Radio 1Xtra announces new commissions

BBC Radio 1Xtra has announced details of three new documentaries which will air over the next month on the digital station.

1Xtra Live – Story of the Cities, Story of the Classic UK Clubs and It’s Grime Up North are to be broadcast in the Sunday night 9-10pm slot as part of the station’s ‘1Xtra Stories’.

‘1Xtra Live – Story of the Cities’ kicks off the series this weekend with a look at artists from Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and London to examine each area’s musical history to tie in with the station’s 1Xtra Live events.

‘The Story of the Classic UK Clubs’ airs over two episodes on December 4th and 11th, with 1Xtra DJ Ronnie Herel looking back at the last three decades of UK club culture and selecting six club nights that had a genuine impact on the world and changed the course of black dance music history in Britain.

Then on December 19th ‘It’s Grime Up North’, presented by 1Xtra’s Charlie Sloth, looks at why Northern MCs and rappers are still not breaking through on the scene. Sloth investigates whether the artists themselves or the industry is to blame, travelling from Newcastle to Liverpool and Manchester to Sheffield to try and find out. This documentary will also be the first cross-platform documentary for the station as it’ll be streamed online in video on the 1Xtra website and the BBC Red Button.

Piers Bradford, Commissioning Editor for Radio 1 and 1Xtra said: “This is a really exciting collection of documentaries, showcasing Radio 1Xtra’s ability to delve deeper into the interests of our young listeners.”

1Xtra Live – Story of the Cities is produced by ChiChi Izundu (BBC); The Story of the Classic UK Clubs is produced by Emma Warren (Folded Wing) and It’s Grime up North is produced by Sam White (BBC).