mills won Gold for the Best Music Entertainment Show, 21st Century Folk won Gold for the Best Music Special, Windrush 75 won Gold for Best Coverage of an Event, and The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show won Bronze for the Best Music Breakfast Show. Plus, Cerys Matthews won the Best Blues Broadcaster Award for the third time at the annual UK Blues Awards so she has now been elected into the UK Blues Hall Of Fame.