2006 radio ballads[edit]
In 2006, BBC Radio 2 broadcast six new radio ballads using the same format, with musical direction by John Tams, and contributions from Karine Polwart, Jez Lowe and Cara Dillon among others.[6]
The following ballads were broadcast between February and April 2006: The Song of Steel on the decline of the Sheffield and Rotherham Steel Industry (27 February); The Enemy That Lives Within, on HIV/AIDS (6 March); The Horn of the Hunter, on Foxhunting (13 March); Swings and Roundabouts, on Travellers who run fairgrounds (20 March) Thirty Years of Conflict; on The Troubles in Northern Ireland (27 March); and The Ballad of the Big Ships, on the shipyards of the Tyne and the Clyde, (3 April).
All were later released on CD, and a separate CD was also released containing a selection of the songs drawn from across the series.
2010 Ballad of the Miners' Strike[edit]
In 2010, to mark the 25th Anniversary of the 1984-85 Miners' Strike, the BBC broadcast a new Radio Ballad, the Ballad of the Miners' Strike.[7]
2012 Olympic Games radio ballads[edit]
In 2012 BBC Radio 2 broadcast a series of six new radio ballads on the subject of the Olympic Games with original songs from Nancy Kerr, Jez Lowe, Julie Matthews, Martin Simpson and Boo Hewerdine amongst others.
The following ballads were broadcast in July and August 2012: Olympia on the origins of the Olympic Games; Berlin which focused on the 1936 Summer Olympics; Munich on the 1972 Summer Olympics; Controversies; Going for Gold; and The Marathon.[8]
Raidió Teilifís Éireann[edit]
On 13 September 2020 RTE broadcast The Ballad of the Stolwijk Rescue, possibly the first Irish radio ballad, based around an interview with the last eyewitness to a dramatic rescue from a Dutch shipwreck and the music of Brían Mac Gloinn.[9]
2021 The Song of the Golden Road[edit]
In 2021, west-wales based community arts organisation SPAN Arts, working with community development charity PLANED, and using a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, produced a new radio ballad entitled The Song of the Golden Road (in Welsh, Cân y Ffordd Euraidd). The hour-long piece in English and in Welsh focusses on the bilingual rural communities of the Preseli Hills in north Pembrokeshire.[10][11]
21st Century Folk[edit]
In January 2023 the BBC released a set of folk songs about five people from the north-east of England, under the title "21st Century Folk". They were described as a "modern take" on the radio ballad.[12][13]