PREVIEW: Later... With Jools Holland (May 2021), BBC Two

Later… with Jools Holland returns tonight for the second six-part series of the year, keeping viewers supplied with much needed live musical performances.

To kick off the series,he welcomes musical icon Noel Gallagher, who looks back at 10 years of his band, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, including ‘that scissor moment’ in which a member of his band used a pair of scissors as an instrument on Later… in 2017.

Noel will also tell stories of his life and career and speak about the music that has inspired him. His choices from the Later archive include the likes of Young Fathers, The Strokes and of course, Sir Paul McCartney.

Continuing the eclectic mix the show is famed for, there will also be two brand new performances in each episode of this series. Performances will come from both debutants and established legends and will be specially shot in a myriad of locations. This week is the turn of Walsall-born singer-songwriter and Brit Award winner, Jorja Smith, who made her TV debut on the Later 25th anniversary special at the Royal Albert Hall, in 2017.

Jorja will be singing Home, a track from her new project Be Right Back - a collection of songs that she says will be “interpreted in different ways, depending on experiences of the people listening.”

The last series of Later…, which began in February, saw Jools in conversation with Arlo Parks, Moses Boyd, Sir Tom Jones, Laura Mvula, Lenny Henry (for a Comic Relief special) and Olly Alexander. Artists who performed throughout the series included Paul Weller, Wolf Alice, Dry Cleaning, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Kings of Leon, Peggy Seeger and more. Gems from the archive included classic performances from Little Simz ft. Michael Kiwanuka, Skunk Anansie, Dua Lipa, INXS, Grace Jones, Nile Rodgers & CHIC and Pet Shop Boys, to name a few.

Later... With Jools Holland begins Friday 14th May at 10pm on BBC Two.