John Blow

Spy/Master (Saturday 04/05/24, BBC Four, 9pm) Words by Rachael Popow Saturday night on BBC Four has long meant one thing – the best in international drama. It’s a slot that many people associate with ‘Scandi noir’ following the success of the Danish thriller The Killing, and Swedish-Danish co-production The Bridge, but the channel has cast its net far wider than that. For example, earlier this year, we had The Gone, which was a collaboration between New Zealand’s TVNZ and Ireland’s RTE. Now we’r…

At the age of just 26, Wakefield woman Kimberley Hattersley-Barton has already fought off four cancer diagnoses. She tells Richard Fidler about her charity event next month. Meanwhile, Kerry Godliman talks about starring as a private detective in seaside drama Whitstable Pearl and how she fell in love with the town. And Bananarama might have been striding the pop charts for 43 years, clocking up a world record for the most chart entries by an all-female group in the process, but any thought that…

Bad knees are no barrier to getting on a bike. Just ask Val French: “You can cycle – that is one of the things that you can more or less do until you drop.” The former PE teacher should know. She’s endured two replaced knees, two replaced shoulders, a broken collarbone and is only recently out of a medical boot after suffering a snapped achilles, but still managed to become British Cycling’s first Breeze Champion to lead 1,000 rides – supporting almost 5,000 women to get into the saddle. Beginni…

Asian Network Certified – a flagship event of the BBC Asian Network – comes to St George’s Hall on Saturday. Presented by the network’s Breakfast Show host Nikita Kanda and AJD, the event will bring exclusive live DJ sets from the station’s favourites, celebrating all the best in British Asian, Bhangra, RnB, hip-hop, Bollywood and dance music for one night only. The station champions contemporary British Asian and popular South Asian music and culture and is bringing this event to audiences for…

Wheel of Fortune (Saturday 03/02/24, ITV1, 5.25pm) Words by Rachael Popow Gladiators may have been dominating the ratings and the press coverage, but it isn’t the only revived show that’s been keeping viewers entertained on Saturday nights. We’ve also had Graham Norton at the helm of Wheel of Fortune, which span its way back on ITV1 at the beginning of January. But why are TV bosses and viewers returning to old formats? According to Graham, the answer is pretty simple – they work. He says: “It w…

Melanie Phillips, columnist for The Times, has had her say: “Marxist drivel”. LBC radio host James O’Brien, meanwhile, was complimentary: “Wonderfully apposite and eloquent”. And Matt Bromley, who co-wrote the book they refer to, is perfectly happy to take these opposing views. When he and Andy Griffith set out to write The Working Classroom – which contends there is a flawed education system favouring wealth and social status over ability or effort - they wanted to provoke. “We knew that this w…

After more than more than 10 years, a popular East Yorkshire musical showcase will return for the benefit of people with Parkinson’s. Music in the Park will take place at Old Hall, Spaldington, near Howden on Saturday, August 3 this year, when attendees can expect a night of modern classical and “well loved” music, picnics on the lawn and a grand fireworks finale. The event was launched in 2003 by Anne Marie and David Jackson of the Old Hall after Anne Marie was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 200…

A survivor-led charity offering support to people affected by self-harm has found a home –meaning it can build on its important work and reach out to other organisations in Yorkshire. Battle Scars has taken a new lease for its 7,500 sq ft headquarters in Leeds, enabling the charity to acquire its first ever premises and also create opportunities for other mental health charities and not-for-profits in the city to thrive. Under the newly secured lease at White Rose Park in the south of the city,…

Displayful can be seen at the gallery from Saturday, January 20 to Tuesday, May 7. The exhibition will invite visitors to enjoy “uplifting contemporary artistic responses” to objects from the collections of Scarborough Museums and Galleries (SMG). Combining new work from five regional artists – Luke Beech, Kate Fox, Wendy Galloway, Liberty Hodes and Angela Knipe – alongside historical artefacts, Displayful asks audiences to consider new possibilities for the lives of objects. Curator Dorcas Tayl…

So inspired was Kevin Mackay to tackle the issue of child hunger after a talk with Nathan Atkinson, now his business partner, that he quit his old job the next day. The roots of what became their enterprise, Rethink Food, go back to 2014 and the former teachers incorporated it as a community interest company in 2018. Both had offered surplus food to pupils and their families after witnessing how hunger was hampering childrens’ ability to learn. However, it became clear to them that the issue was…

The words of our Poet Laureate ensured Yorkshire’s cultural journey through 2023 started in fine fettle. “Open your eyes and a city in slumber, floats off down the Aire and the Ouse and the Humber…” It’s just one couplet from Simon Armitage about one of Yorkshire’s cities, Leeds, but could easily be extended as a call to the wider region. The lines are part of his lyrics for Awakening , a song by his band LYR titled in tandem with an event at Headingley Stadium, which kickstarted Leeds 2023 in…

Whether it was playing by the old Holgate Windmill near her childhood home in York, riding her moped Sebastian to Bretton Hall for drama class or learning to mime in Paris, Danyah Miller has always chased the thrill of storytelling. It is something she learned the value of from an early age, when she was entranced by her father’s fireside tales. “Stories are essentially what make us human,” says Danyah. “We make sense of the world through stories and storytelling.” She has been doing it herself…

He’s performed all over the area, of course, but has a soft spot for Bradford, too, having played the music of composer Frederick Delius, who was born in the West Yorkshire city in 1862. “It’s always a place I look forward to going back to lovely warm audiences and it feels kind of almost like home, I’ve been there so many times,” he says of the region. And he is back here tomorrow with his show Bach Revealed at The Piece Hall in Halifax. It follows a successful run of shows this summer centred…

Survivor (Saturday 28/10/23, BBC One, 8.35pm) Richard Jones A year before I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! became one of the most watched shows on TV, there was another reality series in which people were stranded in an exotic location and faced with a range of physical and mental challenges. Survivor ran for two seasons in 2001 and 2002, and although it was quickly axed by ITV, it was actually was watched by more viewers than other reality series at the time, including the massively popular…

“You’d be amazed how much luckier you get, the more people you help in this world,” is one example of the many mantras he’s acquired during a life in teaching, dementia care and much more besides (including his side hustle as a singer). Born in Durham, 6ft 2in Ian – hence the nickname – found a calling connecting to people in need of help. After a brief stint as a bouncer, the son of well-known local Charlie Donaghy left his home of Tow Law for St John’s College in York aged 18, but got “kicked…

Nick, a Professor of Law at the University of Leeds, was getting tests for trial drugs related to arthritis when he notified the nurse about a tingling in his feet. After brain scans, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2013 at the age of 43. He was “half-relieved” after the wait, believing there to be worse conditions, but nonetheless, he thought: “What on earth have I got to look forward to? “I went on holiday about two months after I was diagnosed and I just didn’t want my holiday to arrive…

But, when asked, it is clear he is affected by the Government’s latest stance on in the environment and Net Zero targets – such as moving the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035. “I’m kind of incredibly jaded,” Steve tells The Yorkshire Post. He feels “properly betrayed” because he was part of announcing the Environment Bill and Act, he says, and was “working quite closely with the Government on what appeared to be big, ambitious goals for the environment that would set u…

For his latest book, Peter has interviewed the likes of The Searchers co-founder Mike Pender, Amen Corner’s Andy Fairweather Low, Bakerloo’s Clem Clempson, Whitesnake guitarist Micky Moody and The Hollies six-string player Tony Hicks. The author and former Doncaster Rovers media consultant has released British Guitarists 1952-1972: Electric Pioneers, recently put out by Bradford-based Great Northern Books. For a man who used to work in the music instrument business and grew up enthralled by band…

Kylie Live in the Park (Saturday 23/09/23, BBC2, 10.05pm) Words by Scheenagh Harrington If you were lucky, lucky, lucky enough to have been at Radio 2 in the Park in Leicester, then you will have seen Kylie Minogue in her first UK full concert performance for more than four years. Not that the Australian star has been out of the limelight, far from it. She scored a hit with Padam Padam earlier this year, the latest in a string of musical bullseyes. But what would we expect from a woman who has b…

“Basically, from what I’ve been told, I died in the saddle,” says Caroline, 42, from Wombleton in North Yorkshire. “And my friend then resuscitated me. The horse never left my side, I don’t think, from what people say.” Caroline’s friends “found me face down in the mud” before carrying out CPR, she says, and it “took a good seven minutes to bring me back”. Due to the remote location and severity of Caroline’s “freak” accident the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) was deployed. She says: “I think I w…