SATURDAY 04 OCTOBER 2025

SAT 19:00 The Flying Gardener (b007jg8n)
Series 1 Shorts

Lake District

Chris Beardshaw travels around by helicopter on a mission to find Britain's most inspirational gardens. Arriving in the Lake District, Chris dons his waders and goes in search of the ultimate water feature.


SAT 19:20 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d056)
Series 5

Cheques and Balances

Siegfried is determined to make the errant farmers pay their bills.


SAT 20:10 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d05b)
Series 5

The Female of the Species

Siegfried gives a friend's offspring some experience in the surgery. Calum resents this until he sees the young student.


SAT 21:00 Rosalie (m002kkn7)
France, 1870. Rosalie is a young woman with a secret... she was born with a face and body covered in hair. A genuine bearded lady. She has kept this hidden all her life, until Abel, an indebted bar owner, marries her for her dowry. Now, she no longer wishes to hide. Inspired by a true story.

In French with English subtitles


SAT 22:50 Parkinson (m002kknb)
Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards

Michael Parkinson in conversation with Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards. From 1974.


SAT 23:50 The Two Ronnies Sketchbook (b00cvbpr)
Episode 6

In a television career that spanned 98 shows, 12 series and more than 30 years in the business, Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker entertained millions with their inimitable brand of comedy - from gags, sketches and unique monologues to spectacular music numbers.

First transmitted a few months before Ronnie Barker's death in 2005, the Two Ronnies reunite to delve into the backstage stories behind some of their classic moments as they reveal their own personal memories from one of the most impressive comedy catalogues in mainstream entertainment.

This episode contains the popular 'fork handles' sketch.


SAT 00:20 Porridge (p00bxnvd)
Series 3

A Storm in a Teacup

Fletcher inadvertently becomes involved in the murky world of drugs.


SAT 00:50 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d056)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:20 today]


SAT 01:40 All Creatures Great and Small (p031d05b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:10 today]


SAT 02:30 Timeshift (b0105r8x)
Series 10

Crime and Punishment: The Story of Capital Punishment

Timeshift digs into the archive to trace the extraordinary story of the ultimate sanction. At the beginning of the 19th century, you could still be hanged in Britain for offences such as stealing a sheep or shooting a rabbit. Even children as young as seven were sent to the gallows. The last hanging in this country took place as recently as 1964.

By opting for a dispassionate history rather than staging the usual polarised debate, the programme breaks new ground with its fascinating attention to detail, such as the protocols of the public execution or the 'science' of hanging. With contributions from both sides of the argument, it provides an essential guide to a subject that still divides us.

SUNDAY 05 OCTOBER 2025

SUN 19:00 Madhur Jaffrey's Flavours of India (p05t9pn8)
Punjab

Madhur Jaffrey visits the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holy Sikh shrine, and sees how thousands are fed in the temple's community kitchen. In the rural Punjab, she comes across the rich buffalo milk used to make paneer cheese, and along the Pakistan border, she discovers that towns on both sides share a common language and cuisine.


SUN 19:30 Desi DNA (m002kv78)
Magazine programme on the rise and success of popular Asian arts, lifestyle and culture in the UK, US and Europe.


SUN 20:00 South Asian Music at the BBC (m002kkpr)
To help mark 60 years of Asian broadcasting at the BBC, DJ Bobby Friction shares his love and knowledge of South Asian music with a journey back through the archives that celebrates some of the genre’s most important, enduring and spectacular acts from across the decades.

With artists ranging from Lata Mangeshkar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Ravi Shankar right through to Asian Dub Foundation, Naughty Boy and Apache Indian, Bobby’s selection highlights the vast range of musical styles and sounds, as well as the unbridled joy that feels built into so many of the performances that he’s personally selected.


SUN 22:30 Goodness Gracious Me (b0bwpxcy)
20 Years Innit!

Programme from 2018 marking 20 years since Goodness Gracious Me launched British Asian comedy onto mainstream TV.

To celebrate the impact the series had on British comedy and culture, the show's stars look back at how it all began and how they created some of the best-loved comedy sketches and characters. From Indian Dad and Mr Cheque Please to the agenda-setting, opening episode classic Going for an English - 'What's the blandest thing on the menu?' - GGM held up a mirror to contemporary British society and appealed to audiences from all cultural backgrounds.

The cast and creators come up with their top ten sketches or characters, and the public chooses its favourite Goodness Gracious Me moment of all - revealed at the end of this one-off special.

Originally created by Sanjeev Bashkar, Meera Syal and writer Anil Gupta for Radio 4, the show transferred to BBC Two in 1998. On screen, Sanjeev and Meera were joined by Kulvinder Ghir and Nina Wadia, with a brilliant supporting cast which included Dave Lamb, Amanda Holden, Fiona Allen and Emma Kennedy. Between them, they created over 100 characters, dozens of catchphrases and some of the standout comedy moments of all time.


SUN 23:10 Meera Syal: A Trip Through the Archives - Network East (m002kkpt)
Network East was the BBC’s long-running weekly magazine programme produced specifically for Britain’s Asian community, and to mark 60 years of Asian broadcasting, here is one of the show’s classic moments.

Meera Syal takes an affectionate, comedic look back at the Asian programmes she grew up watching with her family - not always willingly - which helped shape her and many others’ childhoods and sense of belonging, from cookery and music programmes to the groundbreaking series like Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan. This started out advising the UK’s new arrivals how to adapt to everyday objects like lamps, but quickly evolved into something far more significant - even though watching it involved a young Meera being dragged out of bed every Sunday morning.


SUN 23:30 Make Yourself at Home (m002kkpw)
Another chance to see an episode of the series for viewers from India and Pakistan.


SUN 23:50 Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan (m002kkpy)
Another chance to see a programme from the series for Hindi and Urdu-speaking viewers.


SUN 00:20 Madhur Jaffrey's Flavours of India (p05t9pn8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 00:50 South Asian Music at the BBC (m002kkpr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

MONDAY 06 OCTOBER 2025

MON 19:00 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mb5)
Mining

Fred Dibnah takes a look at mining, touring from Cornwall to Scotland to explore how tin, slate, lead and coal were all extracted from the ground. Along the way, he visits old mine workings, drives and winding engines, and he descends a mine shaft strapped to the top of the cage.


MON 19:30 Railways: The Making of a Nation (b07x4f7s)
The New Commuters

Historian Liz McIvor looks at how the railways enabled us to live further and further from the places where we worked.

Before the age of steam, you would need a horse to travel long distances on land. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, our railways encouraged the development of suburbia inhabited by a new type of resident and worker - the commuter. In some cases, new places emerged on the map simply because of the railways - towns like Surbiton.

Liz visits London and the south east of England, our nation's largest commuter zone. The Victorian rail network was never part of a single grand plan, but emerged and evolved, line by line, over decades. For today's commuters, work is still going on to create a system that serves their needs.


MON 20:00 An Art Lovers' Guide (b08nz05n)
Series 1

Amsterdam

With sumptuous palaces, exquisite artworks and stunning architecture, every great city offers a dizzying multitude of artistic highlights. In this series, art historians Dr Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke take viewers on three cultural city breaks, hunting for off-the-beaten-track artistic treats and finding new ways of enjoying some very famous sights.

In this opening episode, they head to Amsterdam, a city that pioneered so much of modern life, from multinational trade to the way we design our homes. To find out how, Alastair and Janina take us on a fast-paced tour of the city's cultural hotspots. Picking their way through the crowds queuing to see Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum, they also introduce us to the paintings of Jan Steen, a Dutch legend whose paintings capture the city's freewheeling lifestyle.

They take us on an entertaining tour of the canals that helped build Amsterdam and explore the city's reputation for tolerance in the oldest surviving Jewish library in the world. Along the way, Alastair and Janina discover how art and culture reflect the liberal attitudes, appetite for global trade and love of home comforts that helped shape the character of this trailblazing city.


MON 21:00 Call My Bluff (m002kkq8)
Robert Robinson referees as Frank Muir Anna Massey and Godfrey Smith take on Arthur Marshall Sally Magnusson and Peter Egan in a duel of words and wit.


MON 21:30 Face the Music (m002kkqb)
Joseph Cooper invites viewers to match their musical wits against Joyce Grenfell, Robin Ray and Patrick Moore. With guest musician Joan Cross.


MON 22:00 Arena (m002khlj)
Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady Day

A film portrait of one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. Billie Holiday's tragic story, from her traumatic childhood in Baltimore to her premature death in a New York hospital at the age of 44, is told in the words of her closest friends and colleagues - but mostly through the songs themselves. The programme assembles an unprecedented number of her filmed performances and includes classics such as God Bless the Child, Don't Explain and Fine and Mellow.


MON 23:25 imagine... (m000nh5l)
2020

Marina Abramovic: The Ugly Duckling

Marina Abramovic is the reigning queen of performance art. She invites Alan Yentob into her home, opens up her enormous personal archive and travels back to her birthplace, Belgrade. Her early, provocative work was once dismissed, but today thousands go to see her perform pieces that can last for weeks, even months at a time. By using just her own body and pushing her physical and psychological boundaries, she has become an international artistic superstar.

Abramovic talks about her family and growing up in communist Yugoslavia, where she fell in love with performance art and became one of its most outrageous and celebrated practitioners. She remembers her former partner Ulay, with whom she made a series of pieces that broke boundaries – including walking the entire length of the Great Wall of China in 1988. In 2010, 750,000 people went to see The Artist is Present, her solo performance lasting 736 hours at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This September she premiered her opera, 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

Abramovic was about to become the first female artist in its entire 250-year history to be given a solo exhibition in the main galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Her show has now been delayed until autumn 2021, but in its place imagine... is proud to present this intimate portrait.


MON 00:25 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mb5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 00:55 Railways: The Making of a Nation (b07x4f7s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 01:25 Arena (m002khlj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 02:50 An Art Lovers' Guide (b08nz05n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]

TUESDAY 07 OCTOBER 2025

TUE 19:00 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mbm)
Railways

Fred Dibnah visits the North East, which is rich in railway history.

At Bowes Railway, he sees an early engineering project by George Stephenson, which was a stationary engine that pulled coal wagons uphill with a rope. At Darlington Railway Museum he admires Stephenson's original Locomotive No 1, the first to run from Darlington to Stockton. At the National Railway Museum, York, he rides on a replica of the Rocket, made by Stephenson's son Robert, and at Ffestiniog Railway, he sees how a new locomotive is designed with computer aids and rides on the footplate and stokes the boiler of a Black Five at Llangollen Railway.


TUE 19:30 Railways: The Making of a Nation (b07x4f1y)
Food and Shopping

The railways changed what we eat and the culinary tastes of the population. Moving produce around at speed was suddenly possible - fresh meat, wet fish, dairy, fruit and veg were now widely available. And it was in London where arguably the nation's diet changed the most. With a new system of rapid transport, it was now possible for the capital to enjoy food supplies from all corners of the nation. Diets improved, in terms of the variety and quality of food available, and Victorian men and women developed a taste for one particular dish that would be popular with the masses for generations to come - fish and chips.


TUE 20:00 The Good Life (p02r6zlw)
Series 4

The Weaver's Tale

When Margo buys a spinning wheel at an antique shop, Tom buys a loom so he and Barbara can make their own woollen clothes.


TUE 20:30 Yes, Prime Minister (b03bx1vh)
Series 1

The Grand Design

Jim Hacker considers cancelling the Trident programme after discovering some interesting facts about the UK's defence system.


TUE 21:00 Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer? (b00l7qdh)
Episode 1

King Henry VIII had a fascinating and enlightening relationship with art. He came to the throne as the Renaissance swept across Europe, yet England's new king never lost sight of the medieval chivalry of his forefathers. In the first of a two-part documentary, architectural historian Jonathan Foyle looks at the palaces, tapestries, music and paintings created in Henry's name and questions whether the art he commissioned compensates for the religious treasures he would come to destroy.


TUE 22:00 Storyville (m002kkmj)
The Librarians

In an era of escalating censorship, librarians have found themselves on the front line of America’s culture wars. This film follows the dispute between librarians with a deep academic tradition of access to knowledge and campaigning groups who seek to ban books that they find objectionable.

In Texas, the Krause List, a blacklist of 850 books, many focused on race, gender and LGBTQIA+ lives, sparks a wave of book bans that sweep across the country.

What begins in quiet library stacks erupts into fierce battles at school boards, community meetings and courtrooms. Facing harassment, threats and laws that criminalise their work, the librarians refuse to back down, exposing the growing influence of white Christian nationalism and the coordinated efforts to control ideas by silencing voices.

Urgent and deeply human, this film is a powerful reminder that access to knowledge is never guaranteed and that democracy depends on those willing to protect it.


TUE 23:30 Blood and Gold: The Making of Spain with Simon Sebag Montefiore (b06rwgp7)
Conquest

Simon explores the early years of Spain's 2,000-year history, its emergence as the battleground of empires and its golden age under the Cordoba Caliphate.


TUE 00:30 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mbm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 01:00 Railways: The Making of a Nation (b07x4f1y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 01:30 Storyville (m002kkmj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 03:00 Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer? (b00l7qdh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

WEDNESDAY 08 OCTOBER 2025

WED 19:00 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mbg)
Ships and Engineering

Fred Dibnah examines the skill of the shipbuilders and machine engineers who turned Britain into a great manufacturing nation.

In Bristol, Fred visits the SS Great Britain and pays tribute to the designer and his hero, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Fred also travels to Scotland to take a voyage on the paddle steamer Waverley. Back in England, he visits the Windermere Steamboat Museum, the Long Shop Museum in Leiston, Suffolk, and the Kew Bridge Steam Museum.

Plus, Fred drives his pride and joy, the Aveling & Porter steam roller, talking about its history and recalling one rather dramatic crash he had while driving it.


WED 19:30 Railways: The Making of a Nation (b07x4fvm)
A Touch of Class

Trains reflected class divisions, with separate carriages for first, second and third class passengers. Yet, seen at the time, they were also bringing people physically closer together. In the early 1800s, Britain was clearly divided between upper, middle and working classes. On the railways, they shared the same stations and arrived at the destination at the same time!

The trains gradually acted as a great catalyst, mixing the country up as people were travelling to regions and places for the first time. Locations, accents, culture and fashions were all new. The nation's relationship with royalty also changed. Queen Victoria was now able to venture far and wide across her kingdom and visit more of her subjects. Over time, we developed a stronger sense of shared identity and culture.


WED 20:00 Tutankhamun: The Truth Uncovered (b04n6scp)
What killed King Tutankhamun? Ever since his spectacular tomb was discovered, the boy king has been the most famous pharaoh of all ancient Egypt. But his mysterious death, at just 19 years old, has never been explained.

Dallas Campbell reports on new scientific research being carried out on his fragile remains in an attempt to get to the truth. Using CT scan data, the programme creates the first scientifically accurate image of the king's corpse. DNA analysis uncovers a secret about Tutankhamun's family background, and the genetic trail of clues leads to a new theory to explain his death.

This is an epic detective story that uncovers the extraordinary truth of the boy behind the golden mask.


WED 21:00 Thatcher: A Very British Revolution (m0005hkn)
Series 1

Power

Mrs Thatcher's victory in the 1979 general election propels her into power as Britain's first female prime minister. On the steps of Downing Street, she promises 'hope' and 'harmony', but her first two years are characterised by disruption and division.

Her first cabinet is split - a small group are aligned with her plans for radical change, but the majority are experienced ministers from the traditional power base of the party who prefer a more consensual style of politics. From day one, there is friction between Mrs Thatcher and some of her senior colleagues.

She also confronts an economy that is in deep trouble. All the indicators are pointing in the wrong direction, with inflation rising, unemployment spiralling and public spending growing. The government have to raise taxes and interest rates, but these tend to make things worse. A year after taking power, Mrs Thatcher sees the economy plunge into the deepest recession since the great depression.

As the heavy industries that are the backbone of many British communities collapse, unemployment starts to climb. Mrs Thatcher refuses to reinflate the economy and invest millions in failing industries. She gains a public reputation as uncaring and harsh that will become part of her image and her legacy. Within her own party there is deep dispute about economic policy, and she is forced into a famous conference speech asserting her determination, stating 'You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning'.

Within the cabinet, Mrs Thatcher’s style creates tensions. Many of her colleagues find her demanding and argumentative, and she finds many of them indecisive and insufficiently committed to her political philosophy. In stark contrast, her close staff however find her an unusually sympathetic and attentive boss.

1981 is a year of unrest and change. Serious riots scar British inner cities, with many pointing the finger at Mrs Thatcher and her policies as the cause of the trouble. In government, Mrs Thatcher’s doubters are emboldened and seek to force her into a change of direction. But the prime minister refuses to relent and moves against her critics, removing them from the cabinet and bringing in allies who will back her as she leads Britain into the turbulence of the 1980s.

Featuring interviews with the surviving members of her first cabinet, John Nott, Michael Heseltine, Norman Fowler and David Howell, her private secretaries Tim Lankester, John Cole and Nick Sanders, her personal assistant Cynthia Crawford, her protection officer Barry Strevens, Downing Street secretary Janice Richards and press secretary Bernard Ingham. We also hear from senior Conservatives who were close to her, including Michael Dobbs, Lord Gowrie, Jonathan Aitken, Norman Tebbit, Kenneth Baker and Nigel Lawson, as well as political opponent David Owen.


WED 22:00 Remembers... (m002kkq5)
William Nicholson Remembers... Sweet as You Are

Acclaimed screenwriter William Nicholson – the man who helped turn Russell Crowe’s Gladiator into one of cinema’s most successful films of all time – looks back on the BBC drama he still considers one of his finest achievements, 1988's As Sweet as You Are.

Starring Liam Neeson and Miranda Richardson, the film broke new ground by looking at the impact of Aids on a married couple where the husband has contracted the disease after an affair. The drama was praised at the time for the intensity of its writing and both main performances.

With extracts from the diaries he wrote throughout the production, Nicholson shares how he was inspired to tackle the subject matter and reveals how his research saw him undergoing his own Aids test, an experience that confirmed for him that this was a story that needed to be told.


WED 22:15 Screen Two (p032kjfm)
Sweet as You Are

A college lecturer contracts HIV after having a brief affair with one of his students. The news threatens his marriage and family life. Starring Liam Neeson and Miranda Richardson.


WED 23:25 Ardal O’Hanlon: Tomb Raider (m0017b0b)
The story of an epic 1930s quest to find the origins of the earliest Irish men and women on the island of Ireland using archaeology. Ardal goes back to world-famous archaeological sites to see how Ireland had some of the most important finds in Europe at the time.

Further beneath the surface, Ardal discovers how both in Northern Ireland and what was then called the Irish Free State, archaeology was being used as an important tool for nation-building, as both states forged new identities in the wake of Partition. He unravels a forgotten time period, when a team of Americans from Harvard University, a Nazi archaeologist from Austria and a Welsh geography professor based in Belfast dug up ancient sites across the country.

Their pioneering work laid the foundation for modern archaeology in Ireland, north and south, and yet is largely a forgotten story. Through Ardal’s journey, the film rediscovers this strange 1930s tale but also ends up answering some of Ardal’s deepest questions about the Celts, and ultimately, what it means to be Irish.


WED 00:25 How to Get Ahead (b03xsgwk)
At Medieval Court

Writer, broadcaster and Newsnight arts correspondent Stephen Smith looks back at the medieval age to find out what it took to get ahead at the court of Richard II. Richard presided over the first truly sophisticated and artistic court in England. Painters, sculptors, poets, tailors, weavers and builders flocked to court to make their fortunes. But these were dangerous times. Being close to Richard brought many a courtier to a sticky end. Featuring David Tennant and Clarissa Dickson Wright.


WED 01:25 Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age (b0074mbg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 01:55 Railways: The Making of a Nation (b07x4fvm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:25 Thatcher: A Very British Revolution (m0005hkn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]

THURSDAY 09 OCTOBER 2025

THU 19:00 Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain (b0074n9f)
Mighty Cathedrals

Fred takes a look at the 11th-century building programme undertaken by the Normans which resulted in mighty fortress cathedrals like Ely and Peterborough.

At Peterborough Cathedral, Fred reveals the secret weapon the Norman builders had at their disposal - the stone arch - and demonstrates just how the early stonemasons constructed them. At Ely, Fred climbs high up inside the building to examine the alterations and additions made by later builders. Inspecting this construction masterpiece sees Fred scaling rooftop ladders to examine the incredible octagonal lantern built in the 14th century, an amazing feat of early engineering. Fred also has the lowdown on exactly how this feat was accomplished.

Fred's final destination is Rochester, this time to examine a Norman castle rather than a cathedral. Here, he demonstrates how the tactics used all those centuries ago by attackers to try and destroy tall towers bear a startling resemblance to the way he used to pull down tall buildings.


THU 19:30 Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain (b0074n9j)
The Art of Castle Building

Fred Dibnah investigates one of the greatest feats of royal engineering - the construction of the great chain of castles on the coast of north Wales. Travelling to Harlech, Caernarfon and Beaumaris, Fred reveals the building techniques and revolutionary defensive features that helped Edward I subdue the rebellious Welsh. Fred also charts the achievements of the king's architect Master James of St Georges, a Frenchman who revolutionised castle design in England.


THU 20:00 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (m001kyvd)
Classic western adventure, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford as legendary outlaws Butch and Kid.


THU 21:45 Talking Pictures (b04crt3r)
Robert Redford

The career of Robert Redford, one of the big screen's greatest heartthrobs, is examined in this exploration of the BBC archives, with rarely seen interviews showing that he was always much more than just a pin-up. Narrated by Sylvia Syms.


THU 22:25 All the President's Men (m000rgnx)
In the early 1970s, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the Watergate scandal - a conspiracy to cover up abuses of power leading all the way to the Oval Office and eventually to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.


THU 00:40 Rachel's Farm (m0027fw1)
Director and actress Rachel Ward is the last person you’d expect to join a farming revolution. Besieged by drought, bushfires and ecological despair, Rachel finds hope in the soil beneath her feet and begins a journey of discovery to regenerate the land on her Australian farm, and herself.


THU 02:05 Talking Pictures (b04crt3r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:45 today]


THU 02:45 Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain (b0074n9f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 03:15 Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain (b0074n9j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]

FRIDAY 10 OCTOBER 2025

FRI 19:00 Top of the Pops (m002kkmx)
Jayne Middlemiss presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 7 July 1998 and featuring Pras Michel feat ODB and Mya, Ultra Naté, Peter Andre, Another Level, Billie Myers, Ace of Base and Jamiroquai.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m002kkmz)
Jayne Middlemiss presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 31 July 1998 and featuring Five, Pras Michel feat ODB and Mya, Lovestation, The Supernaturals, Charli Baltimore, Catatonia, Will Smith and Spice Girls.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (b0bsqck6)
Gary Davies and Simon Mayo present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 9 October 1986. Featuring The Bangles, Nick Berry, Julian Cope, Paul Young, Howard Jones, Madonna and Paul Simon.


FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (m000t132)
Simon Mayo presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 4 October 1990 and featuring Pet Shop Boys, Maria McKee and Technotronic.


FRI 21:00 An Evening with Glen Campbell (b01pyfht)
A special concert recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in 1977, where 80 musicians played new arrangements of Glen Campbell's hit songs.


FRI 22:20 Tammy (m002kkn1)
Episode 2

Nashville star Tammy Wynette and her band The Tennessee Gentlemen entertain an audience of country music fans at The Maltings in Suffolk. With guests The Frank Jennings Syndicate.


FRI 22:45 Crystal Gayle: Sing Country Special 1978 (m002kkn3)
American country music singer Crystal Gayle sings her way through some of the songs that made her famous on both sides of the Atlantic in a concert from Snape Maltings, Suffolk. With musical accompaniment by Peace and Quiet.


FRI 23:10 Country Music by Ken Burns (m000bhft)
Series 1

The Rub (Beginnings-1933)

After centuries of percolating in the American South, what was first called hillbilly music began to reach more people through the new technologies of phonographs and radio. The Carter Family, with their ballads and old hymns, and Jimmie Rodgers, with his combination of blues and yodelling, became its first big stars.


FRI 00:00 Country Music by Ken Burns (m000bhfy)
Series 1

Hard Times (1933-1945)

During the Great Depression and World War II, country music thrived and reached bigger audiences. Bob Wills adapted jazz's big band sound to create Texas swing, and Grand Ole Opry singer Roy Acuff became a national star. Despite a divorce between two of its members, the Carter Family carried on, turning out songs that went on to be classics. Nashville slowly became Music City and the centre of the growing country music industry.


FRI 00:50 Glen Campbell: The Rhinestone Cowboy (b01pwxs8)
In 2011, Glen Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and that he would be bowing out with a final album and farewell tour across Britain and America. This documentary tells Campbell's remarkable life story, from impoverished childhood in Arkansas to huge success, first as a guitarist and then as a singer, with great records like Wichita Lineman and Rhinestone Cowboy. With comments from friends and colleagues, including songwriter Jimmy Webb and Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees, it is a moving story of success, disgrace and redemption as rich as any of the storylines in Campbell's most famous songs.

The peak of Glen Campbell's career was in 1975, when he topped the charts around the world with Rhinestone Cowboy, but his musical journey to that point is fascinating. A self-taught teenage prodigy on the guitar, by his mid-twenties Campbell was one of the top session guitarists in LA, a key member of the band of session players now known as The Wrecking Crew. He played on hundreds of tracks while working for producers like Phil Spector and Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, including Daydream Believer by The Monkees, You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling by The Righteous Brothers, Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra and Viva Las Vegas by Elvis Presley.

But Campbell always wanted to make it under his own name. A string of records failed to chart until, in 1967, he finally found his distinctive country pop sound with hits like Gentle on My Mind and By the Time I Get to Phoenix. The latter was written by Jimmy Webb, and together the two created a string of great records like Wichita Lineman and Galveston. Campbell pioneered country crossover and opened the way for artists like Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.

By the end of the 1960s, Campbell was the fastest rising star in American pop with his own television show and a starring role in the original version of True Grit. Over the following ten years, he had more success with Rhinestone Cowboy and Southern Nights, but his private life was in turmoil. Divorce, drink and drugs saw this clean-cut all-American hero fall from grace and a tempestuous relationship with country star Tanya Tucker was front-page news.

Despite a relapse in 2003, when he was arrested for drunk driving and his police mug shot was shown around the world, the last two decades have been more settled. He remarried, started a new family and renewed his Christian faith, and was musically rediscovered by a new generation. Like his friend Johnny Cash, he released acclaimed new albums with young musicians, covering songs by contemporary artists like U2 and The Foo Fighters. Therefore the diagnosis with Alzheimer's was all the more poignant, but his dignified farewell has made him the public face of the disease in the USA.

The film includes contributions by many of Campbell's friends and colleagues, including his family in Arkansas, fellow session musicians Carol Kaye and Leon Russell, long-time friend and collaborator Jimmy Webb, former Monkee Mickey Dolenz, broadcaster Bob Harris, lyricist Don Black and country music writer Robert Oermann.


FRI 01:50 Top of the Pops (m002kkmx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


FRI 02:20 Top of the Pops (m002kkmz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 02:50 Top of the Pops (b0bsqck6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 03:25 Top of the Pops (m000t132)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]