BBC Choice was a BBC TV station which launched on 23 September 1998 and closed on 9 February 2003. It was the first British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in digital format, and was the first new channel from the BBC since BBC Two launched in 1964. It was the BBC's second non-terrestrial channel launch (following on from the BBC News channel in 1997).

BBC Choice initially broadcast from 5pm nightly; this later switched to 7pm. The 7pm starts carried over into its successor BBC Three. BBC Choice also aired children's programmes, initially at weekends and subsequently daily during the daytime; this duty transferred to CBBC Channel and CBeebies in February 2002.

When BBC Choice launched, no digital TV receivers were available to the general public as Sky Digital and ONdigital had not yet launched. Instead, the launch was broadcast online over the internet. The main format of the channel was a mix of BBC One and Two programming as well as original programming such as "Backstage", which took viewers on a tour of the BBC every episode. The channel was presented as an alternative to the normal BBC One and BBC Two schedules. This was reflected in its original on-screen presentation which featured groups of threes.

Pauline Perpetua Quirke (born 18 July 1959) is a British actress. She is best known for her role as Sharon in the comedy series Birds of a Feather, along with her lifelong friend and frequent acting partner Linda Robson and playing Hazel Rhodes, the mother of established character Jackson Walsh, in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. Her character left Emmerdale on 25 January 2012. Pauline grew up in east london with her mother.

Pauline began her career as a child actress aged eight with an appearance in Dixon of Dock Green. She has appeared in many movies and TV shows since that time.

As a teenager in the 1970s, she hosted three children's TV series: You Must Be Joking (1975), Pauline's Quirkes (1976) and Pauline's People (1978–79) (which also featured Linda Robson). She also had a small role in the movie The Elephant Man in 1980, along with future Emmerdale colleague Lesley Dunlop.

Pauline Quirke played Veronica in Shine on Harvey Moon, a British television series made by Central Television for ITV from 8 January 1982 to 23 August 1985 and briefly revived in 1995 by Meridian.

Rodney Hylton Smith (born 1972), better known by his stage name Roots Manuva, is a British rapper from Stockwell, South London. He is currently signed to Big Dada.

Smith grew up around Stockwell in South London. His parents were from a small village in Jamaica called Banana Hole where his father was a preacher and tailor. Spending much of his early years in poverty, this and his strict Pentecostal upbringing clearly had an influence on his music as can be seen in many of his tracks such as "Sinny Sin Sins" and "Colossal Insight".

A quote from Smith himself sums up his early discovery of music:

Smith made his recorded debut in 1994 as part of IQ Procedure through Suburban Base's short-lived hip hop imprint Bluntly Speaking Vinyl. He debuted as Roots Manuva the same year on Blak Twang's "Queen's Head" single, before releasing his own single, "Next Type of Motion" the following year through the same label, the hugely influential Sound of Money. 1996 saw the release of his collaborations with Skitz ("Where My Mind Is At"/"Blessed Be The Manner") on 23 Skidoo's Ronin label. The release of "Feva" on Tony Vegas' Wayward imprint followed in 1997. This was also the year that saw the first releases from Big Dada, a collaboration between Coldcut's Ninja Tune label and hip hop journalist Will Ashon.

Tam Cowan (born 21 April 1969) is a Scottish football journalist, radio and television presenter. Educated at Braidhurst High School in Motherwell, he writes a twice weekly article in the Daily Record newspaper and was presenter of Scottish football comedy TV show Offside.

He reviews Scottish restaurants in the Daily Record based on a score of 25 by considering 5 factors of the restaurant: Food, Service, Toilets, Decor and Value.

Cowan also presents the comedy football radio show Off the Ball along with fellow Daily Record journalist and good friend Stuart Cosgrove. It is also well known that Cowan is a fan of Motherwell. Cowan has also taken to live stand-up comedy by taking "Offside" to the stage in 2002. The show was recorded live at the King's Theatre, Glasgow for DVD.

In February 2010, Cowan presented It's Never Too Late, a six-part documentary series for STV on literacy and numeracy difficulties among adults. Cowan was also a guest presenter for STV's overnight interactive strand The Nightshift and rejoined the station on Tuesday 20 September 2011 as a main co-presenter for the lifestyle magazine show The Hour, alongside Michelle McManus. The programme was axed four weeks after a move to a weekly prime time slot and a revamp of the programme led to low ratings.

The Bee Gees were a musical group founded in 1958. The group's line-up consisted of brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were successful for most of their decades of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s/early 1970s, and as prominent performers of the disco music era in the late 1970s.

The group sang three-part tight harmonies that were instantly recognisable; Robin's clear vibrato lead was a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the late 1970s and 1980s. The brothers wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists.

Born in the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived their first few years in Chorlton, Manchester, England, then moved in the late 1950s to Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia, where they began their musical careers. After achieving their first chart success in Australia with "Spicks and Specks" (their 12th single), they returned to the United Kingdom in January 1967 where producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience.