UK's Best Part-Time Band

In episode one Rhod Gilbert and Midge Ure set off on an epic road trip across Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales to discover the UK's Best Part-Time Band.

From across the UK, more than 1,200 bands have entered the competition, playing rock to reggae, ska to skiffle, bhangra to blues and everything in between. Leading double lives, by day they might be doctors, window cleaners or waiters, but at night they shed their work clothes, pick up a guitar and channel their inner rock god. What binds them all? An incredible passion for music and an escape from the 9 to 5 grind.

This is no ordinary talent show - this is a rock ‘n' roll documentary following Rhod and Midge on tour, visiting bands playing in rehearsal spaces, pubs, barns and bedrooms.

At the end of the road trip, five acts will be selected for a regional heat in Belfast, where they compete for a place in the Grand Final, of the ‘The UK's Best Part-time Band'.

In episode two, Rhod Gilbert and Peter Hook set off on tour across Northern England to discover the UK's Best Part-time Band.

From across the UK, more than 1,200 bands have entered the competition, playing rock to reggae, ska to skiffle, bhangra to blues and everything in between. Leading double lives, by day they might be doctors, window cleaners or waiters, but at night they shed their work clothes, pick up a guitar and channel their inner rock god. What binds them all? An incredible passion for music and an escape from the nine to five grind.

This is no ordinary talent show - this is a rock ‘n' roll documentary following Rhod and Midge on tour, visiting bands playing in rehearsal spaces, pubs, barns and bedrooms.

At the end of the road trip, five acts will be selected for a regional heat in Belfast, where they compete for a place in the Grand Final, of the The UK's Best Part-time Band.

Rhod Gilbert joins up with Soul II Soul legend Jazzie B in a ropey old tour bus for a road trip across southern England to discover the UK's best part-time band. Rhod and Jazzie drop in on bands playing in rehearsal spaces, bars, barns and front rooms. The tour takes them to Somerset where they meet a six-piece country and western outfit the Redhillbillies. Rhod faces an anxious trip to Bournemouth to hear Jazzie's favourite type of music, dub reggae. In a potentially awkward and intimate gig in the keyboard player Dave's front room, Dubheart aim to impress the Soul II Soul legend. Over in Stroud, the pair meet a guitar-based four-piece called Russian Flying Squirrel - formed of dads who met at their kids' school gates. They've yet to play a gig despite honing their musical skills for over three years. At the end, Jazzie selects five acts to play the biggest gig of their lives at the Scala in London, where they'll battle it out for a place in the grand final.

Comedian Rhod Gilbert, along with music legends Midge Ure, Peter Hook and Jazzie B, is on the hunt to discover the UK's best part-time band. The six finalists and their mentors go head to head in a battle of the bands at the Ritz in Manchester. From the regional heats, Midge Ure selected the finest from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales - the explosive ska of Bombskare and the down and dirty rock 'n' roll of Johnny Cage and the Voodoogroove. Hooky landed his two favourite bands from the north - spit-spattered punks Cadavers and the sun-drenched harmonies of the Caffreys. Jazzie rooted out the best from the south. The bands perform an original and a cover song for the Manchester audience who will vote to decide which band will be crowned the winner.