Veteran DJ John Peel will lift the lid on Bradford's musical melting pot in a new television series.

The evergreen Radio One presenter meets half a dozen performers from the city in the new programme, John Peel's Sounds of the Suburbs, which will be screened by Channel 4 in March.

Peel is seen interviewing rapper Aki Nawaz from the band Fun-Da-Mental; bhangra player Mangal Singh Sagu; Dean Cavanagh, the inspiration behind techno act Glamorous Hooligan; vocalist Hayden Berry from the rock four-piece Ripcord; teenage soul singer Jade Doherty, and musician Leanne Hall from the group The Hiphuggers.

The series showcases burgeoning music scenes in towns and cities other than those which normally hog the limelight.

Peel, renowned for championing lesser-known bands, was keen to highlight Bradford where he has family connections. "I am very fond of this area.

It's where my wife Sheila grew up

and we've spent a lot of time here together," he said.

"The media have given Bradford a bad reputation but in reality it's just an old mill town without a lot of money. You could argue that its richness comes from the diversity of people living here, although that won't be much consolation to the cold and hungry."

Peel said he believed Bradford's cultural life was particularly exciting in the urban areas where there was a bigger ethnic mix. "There's a vibrancy and diversity in the heart of Bradford that's largely missing from the sterile suburbs," he said.

In the half-hour programme, Peel

visits Bradford landmarks including Undercliffe Cemetery, the Sweet Centre in Lumb Lane, Bradford Interchange and Manningham Mills.

And he is especially impressed by

15-year-old Dixons City Technology College pupil Jade Doherty who gives him an impromptu rendition in the studio of her musical colleague Peter Miller.

Hayden Berry, frontman for the band Ripcord, bemoans the lack of venues for up-and-coming groups in Bradford - Peel even had to travel to Hebden Bridge to see the group.

But Berry said he liked Bradford for being an unpretentious and down-to-earth place, compared to Leeds. "I think it's a great place," he said.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.