SATURDAY 23 OCTOBER 2010

SAT 19:00 Life (b00nkpcc)
Mammals

Mammals dominate the planet. They do it through having warm blood and by the care they lavish on their young. Weeks of filming in the bitter Antarctic winter reveal how a mother Weddell seal wears her teeth down keeping open a hole in the ice so she can catch fish for her pup.

A powered hot air balloon produces stunning images of millions of migrating bats as they converge on fruiting trees in Zambia, and slow-motion cameras reveal how a mother rufous sengi exhausts a chasing lizard. A gyroscopically stabilised camera moves alongside migrating caribou, and a diving team swim among the planet's biggest fight as male humpback whales battle for a female.


SAT 20:00 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00vfgtg)
Henry VIII to the Industrial Revolution

Groundbreaking series in which Michael Wood tells the story of one place throughout the whole of English history. The village is Kibworth in Leicestershire in the heart of England - a place that lived through the Black Death, the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution and was even bombed in World War Two.

The tale reaches the dramatic events of Henry VIII's Reformation and the battles of the English Civil War. We track Kibworth's 17th century dissenters, travel on the Grand Union Canal and meet an 18th century feminist writer from Kibworth who was a pioneer of children's books.

The story of a young highwayman transported to Australia comes alive as his living descendents come back to the village to uncover their roots. Lastly, the Industrial Revolution comes to the village with framework knitting factories, changing the village and its people forever.


SAT 21:00 Wallander (b00phkkw)
Series 1

The Joker

When a woman is shot dead on the beach outside her restaurant, the only witness is her young daughter. Wallander and his team are informed about a restaurant mafia in Malmo run by Jack Hansson, so the Malmo police are called in to help. One of their cops, Frank Borg, knows a little bit too much about Jack's business dealings, and his methods are unconventional.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:25 Mad Men (b00vfgtj)
Series 4

The Suitcase

An impending deadline leaves the firm in disarray, as Don makes Peggy stay late to work on a Samsonite ad, missing a birthday dinner with her boyfriend Mark. That night, Don receives a call from Anna's niece confirming his fears about her health, while a drunk Duck visits the SCDP offices in search of Peggy.


SAT 23:15 The First Men in the Moon (b00vfgcw)
Mark Gatiss's adaptation of HG Wells's science fiction classic. July 1969, and as the world waits with bated breath for the Apollo astronauts to land on the moon, a young boy meets 90-year-old Julius Bedford. He's a man with an extraordinary story of how, way back in 1909, he got to the moon first, and, together with the eccentric Professor Cavor, discovered a terrifying secret deep beneath its seemingly barren surface.


SAT 00:45 HG Wells: War with the World (b0074t1l)
Drama telling the story of the father of science fiction, HG Wells.

Wells earned global fame with his prophetic novels such as War of the Worlds and used his celebrity to meet the world's greatest leaders. His almost messianic ambition was to create a world state and avert humankind's headlong course towards self-destruction.

Wells was also infamous for his radical thinking on sexual freedom, but ultimately his belief in free love was to have catastrophic consequences.


SAT 02:15 A History of the World (b00sj1ry)
Towton 1461

Horrible Histories author Terry Deary tells the story of the country's biggest and bloodiest ever battle in which 28,000 soldiers died in a single day of slaughter during the Wars of the Roses. Terry unearths objects that tell of the extreme brutality of the Battle of Towton, including bullets, arrowheads and even the skeletons of some of the men who died near Tadcaster in North Yorkshire 550 years ago.


SAT 02:45 The First Men in the Moon (b00vfgcw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:15 today]



SUNDAY 24 OCTOBER 2010

SUN 19:00 Time to Remember (b00vfgcs)
Pushing the Boundaries

The endeavour, innovation and technological breakthroughs of the first half of the 20th century are illustrated through newsreel footage and the 1950s narration of the original Time to Remember documentary series.

Includes footage of tanks on the battlefields of the Great War; Scott's expedition to Antarctica; Mallory and Irving on Everest; Roosevelt at the Boulder Dam; and a car testing its very necessary roll-bar.


SUN 19:30 The Beauty of Maps (b00s64hx)
Cartoon Maps - Politics and Satire

The series concludes by delving into the world of satirical maps. How did maps take on a new form, not as geographical tools, but as devices for humour, satire or storytelling?

Graphic artist Fred Rose perfectly captured the public mood in 1880 with his general election maps featuring Gladstone and Disraeli, using the maps to comment upon crucial election issues still familiar to us today. Technology was on the satirist's side, with the advent of high-speed printing allowing for larger runs at lower cost. In 1877, when Rose produced his Serio Comic Map of Europe at War, maps began to take on a new direction and form, reflecting a changing world.

Rose's map exploited these possibilities to the full using a combination of creatures and human figures to represent each European nation. The personification of Russia as a grotesque-looking octopus, extending its tentacles around the surrounding nations, perfectly symbolised the threat the country posed to its neighbours.


SUN 20:00 Legends (b0074t3w)
Joan Sutherland - The Reluctant Prima Donna

Documentary about Dame Joan Sutherland, one of the greatest operatic performers of the late twentieth century, who died in October 2010. Shy and lacking in confidence, she had sung unnoticed at Covent Garden for seven years after arriving from Australia, but over the course of twelve months was transformed into La Stupenda.

With a focus on the two roles - Lucia di Lammamoor and Alcina - that launched her, the film features interviews with Dame Joan, Richard Bonynge, Franco Zeffirelli, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.


SUN 21:00 Boys from the Blackstuff (b00vjm2x)
George's Last Ride

After his operation, George Malone walks out of hospital in his pyjamas. Chrissie, Loggo and George's sons return him, but he later leaves again. His wife knows that he wishes to die at home, so Chrissie takes George out in a wheelchair to the docks where he once worked.


SUN 22:10 The Witchfinder General (b0078tnd)
A disturbing tale of evil set during the English Civil War. When Matthew Hopkins is appointed witchfinder general by the Puritans under Cromwell, he is empowered to travel the countryside with his henchmen and collect a fee for each witch from whom he extracts a confession - a policy which is exploited to the full.


SUN 23:35 Edgar Allan Poe: Love, Death and Women (b00vfhhp)
Crime author Denise Mina investigates the life and work of one of the world's greatest horror writers, Edgar Allan Poe. The relationships between Poe and the women in his life - mother, wife, paramour and muse - were tenuous at best, disastrous at worst, yet they provided inspiration and stimulus for some of the most terrifying and influential short stories of the early 19th century.

Travelling between New York, Virginia and Baltimore, Mina unravels Poe's tortuous and peculiar relationships. Dramatised inserts take us into the minds of Poe and his women through their own letters, journals and published writing.


SUN 00:35 The Man Who Recorded America: Jac Holzman's Elektra Records (b00vfhyc)
In the 1960s, a small indie label would conquer American music. With artists like the Doors, Love, Tim Buckley, the Incredible String Band and the Stooges, Elektra Records was consistently on the cutting edge, having built its name initially with folk revival artists like Judy Collins and Tom Paxton, signed out of Greenwich Village. Elektra was run by suave visionary Jac Holzman and this is his story. Featuring contributions from Jackson Browne, Iggy Pop, Judy Collins and choice BBC archive.


SUN 01:25 Songwriters' Circle (b00vfhy9)
David Gray, KT Tunstall, Ray LaMontagne

Three premier singer-songwriters play solo, taking it in turns to perform their signature songs and play together at west London's intimate Bush Hall. Chatting about the art and process of songwriting, Cheshire-born David Gray plays songs like Babylon and This Year's Love, plus material from his album Foundling. KT Tunstall plays Other Side and Black Horse and the Cherry Tree from her million-selling debut album Eye of the Telescope and songs from her recent Tiger Sun album. American Ray LaMontagne plays Trouble as well as songs from his fourth album God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise.


SUN 02:35 Singer-Songwriters at the BBC (b00vfhy7)
Series 1

Episode 4

Compilation which unlocks the BBC vaults to explore the burgeoning singer-songwriter genre that exploded at the dawn of the 1970s and became one of the defining styles of that decade.

Featuring songs from Donovan, Gerry Rafferty, James Taylor, Elton John, Mickey Newbury, Tom Paxton, John Prine, Melanie, Jesse Winchester, Steve Forbert, Chris Rea, Carole King and others.

Programme sources include The Old Grey Whistle Test, In Concert, Top of the Pops, One in Ten and Cilla!


SUN 03:35 Time to Remember (b00vfgcs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



MONDAY 25 OCTOBER 2010

MON 19:00 World News Today (b00vjm4q)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Atom (b007vbql)
The Key to the Cosmos

The second in Professor Jim Al-Khalili's three-part documentary about the basic building block of our universe, the atom. He shows how, in our quest to understand the tiny atom, we unravelled the mystery of how the universe was created. It's a story with dramatic twists and turns, taking in world-changing discoveries like radioactivity, the atom bomb and the big bang. All this forms part of an epic narrative in which the greatest brains of the 20th century competed to answer the biggest questions of all - why are we here and how were we made?


MON 20:30 Only Connect (b00vjm4s)
Series 4

Alesmen vs Pool Sharks

Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital.

Three men joined by their enthusiasm for real ale confront two maths graduates and a pharmacist who are a regular fixture at their local pool hall.

They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random, from Pugachev's Cobra to Split S, Cuban Eight and Barrel Roll.


MON 21:00 A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (b00vjm4v)
The American Scream

Three-part series in which League of Gentleman star, Doctor Who and Sherlock writer Mark Gatiss celebrates the greatest achievements of horror cinema.

Mark explores the explosion of American films of the late 1960s and 70s which dragged horror kicking and screaming into the present day. With their contemporary settings and uncompromising content, films like Night of the Living Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre remain controversial. But Mark argues that these films - often regarded as only being for hardcore fans with strong stomachs - have much to offer. Made by pioneering independent filmmakers, they reflected the social upheavals of American society and brought fresh energy and imagination to the genre.

Mark gets the inside story from a roster of leading horror directors, including George A Romero, whose Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead turned zombies into A-list monsters; Tobe Hooper, director of the notorious Texas Chain Saw Massacre; and John Carpenter, whose smash hit Halloween triggered the slasher movie boom.

Mark also celebrates the other great horror trend of the era - a string of satanically-themed Hollywood blockbusters, including Rosemary's Baby, the Exorcist and the Omen. Along the way Mark visits the Bates Motel, gets mobbed by zombies and finds out what happened to Omen star David Warner's decapitated head.


MON 22:00 Dawn of the Dead (b008y3d8)
Gruesome horror story in which the deceased return to life to devour the living. As the rampaging zombie population multiplies, four people barricade themselves in a shopping mall in a desperate bid to survive. But the dead also covet this temple to consumerism. How long can the humans hold out? A sequel to the horror classic Night of the Living Dead.


MON 00:20 A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (b00vjm4v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 01:20 Chopin 200th Anniversary Gala Concert (b00vfhp9)
Katie Derham introduces a sumptuous gala concert from Warsaw to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth.

Three past winners of the prestigious International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition pay their own tribute to Poland's favourite musical son. Yundi plays an exquisite selection of Nocturnes, with the Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise, then Dang Thai Son and Garrick Ohlsson each play the piano concertos in F minor and E minor. In interview they reminisce about winning the competition and their affinity with Chopin's music.


MON 03:20 Atom (b007vbql)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 04:20 A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (b00vjm4v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 26 OCTOBER 2010

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00vjm5v)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 It's Only a Theory (b00nqc0c)
Episode 5

Comedians Andy Hamilton and Reginald D Hunter host a series in which qualified professionals and experts submit their theories about life, the universe and everything for examination by a panel of Hamilton, Hunter and a guest celebrity, who then make a final decision on whether the theory is worth keeping.

The guest celebrity is broadcaster Martha Kearney and the experts are Julian Richards and Dr Peter Thompson.


TUE 20:00 Britain's Best Drives (b00j8cpm)
The Wye Valley and Forest of Dean

Actor Richard Wilson takes a journey into the past, following routes raved about in motoring guides of 50 years ago.

Using an Austin Cambridge to explore an area that claims to be the birthplace of British tourism, Richard learns about life before the Severn Bridge, finds out why thousands of tourists flocked to the Wye Valley in search of the 'picturesque' and discovers how ancient customs are still practised in the medieval Forest of Dean, with his trip culminating at a renowned viewpoint.


TUE 20:30 Time to Remember (b00vjm5x)
The Royal Families

The fortunes and fates of the European royal dynasties during the first half of the 20th century are traced through footage from a variety of episodes of the 1950s newsreel series Time to Remember. Narrator Lesley Sharp links sequences showing an era of war, revolution, assassination and abdication.

Includes footage of Queen Victoria at her diamond jubilee celebrations; Victoria's funeral; Edward VII out hunting; Tsar Nicholas II of Russia; Victor Emmanuel of Italy; Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany; Franz Josef of Austria in Sarajevo; George V's coronation, silver jubilee and funeral; King Albert of Belgium; the future Edward VIII walking in Tokyo with the future Emperor Hirohito; King Alexander of Yugoslavia being assassinated in Marseilles in 1934; King Boris of Bulgaria; Edward VIII's 1936 abdication statement; George VI's coronation; and Queen Elizabeth II as a child.


TUE 21:00 The Secret Life of the National Grid (b00vkjmy)
Wiring the Nation

At the heart of Britain sits something so all pervasive we don't even notice it's there - the national electricity grid. This three-part series charts how our lives got wired and the impact electrification has had.

The opening part takes us from the epic construction of the first grid in the 1920s and 30s to the challenge of making sure there is power at the flick of a switch today. Using rare archive and vivid personal accounts it reveals the heroic efforts, architectural masterpieces and engineering achievements behind the real power map of Britain.

Contributors include author Will Self, urban planner Sir Peter Hall and grid veterans on how Britain first banished darkness and turned on the electric light.


TUE 22:00 Getting On (b00vjm5z)
Series 2

Episode 1

Darkly comic series that offers a glimpse inside a world a million miles away from traditional hospital dramas. This is the dull, dreary, dog end of the health service with paperwork to fill in, bottoms to wipe and the drama played out in a thousand tiny acts of revenge and kindness, shining a light on the way workplace relationships play out and mapping out the life of a hospital through six shifts (five days and one night) on B4 ward.

Kim, Den and Pippa struggle through another normal day on B4. Kim has an unknown female to occupy her, Den has Hilary to cope with and Pippa has a ward round. New patient Mrs Fyvie is admitted, but it's her daughter Beedy who needs to be dealt with.


TUE 22:30 Strictly Courtroom (b00cccl0)
Actor Martin Shaw narrates a documentary which looks at how trials have been portrayed on the silver screen in the past century, from 12 Angry Men and Alfred Hitchcock's Anatomy of A Murder to A Few Good Men and George Clooney's Michael Clayton. Contributors include Geoffrey Robertson QC, OJ Simpson's defence lawyer Alan Dershowitz, author and advocate Scott Turow and death row campaigner Clive Stafford Smith.


TUE 00:00 The Secret Life of the National Grid (b00vkjmy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 01:00 Time to Remember (b00vjm5x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 01:30 Legends (b0074t3w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]


TUE 02:30 Getting On (b00vjm5z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 03:00 Time to Remember (b00vjm5x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 03:30 The Secret Life of the National Grid (b00vkjmy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 27 OCTOBER 2010

WED 19:00 World News Today (b00vjmmq)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 War Walks (b0074mbn)
Series 2

Blitz

One night and one image encapsulate the London Blitz - December 29th 1940, the night of the second great fire of London when St Paul's rose in its glory above the smoke and flames. Richard Holmes traces the night's events, from the sector control room where the incoming raiders were plotted through to the efforts of the firemen to save St Paul's.


WED 20:00 We Need Answers (b00qbytf)
Series 2

Young Adults

Anarchic comedy game show in which celebrity guests answer questions set by the public.

Mark Watson hosts, Tim Key is in the questionmaster's chair and Alex Horne provides expert analysis from a booth as two celebrities battle it out to be crowned the winner and avoid the shame of donning 'The Clogs of Defeat'.

Former newsreader and Royal reporter Jennie Bond competes against youth television presenter Rick Edwards.

The rules are simple - contestants must match their answer to the one given by a text answering service. Questions range from 'Did the Royal Family ever beat Jennie?' to 'How many edges does a human have?'.

In the cunning physical challenge which pits the contestants against each other, Jennie and Rick attempt to make sandwiches in a sleeping bag.


WED 20:30 A History of the World (b00sj0q5)
The Birth of Steam

Adam Hart-Davis tells the remarkable story of Thomas Newcomen, the Devon man who invented the world's first working steam-powered engine. His engine was first used to pump water out of mines and ultimately powered the industrial revolution.


WED 21:00 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00vjmms)
Victoria to the Present Day

Groundbreaking series in which Michael Wood tells the story of one place throughout the whole of English history. The village is Kibworth in Leicestershire in the heart of England - a place that lived through the Black Death, the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution and was even bombed in World War Two.

In this final episode, helped by today's villagers Michael uncovers the secret history of a Victorian village more colourful than even Dickens could have imagined. Recreating their penny concerts of the 1880s, visiting World War I battlefields with the school and recalling the Home Guard, local land girls and the bombing of the village in 1940, the series finally moves into the brave new world of 'homes for heroes' and the villagers come together to leave a reminder of their world for future generations.


WED 22:00 Mad Men (b00vjmmv)
Series 4

The Summer Man

Don attempts to regain control over his life through physical changes and journal writing. Betty forbids him from attending Eugene's birthday party and is flustered when she and Henry run into Don and Bethany on a date. Don's persistence with Faye results in an impromptu dinner date. Joey's sexism creates friction with Joan, forcing Peggy to take action.


WED 22:45 Scanners (b007cdx7)
Innovative sci-fi horror story about a group of people with the ability to control other people's minds and bodies, with often fatal results. The powers - the result of a thalidomide-like drug given to a group of pregnant women - are being used for evil purposes by a child of the experiment. His brother is recruited by the doctor behind the original project to stop the evil sibling and his fellow scanners.


WED 00:25 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00vjmms)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 01:25 A History of the World (b00sj0q5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 01:55 Getting On (b00vjm5z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


WED 02:25 The Secret Life of the National Grid (b00vkjmy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 03:25 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00vjmms)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 28 OCTOBER 2010

THU 19:00 World News Today (b00vjmqf)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Seven Ages of Britain (b00rqsfm)
Age of Ambition

In the last episode, David Dimbleby looks at how the 20th century saw ordinary Britons upturning ancient power structures and class hierarchies. The catalyst was the First World War, which embroiled the whole nation and called traditional values into question. The result was an ever-growing 'democratization' of culture, with art coming off gallery walls, becoming an instrument of self-expression at the service of the individual.

Dimbleby looks at some of the great masterworks of modern British art (Paul Nash's 'Menin Road', Francis Bacon's 'Crucifixion'), but also champions lesser appreciated art forms like broadcasting and domestic design. Finally, he meets some of the personalities who are shaping modern British art today: Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Anish Kapoor and Gilbert and George.


THU 20:30 The Pre-Raphaelites (b00l7qpy)
Episode 1

Series examining the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, who brought notoriety to British art in the 19th century, bursting into the spotlight in 1848 and shocking their peers with a new kind of radical art.

The opening programme explores the origins of the Brotherhood and their initial achievements, and looks at some of their key early works, the hostile criticism they faced and the centuries of academic dogma their paintings overturned.


THU 21:00 How to Get a Head in Sculpture (b00vjmqh)
From the heads of Roman Emperors to the 'blood head' of contemporary British artist Marc Quinn, the greatest figures in world sculpture have continually turned to the head to re-evaluate what it means to be human and to reformulate how closely sculpture can capture it.

Witty, eclectic and insightful, this film is a journey through the most enduring subject for world sculpture, one that carves a path through politics and religion, the ancient and the modern.

Actor David Thewlis has his head sculpted by three different sculptors, while the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, artist Maggi Hambling and art critic Rachel Johnston discuss art's most enduring preoccupation, ourselves.


THU 22:00 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00vjmms)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


THU 23:00 A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (b00vjm4v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 00:00 How to Get a Head in Sculpture (b00vjmqh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


THU 01:00 The Secret Life of the National Grid (b00vkjmy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


THU 02:00 The Pre-Raphaelites (b00l7qpy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


THU 02:30 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00vjmms)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


THU 03:30 How to Get a Head in Sculpture (b00vjmqh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 29 OCTOBER 2010

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00vjvv2)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 BBC Proms (b00vkjwp)
2010

Chopin and Ravel

Leading Chopin interpreter Nelson Freire is the soloist in Chopin's lyrical and brilliant Second Piano Concerto. On the podium the young French conductor Lionel Bringuier makes his Proms debut conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and gives a sizzling performance of Ravel's score for the ballet Daphnis and Chloe - Suite No 2. Introduced from the Royal Albert Hall by Katie Derham.


FRI 20:30 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.


FRI 21:00 Classic Albums (b00vlq0y)
Black Sabbath: Paranoid

The second album by Black Sabbath, released in 1970, has long attained classic status. Paranoid not only changed the face of rock music, but also defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history. The result of a magic chemistry which had been discovered between four English musicians, it put Black Sabbath firmly on the road to world domination.

This programme tells the story behind the writing, recording and success of the album. Despite vilification from the Christian and moral right and all the harsh criticism that the music press could hurl at them, Paranoid catapulted Sabbath into the rock stratosphere.

Using exclusive interviews, musical demonstration, archive footage and a return to the multi-tracks with engineer Tom Allom, the film reveals how Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward created their frighteningly dark, heavy and ear-shatteringly loud sound.

Additional comments from Phil Alexander (MOJO & Kerrang! editor), Geoff Barton (Classic Rock editor), Henry Rollins (writer/musician) and Jim Simpson (original manager) add insight to the creation of this all-time classic.


FRI 22:00 Metal Britannia (b00r600m)
Nigel Planer narrates a documentary which traces the origins and development of British heavy metal from its humble beginnings in the industrialised Midlands to its proud international triumph.

In the late 60s a number of British bands were forging a new kind of sound. Known as hard rock, it was loud, tough, energetic and sometimes dark in outlook. They didn't know it, but Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and, most significantly, Black Sabbath were defining what first became heavy rock and then eventually heavy metal.

Inspired by blues rock, progressive rock, classical music and high energy American rock, they synthesised the sound that would inspire bands like Judas Priest to take metal even further during the 70s.

By the 80s its originators had fallen foul of punk rock, creative stasis or drug and alcohol abuse. But a new wave of British heavy metal was ready to take up the crusade. With the success of bands like Iron Maiden, it went global.

Contributors include Lemmy from Motorhead, Sabbath's Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan from Deep Purple, Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden and Saxon's Biff Byford.


FRI 23:30 Storyville (b00sxgsn)
Anvil! The Story of Anvil

At 14, Toronto school friends Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and Robb Reiner made a pact to rock together forever. Their band Anvil went on to become the 'demi-gods of Canadian metal', releasing 1982's Metal on Metal, which influenced a musical generation including Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax.

All those bands went on to sell millions of records but Anvil's career would take a different path - straight into obscurity. But Lips and Robb never gave up on their childhood dream and kept rocking, always believing that one day Anvil would taste the success that had so long eluded them.

The film follows Lips and Robb, now in their 50s, as they gear up to record their thirteenth album, This is Thirteen. Coping with increasingly impatient families, crippling mortgages and the effects of old age, they know this is their last chance to really make it.


FRI 00:50 Classic Albums (b00vlq0y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 01:50 Metal Britannia (b00r600m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 03:20 BBC Proms (b00vkjwp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]