Welcome to Edinburgh presented by Kirsty Wark, on BBC Two Saturday August 19 at 7pm marks the 70th anniversary of the festivals with the best of the festival in this special year.

And on BBC Two Scotland, on Sunday August 13 at 10pm, she will present Kirsty Wark’s Edinburgh featuring performances and chat with some of the festivals’ top names and happening performers in a new 60 minute show. And there will be a further BBC Two compilation of some of the best music and performance from this year’s Edinburgh Festival.

Charlie Stayt will anchor a special BBC Breakfast broadcast in Edinburgh on Friday, August 4, with further festival coverage across news and magazine programmes.

BBC Scotland arts correspondent Pauline McLean will have news reports from the start and throughout the festivals.
And on the Bank Holiday, August 28, BBC One will have the stirring highlights of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo (pictured above).

For the second year in a row, Steve Wright (pictured above) and the team will broadcast The Big Show live from the Blue Tent in Edinburgh on Friday 4 August (2-5pm) with music and chat from special guests.

The Radio 2 Arts Show with Jonathan Ross will be linking up to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on its 70th Anniversary on Thursday 10, 17 and 24 August from 10pm-midnight to capture some of the more quirky acts.

Michael Ball will be coming live from the Big Blue Tent in the heart of the Edinburgh Festival on Sunday 13 August (11am-1pm) with live music from the Royal Edinburgh Tattoo pipes and drums and Scotland’s very own 100-member strong Rock Choir. Plus two audience members will be taking part face-to-face in the On The Ball Quiz. All to be featured in-vision live on BBC Red Button.

As the official broadcaster of the Edinburgh International Festival, through live and recorded concerts available on radio and online, BBC Radio 3 brings the best of the Edinburgh International Festival to audiences at home and across the world.

Radio 3’s predecessor the Third Programme broadcast from Edinburgh at the very first International Festival in 1947, and with both cultural institutions in their 70th year, Radio 3 will once again make the International Festival’s music offering available to everyone through a major series of broadcasts in 2017.

Radio 3 will mark the occasion with additional programming, which will include all Radio 3 programming between 7am and 1.30pm on August 5 broadcast from Edinburgh.

Across the festival’s opening weekend there will be live editions of regular programmes such as Breakfast, Record Review and In Tune from the BBC’s Edinburgh Festivals hub in the grounds of George Heriot’s School. For the In Tune broadcast (7 August), presenter Sean Rafferty (pictured above) will welcome a starry roster of guests including baritone Christopher Maltman, conductor Iván Fischer and pianist Sergei Babayan.

Several other Radio 3 programmes will air special EIF editions later in the month, including World on 3, Late Junction (August 8 and 9), Jazz Now (August 14) and Jazz Line-Up (August 19). Jazz Line-Up guests will include The Dime Notes, musician and composer Andy Sheppard and jazz guitarist John Parricelli. Guests for the Jazz Now broadcast include Colin Steele Quintet and the Paul Towndrow/Steve Hamilton duo. Late Junction guests will include composer and musician Lauren Sarah Hayes, folk musicians Aiden O’Rourke and Alasdair Roberts, actress Josette Bushell-Mingo and author James Robertson.

A new Radio 3 documentary presented by James Naughtie, Nothing Short of a Miracle (August 5), will look at the EIF’s history and founding, using a combination of archive recordings and new interviews to trace an oral history of the early years of the festival.

Twelve Radio 3 lunchtime concerts from the BBC archives (August 8-11, 15-18, 22-25) feature performances from some of the finest artists to appear at EIF, such as Clara Haskill, Fritz Wunderlich, Jessye Norman and Geza Anda. Called Edinburgh 70, these have been produced by BBC Scotland and will be presented by Kate Molleson.

Over the course of the series, other highlights will include the August 8 programme with contralto Kathleen Ferrier and pianist Bruno Walter with performances from 1947 and 1949 and on Aug 11, Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich - appearing at the EIF in 1974 - after being exiled from his homeland for his outspoken political views.

Throughout August Radio 3 will also broadcast a series of live concerts (11am-1pm) from the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh, launched by the Dunedin Consort on August 5 and featuring subsequent performances from top international artists including mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill, operatic bass René Pape, Swiss pianist Andreas Haefliger, oboist Francois Leleux, baritone Benjamin Appl, violinists Alina Ibragimova and Joshua Bell, the Academy of Ancient Music, countertenor Iestyn Davies and soprano Venera Gimadieva.

There will also be six concerts recorded at Usher Hall to be broadcast on Radio 3 in August and September. All the concerts are being produced by BBC Scotland. In the line-up of concerts are three from BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Thomas Dausgaard conducts his first Edinburgh Festival concert under the title of BBC SSO Chief Conductor with a programme of music featuring Schubert, Schumann and Strauss at the Usher Hall; Sir James MacMillan conducts three works all of which received their premieres at the International Festival; and the orchestra closes the Usher Hall series with a concert to celebrate the festival’s 70th anniversary, that brings together live music, archive film, interviews and unique memories, conducted by Martyn Brabbins.

Radio 4’s longest running quiz show Round Britain Quiz marks its 70th birthday this year, and celebrates with a visit to another institution marking its 70th year, the Edinburgh Fringe. The home team of Val McDermid and Alan McCredie play for Scotland, against Marcus Berkmann and Paul Sinha representing the South of England; with the unflappable Tom Sutcliffe in the chair. The quiz will make its debut at the festival on Monday August 21, recording at 2pm and 3.30pm, and the programmes will form part of the Round Britain Quiz series starting on air later this year.

Opening Night is Radio 4's new programme which gives the audience a backstage pass to some of the most innovative, challenging and provocative new theatrical productions around the country. Every month will be in a new town or city, reporting from the latest production, checking out the best in theatre, play-writing and live performance talent and asking how the theatre is helping to capture and curate modern Britain. Starting at the UK’s biggest festival of theatre in Edinburgh, the first episode will be hosted by BBC Radio Scotland’s Janice Forsyth and will broadcast on Saturday 5 August at 3.30pm.

In association with the University of Edinburgh, Allan Little presents Enlightenment After Dark for Radio 4. This series of conversations with leading thinkers will be recorded in front of live salon audience. Guests include Professor Sarah Harper, President of the Royal Institution; the Right Rev Richard Holloway; one of Europe’s most prominent young thinkers, Rutger Bregman; and acclaimed writer Pankaj Mishra.

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by guests for The Now Show at the Fringe featuring comedy sketches and satirical comments (recording on Wednesday 23 August at 7pm).

The daily Funny From The Fringe podcast is back after a successful first outing in 2016 which saw the fledgling podcast rocket to the top of the iTunes Comedy podcast charts (and reach second place in the overall iTunes podcast charts). Hosted once again by award-winning comedian Phil Ellis, the podcast will bring news, interviews and what-have-yous from the festival, including a behind-the-scenes look at the BBC New Comedy Award and a sneak peek at some of the hot new shows, the up-and-coming comedians making waves, and the big names making mischief.

Two special recordings of the classic panel show Just A Minute will see Nicholas Parsons challenge some of the biggest names in comedy to speak without hesitation, repetition or deviation on subjects of his choosing. Recording on Tuesday 8 August at 5.30pm and 7pm, his guests at the festival are Paul Merton, Susan Calman, Josie Lawrence, Fred MacAulay, Paul Sinha and Mark Watson.

Clive Anderson, along with co-hosts Arthur Smith and Tom Allen, tie up Loose Ends with two special episodes featuring music, lots of comedy and, of course, scintillating conversation (recording on Friday 18 August and Tuesday 22 August at 3pm).

Also returning to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe are: Front Row, which will bring together the stars and surprise hits of the festival in a number of live and pre-recorded programmes from Monday - Thursday, August 14-17; Fresh From The Fringe, offering the highlights from the best comedy performers, including stand-up, sketch and musical talent (recording Monday August 14, 5pm and 7pm); and 4 Extra Stands Up At The Fringe, featuring some of the brightest and best comedians at the Fringe performing extended sets exclusively for BBC Radio 4 Extra (recording Saturday 19 and Wednesday 23 August, 9.30pm).

BBC 5 live’s Afternoon Edition with Sarah Brett and Nihal Arthanayake (pictured above) will be broadcasting live from the BBC Festival site at George Heriot’s school on Wednesday 23 and August 24. They’ll be talking to musicians, comedians, TV/film/theatre actors, authors and celebrities.

Heat Map - Will Gompertz takes a fresh look at this week in the arts, with conversation on the big stories in music, film, fashion, and books, and a look at how culture connects with our everyday lives. On Sunday August 6 the programme comes from the Edinburgh Festival, with guests including author Irvine Welsh, comedian Reginald D Hunter and cabaret singer Meow Meow.

BBC Asian Network Comedy returns to Edinburgh Fringe for a fifth year on Friday 11 August.

Hosted by Weekday Breakfast presenter Tommy Sandhu (pictured above), the show celebrates some of the best comedians from across the festival whilst showcasing rising stars. This year includes the award winning Patrick Monahan, India’s first female stand-up Aditi Mittal and British-Kurdish comedian Kae Kurd. Highlights of the show will be available to watch on iPlayer from 24 August and on BBC Red Button from September 1.

BBC Radio Scotland's The Janice Forsyth Show will be co-anchored with Sonya Feldhoff from ABC Adelaide on Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 August in a reciprocal visit following The Janice Forsyth Show broadcasting from The Adelaide Fringe in February. These programmes will broadcast in Scotland and Australia. The Adelaide Fringe signed a memorandum of understanding with Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2016.

Radio Scotland’s arts show will have 12 shows across the festival, with Janice Forsyth (pictured above) up until 24 August.

Stephen Jardine will present two shows from the BBC Festival site on August 11 and 25 and Breaking The News with Des Clarke will have Matt Forde, Catriona Shearer, Fred MacAulay and Zoe Lyons on August 10; Andrew Maxwell, Lucy Porter, Val McDermid and Rory Bremner on August 17; and Angela Barnes, Raymond Mearns, Martell Maxwell and Richard Herring on August 24.

Stop The Press kicks off its new second series on BBC Radio Scotland with two shows in Edinburgh. It returns to pit the stars of entertainment, sport and beyond against the journalists who report on them. Grant Stott hosts the quiz, with comedian Jo Caulfield leading the team of professionals and BBC Radio Scotland's Gary Robertson for the press. The Edinburgh programmes, with guests from the Fringe,will be recorded on Friday August 25.

In a special Edinburgh edition of The Leak, recorded in the BBC Tent on Thursday August 24, Tom Price (pictured above) and guests from the world of entertainment and comedy dissect the week’s news.

On Wednesday August 9 the Radio Wales Arts Show will be live from the BBC Tent as Nicola Heywood Thomas meets a selection of the Welsh artists appearing at Edinburgh. Guests include Neil Docking, writer of The Revlon Girl; Gareth Clark, creator and performer of the darkly humorous show (F.E.A.R); Daniel Llewelyn-Williams of Flying Bridge Theatre with Not About Heroes; and Paul Davies of ground-breaking physical theatre company Volcano.

BBC Radio Cymru presenter and Fringe Veteran Tudur Owen (pictured above) returns to Edinburgh this August with his brand new stand up show - Normal Wear And Tear. His Radio Cymru programmes from Edinburgh, Tudur Owen, will air on Friday 18 August, 2-5pm; Saturday 19 August, 9-11am; Friday 25 August, 2-5pm; and Saturday 26 August, 9-11am.

The BBC broadcast and audience hub for 2017 (Fringe venue number 25) can again be found in the picturesque grounds of George Heriot’s School on Lauriston Place. It will be open from 9am-11pm every day from August 4-25, and on Fridays and Saturdays until 1am.

Visitors don’t need a show ticket to come and relax in the garden, enjoy a game of table tennis, and sit back and watch BBC shows and content on a big screen. Live music and performances will take place against the stunning backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. Family-friendly sessions and workshops are suitable for most ages. There will be hot and cold drinks and food and free Wi-Fi available.