This September, BBC Radio 3 embarks on a unique twelve-hour live musical adventure. Where the Light Sings connects some of Britain’s wildest coastal locations, each linked to a lighthouse, in a journey through music, storytelling and sound.
The day features live programmes from six locations around the UK’s coastline: Georgia Mann at Dungeness Lighthouse, Tom Service on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, John Toal at the West Lighthouse on Rathlin Island, Shân Cothi at Strumble Head, and Kate Molleson at St Aidan’s Church in Bamburgh, looking out towards Longstone Lighthouse, the Northumberland beacon forever associated with Grace Darling, as it marks its 200th anniversary. Throughout the day, Petroc Trelawny undertakes a journey of his own, travelling by boat from Penzance to a mystery final destination, where he presents the closing programme as evening falls.
Where the Light Sings celebrates the poetry of Britain’s shorelines and the enduring relationship between sea, land and song. Musicians and contributors join the live programmes to explore the histories, wildlife, and cultural traditions that have shaped these places over generations. Against a backdrop of rugged cliffs, sweeping beaches, crashing waves and birdsong, the day reflects on the ways music emerges from the natural world. As the light shifts around the coastline, listeners are invited to the UK’s shores not simply as places on a map, but as sources of inspiration, creativity and connection.
Among the special guests appearing live, the Caritas Chamber Choir and accordionist Alise Silina will be in Dungeness, alongside Ed Peppitt – a member of the Association of Lighthouse Keepers. Singer and choral director Mary Ann Kennedy is in Ardnamurchan with guitarist Finlay Wells, while Tom Service meets members of the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse Trust and the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. Cellist and composer Neil Martin and harpist Úna Monaghan perform live in Rathlin, and in Strumble Head there will be live music from folk singer Mari Mathias and harpist Claire Jones. At St Aidan’s Church in Bamburgh, performances come from the church’s own bellringers and the Royal Northern Chamber Ensemble, while Kate Molleson chats to author and broadcaster Jennifer Lucy Allan about the history, sound, and culture of coastal foghorns, and to sound recordist and Longstone Lighthouse enthusiast Chris Watson.
The live broadcasts and on-board updates are interspersed with a specially curated soundtrack of music inspired by the sea, islands and lighthouses.
Sam Jackson, Controller BBC Radio 3, says: “The response to last year’s Train Tracks – a day of live programmes celebrating 200 years of UK railways – and to our Breakfast broadcasts from locations across the country, has shown us how much our listeners enjoy opportunities to celebrate the people, places and stories that shape life across the UK. Where the Light Sings builds on that spirit, bringing audiences together through music, conversation, and moments of discovery, while exploring the history, heritage and natural beauty of some of the most inspiring and remote locations along our coastline.”
Where the Light Sings has been made possible with the generous support of the UK and Ireland’s three General Lighthouse Authorities, Trinity House, the Northern Lighthouse Board and Irish Lights, alongside the Association of Lighthouse Keepers, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
On Friday 25 September, BBC Radio 3’s drivetime programme In Tune with Petroc Trelawny will also be live from Falmouth, broadcasting from the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. The programme will feature live music from local musicians, including brass band Camborne Town Band and sea shanty singers The Oggymen.
On Sunday 27 September, Radio 3’s Sunday Feature is Keepers of the Light, in which writer James Crawford explores the remarkable lighthouse dynasty Robert Louis Stevenson was born into, the engineering career he rejected, and how that family inheritance continued to shape his writing and imagination.
BBC Radio 3’s Where the Light Sings is live on Saturday 26 September, from 8am to 8pm, and available on BBC Sounds.
This press release was issued by the BBC on 9 September 2026 – BBC Radio 3 travels around Britain’s coastline in a twelve-hour live relay of music, stories and sound from six lighthouses
