BBC Live News Radio

BBC Live News is the BBC's audio service for following developing stories and hearing news analysis. Its programme brings reporting together with discussion, so the listening experience can move from a concise bulletin to a longer examination of public affairs. Spoken journalism is the central purpose, rather than a music-led schedule interrupted by occasional headlines.

BBC News bulletins form part of the offering, including updates drawn from the World Service. Longer programmes provide space for explanation and competing views. Any Questions? is among the programmes carried by Live News: the political discussion brings guests together to debate issues in front of an audience. Nick Eardley has presented editions, with contributors drawn from politics and public life.

The service's breadth is illustrated by its October 2026 broadcast from Horam Village Hall in East Sussex. That edition of Any Questions? brought together politicians Josh Babarinde, Richard Fuller and Lucy Rigby with economist Paul Johnson. The combination placed party-political arguments alongside an economic perspective, showing how an extended discussion can add context beyond the immediate headline. The programme was shared with BBC Radio 4.

This Week in History adds a short retrospective strand to the news-led selection, returning to stories from the past. Live News therefore includes both immediate updates and material intended to place events in a wider frame. Its identity rests on BBC reporting, explanation and public-affairs conversation, with the length and character of individual programmes varying across the day. It offers a continuous audio route through that journalism without requiring every item to be a breaking-news broadcast.