The POWER of song

ROSE AYLING-ELLIS and GARETH MALONE on putting together a very special choir for King Charles III and Queen Camilla

- REBECCA FLETCHER

SING FOR THE KING

FRIDAY, 8PM, BBC1 FACTUAL

As many of us hang up the bunting and dust off trestle tables ahead of a three-day extravaganza of celebration for the coronation, members of a very special choir are getting ready for the performance of their life…

Across the country, singing groups of all sizes have been selected to come together and take to the stage in front of King Charles III and Queen Camilla during the star-spangled Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle on Sunday 7 May.

Cameras have followed the vocalists in rehearsals, and their progress can be seen in a new BBC1 documentary, Sing for the King: The Search for the Coronation Choir.

‘It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the singers,’ smiles Strictly Come Dancing 2021 champion Rose Ayling-Ellis, one of four celebrity mentors tasked with coaching the 300-strong choir.

Helping Rose, who made history as the first profoundly deaf actor to star in EastEnders, put the songbirds through their paces are TV choirmaster Gareth Malone, Britain’s Got Talent’s Amanda Holden and Strictly judge Motsi Mabuse.

Each mentor will draw on their own performance expertise to challenge and inspire the singers, who include an all-deaf sign performance group, an LGBTQ+ choir and a troupe of London cabbies. Also among those taking part are a Northern Irish farming community, Yorkshire’s only female South Asian choir and a collection of RNLI sea shanty singers from Portishead.