''The Sunday Hour'' was a long-standing show broadcast on the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

and then

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

in the United Kingdom, broadcast for 78 years between 14 July 1940 and 28 January 2018. For most of its life it occupied a Sunday evening slot, latterly between 8:30 pm and 9:00 pm but in 2013 it moved to a Sunday morning slot between 6:00 am and 7:00 am. It broadcast Christian hymns and prayer, and was one of only two remaining Christian-based shows on Radio 2, the other being ''Good Morning Sunday''. For its first fifty years, many presenters took part, and the entire show was hosted by a different church each week. From September 1990, the format changed so that the show was presented by a regular presenter from the studio, with recordings of hymns, some sung by a "featured choir", inserted between the discussion, prayers and dedications. Each week the show is centred on a specific theme: an event in the Church calendar, a passage of the Bible, or a more general area such as the family or the importance of carers. The longest-serving of the regular presenters was

Roger Royle Roger Michael Royle (born 30 January 1939) is a British Anglican priest and broadcaster. He is known for having presented the '' Sunday Half Hour'' programme on BBC Radio 2 for 17 years from 1990 to 2007. Early life and education Royle was b ...

, an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest, who presented the show between September 1990 and April 2007. Brian D'Arcy, a

Passionist The Passionists, officially named Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (), abbreviated CP, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men, founded by Paul of the Cross in 1720 with a special emphasis on and de ...

priest from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, took over as the presenter in April 2007.

Diane-Louise Jordan Diane Johnson (born 28 June 1960), better known by her stage name Diane Louise Jordan, is a British television presenter. She was the first black presenter of the children's television programme ''Blue Peter'', being involved in the programme fro ...

was the next presenter, replacing Father Brian in February 2012. Jordan announced she was leaving in July 2017. The show's final presenter was the Rev.

Kate Bottley Kate Bottley (' Stevenson) is a Church of England priest in North Nottinghamshire, a role which she combines with her other roles of journalist, media presenter and reality television star. She appears frequently on British radio and televisio ...

. From 20 January 2013, the show was extended to an hour and moved to a new slot from 6:00 am to 7:00 am on Sunday mornings. The programme's name was changed to ''The Sunday Hour''. Singer

Michael Ball Michael Ashley Ball (born 27 June 1962) is an English singer, presenter and actor. He made his West End debut in 1985 playing Marius Pontmercy in the original London production of ''Les Misérables'', and went on to star in 1987 as Raoul in ...

took over the Sunday evening slot with a new two-hour show. The show was axed and broadcast its final show on 28 January 2018 after 78 years in favour of a brand new format for Radio 2's Sunday breakfast programme, ''Good Morning Sunday'', starting 4 February.

Presenters

*19401990: Various *19902007:

*20072012: Brian D'Arcy *20122017:

*20172018:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunday Hour, The BBC Radio 2 programmes BBC Light Programme programmes British religious radio programmes British music radio programmes 1940 radio programme debuts 2018 radio programme endings