SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2008

SAT 19:05 Picture Book (b00fh49n)
Now We Are Six

Series telling the enchanting story of children's books continues by looking at the time we first begin to read, and how the magical interplay of words and images continues to shape our childhood imagination.

From the age of six we want books to make sense of the middle years of our childhood as we go to school and make new friendships, a time when we love books full of fantastical worlds, a comforting place of talking animals, but also a frightening one of wild woods and giants.

The programme explores over 150 years of classic books, from Alice in Wonderland to The Wind in the Willows, from Winnie the Pooh to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and features interviews, readings and demonstrations of their art from leading writers and illustrators such as Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson, Anthony Horowitz, Quentin Blake and Raymond Briggs.


SAT 20:05 Natural World (b0077bbf)
1992-1993

Echo of the Elephants

Echo is the gentle matriarch of a sprawling family of elephants that live in a Kenya's Amboseli National Park, nestling in the shadow of Kilimanjaro. Watched by research zoologist Cynthia Moss, Echo has led her family through good times and bad. This is the chronicle of eighteen eventful months in Echo's life.


SAT 21:05 Natural World (b0078gk1)
2002-2003

My Halcyon River

An idyllic portrait of a British river, chronicling the small dramas of the wildlife that lives in and around it. Otters hunt under the cover of darkness, mink lie in wait for unwary victims and kingfishers spear their prey, while newborn chicks learn to swim under the watchful eye of their parents.


SAT 21:55 Mad Men (b009lt2d)
Series 1

New Amsterdam

Drama series which takes an unflinching look at the world of advertising in 1960s New York. Don teaches Pete a lesson when he oversteps his authority while dealing with a valuable client. At home, Pete is pressured by his new bride to buy their own apartment unit. Betty has a strange babysitting experience.


SAT 22:40 Damages (b009nm5d)
Series 1

I Hate These People

Acclaimed American legal drama following a ruthless lawyer's class action suit against an allegedly corrupt former company CEO. As the pressure in the courtroom increases, Patty is forced to ask Ellen to come back to her job. Lila is back, and bringing even more havoc than usual. Patty uses the newly acquired evidence to blackmail Ray, and offers him an ultimatum.


SAT 23:25 Damages (b009r2bs)
Series 1

There's No 'We' Anymore

Acclaimed American legal drama following a ruthless lawyer's class action suit against an allegedly corrupt former company CEO. Patty finally posts bail for Ellen as Frobisher learns about a tape made by Gregory Malina that could ruin him.


SAT 00:05 Damages (b009s798)
Series 1

Because I Know Patty

Dramatic season finale of the acclaimed American legal drama. Having been charged with David's murder, Ellen's bail conditions prevent her from attending his funeral. Meanwhile, Patty returns to work on the Frobisher case for the first time since Ray Fiske's suicide. Determined to clear her name, Ellen persuades Patty to represent her, promising that she will hand over Gregory Malina's videotaped confession once she is exonerated.


SAT 00:50 The Hard Sell (b0094z8w)
Food and Drink

Phill Jupitus narrates a series looking at 50 years of British TV advertising. Britain's food and drink adverts have fed our minds, filled our bellies and quenched our thirst. The perfect adland recipe includes entertainment, persuasion and manipulation to steer Britain through home cooking and happy families to single living and tv dinners. Contributors include filmmaker Alan Parker, broadcaster Gregg Wallace, writer Joanna Blythman and Juan Cabral, the adman behind the Cadbury's Gorilla.


SAT 01:20 100 Years of Wildlife Films (b007xnvt)
From the most memorable wildlife films and rare cinematic gems, to amateur footage and the poignant last shots of vanished animals, Bill Oddie explores 100 years of wildlife filming. The documentary looks at how societal attitudes towards wildlife have shaped film-making - from hunting and safaris in the 1930s to a fresh-faced David Attenborough leaping on to animals to catch them for zoos in the 1950s.


SAT 03:20 Picture Book (b00fh49n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:05 today]



SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2008

SUN 19:00 Natural World (b00789jv)
2001-2002

A Wild Dog's Story

Documentary following Newky, an African wild dog, over five years. Told through the personal recollections of wild-dog researcher Dr 'Tico' McNutt and set against the spectacular wilderness of Botswana's Okavango delta, Newky's story is a poignant tale of survival against the odds for one of the world's most endangered and fascinating creatures.


SUN 19:50 Natural World (b0074rwl)
2004-2005

Mississippi: Tales of the Last River Rat

A stunningly photographed portrait of the wildlife and landscape of the Mississippi River seen through the eyes of 'River Rat' Kenny Salwey, a legendary hunter, trapper and author who lives off the land and shares his watery haunts with beavers, snapping turtles, sturgeons, pelicans and eagles.


SUN 20:40 Natural World (b0078yx8)
2005-2006

The Queen of Trees

Ian Holm narrates the extraordinary story of the African sycamore fig tree and its symbiotic relationship with a tiny insect partner, the fig wasp. Neither could exist without the other, and in turn they support hundreds of other animals from ants to elephants. Each fig is a world in miniature, a stage for birth, sex and death as the tiny players battle against predators and parasites.


SUN 21:30 Timeshift (b00fh2bh)
Series 8

How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword

A look at the world of cryptic crosswords, offering up the secrets of these seemingly impenetrable puzzles.

Crossword setter Don Manley, AKA Quixote, reveals the tricks that compilers use to bamboozle and entertain solvers using a crossword he created especially for the programme.

We also find out why Britain became home to the cryptic crossword, how a crossword nearly put paid to the D-Day invasion and why London Underground is elevating the crossword to an art form.

Author Colin Dexter explains why Inspector Morse loved his crossword, Martin Bell reveals how his father became the first crossword setter of the Times without ever having solved one and the crossword editor of the Daily Telegraph opens up her postbag.

Also sharing their enthusiasm for cryptic crosswords are actors Prunella Scales and Simon Russell Beale, Val Gilbert of the Daily Telegraph and Jonathan Crowther, AKA Azed of the Times.


SUN 22:30 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00fm5p3)
Quentin Blake

In a rare interview, Quentin Blake talks to Mark Lawson about life as one of Britain's best known illustrators and children's authors, having illustrated over 300 books for writers such as Michael Rosen and John Yeoman.

His most prolific collaboration was with Roald Dahl and together they produced some of the most famous children's books ever, including The Twits, The BFG and Matilda. Blake also taught at the Royal College of Art from 1978 to 1986 and contributed to Punch magazine when only 16.


SUN 23:30 Jackanory (b00fnl9q)
Mortimer's Portrait on Glass

Bernard Cribbins reads the first part of Mortimer's Portrait on Glass, written by Joan Aiken. Arabel sees a dinosaur and Mortimer receives a gift.


SUN 23:45 Jackanory (b00fnl9s)
Mortimer's Portrait on Glass

Bernard Cribbins reads the second part of Mortimer's Portrait on Glass, written by Joan Aiken. More adventures with Mortimer and Arabel.


SUN 00:00 BBC Four Sessions (b00fh55j)
Paul Weller

In an exclusive BBC4 session filmed at BBC Television Centre, Paul Weller performs numbers from his album 22 Dreams, solo hits including From the Floorboards Up and Peacock Suit, and a couple of classics from The Jam's back catalogue.

Weller performs with his regular five-piece band and is joined on some numbers by the Wired Strings and a brass section. He also has special guests, including Oasis guitarist Gem Archer on Echoes Round the Sun, fiddle player Eliza Carthy on Wild Wood and Where'er You Go and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon on Black River.


SUN 01:00 Timeshift (b00fh2bh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:30 today]


SUN 02:00 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00fm5p3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]


SUN 03:00 BBC Four Sessions (b00fh55j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:00 today]



MONDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2008

MON 19:00 World News Today (b00fm5vs)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Studs Terkel: Profile (b0074msp)
Mike Dibb profiles the late Chicagoan actor, broadcaster and Pulitzer Prize-winning oral historian Studs Terkel, talking to friends, colleagues and the man himself.


MON 20:00 The Hard Sell (b0094z8w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:50 on Saturday]


MON 20:30 Only Connect (b00fm5vv)
Series 1

Episode 10

Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital. It is all about making connections between things which may appear, at first glance, not to be connected at all.


MON 21:00 The Department Store (b00fm5vx)
Milners

Filmmaker Richard Macer visits the independent high street department stores that are fighting back against the big brands.

He spends six months at a family-run store in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, where the owner is preparing to retire after forty years. David Milner is handing the business over to his daughter Leoni and her husband Keith, but will he go quietly?


MON 22:00 Storyville (b00fnn64)
I'm Not Dead Yet

Documentary about the inheritance of a Gothic home and a family's unspoken past.

78-year-old Ruth has promised her beloved estate to one of her twin daughters, with whom she has lived for the past 35 years. As tensions mount, Ruth flees to France into the arms of her other, estranged daughter.

Ruth's granddaughter Elizabeth documents the struggle, unaware of the dark secrets that lie within the house's walls, as Ruth's turbulent journey sees the unravelling of a family consumed by the legacy of silence and denial.


MON 23:10 Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives (b008d2zj)
Documentary which tells the story of a rock star and a quantum mechanic. Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E, is the lead singer of cult US band the Eels. What most of his fans don't know is that Mark's father, Hugh Everett III, was one of America's top quantum physicists. In 1957, Hugh Everett came up with a revolutionary theory that predicts the existence of parallel universes. The idea quickly seeped into popular culture but only recently has it been accepted by mainstream physicists.

However, Mark was estranged from his father - Hugh died when Mark was just 19 - and knows little about his father's early life and virtually nothing about his controversial theory. With a soundtrack by the Eels, the film follows the wry and charismatic Mark as he travels across America to learn about the father he never knew. It is only by entering the paradoxical world of quantum mechanics that Mark can hope to understand why he was such a stranger to his own father.


MON 00:10 The Department Store (b00fm5vx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 01:10 Storyville (b00fnn64)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 02:20 The Hard Sell (b0094z8w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:50 on Saturday]


MON 02:50 Only Connect (b00fm5vv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


MON 03:20 The Department Store (b00fm5vx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2008

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00g2mdw)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Versailles Stories (b0074sgp)
Masters of Time

Series that goes behind the scenes of one of the world's most significant and magnificent tourist sites. Once the seat of absolute power in France, and scene of some of the key moments in European history, in the 21st century the Palace of Versailles has had to adapt to survive in the fast-moving and competitive world of international tourism.

It's a challenge the chateau is taking full on with the introduction of innovative events programmes and ingenious fund-raising schemes, and the judicious trial of new technology. As well as evolving to embrace the new, Versailles continues to preserve the old, employing ancient craft techniques and international expertise in an ongoing and never-ending process of restoration and conservation. But in a place with as much history as Versailles change is not always welcome, and relations between the old guard and the modernisers have to be carefully negotiated.

The series explores the chateau's many layers of history and its modern evolution through the stories of some of the people who work there today.

This episode goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the small army of expert and devoted - if often eccentric - craftsmen who work to restore everything from silk drapes and furniture to paintings and picture frames, and indeed the very stonework of the chateau. Even those parts of the chateau so high or remote that the only beneficiaries are birds are given loving and painstaking attention.


TUE 20:00 The Thirties in Colour (b00cl57m)
A World Away

Four-part series using rare, private and commercial film and photographic archives to give poignant and surprising insights into the 1930s, a decade which erupted into colour as polychromatic photographic technology came of age and three important processes - Dufaycolour, Technicolor and Kodachrome - were patented and brought to the market.

This opening part looks at the work of socialite and amateur film-maker, Rosie Newman, who used her high society contacts to secure extraordinary access to the social elite. Between 1928 and her retirement in the 1960s, Newman criss-crossed the globe and shot some of the most important colour documentary footage of the period.

Some of her colour films have been seen before, but this programme features some of Newman's work that has never been broadcast and has not been seen publicly for over 70 years.


TUE 21:00 That Mitchell and Webb Look (b009nt4t)
Series 2

Episode 6

Off-beat comedy sketch show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. An actor gets naked for the sake of his art. A horse has a birthday, but won't try the cake. There's a sexy scarecrow and a maths-crazed robot trying to take over the world. Why has the UN decided unanimously to declare war on Bill Oddie?


TUE 21:30 Flight of the Conchords (b008fmyw)
Series 1

The Actor

Comedy series about Kiwi folk musicians Bret and Jemaine as they to try to make it big in New York. The boys hire an actor to cheer Murray up by pretending he's a good manager. But things get out of hand when he ends up accidentally offering Murray a non-existent record deal with Sony and Murray blows all his money on a Lord of the Rings video shoot. Features the songs Frodo and Cheer Up Murray.


TUE 22:00 The Book Quiz (b00b6ks5)
Series 2

Episode 7

Kirsty Wark presents the grand final of the literary panel game, as Wendy Holden and Giles Coren do battle with Daisy Goodwin and David Aaronovitch.


TUE 22:30 Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (b00fpwb4)
Series 4

Episode 1

Charlie Brooker takes an irreverent look at all aspects of life on the small screen, including capsule reviews of the week's highs and lows.

He examines the state of television in the current economic climate and, with now-redundant home sale programmes clogging up the schedule, he explores what we can expect in their place.

Expensive dramas and the plethora of job-based shows are also in his sights, while there is light relief as he illustrates the penny-pinching tricks TV uses to meet budgets.


TUE 23:00 Random Quest (b0074t3c)
Science-fiction romance drama based on a short story by John Wyndham. Colin Trafford, a disenchanted research physicist, is knocked unconscious when an experiment with a particle accelerator goes wrong and, when he awakes, he finds himself in the bedroom of a house he has never seen before - a house he quickly learns is in a parallel world. Here, he finds he has another life, similar in some ways to his own, but in others wildly different.


TUE 00:00 Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (b00fpwb4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]


TUE 00:30 The Book Quiz (b00b6ks5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 01:00 The Thirties in Colour (b00cl57m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 02:00 Random Quest (b0074t3c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]


TUE 03:00 Only Connect (b00fm5vv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Monday]


TUE 03:30 Flight of the Conchords (b008fmyw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:30 today]



WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2008

WED 19:00 World News Today (b00fm6v9)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Timeshift (b0074s0t)
Series 5

A Study in Sherlock

Documentary explores the continuing appeal of Sherlock Holmes through his various screen incarnations, from early silent films through the classic portrayals by Basil Rathbone and Peter Cushing to the BBC's most recent Rupert Everett version. Contributors include Minette Walters, Kim Newman and Edward Hardwicke.


WED 20:10 An Awfully Big Adventure (b0077g3z)
Arthur Ransome

Series about the lives and work of six great figures in children's literature focuses on Arthur Ransome, author of Swallows and Amazons.

When Ransome wrote the first of his celebrated sailing adventures, he was better known as a war correspondent than a children's writer, and while reporting on the Russian Revolution he got to know Lenin personally and ended up marrying Trotsky's private secretary.


WED 21:00 Picture Book (b00fm6vc)
Now We Are Growing Up

Series telling the enchanting story of childhood reading looks at books that help us with the growing pains of our early adolescence and teens.

Though words on the page begin to dominate, we still need strong visual imagery in books to understand darker and more complex worlds, as the magical interplay of words and pictures continues into early adulthood.

Books explored here include Treasure Island, Swallows and Amazons, Lord of the Rings, Stig of the Dump, Tracey Beaker, Northern Lights and Artemis Fowl, while there are interviews, readings and demonstrations of their art from leading writers and illustrators including Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson, Eoin Colfer, David Almond, Ralph Steadman and Dave McKean.


WED 22:00 A Year in Tibet (b009lvdy)
Monks Behaving Badly

Documentary series following a year in the life of the society living in and around the Tibetan town of Gyantse. In the Pel Kor monastery, the director Choephel discovers that some irreplaceable statues have been stolen and the theft gives the local Communist Party an excuse to put in a government 'work team' to weed out monks they think are behaving badly. Lhakpa heads north in search of a lucrative job on a building site, and Butri gets an unpleasant surprise as she approaches her retirement.


WED 23:00 Everest ER (b0074svy)
Documentary following a team of volunteer doctors caring for the climbers and Sherpas at Everest Base Camp in Nepal. Over the ten-week Everest season, they coordinate dramatic helicopter rescues and treat hundreds of climbers for altitude sickness and frostbite.


WED 00:00 Picture Book (b00fm6vc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 01:00 A Year in Tibet (b009lvdy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


WED 02:00 Everest ER (b0074svy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]


WED 03:00 Picture Book (b00fm6vc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 20 NOVEMBER 2008

THU 19:00 World News Today (b00fm6zp)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:40 The New Avengers (b00fl64x)
Series 1

House of Cards

Classic 1970s secret agent fantasy adventure series. Steed, Purdey and Gambit find themselves fighting people they thought were their friends after a network of sleeper agents, called the House of Cards, is activated.


THU 20:30 In Search of Spanish Flu (b00dwf49)
Documentary in which a team of top UK virologists exhume the body of statesman, military officer and diplomat Sir Mark Sykes from a country churchyard in an attempt to detect the genetic footprint of one of the most dangerous viruses the world has ever seen, the Spanish Flu. It may be that an aristocrat who died nearly 90 years ago holds the key to preventing a modern bird flu pandemic.


THU 21:00 Timeshift (b00dzzdc)
Series 8

Last Days of Steam

The surprising story of how Britain entered a new age of steam railways after the Second World War and why it quickly came to an end.

After the war, the largely destroyed railways of Europe were rebuilt to carry more modern diesel and electric trains. Britain, however, chose to build thousands of brand new steam locomotives. Did we stay with steam because coal was seen as the most reliable power source, or were the railways run by men who couldn't bear to let go of their beloved steam trains?

The new British locomotives were designed to stay in service well into the 1970s, but in some cases they were taken off the railways and scrapped within just five years. When Dr Richard Beeching took over British Railways in the 1960s the writing was on the wall, and in 1968 the last steam passenger train blew its whistle.

But while steam use declined, steam enthusiasm grew. As many steam engines lay rusting in scrapyards around Britain, enthusiasts raised funds to buy, restore and return them to their former glory. In 2008, the first brand new steam locomotive to be built in Britain in nearly 50 years rolled off the line, proving our enduring love of these machines.


THU 22:05 The Department Store (b00fm5vx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 23:05 Storyville (b0082681)
Why Democracy?

Please Vote for Me

Chinese Director Weijun Chen's charming film takes us into the world of Chinese schoolchildren, learning about democracy for the first time as they try to vote for their class monitor.

Elections are pretty uncommon in China, so when the children in a school in Wuhan, Central China are presented with the chance to choose their own class monitor they don't quite know what to make of it. It doesn't take them long to get into the swing of it, though, and soon all sorts of dirty tricks are going on. Urged on by their parents, the candidates launch elaborate campaigns of bribery and coercion. After tantrums and tears, it's finally time for the vote, and who will win - the sweet girl who woos her voters with her flute playing, the bully who beats his classmates, or the boy who has the best sweets.


THU 00:00 BBC Four Sessions (b0074p1c)
Mariza

Portuguese star Mariza in concert at the Union Chapel in London. The Mozambique-born Fado singer was voted the Best Newcomer at the Radio 3 Awards for World Music in 2003, and her remarkable voice and astonishing performances have been winning her fans all over the world.


THU 01:00 BBC Four Sessions (b0074nyv)
India Arie

Atlanta-based singer-songwriter India Arie in concert at the Union Chapel in London. The set includes songs from both her Grammy-nominated albums, Acoustic Soul and Voyage to India, and she also slips in a couple of cover versions, including a version of Sade's The Sweetest Taboo.


THU 02:00 The Department Store (b00fm5vx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 03:00 Storyville (b0082681)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:05 today]



FRIDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2008

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00fm74s)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Valery Gergiev: Portrait of a Maestro (b00d4p92)
Documentary which follows legendary conductor Valery Gergiev's whirlwind schedule as he whips up great performances with the London Symphony Orchestra, at the Met and with his Russian forces at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg.


FRI 20:30 Only Connect (b00fm5vv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Monday]


FRI 21:00 Folk Britannia (b0074s69)
Folk Roots, New Routes

Second of three programmes celebrating the traditional folk music of the British Isles. The 60s saw a boom when the hippie generation repackaged folk to appeal to a wider audience. Folk guitarists like Bert Jansch and Davy Graham led the way while The Watersons and Anne Briggs explored the English tradition. Donovan sailed into the charts and Fairport Convention changed folk forever by inventing folk rock. Contributors include Richard Thompson, Norma Waterson and Roy Harper.


FRI 22:00 Electric Proms (b00f3p6j)
2008

Maddy Prior

Maddy Prior returns to her English traditional roots to perform songs from her current album, Seven For Old England, and from her repertoire, at the English Folk Dance and Song Society headquarters in London's Camden Town.

It's a special moment at Cecil Sharp House, where Maddy researched both her first and her most recent albums. The concert sees her reunited with former Steeleye Span bandmate Tim Hart, and with June Tabor of her Silly Sisters era, and also features Rose Kemp, Maddy's daughter. This promises to be a special night for English folk and the Electric Proms.


FRI 23:00 Electric Folk: Steeleye Span (b00fm74v)
Songs of the past are combined with 20th century electronic instruments, as Steeleye Span perform at Penshurst Place, Kent in 1974, accompanied by the Albion Morris Men morris dancers. Songs include Summer is a Coming In, Sevenhundred Elves, Long a Growing, Edwin, Little Sir Hugh and Peascod Time.


FRI 23:35 Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (b00fpwb4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 00:05 The New Avengers (b00fl64x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:40 on Thursday]


FRI 00:55 The Avengers (b0074t8j)
Series 4

The House That Jack Built

60s drama series. Emma is told that she has been left the estate of a mysterious uncle, but the house is designed as a deathtrap.


FRI 01:45 Folk Britannia (b0074s69)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:45 Electric Proms (b00f3p6j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 03:45 Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (b00fpwb4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 on Tuesday]