2025-10-06
A staggering 22.6 million people across the UK have watched BBC content celebrating Bradford on TV and iPlayer – enough to fill Bradford City’s football stadium over 880 times.
From a gritty drama to feel-good documentaries, Bradford has taken centre stage for its year of culture, reaching 35% of the UK population on BBC TV and iPlayer between October 2024 and August 2025.
Bradford’s rich heritage, vibrant communities and outstanding countryside have captured the imagination of BBC viewers across the UK from South East England to North West Scotland, as the city marks its year in the spotlight as the 2025 UK City of Culture.
In Yorkshire and Lincolnshire alone, BBC content has reached 2.3 million viewers – 4 in 10 people – with 40% of the regional population engaging with Bradford-themed programming, according to BARB ‘As-Viewed’ lifetime data.
On BBC Local services audiences have been thrilled by BBC Radio Leeds and BBC Look North programming, which includes Bantam of the Opera which follows a group of Bradford city football fans as they learn to sing as a choir; New Voices winners fronting key projects throughout the year; BBC Radio Drama Bilal and Ted’s Bradfordian Adventure; plus BBC Sounds collections Big Up Bradford and MaD Brad, which is a celebration of community projects making a difference in Bradford postcodes.
A total of 11.4 million people have tuned into TV coverage of Bantam of the Opera but many more have listened on the Radio and watched coverage online, with a digital audience including over 4.2 million digital engagements on BBC social channels. The choir performed on the pitch at the Valley Parade memorial match marking 40 years since the stadium fire in which 56 supporters lost their lives and for His Majesty The King at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in May 2025.
As an official broadcast partner for Bradford 2025, the BBC commissioned a wide range of new TV content spanning arts, children’s and education, sport, factual and music. TV highlights so far include:
- Countryfile – An episode explored how the countryside around Bradford shaped the city and its creative legacy. A story of grit and wool.
- Gardeners’ World – An episode featured a visit to Wibsey Community Garden in Bradford, showcasing the garden as a hub for community gardening and highlighted the work of volunteers.
- Virdee – A six-part crime thriller adapted from AA Dhand’s gripping novels.
- Extraordinary Portraits with Bill Bailey – An exhibition of portraits created as a part of the TV series hosted by comedian Bill Bailey opened to the public in Bradford at Loading Bay – a former warehouse which has been converted into a pop-up venue for Bradford’s UK City of Culture year. Overall footfall on Day one was 357 people in the exhibition. People were visiting locally, and from as far afield as Kent, Coventry and Glasgow. The overall number of people who visited from 13 March to 6 April was 11,004.
- Bradford’s Big Bash – This film produced by award-winning local production company Candour Films went behind the scenes of RISE the spectactular opening event heralding Bradford’s stint as this year’s UK City of Culture. Created by award-winning theatre director Kirsty Housley in collaboration with Steven Frayne, the world-renowned Bradford-born magician formerly known as Dynamo.
- FA Cup Draw – The BBC hosted the FA Cup first round draw in Bradford. The city was selected for its historical links with the FA Cup in October 2024.
- Unforgotten: The Bradford City Fire – This documentary combined extraordinary access to the people who survived, family members of the bereaved and emergency service first responders.
- Songs of Praise – A special episode was filmed at Bradford Cathedral. Hosted by Aled Jones, it explored how faith and the arts are intertwined in Bradford’s cultural identity.
- Eid Prayers – The BBC covered Eid al-Fitr prayers live from Bradford. Hosted by Jason Mohammad, the service, a British TV first, was broadcast from Bradford Central Mosque on the morning of Eid al-Fitr, marking this special moment in the Islamic calendar at the end of the month of Ramadan. Eid al-Fitr means ‘festival of breaking the fast’.
- Live broadcasts – Across the year flagship BBC One network shows The One Show, Morning Live and BBC Breakfast have been in the city for events such as Yorkshire Day, the opening event RISE and the Bradford Progress – bringing Bradford’s buzz regularly to living rooms across the country.
Meanwhile, 4.65 million online accounts have accessed Bradford content via iPlayer, Sounds, and BBC News Online.
On BBC Sounds, Bradford-related content has reached 370,000 accounts, with popular shows including Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 Show, The Kitchen Cabinet, Sunday Worship and Asian Network’s Not Even Water podcast.
Tim Davie, BBC Director-General, says: “I’m extremely proud of how many people we have reached with the stories of Bradford so far this year, and the great news is we are not finished yet.
“It’s a huge honour to be part of a legacy that we know will attract many more millions to this fantastic city.”
Katrina Bunker, BBC Head of Yorkshire, says: “This year is bringing so many opportunities to celebrate Bradford and the richness of its stories.
“It’s wonderful to see the area and its people getting the representation they deserve across our platforms and products – and to know that lots of people are enjoying watching, reading and listening!”
Shanaz Gulzar, Creative Director for Bradford 2025, says: “It’s been incredible to see Bradford people and stories reaching audiences across the nation through our fantastic partnership with the BBC, who have been with us on this journey since our city and district were awarded the designation in May 2022.
“On BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, watching live and listening back, our famous names such as Black Dyke Band, Brontës, Delius and Hockney have been celebrated, alongside local talent and community voices. With so much more to come, we’re delighted in the part that the BBC have played in showcasing our city and district’s wonderful heritage, landscape and culture.”
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council, says: “These are terrific numbers. I’m delighted that people from across the country have been able to experience what Bradford district has to offer through this great partnership with the BBC.
“The BBC as our broadcast partner has really helped to bring a bit of Bradford to millions of people. We knew when we submitted our bid this would be a great opportunity for the whole district to show how much we have to offer, being UK City of Culture has certainly delivered that. The level of interest and participation from residents, visitors and tourists has been fantastic. It really is our time.”
Still to come…
With four months still to go, the BBC promises even more Bradford brilliance – from local legends to rising stars, and everything in between.
The world-famous BBC Proms comes to Bradford for the first time with Grammy Award-winning African music star Angélique Kidjo performing at St George’s Hall in Bradford on 7th September, which will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
Antiques Roadshow, presenter Fiona Bruce and a team of experts visited Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Lister Park to value a variety of antiques, family heirlooms and vintage finds and the episode airs on 7th September on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
BBC’s Contains Strong Language, the UK’s biggest poetry and performance festival for new writing, comes to Bradford for the first time from Thursday 18 to Sunday 21st September as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture. Four days of performances, readings and activities will take place across the city. A raft of Radio 4 programmes, including Front Row, Start the Week and Loose Ends, will be broadcast live or recorded during the four-day festival.
CBeebies is bringing their annual Christmas Panto to Bradford, with a new musical version of Cinderella being recorded at the famous Alhambra Theatre this autumn. Cast include Rhys Stephenson, Evie Pickerill and Justin Fletcher. The CBeebies panto is the centrepiece of the CBeebies Christmas schedule and will be also available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
BBC New Comedy Awards 2025 are Britain’s biggest comedy talent search, with an average of 1,500 entries per year. The awards are a pipeline to discovering new diverse comedy voices from all corners of the UK. The Grand Final in 2025 is being hosted in Bradford and 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. The Grand Final will air on BBC One in October.
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