A round-up of BBC announcements and press releases and blogs, plus some highlights from our TV, radio and online output this week.
6 Music Festival
The 6 Music Festival got underway in Bristol on Friday night last week. Reviewing for the Western Gazette, MF Lennon wrote:
This year's BBC 6 Music Festival in Bristol could not have started with any more style and effortless cool than it did, with British electronic hip hop pioneer Roots Manuva rocking the intriguing Motion venue with a selection of his newest tracks mixed in with a generous portion of familiar bangers.
Catch-up on all the sets from the 6 Music Festival here.
Writing in the Telegraph, Tim Martin said:
"The landscape of British music would be very different without 6 Music,” proclaimed Suede’s Brett Anderson shortly before launching into another sweat-soaked, mic-swinging musical meltdown that would have exhausted a man half his age – and, in the third year of this festival programmed by the BBC’s alternative music station, it was hard not to agree with him. Spread across four venues in Bristol and broadcast live on digital radio, this was an enthralling mixture of the big, the up-and-coming, the retro and the entirely leftfield.
Monday saw our In the Mind mental health programming begin. The season includes stories of life and death, hope, scientific discovery and much more to help raise public awareness and understanding of issues relating to mental health.
We published a blog post towards the end of the week summarising some of the mental health reporting from BBC News. Discover more news stories at www.bbc.co.uk/mentalhealth.
BBC Three
This week BBC Three ceased broadcasting and went 'online only'. New programmes and short form content will be made available via The Daily Drop and The Best Of, as well as BBC Three's dedicated channel on BBC iPlayer. Some BBC Three programmes will be broadcast on BBC One and Two.
To mark the event Cuckoo and Twilight star Taylor Lautner came to New Broadcasting House and tried to break the Guinness World Record for most 'selfies' taken in three minutes it was a valiant attempt and ended up three short of beating the previous record.
The BBC Media Centre published a media pack featuring exclusive interviews with members of BBC Three's new online drama Thirteen.
Top Gear
Matt Le Blanc's first day at work outside Broadcasting House was captured by BBC photographers. London 24 described the Top Gear presenter "looking dreamy" in the winter sun.
Chris Evans and Matt Le Blanc with their Robin Reliants outside Broadcasting House.
Matt Le Blanc, one of Top Gear's new presenters, in a Robin Reliant outside Broadcasting House earlier this week.
Awards and Nominations
There were smiles all round when BBC Films' adaptation of Colm Toibin's novel Brooklyn was awarded the Outstanding British Film prize at the BAFTAs.
Later in the week BBC News programming, presenters and reports received RTS Journalism awards, including one for BBC Look East presenter Stewart White, Benjamin Zand, BBC Points West, Newsnight, BBC News Online and Jeremy Bowen. The complete list of BBC wins is summarised in a blog post.
A number of BBC presenters and programmes have appeared in the LGBT Awards Shortlist this week including Clare Balding, Nick Grimshaw, Evan Davis, Sue Perkins for LGBT Broadcaster and Presenter, London Spy and Boy Meets Girl for Media Moment. The complete shortlist is on the LBGT Awards website.
Announcements
Results of the BBC's 'Love' button saw EastEnders the most loved programme.
A list of the BBC shows that audiences said they loved the most was published on Sunday. EastEnders occupied the top slot (see above) followed by CBBC show The Next Step.
On Monday Eddie Izzard announced that he will attempt to complete 27 marathons in 27 days across South Africa for Sport Relief 2016.
In other sports news we revealed that Sir Steve Redgrave and Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff MBE will lead the Clash of the Titans teams for Sport Relief 2016. Later in the week we also announced that Michael Crawford would be reprising the role of Frank Spencer in a special Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em sketch for Sport Relief.
There were some musical announcements this week too: first the BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales’ Principal Conductor Thomas Søndergård extended his contract; Radio 1 Presents revealed its exclusive gig featuring The 1975, Jake Bugg and Lady Leshurr for Annie Mac on 29 February.
Elsewhere, Sioned Wiliam, Radio 4’s Commissioning Editor for Comedy, revealed the first programmes she has commissioned for the network - a mixture of brand new voices, household names and a multitude of popular returning series.
Radio 4 also hit a milestone this week: the first episode of the new series (Monday 22 February, 6.30pm) Paul Merton will have clocked up 347 episodes on the Radio 4 panel show Just A Minute, overtaking the legendary player of the game Kenneth Williams and becoming the second most featured panellist on the show. Worth reading Stuart Jefferies Guardian interview with Paul Merton too.
On Wednesday, we announced that Dominic Treadwell-Collins would be steping down as executive producer of EastEnders. Sean O’Connor (currently of The Archers parish) was also confirmed to replace Dominic.
Also on Wednesday, the BBC World Service previewed a special debate on 9 March - BBC World Questions. The English-language debate from the National Library of Latvia in Riga will be lead entirely by questions from the audience and will discuss issues of migration, the economy and security. It will be recorded for international radio broadcast by the BBC World Service.
Broadcast Highlights
Susan Calman is a little tense and seeking out her friends' pursuits and pastimes on Radio 4 in order to relax.
We've picked out a handful of BBC Radio's featured promotions for this week's round-ups, including the 6 Music Festival, Susan Calman's Keep Calman and Carry On - an exploration of the pursuits and pastimes that help Susan's friends keep relaxed, Radio 4's Lent Talks which started this week, and Sheila Hancock's hour-long documentary exploring the history of Radio 2's 500 Words Short Story Writing Competition.
On TV, this week saw the first of a ten part drama series revealing new insights into the controversial murder investigation and trial that became a media sensation, The People vs. OJ.
Two programmes from the new BBC Three feature in this week's round-up. The Man Who Witnessed 219 Executions is a a chilling portrait of the inner workings of the death penalty in America. And, series 3 of Cuckoo - the comedy series about a cuckoo in the family nest - returned this week.
One BBC Two, Guy Hibbert's three-part drama examining China's controversial One Child policy began this week. Guy explained some of the challenges he faced creating the characters on the About the BBC Blog earlier this week.
And as part of our season of mental health fortnight, this week saw Stephen Fry reflect on his award-winning series Secret Life of the Manic Depressive in a follow up programme The Not So Secret World of the Manic Depressive. And on BBC One, My Baby, Psychosis and Me.
Jon Jacob is Editor, About the BBC Blog