BBC Radio To Celebrate The Life Of David Bowie With Radio Series

BBC Radio have announced that they will run the Bowie Five Years On series next month.

Marking five years since David Bowie passed away on 10th January 2016 after a battle with cancer, BBC Radio will celebrate Bowie’s monumental body of work and his life with a series of shows. This will include Bowie: Dancing Out In Space, presented by Stuart Maconie and aired on both BBC Radio 4 and 6 Music at 8pm on 10th January 2021. The programme will include, “Leading figures from music, dance, literature, philosophy, technology and comedy talk about the impact of Bowie on their lives and how he always managed to be ahead of the curve.”

Elsewhere, Radio 4 will also broadcast Soul Music – Life In Mars, and a repeat of Archive On 4:Bowie Verbatim, on 9th January 2021. On the 10th 6 Music will give its whole schedule over to celebrating Bowie – beginning with Chris Hawkins’ 5am show that will feature Pete Townshend talking about his friendship with Bowie; followed by Radcliffe And Maconie, and Cerys Matthews’ whose shows will also focus on the star.

Radio 2 will also commemorate his life, playing his 2002 Maida Vale set, while Johnnie Walker’s Sound Of The 70s will be a David Bowie 70s special.

On TV, BBC Four will screen an evening of shows on David Bowie on the 8th January, including David Bowie: The Last Five Years, a Top Of The Pops 2 special episode, and Bowie At The BBC, which features clips from the BBC’s archive that covers his career from 1964 to 2016.

In a press release issued by the BBC, they stated, “Throughout his life, David Bowie predicted the future. He was a visionary artist whose natural fluidity, curious imagination and disregard for the rigidity of categories enabled him to foretell cultural change.”

The Royal Mint also acknowledged the creativity and brilliance of David Bowie, by commemorating him with a set of limited coins, as part of their Music Legends Collection.