SATURDAY 06 NOVEMBER 2010

SAT 19:00 Life (p07gj8bp)
Birds

Birds owe their global success to feathers - something no other animal has. They allow birds to do extraordinary things.

For the first time, a slow-motion camera captures the unique flight of the marvellous spatuletail hummingbird as he flashes long, iridescent tail feathers in the gloomy undergrowth. Aerial photography takes us into the sky with an Ethiopian lammergeier dropping bones to smash them into edible-sized bits. Thousands of pink flamingoes promenade in one of nature's greatest spectacles. The sage grouse rubs his feathers against his chest in a comic display to make popping noises that attract females. The Vogelkop bowerbird makes up for his dull colour by building an intricate structure and decorating it with colourful beetles and snails.


SAT 20:00 Birds Britannia (b00vnf8d)
Garden Birds

Documentary series which looks at the different birds that live in the UK and at the stories they can tell us about the British people over time. Top of our affections are garden birds, including the nation's favourite, the robin. Yet this relationship is a surprisingly modern one, the result of some of the most dramatic changes in British society in the last 150 years.


SAT 21:00 Wallander (b00fy2zw)
Series 1

Sidetracked

New drama series, in which Swedish detective Kurt Wallander investigates a series of violent and terrifying murders in the beautiful setting of Skane, Southern Sweden.

What connects the shocking suicide of a young woman and the vicious murder of a government minister? Inspector Kurt Wallander's investigation uncovers wrongdoing and corruption that extends to the heart of the Swedish establishment.


SAT 22:30 Mad Men (b00vnflx)
Series 4

The Beautiful Girls

Peggy is forced to face some unpleasant facts about a client's discriminatory business practices.

Don and Faye's burgeoning relationship is tested when Sally runs away from home and turns up at the office.

Roger tries to rekindle his affair with Joan.


SAT 23:15 Getting On (b00vnfgw)
Series 2

Episode 2

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.

With Den and Hilary flirting behind closed doors, an incident on the ward is all it takes to trigger the blame game. Pippa has good news on her faecal forum paper and the presence of Peter Healy lightens her mood. Paperwork and pragmatism once again prevail as the staff on B4 clockwatch their way through the day.


SAT 23:45 Ego: The Strange and Wonderful World of Self-Portraits (b00vngl0)
Art critic Laura Cumming takes a journey through more than five centuries of self-portraits and finds out how the greatest names in western art transformed themselves into their own masterpieces.

The film argues that self-portraits are a unique form of art, one that always reveals the truth of how artists saw themselves and how they wanted to be known to the world. Examining the works of key self-portraitists including Durer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Warhol, Laura traces the development of the genre, uncovering the strange and various ways artists have managed to get their inner and outer selves to match up.

Laura investigates the stories behind key self-portraits, interviews artists as they attempt a self-portrait, and shows how the history of the self-portrait is about more than how art and artists have changed, it also charts the evolution of the way we see ourselves and what it means to be human.

She also discusses Courbet with Julian Barnes, Rembrandt's theatricality with Simon Callow, and meets the contemporary artists Mark Wallinger and Patrick Hughes, observing the latter making his first ever self-portrait.


SAT 01:15 Solomon Burke: Everybody Needs Somebody (b0074scp)
Fifty years after his first record - Christmas Presents from Heaven, a song dedicated to his grandmother - sold a million copies, the late soul singer Solomon Burke's life story reads like the rollercoaster ride she predicted for him.

He was the 'wonder boy preacher' who had his own gospel radio show at the age of twelve, then had his early success blighted by a crooked manager - a descent that left him in the gutter, with a distrust of the music business that would never completely leave him.

A spell working for his aunt's funeral home, his unlikely qualification as a licensed mortician and his seduction back into recording by the promise of a red Lincoln Continental followed. Then came a record deal on Atlantic Records alongside his heroes Ivory Joe Hunter, Big Joe Turner and Ruth Brown, making hit records, only to have his business venture with label mates Wilson Pickett and Joe Tex sabotaged by the very record company he had helped keep afloat.

Paul Spencer's film follows his journey from a humble Philadelphia neighborhood to New York and Hollywood, and the music industry's highest accolades - induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a Grammy for his 2002 album Don't Give Up on Me. His music is traced back to its gospel roots and we learn how faith in God sustained him, his 21 children, 79 grandchildren and 17 great grand children, the family he thought he would never have.

Bill Wyman tells how the Rolling Stones covered three of his songs in their formative years, Tom Jones admits that, for him, Solomon left all the other soul singers in the shade, and Jools Holland explains how his powerful voice and magisterial presence guaranteed him appearances on Later and one of Jools's own records.


SAT 02:15 A History of the World (b00sj1pc)
The Clock That Changed the World

Adam Hart-Davis tells the story of the amazing 280-year-old wooden clock, made in Lincolnshire, that changed timekeeping for ever and helped solve the problem of how to navigate round the world.

Adam tells the amazing story of John Harrison and gets to grips with the clock in Leeds, helping to put it together and make it run. He also makes his own wooden clock to show how Harrison did it.

Adam takes to the sea at Hull to show why finding your position was so difficult in the 1700s and why sailors so often got it wrong, with tragic results. He shows how Harrison changed all that, eventually designing an incredibly accurate portable watch that Captain Cook took on his second voyage.

Bringing the story bang up to date, Adam shows how the idea of using time to find your position was key to Captain Cook, but is also at the heart of today's satellite navigation systems. On the way, he finds evidence of John Harrison and his brother James (also a joiner) round north Lincolnshire.


SAT 02:45 Johnny Kingdom's Year with the Birds (b00vnf8g)
Episode 1

Johnny Kingdom, gravedigger-turned-amateur filmmaker spends a year recording the bird life in and around his home on his beloved Exmoor.

Johnny has spent three years creating a wildlife habitat on his 52-acre patch of land on the edge of Exmoor. He's been busy nailing nest boxes on tree trunks, planting a wildflower meadow, dredging his pond, putting up remote cameras and wiring them up to a viewing station in his cabin on the land - all the time hoping against hope that not only will he attract new wildlife but also that he will be able to film it.

This year he is turning his attention to the bird life, hoping to follow some of the species he finds near his home and on his land, across the seasons. We see the transitions from the lovely autumn mists of the oak wood, through the sparkling snow-clad landscape of a north Devon winter, into spring's woodland carpet of bluebells and finally the golden glow of early summer.

The bulk of the series is from Johnny's own camera. Don't expect the Natural History Unit - instead expect passion, enthusiasm, humour and an exuberant love of the landscape and its wildlife.

The series begins at the end of autumn, with Johnny clearing out bird boxes and sorting out his new remote cameras in preparation for the winter. There are two birds in particular that he wants to film - the great spotted woodpecker and the wren. But the harsh winter looks as if it could spell trouble for the wrens and it will be spring before Johnny knows how well they have fared.

He has better luck with the woodpecker and eventually finds their roost. Meanwhile, at home, he struggles to get shots of a mistle thrush as his wife Julie and his neighbours disturb this shy bird as it feasts on a rowan tree.


SAT 03:15 Birds Britannia (b00vnf8d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



SUNDAY 07 NOVEMBER 2010

SUN 19:00 Time to Remember (b00vnfgr)
Nations at Play

Lesley Sharp narrates as original newsreel and 1950s voiceover are used to illustrate how Britons spent their leisure time during the first half of the 20th century. Includes footage of Henley regattas, frolics at the seaside, the Victorian fairground, horse riding in Hyde Park, Royal Ascot in 1919, Deauville in the 20s and the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley.


SUN 19:30 How Earth Made Us (b00qbvyc)
Deep Earth

Iain Stewart tells the epic story of how the planet has shaped our history. With spectacular images, surprising stories and a compelling narrative, the series discovers the central role played in human history by four different planetary forces.

In this first episode, Iain explores the relationship between the deep Earth and the development of human civilisation. He visits an extraordinary crystal cave in Mexico, drops down a hole in the Iranian desert and crawls through 7,000-year-old tunnels in Israel.

His exploration reveals that throughout history, our ancestors were strangely drawn to fault lines, areas which connect the surface with the deep interior of the planet. These fault lines gave access to important resources, but also brought with them great danger.


SUN 20:30 More Dawn French's Girls Who Do: Comedy (b0074sx8)
Series 1

Catherine Tate

Dawn French's celebration of female comic talent. Dawn talks to Catherine Tate about her life in comedy.


SUN 21:00 Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (b007bsm5)
Episode 1

Comedy series featuring Sue Townsend's classic diarist, Adrian Mole, now aged 31. The eve of the 1997 election finds Adrian trying to be a novelist while working as an offal chef, while love of his life Pandora Braithwaite is fighting a Tory stronghold for New Labour. But will both their ambitions be thwarted by their parents' middle-aged lust?


SUN 21:30 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00vttfv)
Alison Steadman

Mark Lawson talks to the much-loved actress Alison Steadman about her life and career. In this rare in-depth interview she explores her early gift for mimicry, passion for improvisation and her joy of working with some of the greatest writers in the country.

Steadman won over both theatre and television audiences alike as the grotesquely comic Essex hostess Beverly in Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party. Alongside her beloved Candice-Marie in Nuts in May, her propensity for sharp wit and characterisation soon established her as a rising star in British television. Steadman has gone on to draw accolades in every decade with standout performances in The Singing Detective, Pride and Prejudice, The Worst Week of My Life and, as another Essex icon, Pamela in Gavin and Stacey.


SUN 22:30 Play For Today (b0074n6r)
Series 8

Abigail's Party

Comedy of manners focusing on the bourgeois affectation and sexual frustration of a young married couple. Abigail's mother Sue is invited to take refuge from her teenage daughter's party with a neighbouring couple, Beverly and Laurence. They have also invited Angela and Tony, new arrivals in the street. Beverly plies her guests with alcohol as Sue becomes increasingly withdrawn and embarrassed by the pretentious goings-on. Slowly, marital tensions emerge and the evening is breaking up in disarray when Laurence collapses with a heart attack.


SUN 00:15 Sir John Dankworth at the BBC (b00tp21y)
With an introduction from his widow Dame Cleo Laine, this programme pays tribute to Sir John Dankworth, jazz musician, big band leader and composer for TV and film.

Featuring a wide variety of performances from the BBC archive, it includes John playing saxophone in the company of his hero Duke Ellington from Monitor 1958, an appearance with his orchestra at the Royal Variety Performance 1962, classic tracks from the series Jazz 625 including John's band accompanying Cleo Laine, and Cleo and John's 2007 performance on Later with Jools Holland.

Information captions give background details about the tunes played and John's illustrious career. John, who died in February 2010, was a pioneer of modern British jazz and an ambassador for all genres of British music.


SUN 01:15 Legends (b0087g6k)
The Dankworths

Profile of the husband and wife jazz duo Cleo Laine and the late John Dankworth. John was one of Britain's best-known jazz musicians, composers and commentators, and Cleo is a singer and actress who has done just about everything - together they performed everywhere from jazz clubs to the world's major concert halls and theatres.

For years they toured the world and became established as one of the most popular double acts in music. Over the years they developed the Stables Arts Centre in the grounds of their home in Wavendon, Buckinghamshire. The venue has been host to many world famous artistes, from Vladimir Ashkenazy to George Shearing, and some of today's top professional musicians and singers have benefited from its education projects in the early stages of their careers.

Both John and Cleo have been awarded numerous honorary doctorates and are great believers in musical education. To this end, the Wavendon Foundation was formed with the objective of raising funds to benefit both individual young artistes in need of financial aid and organisations seeking support for music education projects.

This documentary follows their progession from dance halls and jazz clubs to the world stage. Their ongoing story is documented with rich archive, rare stills, footage and recordings from their private collection (seen for the first time), interviews with family and friends, and unique musical performances throughout.


SUN 02:15 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00vttfv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:30 today]


SUN 03:15 How Earth Made Us (b00qbvyc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


SUN 04:15 Time to Remember (b00vnfgr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



MONDAY 08 NOVEMBER 2010

MON 19:00 World News Today (b00vtwnv)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Twitchers: A Very British Obsession (b00vnflv)
Every year, a secret tribe take to the roads of Britain. In the space of a few months they will drive thousands of miles and spend thousands of pounds in pursuit of their prey. Their aim is to see as many birds as possible, wherever that bird may be.

Welcome to the very competitive world of the twitcher - obsessives who'll stop at nothing to get their bird.


MON 20:30 Only Connect (b00vtwnx)
Series 4

Wrights vs Bloggers

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

In the second quarter-final, the Wright family of mum, dad and daughter return to pit their wits against a trio of committed bloggers who met on TV gossip forum sites.

They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random, from Unloose to Debone, Irregardless and Inflammable.


MON 21:00 Gods and Monsters: Homer's Odyssey (b00vtwnz)
Virginia Woolf said that Homer's epic poem the Odyssey was 'alive to every tremor and gleam of existence'. Following the magical and strange adventures of warrior king Odysseus, inventor of the idea of the Trojan horse, the poem can claim to be the greatest story ever told. Now British poet Simon Armitage goes on his own Greek adventure, following in the footsteps of one of his own personal heroes. Yet Simon ponders the question of whether he even likes the guy.


MON 22:00 On the Streets (b00vtwp1)
Filmmaker Penny Woolcock spent eight months in a parallel world, the world of the homeless, befriending people and finding out where they eat, sleep and socialise.

While making her film, Woolcock realised that the very real problems of homeless people have very little to do with the lack of a roof over their heads or a bed to sleep in. Their problems come from their past lives - and are less easy to remedy. Despite the efforts of different charities to move people into homes, the streets are often where they feel safe and what they know best.

In this moving documentary, Woolcock gives the seen-but-unheard residents of London's streets a voice.


MON 23:30 Gods and Monsters: Homer's Odyssey (b00vtwnz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 00:30 Europa Concert (b00vngmc)
The Berlin Philharmonic's visit to the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford on 1st May stands out as one of 2010's musical highlights.

The orchestra's annual Europa Concert celebrates their formation and each year takes place in a major European cultural centre. This year it was the turn of Oxford and the intimate surroundings of Sir Christopher Wren's Sheldonian Theatre.

Under the inspirational leadership of conductor Daniel Barenboim, the concert included a memorable performance of Brahms' First Symphony. But for many it was the inclusion of the Cello Concerto by Sir Edward Elgar that captured the imagination. It's a piece that, for British audiences, will forever be associated with Jacqueline du Pre, to whom Barenboim was married. It is performed here by the outstanding young American cellist Alisa Weilerstein.

Clemency Burton-Hill introduces the concert and talks to Barenboim and Weilerstein about their approach to performing Elgar.


MON 02:00 Twitchers: A Very British Obsession (b00vnflv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 03:00 Gods and Monsters: Homer's Odyssey (b00vtwnz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 09 NOVEMBER 2010

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00vtydm)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 The Sky at Night (b07gwxtj)
Ghostly Travellers

Comets are strange and exotic objects, the remnants from dead stars and the birth pangs of our solar system. Only a handful of these ghostly, celestial objects have been seen at close quarters. Sir Patrick Moore discusses NASA's EPOXI mission, which hopes to rendezvous with comet Hartley 2 on November 4th.


TUE 20:00 Britain's Best Drives (b00j6sjc)
Richard Wilson Learns to Drive

In preparation for a motor journey around Britain, Richard Wilson is put through his paces as he learns how to use a gear stick again, having driven only automatics for the past 30 years.

He drives classic cars, goes off-road, experiences the thrills and spills of the skidpan and gets a lesson in driving high performance cars from five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell.


TUE 20:30 Time to Remember (b00vtydp)
The Pursuit of Peace

Material from the 1950s newsreel documentary series Time to Remember tells the story of the struggle to maintain peace in the decades after the Great War. The politicians' high hopes for improved international relations through the League of Nations were gradually eroded by expansionism and aggression across the globe.

Includes footage of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles; the first Armistice Day parade in 1919; Ramsay MacDonald addressing the League of Nations in 1924; Neville Chamberlain's visits to Germany to negotiate with Hitler; the liberations of Rome and Paris in the summer of 1944; the signing of the German surrender in 1945; and the signing of the United Nations charter.


TUE 21:00 The Secret Life of the National Grid (b00vtydr)
Pulling the Plug

Miners, nuclear scientists, politicians, environmentalists and even the City have all wrestled for control of the national electricity grid and the power that it has brought.

The final film in this history of the grid charts how it has been the battleground for conflicts that have changed and shaped Britain. Key players from the miners' strikes reveal why the industrial action of the 70s and 80s had such different impacts on electricity supply. The film also uncovers how Britain lost her lead in the field of nuclear power.

Contributors include former conservative cabinet minister Lord Jenkin, author Will Self and veterans of all the different fuels. They examine the cost of our love affair with power and consider the perils of life without it.


TUE 22:00 Getting On (b00vtymj)
Series 2

Episode 3

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 has stepped in to cover a night shift and is looking forward to a quiet few hours, when a new admission and the surprise appearance of an emotional Den puts paid to any plans of a kip. With Dr Moore forced to divert from her regional sports awards dinner and attend an emergency a happy ending looks possible, but B4 isn't the sort of place where things run smoothly.


TUE 22:30 The Dinner Party (b007z9vk)
Black comedy drama that looks beneath the veneer of seemingly idyllic village life. Having made a fortune in the City, successful Roger and his wife, the Shrew, celebrate Roger's 43rd birthday with a dinner party for two other couples at their lavish home. While their old friends Jim and Juliet desperately aspire to a more prosperous lifestyle, village newcomers Leo and Jackie have their eyes opened to the hierarchy of the suburbs. As the evening progresses, greed and envy come to the fore.


TUE 23:30 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00vttfv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:30 on Sunday]


TUE 00:30 The Secret Life of the National Grid (b00vtydr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 01:30 Getting On (b00vtymj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 02:00 Time to Remember (b00vtydp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 02:30 The Sky at Night (b07gwxtj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 03:00 The Secret Life of the National Grid (b00vtydr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2010

WED 19:00 World News Today (b00vtz40)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 A History of the World (b00sj1yr)
Unlocking the Midlands

Chris Tarrant discovers how one simple invention revolutionised the industrial heart of Britain. He travels by narrow boat to see how the Brindley Lock created a canal network that would transform the Midlands from rural backwater to industrial giant.


WED 20:00 We Need Answers (b00qpkdd)
Series 2

Nature

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 spy and Good Housekeeping editor Aggie MacKenzie of How Clean Is Your House takes on fearless gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

The rules are simple - contestants must match their answer to the one given by a text answering service. Questions range from 'Can I donate my body to a zoo when I die?' to 'What's the ratio of tree to man in Sheffield?'.

In the cunning physical challenge which pits the contestants against each other, Aggie and Peter compete in a name-dropping contest - literally.


WED 20:30 Johnny Kingdom's Year with the Birds (b00vtz42)
Episode 2

Johnny Kingdom, gravedigger-turned-amateur film-maker spends a year recording the bird life in and around his home on his beloved Exmoor.

Johnny has spent three years creating a wildlife habitat on his 52-acre patch of land on the edge of Exmoor. He has been busy nailing nest boxes on tree trunks, planting a wildflower meadow, dredging his pond, putting up remote cameras and wiring them up to a viewing station in his cabin on the land - all the time hoping against hope that not only will he attract new wildlife but also that he will be able to film it.

This year he is turning his attention to the bird life, hoping to follow some of the species he finds near his home and on his land, across the seasons. We see the transitions from the lovely autumn mists of the oak wood, through the sparkling snow-clad landscape of a north Devon winter, into spring's woodland carpet of bluebells and finally the golden glow of early summer.

The bulk of the series is from Johnny's own camera. Do not expect the Natural History Unit - instead expect passion, enthusiasm, humour and an exuberant love of the landscape and its wildlife.

Spring has arrived and it is the busiest time of year for the birds. Johnny tries to film as many of them that are nesting on his land as he can. The great spotted woodpeckers have abandoned their roosting site and found a new tree to nest in, but with 20 acres of woodland Johnny will have his work cut out to find it.

He also fixes remote cameras in place to film the nests of bluetits, blackbirds and swallows, but a period of unusually hot weather spells disaster for some of them. On a happier note, Johnny is delighted when a pair of Canada geese nest on the island on his pond and hatch out five goslings.


WED 21:00 Birds Britannia (b00vv6vm)
Waterbirds

The British have always had a passion for waterbirds and the wild and lonely places where they live, but by destroying these vast wetlands we drove them to the brink of extinction. At the eleventh hour the tide turned, and instead of exploiting these birds we chose to protect them.


WED 22:00 Mad Men (b00vtz46)
Series 4

Hands and Knees

After the agency lands a contract with North American Aviation, Don and Betty are rattled when Department of Defence agents visit the Francis home as part of the security clearance process. Joan has some important news for Roger, and so does Lee Garner Jr. Lane's father is displeased when Lane expresses his feelings for an African-American waitress at the local Playboy Club.


WED 22:45 The Secret Life of the National Grid (b00vtydr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 23:45 Johnny Kingdom's Year with the Birds (b00vtz42)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 00:15 Birds Britannia (b00vv6vm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 01:15 A History of the World (b00sj1yr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 01:45 Getting On (b00vtymj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


WED 02:15 The Secret Life of the National Grid (b00vtydr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 03:15 Birds Britannia (b00vv6vm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2010

THU 19:00 World News Today (b00vv0cp)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Birds Britannia (b00vv6vm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


THU 20:30 The Pre-Raphaelites (b00lglxw)
Episode 3

Three-part 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 final part looks at how the Pre-Raphaelites had outgrown the avant-garde in their later years and began to embrace fame and fortune with art designed to please the masses. In so doing, they attained riches and celebrity and became the forefathers of the commercial modern artist.


THU 21:00 Battlefield Poet: Keith Douglas (b00vv0cr)
Documentary exploring the life and work of Keith Douglas, one of Britain's finest poets of the Second World War. Whilst the poets of 1914-18 are generally widely published, those writing during the Second World War are largely forgotten.

Poet Owen Sheers documents Douglas's extraordinary talents and combat experiences as a tank commander, from the epic battles of the Western Desert to his death in Normandy three days after D-Day.


THU 22:00 Wilfred Owen: A Remembrance Tale (b0088x0j)
Jeremy Paxman tells the tragic story of World War One poet Wilfred Owen. At a time of jingoism and wartime propaganda, one Shropshire lad was compelled to tell the truth. Jeremy Paxman travels to the battlefields of France to discover how the ugliest and most terrible arena imaginable gave birth to some of the most poignant and powerful poetry in the English language. Wilfred Owen is played by Samuel Barnett.


THU 23:00 Gods and Monsters: Homer's Odyssey (b00vtwnz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 00:00 Battlefield Poet: Keith Douglas (b00vv0cr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


THU 01:00 The Pre-Raphaelites (b00lglxw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


THU 01:30 On the Streets (b00vtwp1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]


THU 03:00 Birds Britannia (b00vv6vm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


THU 04:00 Battlefield Poet: Keith Douglas (b00vv0cr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2010

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00vv0zv)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Elgar: The Man Behind the Mask (b00vv0zx)
The composer of Land of Hope and Glory is often regarded as the quintessential English gentleman, but Edward Elgar's image of hearty nobility was deliberately contrived. In reality, he was the son of a shopkeeper, who was awkward, nervous, self-pitying and often rude, while his marriage to his devoted wife Alice was complicated by romantic entanglements which fired his creative energy.

In this revelatory portrait of a musical genius, John Bridcut explores the secret conflicts in Elgar's nature which produced some of Britain's greatest music.


FRI 21:00 Legends (b00vv0zz)
Roll over Beethoven - The Chess Records Saga

Chicago's Chess Records was one of the greatest labels of the post-war era, ranking alongside other mighty independents like Atlantic, Stax and Sun. From 1950 till its demise at the end of the 60s, Chess released a myriad of electric blues, rock 'n' roll and soul classics that helped change the landscape of black and white popular music.

Chess was the label that gave the world such sonic adventurers as Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf and Etta James. In this documentary to mark the label's 60th anniversary, the likes of Jimmy Page, Mick Hucknall, Public Enemy's Chuck D, Paul Jones and Little Steven, as well as those attached to the label such as founder's son Marshall Chess, pay tribute to its extraordinary music and influence.

The film reveals how two Polish immigrants, Leonard and Phil Chess, forged friendships with black musicians in late 1940s Chicago, shrewdly building a speciality blues label into a huge independent worth millions by the end of the 1960s. Full of vivid period detail, it places the Chess story within a wider social and historical context - as well as being about some of the greatest music ever recorded, it is, inevitably, about race in America during these tumultuous times.


FRI 22:00 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.


FRI 23:00 The Culture Show (b00vll85)
2010/2011

Keith Richards: A Culture Show Special

To mark the publication of Keith Richards' autobiography, Life, this Culture Show special looks at the life of the man with five strings and nine lives. In a candid interview he chats to Andrew Graham-Dixon about his childhood in Dartford, his passion for music and the decade that catapulted the Rolling Stones from back-room blues boys to one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands in the world.


FRI 00:00 Blues Britannia: Can Blue Men Sing the Whites? (b00kc752)
Documentary telling the story of what happened to blues music on its journey from the southern states of America to the heart of British pop and rock culture, providing an in-depth look at what this music really meant to a generation of kids desperate for an antidote to their experiences of living in post-war suburban Britain.

Narrated by Nigel Planer and structured in three parts, the first, Born Under a Bad Sign, focuses on the arrival of American blues in Britain in the late 50s and the first performances here by such legends as Muddy Waters, Sonnie Terry and Brownie McGhee.

Part two, Sittin' on Top of the World, charts the birth of the first British blues boom in the early 60s, spearheaded by the Rolling Stones and groups such as the Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, the Animals and the Pretty Things.

The final section, Crossroads, looks at the next, more hardcore British blues boom of the mid-to-late 60s, with guitarists Eric Clapton and Peter Green and the international dominance of their respective bands, Cream and Fleetwood Mac.

Featuring archive performances and interviews with Keith Richards, Paul Jones, Chris Dreja, Bill Wyman, Phil May, John Mayall, Jack Bruce, Mick Fleetwood, Ian Anderson, Tony McPhee, Mike Vernon, Tom McGuinness, Mick Abrahams, Dick Taylor, Val Wilmer, Chris Barber, Pete Brown, Bob Brunning, Dave Kelly and Phil Ryan.


FRI 01:30 Legends (b00vv0zz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:30 Elgar: The Man Behind the Mask (b00vv0zx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]