The Gardeners' World Blog

Hello again,

I last blogged three months ago when I asked what sorts of ideas you had for our new sports news programme and you responded in your hundreds. It was interesting that many of the ideas were things the team were already thinking about - interviews that aren’t just the usual puffs for a sportsman or sponsor; features that get behind the scenes and under the skin of sport a bit; a range of different sports - not just football - and last but not least, that the programme have a bit of fun given that it's on late at night.

You also suggested lots of different names for the show. Sadly, Locker Room didn’t make it but in fact the name was chosen by the audience. What happened was that we used the standing audience panel the BBC has called The Pulse to come up with their suggestions and, together with a bit of additional research we did for the programme, the overwhelming choice was for INSIDE SPORT – so that’s why we are called what we are.

We launch on Monday, 30 April, at 11pm on BBC1. We are also doing an updated Second Edition for BBC2 on Sunday mornings at 1130am. There’s also a version going out on our global channel BBC World, and of course, for the techies out there, a Vodcast available on the website.

If there is one sporting event that truly unites the nation annually it is surely the Grand National - the most famous horse race in the world.

While over 600 million will watch the race worldwide, Britain, as usual, will come to a halt at 4.15pm this Saturday as 40 runners charge towards the first fence at the unique Aintree course.

The enduring beauty of this event is its total unpredictability. The only thing you can safely say about Saturday's winning horse and jockey is that there will be a great story behind them - somehow there always is.

In our programme from 1.00pm (BST) on BBC ONE this Saturday, the team led by Sue Barker and Clare Balding will try to tell a number of those tales to help mark your card.