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Podcast-first programmes from 5 live

February 6, 2017

BBC Radio 5 live has signed former England cricket captain Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff to host a new podcast as the station launches a series of podcast-first programmes.

Flintoff is teaming up with former Premier League footballer and BBC Radio 5 live regular Robbie Savage to host a new weekly podcast starting on Monday 13 February.

The pair will be joined by former Olympic table tennis player and respected sports journalist Matthew Syed.

The podcast will be called Flintoff, Savage and the Ping Pong Guy. The three will discuss the week’s sporting talking points.

Flintoff and Savage are firm friends and looking forward to airing their views and sounding off about whatever takes their fancy each week. Bringing some order to proceedings will be Syed, who has written two bestselling books and has a regular column in a national newspaper.

Savage, who helped BBC Radio 5 live’s flagship football phone-in show 606 win the Radio Academy award for best sports programme in 2016, says: “What a show it’s going to be. A great sportsman, a decent cricketer and a useful table tennis player – the perfect combination.”

Flintoff adds: “I’m looking forward to having an intelligent conversation with Matthew. Robbie will be there too.”

Syed says: “Sport has so many dimensions, so many talking points and vast potential for debate and disagreement, whether about psychology, ethics, officialdom, or whether Jose Mourinho is overrated. I’m going to make sure I get raw honesty from them, and know they won’t hold back from sharing personal experiences, and offering their viewpoints, even when they are unpopular.”

Listeners will be able to download the programme every Monday afternoon. A shorter version will be played out on BBC Radio 5 live at 10pm on Mondays.

The first episode of Flintoff, Savage and the Ping Pong Guy will be available on Monday 13 February and listeners can sign up now online or from the usual podcast apps.

This is just one in a series of new podcasts that BBC Radio 5 live is launching in 2017, including 5 live Rugby League and 5 live Rugby Union Weekly.

BBC Radio 5 live controller Jonathan Wall says: “We want to continue to be a modernising force in UK radio. As well as delivering a dynamic live radio station, we have seen great success with our short form content on-line. Now we want to give podcast listeners a much greater choice and deliver more specialist magazine shows. The signing of Freddie, Robbie and Matthew for this new venture shows how ambitious we want to be. We have other ideas in development too so watch this space for more announcements.”

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