SATURDAY 20 DECEMBER 2008

SAT 19:00 Legends (b00859zv)
Louis Prima - King of the Swingers

Profile of American entertainer, singer, actor, songwriter and trumpeter Louis Prima. Immortalised as the voice of King Louis in Disney's Jungle Book, Prima was a musical chameleon whose career spanned more than five decades. Born in New Orleans, he became a star on New York's 52nd St during the 30s, had countless hits with his Big Band in the 40s and in the 50s teamed up with wife Keely Smith to create a Las Vegas lounge act that quickly earned a reputation as the hottest act in showbusiness.


SAT 20:10 Judy, Frank and Dean (b00gd3c3)
Legendary TV concert film featuring Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Believed lost for years, it features performances of San Francisco, The Man That Got Away, Trolley Song and many more.


SAT 21:00 Show of the Week (b00g81g9)
Count Basie and his Orchestra

A 1965 concert by Count Basie, with guitarist Freddie Green, drummer Rufus 'Speedy' Jones, trombonist Al Grey and saxophonist Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis.


SAT 21:45 Pal Joey (b00ckf2p)
A handsome young singer arrives in San Francisco with the dream of owning a club. The biggest problem in his life, though, is choosing between two very different women.

A musical comedy from Rodgers and Hart which includes the songs I Could Write a Book, The Lady is a Tramp, My Funny Valentine, I Didn't Know What Time It Was, Bewitched and Do It the Hard Way.


SAT 23:30 Artie Shaw: Quest for Perfection (b0074pb5)
Russell Davies looks at the life and music of composer Artie Shaw, charting his achievements with previously unseen footage and musical clips from the 1930s and '40s.


SAT 00:30 Second Chorus (b0078nhb)
Comedy about two music students who, rather than face the responsibilities of life, repeatedly fail their exams so that they can stay in college.

The students change their attitude, however, when they meet a woman who agrees to be their manager and both attempt to woo her as a way of getting a job in Artie Shaw's band. Featuring the Oscar-nominated Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life?


SAT 01:55 Judy, Frank and Dean (b00gd3c3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:10 today]


SAT 02:45 Artie Shaw: Quest for Perfection (b0074pb5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:30 today]



SUNDAY 21 DECEMBER 2008

SUN 19:00 Christmas Oratorio (b0074mdt)
Part 1

Bach's Christmas Oratorio, performed by soloists Bernarda Fink, Christoph Genz and Dietrich Henschel with the Monteverdi Choir, and directed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner.


SUN 19:30 Sacred Music: The Story of Allegri's Miserere (b00g81g7)
Simon Russell Beale tells the story behind Allegri's Miserere, one of the most popular pieces of sacred music ever written. The programme features a full performance of the piece by the award-winning choir the Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers.


SUN 20:00 Charles at 60: the Passionate Prince (b00fky55)
For a year, BBC cameras have filmed the Prince of Wales at home, abroad, at work and on duty. Now, for the first time, we can see and hear for ourselves the private and passionate man behind the controversy and the headlines.

As the Prince of Wales turns 60, he's defied convention to become one of Britain's most outspoken and prolific campaigners, as well as being a businessman, ambassador for Britain and a father.

This revealing film goes behind the closed doors of the Prince's world and gives us the chance to make up our own minds about the man who, one day, will be king.


SUN 21:30 Ten Best Sacred Christmas Classics (b00gd0q9)
From Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Handel's Messiah to much-loved carols, ten memorable performances from the archives are introduced by a starry line-up of musicians and music lovers, including Katherine Jenkins, Billy Bragg, Michael Portillo and David Soul.


SUN 22:30 In Concert (b0074hkm)
Oscar Peterson

Footage of the internationally feted jazz pianist with his trio at Ronnie Scott's Club in 1974.


SUN 23:00 Reputations (b0074mb7)
Billie Holiday - Sensational Lady

Controversial celebrities of the 20th century. Jazz singer Billie Holiday is remembered today for her turbulent personal life as much as for her artistic achievements - addicted to drink, drugs and abusive men, the enduring image is of a tragic victim. However, archive footage and interviews with friends reveal a different Lady Day - a strong woman, determined to satisfy her voracious appetite for sex, drugs and music.


SUN 00:00 Legends (b0074s41)
The Charlie Parker Story

Hugh Quarshie narrates the story of one of the greatest jazz saxophonists of all time. Charlie Parker was a pioneer of the postwar bebop school which changed the face of jazz forever, before his tragic death at the age of 34. Contributors include Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Peter King, Slide Hampton, Phil Woods and Mitch Miller.


SUN 01:00 The Swing Thing (b00g3694)
Documentary telling the story of swing, an obscure form of jazz that became the first worldwide pop phenomenon, inspired the first ever youth culture revolution and became a byword for sexual liberation and teenage excess well before the Swinging Sixties.

In the process, swing threw up some of the greatest names in 20th century music, from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. The film uses archive and contemporary accounts to shed light on why it endures today.


SUN 02:30 Sacred Music: The Story of Allegri's Miserere (b00g81g7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


SUN 03:00 Ten Best Sacred Christmas Classics (b00gd0q9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:30 today]



MONDAY 22 DECEMBER 2008

MON 19:00 Sacred Music (b03d09b3)
Series 1

The Gothic Revolution

Documentary series in which actor and former chorister Simon Russell Beale explores the flowering of Western sacred music.

He begins his journey at Notre Dame in Paris, where an enigmatic medieval music manuscript provides the key to the early development of polyphony - music of 'many voices'. Featuring music performed by members of the award-winning choir The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers.


MON 20:00 Christmas Oratorio (b0074mdv)
Part 2

Bach's Christmas Oratorio, performed by soloists Claron McFadden, Bernarda Fink, Christoph Genz and Dietrich Henschel with the Monteverdi Choir.


MON 20:30 Only Connect (b00g81rd)
Series 1

Episode 15

Final of the quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take players 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 Comedy Songs: The Pop Years (b00g8t17)
Documentary tracing the modern history of the comedy pop song from the birth of the charts in 1952 to its reinvention in the new millennium.

We discover that George Martin was the missing link between the Goons and the Beatles, that the Barron Knights invented the parody song and that the Two Ronnies were not big fans of Not the Nine O'Clock News.

Almost everyone appears in the comedy song's chequered history of peaks and troughs, from the 1960s satire boom to the 1970s golden period of Monty Python and Billy Connolly and on through the wilderness years of 1980s novelty naffness and the genre's redemption in alternative comedy and the likes of Victoria Wood and Alexei Sayle.


MON 22:30 Crooked House (b00vgfmw)
When schoolteacher Ben unearths an old door knocker in the garden of his new home, the curator suggests it may come from the now-demolished house, reputed to be haunted. Ben prompts the curator to tell him stories about the house's past.

It's 1786, and Joseph Bloxham is a self-made man and something of a star in fashionable coffee-house society. Some though, like the sceptical Noakes, take a dim view of his shady business ethics. Bloxham has used his ill-gotten gains to buy the old Geap Manor, paying no heed to the warnings of Noakes and his friend Duncalfe, but when Bloxham starts to hear ghastly sounds in the newly-installed panelling of his drawing room it seems he might have more than just a mouse hiding in his wainscoting.


MON 23:00 Timeshift (b00g8t15)
Series 8

The Comic Songbook

Documentary which celebrates Britain's rich and much-loved tradition of comic songs, from Noel Coward's Mad Dogs and Englishmen to Benny Hill's Ernie, and reveals the skill involved in creating them.

Contributors include Monty Python's Michael Palin and Terry Jones, Neil Innes, Bill Oddie, the Now Show's Mitch Benn, producer Cameron Mackintosh, Nicholas Parsons, Ed Stewart and Kit and the Widow.


MON 00:00 Flight of the Conchords Special: One Night Stand (b00801jb)
The duo of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement perform several of their best and silliest songs, including Business Time, Jenny and Albi the Racist Dragon.


MON 00:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (b00dmpd2)
Filmed in April 2008, just three weeks before his death, Humphrey Lyttelton chairs his final I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue at the Lowry Centre's Lyric Theatre in Salford.

This touring show features many of Humph's best lines from the Radio 4 series, and is the only complete filmed version of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue in existence. The cast is the regular line up of Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and pianist Colin Sell, with Jeremy Hardy as the guest panellist.


MON 01:00 Crooked House (b00vgfmw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]


MON 01:30 A View from a Hill (b008j4jk)
Adaptation of the classic ghost story by MR James. Ambitious archaeologist Dr Fanshawe is sent to authenticate the collection of his boss's old school friend and finds nothing much of interest except an 'odd couple' squire and servant, a pair of binoculars and a gruesome local legend.


MON 02:10 Comedy Songs: The Pop Years (b00g8t17)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 03:45 A View from a Hill (b008j4jk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 01:30 today]



TUESDAY 23 DECEMBER 2008

TUE 19:00 Sacred Music (b009lvpl)
Series 1

Palestrina and the Popes

Documentary series in which actor and former chorister Simon Russell Beale explores the flowering of Western sacred music.

He uncovers the links between the papal intrigues of Renaissance Rome and the music of the enigmatic Palestrina, whose work is considered by many to be unsurpassed in its spiritual perfection. The art and architecture of the Italian High Renaissance are accompanied by a performance from the award-winning choir The Sixteen, conducted by founder Harry Christophers.


TUE 20:00 Christmas Oratorio (b00g81rb)
Part 3

Bach's Christmas Oratorio, with soloists Claron McFadden, Bernarda Fink, Christoph Genz and Dietrich Henschel with the Monteverdi Choir. Directed by John Eliot Gardiner.


TUE 20:30 Beeching's Tracks (b00g8rwp)
North

Adam Hart Davis takes a road trip along the ghost of the Beverley to York line, which was scrapped under Beeching, and looks at the campaign to get it re-opened.


TUE 21:00 Ian Hislop Goes off the Rails (b00drtpj)
Ian Hislop brings his customary humour, analysis and wit to the notorious Beeching Report of 1963, which led to the closure of a third of the nation's railway lines and stations and forced tens of thousands of people into the car and onto the road.

Was author Dr Richard Beeching little more than Genghis Khan with a slide rule, ruthlessly hacking away at Britain's rail network in a misguided quest for profitability, or was he the fall guy for short-sighted government policies that favoured the car over the train?

Ian also investigates the fallout of Beeching's plan, discovering what was lost to the British landscape, communities and ways of life when the railway map shrank, and recalls the halcyon days of train travel, celebrated by John Betjeman.

Ian travels from Cornwall to the Scottish borders, meeting those responsible and those affected and questioning whether such brutal measures could be justified. Knowing what we know now, with trains far more energy efficient and environmentally sound than cars, perhaps Beeching's plan was the biggest folly of the 1960s?


TUE 22:00 Absolutely Chuffed: The Men Who Built a Steam Engine (b00dzz5y)
Documentary about the 18-year odyssey of a group of enthusiasts who set out to build a brand new mainline steam engine from scratch in 1990.


TUE 22:30 Crooked House (b00gf5l2)
Something Old

When schoolteacher Ben unearths an old door knocker in the garden of his new home, the curator suggests it may come from the now-demolished house, reputed to be haunted. Ben prompts the curator to tell him stories about the house's past.

In the 1920s, Lady Constance de Momery presides over a costume ball for her grandson, but all is not as it seems and when young heir to the estate Felix de Momery announces his engagement to sweetheart Ruth, his friends Billy and Katherine seem far from pleased.

Is the happy couple's destiny inextricably linked with another tragic wedding day many years ago and does the sight of a ghostly bride in a grave-stained wedding dress explain why there has not been a wedding at Geap Manor since then?


TUE 23:00 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.


TUE 00:00 Timeshift (b00dwflh)
Series 8

Between the Lines - Railways in Fiction and Film

Novelist Andrew Martin presents a documentary examining how the train and the railways came to shape the work of writers and film-makers.

Lovers parting at the station, runaway carriages and secret assignations in confined compartments - railways have long been a staple of romance, mystery and period drama. But at the beginning of the railway age, locomotives were seen as frightening and unnatural. Wordsworth decried the destruction of the countryside, while Dickens wrote about locomotives as murderous brutes, bent on the destruction of mere humans. Hardly surprising, as he had been involved in a horrific railway accident himself.

Martin traces how trains gradually began to be accepted - Holmes and Watson were frequent passengers - until by the time of The Railway Children they were something to be loved, a symbol of innocence and Englishness. He shows how trains made for unforgettable cinema in The 39 Steps and Brief Encounter, and how when the railways fell out of favour after the 1950s, their plight was highlighted in the films of John Betjeman.

Finally, Martin asks whether, in the 21st century, Britain's railways can still stir and inspire artists.


TUE 01:00 Crooked House (b00gf5l2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]


TUE 01:30 The Signalman (b0074ptz)
Charles Dickens's ghost story in which a lonely signalman is haunted by a hooded figure who seems to warn of danger.


TUE 02:10 Ian Hislop Goes off the Rails (b00drtpj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 03:10 Timeshift (b00dzzdc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 24 DECEMBER 2008

WED 19:00 Sacred Music (b009phyw)
Series 1

Tallis, Byrd and the Tudors

Four-part documentary series in which Simon Russell Beale explores the flowering of Western sacred music. Beale takes us back to Tudor England, a country in turmoil as monarchs change the national religion and Roman Catholicism is driven underground. In telling the story of Thomas Tallis and William Byrd, two composers at the centre of England's own musical Renaissance, Beale visits parish churches, great cathedrals and a private home where Catholic music would have been performed in secret.


WED 20:00 Christmas Oratorio (b0074mf9)
Part 4

Bach's Christmas Oratorio, performed by the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque soloists Claron McFadden, Katharine Fuge, Christopher Genz and Dietrich Henschel.


WED 20:30 The Book Quiz (b00g8sxk)
Christmas Special

Kirsty Wark presents a festive edition of the literary panel game, as Andrew Motion and Jan Ravens do battle against Charlie Higson and Joan Bakewell.


WED 21:00 Rob Brydon's Identity Crisis (b0091tws)
Comedian Rob Brydon explores Welsh identity and tries to discover what makes his patriotic countrymen so defensive.

Along the way, he talks to a host of Welsh celebrities, including Griff Rhys Jones, Goldie Lookin' Chain and actress Ruth Jones, as he examines the national psyche, in particular questioning his own belief that the Welsh have a natural leaning toward pessimism.

Rob also constructs a stand-up routine of Welsh-based material which he tries out in surprise appearances at comedy clubs around Wales.


WED 22:00 Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (b00g87gx)
Series 4

Review of the Year

Charlie Brooker celebrates Christmas by taking a look back at all that has happened in TV land over the past year, including reviews of the very best and worst shows to grace British screens in 2008, and reflections on all the big issues. He considers the trends that emerged and explores what can be expected in 2009.

There are also a couple of special contributor pieces from Harry Enfield and Jimmy Carr, while poet Tim Key supplies a festive verse.


WED 22:30 Crooked House (b00gf5sy)
The Knocker

When schoolteacher Ben unearths an old door knocker in the garden of his new home, the curator suggests it may come from the now-demolished house, reputed to be haunted. Ben prompts the curator to tell him two stories about the house's past.

Back in the present day, commitment-shy Ben begins to discover that, though demolished, Geap Manor casts a long shadow. Having recently left his girlfriend Hannah for a life of excitement over cosy domesticity, he is excited by the curator's stories and screws the ancient door knocker to his new front door. However, he soon finds himself getting more excitement than he bargained for as the past begins to intrude rudely with a loud knock at the door in the night and a terrifying journey into Geap Manor's bloody past.


WED 23:00 Les Choristes (b008j4bp)
Drama set in post-WW2 France. When failed musician Clement Mathieu arrives as the new supervisor at a boarding school for difficult boys, he finds a grey atmosphere of severity. The joyless headmaster Monsieur Rachin runs the institution with an iron fist and gets very little out of the pupils. Mathieu feels powerless to make his mark until he decides to set up a singing choir. Gradually, the lives of the boys are transformed by the magic of music.


WED 00:35 Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe (b00g87gx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


WED 01:05 Crooked House (b00gf5sy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]


WED 01:35 No.13: A Ghost Story (b0074t6n)
Dramatisation based on an MR James short story and in the tradition of the BBC's ghost stories for Christmas. Oxbridge academic Anderson settles into The Golden Lion Hotel in a small cathedral city to research its ecclesiastical history, when the subject of his research begins to disturb his slumber.


WED 02:15 Jazz Britannia (b0074r1z)
The Rebirth of Cool

Terence Stamp narrates a series on the assimilation and development of jazz in Britain over the past 60 years. By the late 70s the audience for jazz music was at an all-time low, but the 80s saw a resurgence, with a generation of new artists taking up the mantle.

Contributors include Courtney Pine, Soweto Kinch, Gilles Peterson, Jamie Cullum, Andy Sheppard and Matthew Herbert.


WED 03:15 No.13: A Ghost Story (b0074t6n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 01:35 today]



THURSDAY 25 DECEMBER 2008

THU 19:00 Christmas Oratorio (b0074mf2)
Part 5

Bach's Christmas Oratorio, performed by the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque soloists Calron McFadden, Bernarda Fink, Christopher Genz and Dietrich Henschel.


THU 19:25 Christmas Oratorio (b0074mhs)
Part 6

Bach's Christmas Oratorio, performed by the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque soloists Calron McFadden, Bernarda Fink, Christopher Genz and Dietrich Henschel.


THU 19:50 The Messiah at the Barbican (b0074t6p)
From the Barbican in London, Handel's choral masterpiece for four soloists, choir and orchestra is performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis.


THU 22:30 The Frost Report Is Back! (b009lt9r)
A celebration of the satirical comedy sketch series The Frost Report, which won the prestigious Golden Rose of Montreux in the 1960s.

Hosted by Sir David Frost, it was highly influential and proved to be the launch pad for the likes of Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and Sheila Steafel.

Featuring rare archive skits, interviews with many of the old team and a complete showing of the award-winning show Frost Over England.


THU 00:30 The Book Quiz (b00g8sxk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Wednesday]


THU 01:00 Only Connect (b00g81rd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Monday]


THU 01:30 Ten Best Sacred Christmas Classics (b00gd0q9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:30 on Sunday]


THU 02:30 The Book Quiz (b00g8sxk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Wednesday]


THU 03:00 Only Connect (b00g81rd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Monday]


THU 03:30 Ten Best Sacred Christmas Classics (b00gd0q9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:30 on Sunday]



FRIDAY 26 DECEMBER 2008

FRI 19:00 Sacred Music (b009s86s)
Series 1

Bach and the Lutheran Legacy

Four-part documentary series in which Simon Russell Beale explores the flowering of Western sacred music. With music performed by The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers, Beale explores how Martin Luther, himself a composer, had a profound effect on the development of sacred music, re-defining the role of congregational singing and the use of the organ in services. Ultimately, these reforms would shape the world of JS Bach and inspire him to write some of the greatest sacred music.


FRI 20:00 Walter Tull: Forgotten Hero (b00fh1vz)
Walter Tull was a pioneering black British footballer and the first black officer in the British army, who died heroically fighting in the First World War and yet is virtually unheard of today.

Former Eastenders star Nick Bailey relates the story of this forgotten hero, investigating war records to establish whether there was a colour bar in the British Army and asking how Tull managed to become an officer despite army regulations requiring only men of 'pure European descent'. Bailey also tries to discover why Lieutenant Tull was denied a Military Cross for heroism even though his commanding officer recommended him for one.

Tull's parents died before he was seven years old and he was sent to an orphanage in London's East End, but despite that he won a place in the first team of one of Britain's most famous clubs, Tottenham Hotspur. However, after just seven games and great match reports, he received such racial abuse he never played for the first team again. Far from giving up, Tull rebuilt his football career and then signed up for military service at the first opportunity.


FRI 21:00 Walter's War (b00fh1w1)
Drama inspired by the life of Walter Tull who, after years in an orphanage, went on to become a professional footballer and then the first black commissioned officer to lead British troops during the First World War.

The action concerns Tull's turbulent passage from ordinary soldier to extraordinary officer at officer training camp, where he had to face his own demons as well as fight the prejudice that surrounded him.


FRI 22:00 Quincy Jones: The Many Lives of Q (b00c18jl)
From the Jazz Age to Hollywood - 1933-1974

In a career spanning six decades, American jazz musician, composer, arranger, record producer and entrepreneur Quincy Jones has won more Grammy awards than any other artist. His list of other honours includes an Emmy for his work on the seminal American television series Roots and an Oscar for his humanitarian work.

This two-part documentary celebrates the life and career of the man who helped make Michael Jackson the king of pop, arranged Frank Sinatra's Fly Me To The Moon, wrote the score for The Italian Job, produced the world's top selling album and single and helped launch the careers of Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith.

At the heart of both films is a wide-ranging interview with Quincy himself, in which he talks candidly about his work and personal life, covering the highs and lows, the triumphs and the tragedies. Family, friends and stars from the music and film industries provide an insight into the man and his unique genius. Both programmes feature archive illustrating the key stages in Quincy's life, including previously unseen home movies and studio footage from his personal archive.

This first part, From the Jazz Age to Hollywood: 1933-1974, spans Quincy's childhood in Chicago, reveals how he discovered music almost by chance and features his first professional engagement at the age of 18, playing trumpet in the Lionel Hampton band. It also charts his Hollywood career writing music for some of the most iconic films of the 1970s and concludes with his life-threatening brain aneurysm.

Contributors include Quincy himself, brother Richard, Harry Belafonte, Michel Legrand, Herbie Hancock, Michael Caine, jazz photographer Herman Leonard, children Martina and Quincy Jones III and former wife Peggy Lipton, and there is footage of Frank Sinatra, Dinah Washington, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and Ray Charles.


FRI 23:00 Quincy Jones: The Many Lives of Q (b00c517s)
From the King of Pop to Hip Hop: 1975-2008

Second of a two-part documentary which celebrates the life and career of top American jazz musician, composer, arranger, record producer and entrepreneur, Quincy Jones.

It charts Quincy's recovery from a brain anyeurism and looks at how he went on to produce the biggest selling album of all time, Michael Jackson's Thriller. He also produced and conducted 1985's We Are the World - the American music industry's response to the Ethiopian famine - which is still the biggest selling single of all time. That same year he ventured into new territory, turning Hollywood producer for The Color Purple.

Quincy returned to music with the iconic 1989 album Back on the Block, cross-fertilising the talents of 66 artists including Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Patti Austin and six young rappers. The programme also looks at the launch of his television company, his conducting of Phil Collins's Big Band, his remixing of the iconic British dance hit Blue Monday, his humanitarian work in Africa and his mentoring younger musicians.

Contributors include Quincy himself, Lionel Richie, Phil Collins, Bob Geldof, Bernard Sumner, Patti Austin, the major players on Thriller - Rod Temperton (British songwriter), Bruce Swedien (recording engineer), Steve Lukather (guitarist) and daughter Kidada. There's also footage of 1980s Michael Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and ex-partner actress Nastassja Kinski.


FRI 00:00 Timeshift (b00g8t15)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]


FRI 01:00 Miss Marie Lloyd: Queen of the Music Hall (b007qcxg)
Costume drama inspired by the life and loves of London's East End music hall legend Marie Lloyd.

Spotted by Percy Courtney, her true love and first husband, Marie is soon topping the bill. However, fame takes its toll on the marriage and it ends bitterly. As Marie struggles to juggle her private and public life she falls out with lifelong friend/dresser Freddie and into the arms of fellow performer, the dependable Alec Hurley.

Marie leads a music hall strike and triumphs, but at home she tires of Alec's humdrum ways. Sticking to the principle, as sung, that A Little of What You Fancy Does You Good, Marie chases the champagne lifestyle, taking up with toyboy jockey Bernard Dillon. Respectable society is scandalised and Marie is dropped from the Royal Command Performance, but hits back with an alternative Command Performance.

Riding high professionally but battling failing health and with her personal life in tatters and splashed across the newspapers, she begins to buckle. A faithful but helpless Freddie stands by as Marie is determined that the show must go on.


FRI 02:20 Walter's War (b00fh1w1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 03:20 Timeshift (b00g8t15)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]