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Joining Stuart in our Salford studio are Charlie Higson. After writing several books in the bestselling 'Young Bond' series, Charlie has written his first Bond for Adults. Stand up Bilal Zafar's new show 'Imposter' is about a once harmonious house-share that goes very wrong and Pravesh Kumar has written 'Frankie Goes to Bollywood', a new musical about an everyday girl from Milton Keynes plucked from obscurity to live the life of a bollywood star.

Music this week comes from English Teacher, dubbed 2024's hottest new guitar band, and tik-tok sensation, classical guitarist Alexandra Whittingham.

Presenter: Stuart Maconie\\nProducer: Jessica Treen

CHARLIE HIGSON\\nCharlie Higson is an author, actor, comedian and writer for radio and television. He is the author of five beloved Young Bond books, starting with Silverfin in 2005. He\\u2019s also the author of the \\u2018Enemy\\u2019 series of Young adult Zombie adventures and the crime thriller \\u2018Whatever Gets You Through The Night\\u2019. He\\u2019s also one of the brains behind one of the best comedy series of the 90\\u2019s, \\u2018The Fast Show\\u2019, which recently completed a 30th anniversary tour.

A New Bond for a new Monarch, Charlie Higson\\u2019s first \\u2018Adult\\u2019 Bond \\u2013 On His Majesty\\u2019s Secret Service was written in double quick time for the coronation and is inspired by researching his history podcast. Higson\\u2019s Bond is very much a man of 2023 \\u2013 he\\u2019s in tune with his gut biome, but he\\u2019s still got the car, the gadgets and the girl.

ENGLISH TEACHER\\nLeeds based \\u2018English Teacher\\u2019 have been hailed as 2024\\u2019s hottest new guitar band, but they\\u2019ve spent time honing their craft - they\\u2019ve been playing together since meeting at the University of Leeds at 2018. In April they released their debut album, This Could Be Texas. Fresh from from touring America, they are vocalist Lily Fontaine, guitarist Lewis Whiting, drummer Douglas Frost, and bassist Nicholas Eden.

PRAVESH KUMAR\\nBack in the year 2000 armed with a credit card, Pravesh Kumar started the Rifco theatre company with an aim to tell accessible stories about British Asian communities like the one he grew up in in slough. Rifco\\u2019s shows include the musical Britain\\u2019s Got Bhangra, The Deranged Marriage and the film Little English. Along the way, Pravesh was awarded an MB for his contribution to British Theatre. His latest musical is \\u2018Frankie Goes to Bollywood\\u2019 \\u2013 the story of Frankie, played by Laila Zaidi, a normal girl plucked from obscurity in Milton Keynes to be the latest Bollywood star. Frankie is taken in by the glamour, a romance with leading man Raju King and a rivalry with a fellow Bollywood actress no longer deemed young enough.

ALEXANDRA WHITTINGHAM\\nManchester-born Guitarist Alexandra Whittingham started with humble beginnings performing covers of Avril Lavigne and auditioning for Blackpool\\u2019s Got Talent. Since then she has become a viral sensation through videos of her performing breathtaking classical arrangements on her guitar.

Fresh off of signing with a major music label, Decca, she\\u2019s here to tell us about her journey to becoming a revered guitarist and why it\\u2019s important that classical music is accessible to everyone.

BILAL ZAFAR

Sharing a house can be an unpredictable experience, we\\u2019ve all heard about \\u2018nightmare\\u2019 housemates. In Bilal Zafar\\u2019s new show \\u2018Imposter\\u2019 he tells the story of his old housemate, a story of compulsive lying, escalating threats and minty hot chocolate. Bilal is a \\u2018wry storyteller\\u2019; his previous shows are \\u2018Zafarcakes\\u2019, about a joke on twitter that got out of hand, and the people who couldn\\u2019t take a joke and \\u2018Care\\u2019, about looking after wealthy residents in a care home, for minimum wage. He\\u2019s also active on the Twitch streaming platform where he plays a manager from the game Pro Evolution Soccer 5 to an enthusiastic audience of \\u2018Assistant Managers\\u2019. Bilal won the new act of the year award in 2016 and was nominated for best Newcomer at the Edinburgh comedy awards