As the finalists who made it on to the live shows of the BBC’s I’d Do Anything plan the next stage of their careers, Matthew Hemley talks to six of them about their experiences of Saturday night entertainment television and their plans for the future.

Alongside winner Jodie Prenger are interviews with Amy Booth-Steel, Tara Bethan, Francesca Jackson, Samantha Barks and Jessie Buckley.

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We had planned to release a podcast version of the interviews today. However, I am afraid that technical problems mean that it won’t be ready until tomorrow. Apologies for the inconvenience.

The podcast will contain Matthew Hemley’s interviews with Amy Booth-Steel, Tara Bethan, Francesca Jackson, Samantha Barks, Jessie Buckley and winner Jodie Prenger.

As Andrew Lloyd Webber and his panel of judges ready themselves for Saturday’s final of I’d Do Anything, we talk to The Stage columnist Zoe Tyler, actress and former judging panel member, who has been reviewing the girls’ performances each week in our print edition.

And now that the three winning Olivers have been chosen, The Stage’s agony uncle John Byrne goes over the options for any young performers who have felt inspired to tread the boards themselves.

Useful links:

• The Stage’s I’d Do Anything coverage on TV Today
• BBC I’d Do Anything website
• Zoe Tyler’s website
• Zoe is currently touring in The Show Must Go On
• Archive of Dear John columns from the pages of The Stage
• The Stage Guide to Schools for Young Performers - download a PDF for £5.50, or order a print copy for £7.95 + p&p

If you have iTunes

We recommend that iTunes users subscribe to the enhanced podcast to get album artwork and chapter points for easier navigation. You’ll also automatically get future editions of the podcast as soon as they’re available, and can download older episodes quickly and easily.

To access the podcast

There are several ways in which you can access the podcast.

• Use the player above to listen to a streaming version of this episode.

• Download the MP3 file (right click and select “Save As…”, “Download this file” or equivalent) to your computer, and play it whenever you like (and/or copy it to your MP3 player).

• Subscribe to the MP3 podcast in your podcast player.

As you should know by now, Zoe Tyler, vocal coach and judge on How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, has been reviewing every episode of I’d Do Anything for our weekly print edition. I’ve been doing the same online, on our TV Today blog.

Next week, we’ll be recording a podcast discussing the final three would-be Nancies, looking back over the series and talking about whatever takes our fancy.

Which is where you come in.

If you have a question or conversation topic that you’d like Zoe or I to discuss, then either leave your question in the comments below, or email it to podcasts@thestage.co.uk. Naturally, we can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to use every submission, but we’ll do oour best to cover as much as we can.

Get you questions in by 10am Tuesday morning — and listen out to see if we use your question! The podcast previewing the I’d Do Anything final will be availble to listen to online and download from Thursday.

Note: You can sign in below with a number of different ID systems, including LiveJournal, TypeKey, or any system which supports OpenID (there are several). Alternatively, click “comment anonymously” and specify your name (or nickname) and your email address.

To complement the Royal Albert Hall’s current production of “Tosca”, the venue’s education department worked with Enfield Young Offenders to create a new, modern day interpretation of the story.

The Stage went to rehearsals for a special reading of “The Last Standing” by a cast of professional actors, directed by Phil Daniels. Hear interviews with the project leaders, two of the young writers involved and some of the cast.

This podcast contains strong language.

If you have iTunes

We recommend that iTunes users subscribe to the enhanced podcast to get album artwork and chapter points for easier navigation. You’ll also automatically get future editions of the podcast as soon as they’re available, and can download older episodes quickly and easily.

 To access the podcast

There are several ways in which you can access the podcast.

• Use the player above to listen to a streaming version of this episode.

• Download the MP3 file (right click and select “Save As…”, “Download this file” or equivalent) to your computer, and play it whenever you like (and/or copy it to your MP3 player).

• Subscribe to the MP3 podcast in your podcast player.

The Stage went down to Brighton to meet some of the people behind BBC Showcase, the annual screening event held by BBC Worldwide to promote the best of British television to international broadcasters.

We talk to BBC Worldwide’s Abigail Hughes about the event, and the importance of ‘talent’ (actors, directors, etc.) to the promotion of programmes.

One of the BBC’s highest profile new shows at the event is relationship drama Mistresses. In a fun round table interview with cast members Sarah Parish, Shelley Conn, Sharon Small, Adam Rayner, Max Brown and Patrick Baladi, we talk about the success of the show, and how actors’ workload involves an increasing amount of PR work.

Finally, Timothy Spall joins us to talk about his role as Fagin in Oliver Twist, one of the BBC’s other high profile shows here at Showcase.

If you have any comments, you can leave them below, by email to podcast@thestage.co.uk, or on our page on Facebook.

 To access the podcast

There are several ways in which you can access the podcast.

• Use the player above to listen to a streaming version of this podcast.

• Download the MP3 file (right click and select “Save As…”, “Download this file” or equivalent).

• Subscribe to the MP3 podcast in your podcast player.

• If you use iTunes, subscribe to the enhanced podcast to get album artwork, chapter points for easier navigation, and smaller file sizes for faster downloads.

For our first podcast of 2008, Nuala Calvi interviewed The Sound of Music’s Maria, Connie Fisher.

As well as talking about the audition process via TV show which has spawned so many imitators, Connie talks about life now that she’s the star of the London Palladium production, as well as her plans for the future when she leaves the nun’s habit behind.

 To access the podcast

There are several ways in which you can access the podcast.

• Use the player above to listening to a streaming version

• Download the MP3 file (right click and select “Save As…”, “Download this file” or equivalent).

• Subscribe to the MP3 podcast in your podcast player.

• If you use iTunes, subscribe to the enhanced podcast to get album artwork, chapter points for easier navigation, and smaller file sizes for faster downloads.

If you have any comments, you can leave them below, or email them to podcasts@thestage.co.uk.

It’s a TV light entertainment special this edition, as we catch up with one of the winning Dance X dancers, Marie McGonigle, and her mentor during the BBC1 talent show, Bruno Tonioli.

• Download Dancing in Repeat from the iTunes Store.

Bruno is also taking part as one of the commentators for next Saturday’s Eurovision Dance Contest. At the press launch for the event, we talked to hosts Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman.

 To access the podcast

There are several ways in which you can access the podcast.

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If you have any comments, you can leave them below, or email them to podcasts@thestage.co.uk.

After Saturday’s final of Grease is the Word, The Stage’s Alistair Smith got the very first interviews with winners Danny Bayne and Susan McFadden, who are now to become the West End’s latest Danny and Sandy when Grease returns at the Piccadilly Theatre.

He also caught up with TV judge and the musical’s producer, David Ian, to talk about the winners and the series as a whole.

 To access the podcast

There are several ways in which you can access the podcast.

• Use the player above to listen to a streaming version

• Download the MP3 file (right click and select “Save As…”, “Download this file” or equivalent).

• Subscribe to the MP3 podcast in your podcast player.

• If you use iTunes, subscribe to the enhanced podcast to get album artwork, chapter points for easier navigation, and smaller file sizes for faster downloads.

If you have any comments, you can leave them below, or email them to podcasts@thestage.co.uk.

The third series of the revived BBC series Doctor Who starts on March 31. Prior to the press launch last night, I spoke to executive producer Julie Gardner about the new series, how her recent promotion to Controller of Drama Commissioning at the BBC affects her role on the show, and much more.

Just a couple of days after the new series starts, last year’s Christmas special, The Runaway Bride starring Catherine Tate, is released on DVD. We have a review.

A commentary track (as mentioned in the podcast) is available from the BBC Doctor who website.

And finally, some extracts from the press Q&A session with David Tennant and Freema Agyeman from the press launch, along with interviews with some of the actors in attendance: EastEnders actor and Doctor Who fan Adam Woodyatt; Noel Clarke, who played Mickey Smith in Series 1 and 2; and Linda Clark, who plays the prosthetic-heavy character ‘Bloodtide’ in the second episode of the new series.

Be warned — if you’re the type of person who wants to avoid any foreknowledge of future episodes, some of the interviews in this podcast contain mild spoilers.

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• (Read the transcript)

For the first of our Stage podcasts, I was lucky enough to join Lesley Garrett in her dressing room at the London Palladium for a chat about her new album, When I Fall In Love, and much more.

The new album, produced and orchestrated by Tolga Kashif, is a celebration of love “in all its forms”. Her first studio album for three years, it formed the basis for a discussion that talked about the challenges in choosing whether to sing operas in English or the composer’s original language, how she and Kashif arrived at the music choices and orchestrations, as well as musical TV talent shows, from Fame Academy and Soapstar Superstar to How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, used to select Connie Fisher as Garrett’s costar in The Sound of Music.

To access the podcast

There are several ways in which you can access the podcast.

• Use the player (the grey bar) above to listen to a streaming version of the podcast.

• Download the MP3 file (right click and select “Save As…”, “Download this file” or equivalent).

• Subscribe to the MP3 podcast in your podcast player.

• If you use iTunes, subscribe to the enhanced podcast to get album artwork, chapter points for easier navigation, and smaller file sizes for faster downloads.

When I Fall in Love is (P) and (C) 2007 Universal Music Classics & Jazz.

• Preview tracks and download via iTunes
• Buy the CD from Amazon.co.uk

Thanks to: Lesley Garrett, Adrian Read at Hyperlaunch, Clare Nash at UCJ, and the London Palladium

On Friday, we will be launching our new occasional series of podcasts with an interview with Lesley Garrett. Formerly a principal soprano with the English National Opera, Lesley is now a member of the ENO Board of Directors and a passionate supporter of the organisation. Her career has further diversified into CD recording, TV and radio presenting and now, playing the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music, into musical theatre.

Returning to the studio for the first time in three years, her new album When I Fall In Love (her first with her new label, Universal Classics & Jazz) is a collection of classic tunes from the stage and screen.

We’ll provide you with ways to listen to the interview online, to download it to your PC or to subscribe to this, and all future, podcasts via iTunes and other podcast services, from Friday.

• Lesley Garrett official website
• When I Fall In Love - preview and buy the download via iTunes
• Order When I Fall in Love via Amazon.co.uk