''Pick of the Week'' is a long-running British radio programme featuring extracts from BBC radio (and originally television) programmes broadcast over the previous seven days. It was first broadcast on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

in 1959, and transferred to its successor station

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

in 1967. Until 1998, it was broadcast on Friday evening, with a repeat (sometimes edited) on Sunday. Since 1998, it has appeared on Sunday only. Items are drawn from all of the BBC's

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

and national radio networks, as well as the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. Although not a request show as such, listeners are invited to send in suggestions for the programme.

History

The programme was originally written and produced by

Gale Pedrick Frank Gale Pedrick-Harvey (born Pedrick; 15 June 1906 – 23 February 1970), known professionally as Gale Pedrick, was an English writer, journalist, scriptwriter, and broadcaster. Life Pedrick was born on 15 June 1906, in London, England, an ...

and presented by John Ellison. After Pedrick's death in 1970, production was taken over by Nancy Wise. Ellison died in January 1974, and over the first half of the year David Davis, Martin Muncaster and David Dunhill all had short runs as presenter, before Margaret Howard took over as permanent host in July, also producing with a rotating team of co-producers. Howard remained as the presenter until 1991, when the BBC chose not to renew her contract, a decision which caused some controversy at the time.

Chris Serle Christopher Richard Serle (born 13 July 1943 in Bristol, England) is a former BBC TV presenter, reporter and actor. Biography Serle was educated at Clifton College and Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied modern languages. He appeared as ...

became the new host and remained so until 1998 when as part of controller James Boyle's changes to Radio 4, it started to be hosted by guest presenters each week, a format which survives to the present day. Since 2008, a special ''Pick of the Year'' episode has been broadcast each December with a guest presenter choosing their BBC radio highlights of the year.

References

{{BBC Radio 4 1959 radio programme debuts BBC Radio 4 programmes