SATURDAY 12 JANUARY 2008

SAT 19:00 Mansfield Park (b01sf0q8)
Period drama set in the early 1800s, based on the Jane Austen novel. A young girl from a loving but impoverished family is sent to live with her wealthy relatives. Though treated as a social inferior by most of the family, she develops skills as a horsewoman and a writer. Growing up to be a beautiful woman, she has many admirers, but when her kindly cousin is courted by a gold-digger she realises that it is he whom she loves.


SAT 20:50 Dance for the Camera (b0074m9p)
The Linesman

Dance on film. On the sidelines of a local amateur football pitch, the linesman takes his job very seriously. But all he can do is trot up and down the line, following the action but never taking part. As the game proceeds, his movements begin to mimic those of the players. Choreographed by Dan O'Neill.


SAT 21:00 Darcey Bussell's Ten Best Ballet Moments (b008l3dd)
Darcey Bussell, who retired from the Royal Ballet in 2007, introduces and demonstrates some of her favourite ballet moments with dancers Roberto Bolle and Jonathan Cope.

Featuring some of her own performances and archive highlights, with music ranging from Scott Joplin to Tchaikovsky.

The ballets include Giselle, The Nutcracker and a classic performance by Margot Fonteyn in Swan Lake.


SAT 22:00 Fateless (b0079s8x)
Drama in which 14-year-old Hungarian Jew Gyuri is pulled from his life in Budapest and shuttled between the death factories of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buchenwald and Zeitz, while trying to maintain his stubborn belief that there's nothing too unimaginable to endure.


SAT 00:10 Pop Britannia (b008nkvq)
A Well Respected Man

Three-part documentary series telling the story of British popular music and its place in British culture since the 1950s. In the 60s Britain went pop mad. The architects were a group of artists and entrepreneurs who would prise pop out of the grasp of showbiz interests to create a truly authentic British sound of the Beatles, Stones and Who and at the same time prepared the way for a new, more corporate pop business. With Pete Townsend, Sir George Martin, Bryan Ferry, Sandie Shaw and Lulu.


SAT 01:10 Pop! What is it Good For? (b008njys)
Music writer and self-confessed pop addict Paul Morley journeys to the heart of his obsession. At 50, Morley is just about as old as pop music itself and he argues that pop has played a central role in the culture of the nation over the past half century. Featuring a diverse cast of fellow pop obsessives including poet Simon Armitage, artist Peter Blake, the Sugababes and Suggs, Morley's documentary explores and celebrates the beauty and mystery of the three-minute pop single.


SAT 02:10 How Pop Songs Work (b008nk4h)
Celebration of the magic of pop music and the skill and musical dexterity that goes into writing, performing and producing hit records. Conductor Charles Hazlewood explores the mechanics of pop songs such as Imagine, Tomorrow Never Knows and Back to Black by breaking them down into six key areas, aided by contributions from a cast of writers, producers and arrangers including Guy Chambers, Martin Fry, Steve Levine, Richard Niles, Nick Ingman, John Altman and Rob Davis.


SAT 03:10 Pop Britannia (b008nkvq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:10 today]



SUNDAY 13 JANUARY 2008

SUN 19:00 Doctors to Be: 20 Years On (b0084lk3)
The Surgeon's Tale

Update on the 1980s series about a group of doctors just starting out on their careers. Mark George was 17 when he set off on a path to become a consultant surgeon. He had to study hard, endure long hours, take exams into his 30s and sacrifice much of his life outside medicine. His hard work paid off and he is now a consultant colorectal surgeon in a top hospital, while also developing a lucrative private practice.


SUN 19:30 Soweto Strings (b008pr86)
An immensely moving and inspiring account of a British music teacher's adventure in the black township of Soweto, enabling kids to transcend the constraints of their environment, and find hope through creative involvement in music.

Under the heavily polluted shadow of one of the giant gold-mining slag heaps near Diepfloof, Soweto, in a township still dominated by violence, AIDS, and poverty, children of all ages play Bach, Mozart and Bartok with a verve and flair unique in the world. They play not because of some neo-missionary do-gooder's devotion, but because they feel drawn to music that is at once exotic and deeply familiar.

The Buskaid Music School in Soweto was founded by a distinguished British viola player Rosemary Nalden, who originally came to South Africa at the invitation of a local music teacher. She was so inspired by what she found there that she stayed, and eventually set up her own school, which struggles to keep going on little funding, but which has established itself as an unusual centre of excellence. The Buskaid String Orchestra has toured Europe and the USA several times and received unanimous praise. The Orchestra was invited to play at the 2007 Proms, where the young Sowetans received standing ovations.


SUN 21:00 10 Things You Didn't Know About... (b008pr87)
Tsunamis

Iain Stewart journeys across the oceans to explore the most powerful giant waves in history, with ten remarkable stories about tsunamis.

These massive waves can be taller than the biggest skyscraper, travel at the speed of a jet plane and when they reach land, rear up and turn into a terrifying wall of water that destroys everything in its path. These unstoppable, uncontrollable forces of nature caused the ruin of an entire ancient civilization, may have played a small part in the demise of the dinosaurs, and in World War II were used as a weapon. Yet astonishingly, two men who surfed the tallest wave in history - half a kilometre high - survived.


SUN 22:00 Earth: The Power of the Planet (b008d8jl)
Atmosphere

Documentary series. Dr Iain Stewart reveals the crucial natural forces that have shaped the earth's development. A flight in a jet plane, a trip to the Andes and a trip to Shark Bay in Australia are expensive but necessary to discuss atmosphere.

You can't see it, you can't taste it, you can't smell it and you can't touch it, yet without it almost all life on Earth would die instantly. The atmosphere is Earth's protective layer, warding off damaging cosmic rays and providing the life-giving oxygen which people depend on for life. Air is a fluid which shapes our world, from eroding rocks to building sand dunes. It also controls the world's weather and climate: Iain takes a trip to Argentina to one of the stormiest places on Earth, to watch a storm build up through the day.

The Earth's atmosphere is completely different to any other planets, and according to the normal laws of chemistry it shouldn't exist. What is extraordinary about our atmosphere is the way that it was created by life. When the planet was first born its atmosphere was made up of noxious volcanic gases - there was no sign of the oxygen humans depend on today.

Iain visits Shark Bay in Australia, home to some of the most ancient forms of life on the planet: stromatolites. These simple bacteria were responsible for transforming the atmosphere because they were the first organisms on the planet to photosynthesise, and in doing so pump oxygen into the air. It led to a revolution. An ozone layer formed which protected the planet from UV rays. Most crucially of all, it enabled the development of a new type of life, something that could burn oxygen to sustain a far more high-energy lifestyle.


SUN 23:00 The Blair Years (b008fmht)
Blair at War

Tony Blair and George W. Bush, the two leaders who took their nations to war in Iraq, talk openly about the decision to topple Saddam Hussein. Blair talks of his failure to keep the international coalition together over Iraq, and admits he fears the war in Iraq is a 'visceral struggle' the West may not have the stomach to win.


SUN 00:00 10 Things You Didn't Know About... (b008pr87)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


SUN 01:00 Soweto Strings (b008pr86)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


SUN 02:30 Doctors to Be: 20 Years On (b0084lk3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 03:00 10 Things You Didn't Know About... (b008pr87)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



MONDAY 14 JANUARY 2008

MON 19:00 World News Today (b008s35g)
The latest news from around the world.


MON 19:30 The Sky at Night (b008d2x6)
Meteor Mania

In his garden, Patrick Moore is joined by Dr Brian May and Jon Culshaw to watch the cosmic firework display known as the Perseid meteor shower.


MON 20:00 Clash of the Worlds (b00874jw)
Mutiny

Exploring how past conflicts between a Christian West and Islam can help explain more recent violence. In the next three weeks this series looks at three great clashes between a Christian British Empire and Islam: the Indian Mutiny of 1857, the Mahdi uprising in 1880s Sudan and the creation of the state of Israel in the first half of the twentieth century. The first programme tells the story of the Indian uprising in which both sides committed atrocities in the name of their faiths.


MON 21:00 No Plan, No Peace (b00874l3)
Episode 1

John Ware relates the inside story of how the British and American governments invaded Iraq but had no plan for what happened next - how to bring peace and democracy to a country of 26 million with no history of either. With testimony from British and Americans who were there, he reveals how the drumbeat to war drowned out the repeated warnings from the British Embassy in Washington and some British generals and civil servants about the 'black hole' in American post-war planning.


MON 22:00 No Plan, No Peace (b00874t1)
The Inside Story of Iraq's Descent into Chaos

John Ware relates the inside story of how the British and American governments invaded Iraq but had no plan for what happened next - how to bring peace and democracy to a country of 26 million with no history of either. One former British general who was part of the reconstruction team described the failure by Washington and London to plan properly for the peace as 'snatching defeat from the jaws of victory'.


MON 22:50 This World (b008rc8m)
Baghdad: A Doctor's Story

International investigative documentary series. Shot by an Iraqi doctor, this film reveals the terrible conditions of a civilian ER in Baghdad. Al Yarmouk Hospital is in the most dangerous area of Baghdad. As the bomb victims come flooding in, the ambulance crews go from one dangerous mission to another.


MON 23:30 Frontline Iraq (b0074tpg)
Episode 1

The Queen's Dragoon Guards, otherwise known as the Welsh Cavalry, is in Iraq for the third time in three years. For 18-year-old trooper Ieuan Jenkins, however, this is his very first tour of duty and a chance to put his training into practice.

In the first episode of this observational documentary series, we follow Ieuan and his regiment as they leave their German base for their most challenging mission yet in Iraq.


MON 00:00 Frontline Iraq (b0074tpl)
Episode 2

It's the height of summer in Iraq and the Queen's Dragoon Guards are having to operate in temperatures as high as 55C. With the air conditioning regularly failing and cool water in short supply, trooper Ieuan Jenkins, the youngest in the regiment, struggles to cope.


MON 00:30 Frontline Iraq (b0074hmd)
Episode 3

In the final episode of the series, the Welsh Cavalry has moved on to Baghdad and Basra for the final leg of its tour. This is the regiment's third tour of Iraq in as many years and by now the strains are beginning to show.


MON 01:00 Storyville (b0074syq)
The Prisoner, or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair

Director Mike Tucker's documentary begins in Baghdad on 22 September, 2003. Yunis Khatayer Abbas, a freelance Iraqi cameraman, had just returned home after filming a friend's wedding party when his house was besieged by American soldiers looking for a bomb factory. Yunis was accused of planning to kill Tony Blair and carted off to prison, where he was to spend the next eight months. This film tells the story of an ordinary man trying to make sense of an absurd and nightmarish situation.


MON 01:55 The Sky at Night (b008d2x6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:25 The Comet's Tale (b008d2x7)
Ancient civilisations thought comets were gods. They believed them to be bringers of life or harbingers of doom - strange, magical, mysterious things that moved through the sky, fiery streaks of light that tore across the heavens.

Isaac Newton was the first to make sense of comets and to him they were the key to unlocking the secrets of gravity - nothing to do with an apple. Hundreds of years later, a new breed of space missions are visiting comets, travelling millions of miles to touch down on these tiny balls of rock flying through space at 20,000 mph. The spectacular images we now have are showing us what comets are really made of, where they come from, and their often surprising influence on events on Earth.

What they reveal is that our ancestors may have been right all along and that comets and meteors really are like gods, or at least they can exert tremendous influence over our world. They have brought terrible destruction to the Earth and may one day do so again. But they also may have brought life itself to the planet.


MON 03:25 The Sky at Night (b008njrp)
Cosmic Debris

The Earth is bombarded by extra terrestrial material every day, but what is this cosmic debris? Sir Patrick Moore investigates comet tails, meteorites and asteroids and discovers the terrible consequences of a cosmic collision with the Earth. Also, the latest stunning images from Mars Express.



TUESDAY 15 JANUARY 2008

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b008s3hr)
The latest news from around the world.


TUE 19:30 The Sky at Night (b008fmdp)
Sputnik's Children

Dr Chris Lintott finds out how British technology is leading the way in satellite science, while Sir Patrick Moore investigates the threat from space debris that astronauts face in space.


TUE 20:00 Clash of the Worlds (b0087f0r)
Sudan

Series exploring the history of Muslim-Western relations. This week’s programme tells the story of the Mahdi, a self-proclaimed Muslim redeemer in the Sudan who took on the might of the British empire and its Christian hero, General Charles Gordon. The British went to great lengths to destroy him and his followers, but his story continues to inspire modern day militants.


TUE 21:00 Goodness Gracious Me (b008tph1)
Series 1

Episode 2

Award-winning British-Asian comedy sketch show starring Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Kulvinder Ghir and Nina Wadia.


TUE 21:30 Comedy Connections (b007cb40)
Series 3

Goodness Gracious Me

Series charting the history of some of the best British comedy programmes looks at sketch show Goodness Gracious Me. A spin-off from the Real McCoy, it soon established itself by reflecting the reality of contemporary British Asian life while observing the conventions of a mainstream sketch comedy show. Interviewees include Meera Syal, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Nina Wadia, Sharat Sardana, Dave Lamb and producer Anil Gupta.


TUE 22:00 Citizen Smith (b008py02)
Hartlepool

Publisher Michael Smith takes on the guise of a contemporary Citizen Smith, scouring England in search of a modern day definition of nationality. Beginning in his home town of Hartlepool, he encounters Andy Capp, the Monkey mascot mayor, Tory developers and the next generation of local voices, combining his skill for a sweet turn of phrase with a disarming conversational style that forgoes the sledgehammer whilst very definitely cracking the nut.


TUE 22:30 Storyville (b0080971)
Iraq in Fragments

Documentary which illuminates post-war Iraq in three acts, building a vivid picture of a country pulled in different directions by religion and ethnicity. Mohammed Haithem is an 11-year-old auto mechanic in Baghdad with a missing father. Inside the Shiite political/religious movement of Moqtada Sadr, men push for regional elections and Islamic law, as moderate views are swept aside. Iraqi Kurds assert their bid for independence, through both the secular and the religious voices of the people.


TUE 00:00 Black Watch: A Soldier's Story (b008s17q)
An insight by Artworks Scotland into the genesis of Black Watch, the National Theatre of Scotland's portrayal of the Iraq war using eyewitness testimony, news reports and regimental song, first performed at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival.


TUE 01:00 Masters and Commanders: No 10 and the Generals (b0074hm8)
With contributions from many leading politicians and the military, BBC Newsnight Diplomatic Editor Mark Urban explores the tense and sometimes explosive relationship between politicians and their generals down the ages and asks who really calls the shots. Including General Monck, who restored the monarchy, colourful Gordon of Khartoum and the battle in Whitehall before the Falklands War.


TUE 02:00 Citizen Smith (b008py02)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 02:30 Storyville (b0080971)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]



WEDNESDAY 16 JANUARY 2008

WED 19:00 World News Today (b008tjpj)
The latest news from around the world.


WED 19:30 Sounds of the Sixties (b008pfhf)
Reversions

1964-6 The Beat Room

Featuring vintage performances from Tom Jones, the Kinks and the Moody Blues.


WED 20:30 Help! (b008fd4p)
Restored version of the Beatles film, peppered with special effects, nonsense and songs.

After unwittingly putting on a ceremonial ring, Ringo becomes the intended sacrifice of a scary cult. The cult members - and a pair of mad scientists - chase him across the world, and John, Paul and George try to save him from a sticky end. Featuring Help!, Ticket to Ride, Another Girl, and You've Got to Hide Your Love Away.


WED 22:00 Pop on Trial (b008prdf)
1960s

Stuart Maconie puts pop in the dock to decide which has been the most influential musical decade. Neil Innes and Tony Blackburn help make the case for the 1960s, from the very British pop of the The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to the California sound of The Beach Boys.


WED 23:00 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b008prdg)
Russell T Davies

Top scriptwriter Russell T Davies in conversation with Mark Lawson.


WED 00:00 Chuck Berry in Concert (b0074rbc)
Legendary rock 'n' roller Chuck Berry performs at the BBC Television Theatre in 1972. Johnny B Goode, Roll Over Beethoven and Nadine are just some of the highlights of this concert, shown in an extended cut. This version includes, for the first time, an epic rendition of My Ding-a-Ling that carries all before it and raises innuendo to an art form.


WED 01:00 Storyville (b0074srv)
Gimme Shelter

Documentary by Albert and David Maysles recalling the events surrounding a free concert by the Rolling Stones at the Altamont Speedway outside San Francisco in 1969. Worried about the security, the Stones asked the Hell's Angels to keep order for them, but the day ended tragically as violence broke out and a fan was killed.


WED 02:35 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b008prdg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]


WED 03:35 Pop on Trial (b008prdf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



THURSDAY 17 JANUARY 2008

THU 19:00 World News Today (b008tjs5)
The latest news from around the world.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b008ptfg)
Christmas 1978

Noel Edmonds presents a special Top of the Pops from 1978, with Darts, Abba, Boney M, Brotherhood of Man, Father Abraham, Bee Gees, Brian and Michael, Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, Wings, Showaddywaddy, Rose Royce, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta and Legs and Co.


THU 20:30 Slade in Flame (b008ptfh)
British glam rock superstars Slade made their collective acting debut in this drama about a pop group's struggles with success. In the late 1960s, Barry, Paul and Charlie are musicians who are barely making a living playing pub dates, weddings, and socials backing up egocentric vocalist Jack Daniels.


THU 22:00 Pop on Trial (b008ptfj)
1970s

Stuart Maconie puts pop in the dock to decide which has been the most influential musical decade. Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks, Gaz Coombes of Supergrass and David Quantick make the case for the 1970s, the decade of glam, funk, punk and disco.


THU 23:00 The Song Remains the Same (b008ptfk)
Film of Led Zeppelin performing live in Madison Square in 1973, at the time when both the music and lifestyle of the band epitomised the excess of heavy metal. The concert footage is interspersed with psychedelic effects and five dream-like fantasy sequences, and tracks include Black Dog, Misty Mountain Hop and Stairway To Heaven.


THU 01:10 Rod the Mod (b0074nrk)
BBC archive film from 1976, following Rod Stewart and his then girlfriend Britt Ekland on a visit to Europe. A fascinating profile of what happens when a local boy makes good and becomes a tax exile, surrounding himself with managers and PR men.


THU 02:10 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b008prdg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Wednesday]


THU 03:10 Pop on Trial (b008ptfj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



FRIDAY 18 JANUARY 2008

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b008tn5j)
The latest news from around the world.


FRI 19:30 Soweto Strings (b008pr86)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 on Sunday]


FRI 21:00 Marc Bolan: The Final Word (b007y9t2)
Fellow glam rock star Suzi Quatro narrates a documentary which examines Marc Bolan's childhood ambitions of fame and where it led him, using previously lost TV and radio interviews, rediscovered Top of the Pops recordings, unseen concert footage and unique home movies.

Includes contributions from his companion Gloria Jones, brother Harry Feld, producer Tony Visconti, Queen's Roger Taylor, Steve Harley, Zandra Rhodes and more, with Visconti also deconstructing the track Ride a White Swan.


FRI 22:00 Pop Britannia (b008ptkd)
Two Tribes

Three-part documentary series telling the story of popular music and its place in British culture since the 1950s. This last part looks at the constant struggle between the forces of art and commerce. In the early 80s, punk-inspired art students such as The Human League and ABC took British pop to the top of the world's charts, but from the late 80s onwards, dynasties of star-makers such as Stock Aitken and Waterman have tried to mould British pop into a highly-profitable production line.


FRI 23:00 Tommy (b0078r1k)
Ken Russell's flamboyant treatment of The Who's rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy who develops an extraordinary ability at pinball.

Under his sinister stepfather's influence, he achieves fame and a cult following, but his almost messianic status also spells the beginning of his destruction.

Featuring musical contributions from a host of rock stars including Elton John, Eric Clapton and Tina Turner.


FRI 00:50 Pop Britannia (b008ptkd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 01:50 Soweto Strings (b008pr86)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 on Sunday]


FRI 03:20 Pop Britannia (b008ptkd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]