First Five Live is back! The cultural conversation series curated and hosted by award-winning Nigerian British poet Yomi Ṣode returns to the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall for a brand new 2026 season and it opens on Friday 10th April with one of the UK’s most beloved broadcasters: AJ Odudu.
The format is simple and quietly brilliant. Each event invites a leading cultural figure to share two books, two tracks and one person: the five formative influences that shaped a life. What it produces is something rarer than a typical interview or panel.
For AJ, that means tracing her journey from a lively Lancashire childhood to fronting Big Brother, Celebrity Big Brother and Strictly Come Dancing, guided always by a deep belief in access, confidence and showing up fully as herself. It promises to be a warm and genuinely revelatory evening.
Yomi Sode, who has already hosted sell-out shows with AJ Tracey and Paige Lewin, created First Five to build a space where people could gather, connect and celebrate the stories and art that shape us. The Royal Albert Hall’s Director of Programming describes it as “an intimate platform for bold voices and fresh perspectives.” The 2026 season also goes on to feature author Candice Carty-Williams in July and entrepreneur Jamelia Donaldson in October, making this one of the most exciting cultural series in London right now.
