Nick Jonas and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker are set make guest appearances on new episodes of the hit CBeebies show, Bedtime Stories.
The series sees famous faces take part and read tales to children to help them sleep. Previous guests have included the likes of St. Vincent, Billie Eilish, Dave Grohl, Harry Styles, Elton John, Josh Homme, Jack Black, Phoebe Bridgers and IDLES’ Joe Talbot.
Jarvis Cocker has recently been confirmed as appearing on the next episode of the show, and will be reading Wally the World’s Greatest Piano-playing Wombat, which is written by Ratha Tep and illustrated by Camilla Pintonato.
The book follows protagonist Wally, who is a talented pianist and becomes caught up in competing with fellow piano player, Wylie. It teaches young children about handling rivalry and embracing what brings them joy, even if they’re not the very best at first.
The slot comes as the Pulp star performed as part of BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room Month earlier this week, and announcing the upcoming slot on Bedtime Stories, he said: “Reading stories to my son when he was young was one of the great pleasures in my life. He’s 22 now: a bit old for bedtime stories, so thank you CBeebies for inviting me to experience this pleasure once again.”
Ahead of the episode going live, the Sheffield music icon spoke to CBeebies for a Q&A about parenting, and revealed an anecdote about how he introduced his son to music.
“I don’t remember singing a song to my son, but when he was young he’d be backstage at concerts,” Cocker recalled. “There was one particular time when he was tired and my wife hadn’t bought the crib, so we had to put him to sleep in a guitar case! So he must have heard me muffled through a wall, rather than me singing at him!”
He also revealed that the song ‘The Hymn Of The North’ was partly inspired by the sadness he felt after realising that his son was going to be finishing school and moving out, and quipped that the track must have worked because “he does still occasionally text me”.
Also taking part in an upcoming episode is Nick Jonas, who shares a four-year-old daughter with his wife, actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
He will be appearing on an episode after Cocker’s, and reading The Ballad of Cactus Joe by Lily Murray, illustrated by Clive McFarland. The heartwarming story follows a cranky cactus and a persistent woodpecker whose unlikely encounter leads them on a series of unexpected adventures.
“We are raising our daughter to embrace all of the culture that is around her, both from India and from the US. It’s really exciting for us as parents to think about the things that we love about our cultures, whether it’s clothing, food or certain traditions that are important to us,” Jonas said.
“Giving her the opportunity to learn about it through books, programmes and spending time with family, where she can really engage and understand where she comes from and her family’s history, has been a really special thing for us as parents.”
Jarvis Cocker’s episode airs on CBeebies tonight (Friday 6 February) at 6.50pm, and Nick Jonas’ episode will be broadcast tomorrow (Saturday 7 February) at the same time. Both will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer after broadcast.
For Cocker, the slot comes after Pulp shared ‘More’ last year – their first full-length record in 24 years, which earned them their first UK Number One album since 1998’s ’This Is Hardcore’.
The LP was also shortlisted for last year’s Mercury Prize, but lost out to Sam Fender’s ‘People Watching’, and has seen the group nominated for Group Of The Year at the BRITs 2026.
‘More’ landed at Number 16 on NME‘s 50 best albums of 2025 list, with the single ‘Spike Island’ coming in at Number Nine on our 50 best songs of the year rundown.
Since then, the band have contributed to the star-studded new ‘Help(2)’ charity album in aid of War Child, and will be playing their “only major UK headline concert” at Manchester’s Wythenshawe Park later in the summer.
After, they will top the bill at End Of The Road 2026 and headline Mad Cool Festival in Madrid, too.