The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards will curate BBC Four weekend programming in 'TV first'
The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards will curate an entire weekend of programming for BBC Four later this month in what is being called a TV first.
Keith Richards
Richards is set to host three days of programming from 7pm until 4am, Friday through to Sunday. Richards will choose all the TV shows and films to be shown during these hours and will feature between shows each night via snippets from an in-depth interview filmed for the takeover.
Richards said: "No one has taken over a TV channel before. Let's see how it flies!"
The schedule will feature some of his favourite movies, including Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps and The Man Who Would Be King, as well as never before seen archive footage of the Stones and clips of Johnny Cash and Jimi Hendrix with Richards.
Director Julien Temple will film and compile aspects of the weekend’s schedule alongside Richards. Temple’s new 75-minute long director’s cut of Keith Richards - The Origin of the Species, will air during the takeover.
Temple said: "It's an open invitation for the audience to get to know Keith in-depth over three nights in a way that has never been seen before.
"As dawn breaks, those viewers who have experienced the full ride can celebrate the fact that they have been able to make it all the way and out the other side with Keith Richards as the sun comes up on their TV screens."
Cassian Harrison, editor at BBC Four, added: “BBC Four has always been the home of singular, eclectic and passionate voices - and who would qualify more for that moniker than the legendary Mr Richards.
“I’m delighted (if also a little nervous) to be entrusting the channel to Keith and to journeying with him through the night, enabling viewers to spend a weekend on BBC Four with one of the most famous and intriguing people in the world in a way that transcends the bounds of a traditional channel.”