SATURDAY 28 JANUARY 2012

SAT 19:00 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01b4wmr)
The Great Dying

It is estimated that 99 per cent of species have become extinct, and there have been times when life's hold on earth has been so precarious it has seemed to hang on by a thread.

This series focuses on the survivors, the old-timers whose biographies stretch back millions of years, and who show how it is possible to survive a mass extinction event which wipes out nearly all of their neighbours. The Natural History Museum's Professor Richard Fortey discovers what allows the very few to carry on going - perhaps not forever, but certainly far beyond the life expectancy of normal species. What makes a survivor when all around drop like flies?

In the opening episode, Professor Fortey focuses on 'the great dying' - a series of cataclysms over a million-year period 250 million years ago.


SAT 20:00 Timewatch (b00sl29f)
Atlantis: The Evidence

Historian Bettany Hughes unravels one of the most intriguing mysteries of all time. She presents a series of geological, archaeological and historical clues to show that the legend of Atlantis was inspired by a real historical event, the greatest natural disaster of the ancient world.


SAT 21:00 Borgen (b01bfrvb)
Series 1

See No Evil, Hear No Evil Speak No Evil

When surveillance equipment is found in the offices of an extreme left-wing political party, it looks like the work of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service - but why? Illegal monitoring of a legal political party is a serious offence, and it quickly becomes clear that Birgitte and minister of justice Hoxenhaven have very different opinions of the case and its consequences. Birgitte's home life suffers from her absence. Katrine, who has otherwise been in good spirits, must make a difficult decision.


SAT 21:55 Borgen (b01bfrvh)
Series 1

The Silly Season

Danish drama series about the fight for political power - and the personal sacrifices and consequences this has for those involved on and behind the political stage.

It is summer, and not much is going on in parliament. Yet when Michael Laugesen announces that he has written a book - to be released in a few days - containing disclosures of all sorts from his years in politics, something happens. Kasper is forced to deal with people and events from his past which he has fought to put behind him. When Birgitte realises she must make an effort to win back her family life, she spontaneously plans a holiday for the whole family.


SAT 22:55 Top of the Pops (b01b4x1j)
20/01/77

From January 1977, Noel Edmonds introduces Slade, Jesse Green, Leo Sayer, Gary Glitter, Silver Connection, Donna Summer, Thin Lizzy, the Drifters and Legs and Co.


SAT 23:35 Airline: The Story of Pan Am (b017ctdh)
Documentary telling the story of how Pan American World Airways kickstarted the jet-age and shrank the globe. Real-life 'Pan Am girls' recall a high-life of luxury and glamour; rubbing shoulders with celebrity passengers, international romances and having to wear the now infamous girdle. Stars of the jet-age such as Robert Vaughn and Mary Quant remember the food, fashion and girls that made them regular Pan Am passengers.

Pan Am's success was largely due to its visionary founder Juan Trippe, who transformed a small mail carrier in to a global airline, pioneered flights for the masses and helped create the Boeing 747 jumbo jet.

Honor Blackman narrates the story of how Pan Am conquered the skies and left a legacy of affordable travel and a much smaller world.


SAT 00:35 Timeshift (b0094yzq)
Series 7

The Rise and Fall of the Ad Man

Cultural commentator Peter York takes a characteristically insightful and witty look at the changing fortunes of British advertising through the story of the personalities who led it through its highs and lows.

Inspired by the maverick US advertisers of Madison Avenue, a new generation of British ad men created a unique style of advertising based on authentic British culture. It tapped into home-grown humour and marketed itself as almost a branch of the arts. During the 1970s, British ads came to be regarded as the best in the world.

But as York shows, the same combination of ambition, big spending and oversized egos which fed British advertising's glorious rise also led to a disastrous fall when the business climate changed in the 1980s. Now the British ad man has had to reinvent himself for a new, global market.

York gets the extraordinary inside story from top British advertising figures past and present including Alan Parker, David Puttnam, Tim Bell, Frank Lowe and the most successful ad man in the world today, Martin Sorrell.


SAT 01:35 Timewatch (b00sl29f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 02:35 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01b4wmr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 03:35 Top of the Pops (b01b4x1j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:55 today]



SUNDAY 29 JANUARY 2012

SUN 19:00 Timeshift (b00nrtj6)
Series 9

The Last Days of the Liners

Documentary which tells the story of how, in the years following the Second World War, countries competed to launch the most magnificent passenger ships on the great ocean routes.

National pride and prestige were at stake. The Americans had the United States, the fastest liner of all; the Dutch had the elegant Rotterdam; the Italians had the sleek Michelangelo; the French had the France as their supreme symbol of national culture and cuisine; and Britain had the Queens Mary and Elizabeth.

The coming of the jetliner and the 1960s' assault on class and privilege might have swept this world away, but as the film explains, the giant vessels sailed on. Today, more people than ever travel on big ships - liners that have a modern take on glamour and romance.


SUN 20:00 Treasures of Chinese Porcelain (b015sttj)
In November 2010, a Chinese vase unearthed in a suburban semi in Pinner sold at auction for £43 million - a new record for a Chinese work of art. Why are Chinese vases so famous and so expensive? The answer lies in the European obsession with Chinese porcelain that began in the 16th century.

Lars Tharp, the Antiques Roadshow expert and Chinese ceramics specialist, sets out to explore why Chinese porcelain was so valuable then - and still is now. He goes on a journey to parts of China closed to western eyes until relatively recently. Lars travels to the mountainside from which virtually every single Chinese export vase, plate and cup began life in the 18th century - a mountain known as Mount Gaolin, from whose name we get the word kaolin, or china clay. He sees how the china clay was fused with another substance, mica, that would turn it into porcelain.

Carrying his own newly acquired vase, Lars uncovers the secrets of China's porcelain capital, Jingdezhen. He sees how the trade between China and Europe not only changed our idea of what was beautiful - by introducing us to the idea of works of art we could eat off - but also began to affect the whole tradition of Chinese aesthetics too, as the ceramicists of Jingdezhen sought to meet the European demand for porcelain decorated with family coats of arms, battle scenes or even erotica.

The porcelain fever that gripped Britain drove conspicuous consumption and fuelled the Georgian craze for tea parties. Today the new emperors - China's rising millionaire class - are buying back the export wares once shipped to Europe. The vase sold in Pinner shows that the lure of Chinese porcelain is as compelling as ever.


SUN 21:00 Flame and Citron (b01bh562)
Drama set in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen in 1944 about two resistance fighters. As the Danish resistance carries out dangerous guerrilla attacks on Nazi officers and occupying forces, hot-tempered Flame and cautious family man Citron face treachery from within their own ranks, coming to realise that they can only rely on each other.


SUN 23:05 Toni and Rosi (b01bfrxw)
Lives lived through music, lives saved by music.

Toni and Rosi Grunschlag were piano prodigies in Vienna in the 1920s. In this documentary made over ten years, they tell their story: of the German takeover of Austria; of being pushed out of their apartment by a local Nazi - 'He came with his concubine. They had a German shepherd dog and I can tell you he was the nicest of them'; and of escaping the Nazis together, fleeing to England and then the United States, where they forged a career as a two-piano team. Neither married, so they practised, performed and lived together for 80 years. 'There were suitors', says Rosi, 'But you have to be strong.'

In the apartment building in New York where they have lived since 1943 and in their summer home on Cape Cod they play and show how music saved them, inspired them, bound them together, and was their living. Rosi has advice for the young: 'When you have to run for your life, you leave everything behind. But your education is yours to keep. It is your transportable asset.'

It is an inspirational story of two talented, determined and funny women.


SUN 00:05 How the Brits Rocked America: Go West (b01b4x9g)
How the West Was Won

In the 1960s, arriving British groups were astounded by pizza, skyscrapers and real cowboys while America fell in love with a curious blend of swinging London and ye olde England.


SUN 01:10 The Beatles: The First US Visit (b00mq5bw)
The story of two remarkable weeks in 1964, when Beatlemania first ignited in America. From airport to hotel to TV studio, the pioneering Maysles brothers were at the Beatles' shoulders on their first US visit. The siblings filmed them off guard and off duty, in nightclubs, at photo shoots, press conferences, in limos and on trains. The footage includes a performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, when they played to 73 million television viewers, and their concert at the Washington Coliseum.


SUN 02:20 Electric Proms (b00850nd)
2007

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney performs a selection of old Beatles hits plus newer solo songs at the Roundhouse in London.


SUN 03:20 Vox Pop: How Dartford Powered the British Beat Boom (b017zwq8)
In the early 1960s British pop groups conquered the world. But as the Beatles, the Stones, the Shadows, the Dave Clark Five, the Yardbirds and many others took to the stage they had one thing in common - they shared the platform with Vox amplifiers. Some of the nation's top professional musicians including Queen's Brian May and Bruce Welch of the Shadows, along with the factory workers of the time, recount the story of how an unlikely small company in unglamorous Dartford hit the big time and defined the sound of the 60s in Britain. Presented by Iain Lee.



MONDAY 30 JANUARY 2012

MON 19:00 World News Today (b01bgndh)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 A Century of Fatherhood (b00sxgsl)
Fathers at War

Three-part series which tells the story of the revolution in modern fatherhood in Britain during the last hundred years. Using intimate testimony, rare archive and the latest historical research it reveals the very important, and often misunderstood, role played by fathers.

The Second World War took a generation of fathers away from home to serve in the war effort. They returned home strangers to their own families, some of them disabled and broken men. But in time many did adjust, and the deprivations of war made the simple pleasures of family life and fatherhood all the sweeter.

With the growing affluence of the 50s and 60s, some dads felt they were in paradise. Yet fathers soon found themselves fighting a new war - with their teenage sons and daughters, who wanted more freedom from parental control. Now, 50 years on, some of those teenagers desperately wish they had enjoyed a closer relationship with their fathers, but for most it is too late.


MON 20:30 Only Connect (b01bgndk)
Wall Night

Wall Night 2 - Part 1

Victoria Coren presents a special edition of the quiz show in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital. Eight seasoned Only Connect teams return to take part in a Connecting Wall mini-tournament.


MON 21:00 Lost Kingdoms of Africa (b01bgndm)
Series 2

The Kingdom of Asante

We know less about Africa's distant past than almost anywhere else on Earth. But the scarcity of written records doesn't mean that Africa lacks history - it is found instead in the culture, artefacts and traditions of the people. In this series, art historian Dr Gus Casely-Hayford explores some of the richest and most vibrant histories in the world, revealing fascinating stories of four complex and sophisticated civilisations: the Kingdom of Asante, the Zulu Kingdom, the Berber Kingdom of Morocco and the Kingdoms of Bunyoro & Buganda.

In this episode, Dr Casely-Hayford travels to Ghana in West Africa, where a powerful kingdom once dominated the region. Asante was built on gold and slaves, which ensured its important place in an economy that linked three continents. He reveals how this sophisticated kingdom emerged from the unlikely environment of dense tropical forest and how it was held together by a shared sense of tradition and history - one deliberately moulded by the kingdom's rulers.


MON 22:00 Only Connect (b01bgndp)
Wall Night

Wall Night 2 - Part 2

Victoria Coren presents a special edition of the quiz show in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital. The semi-finals and final of the mini-tournament featuring seasoned Only Connect teams, plus wall-solving tales from celebrity alumni.


MON 22:30 Timewatch (b00sl29f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


MON 23:30 Omnibus (b0074khb)
Eve Arnold - In Retrospect

Beeban Kidron's profile of the late photographer Eve Arnold, which examines her life and work as well as the changing role of photography during her career. Arnold also talks about some of her most famous subjects, such as Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford and Marilyn Monroe. Contributors include Anjelica Huston, Iman and Isabella Rossellini.


MON 00:25 Lost Kingdoms of Africa (b01bgndm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 01:25 Only Connect (b01bgndk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


MON 01:55 Only Connect (b01bgndp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 02:25 Jonathan Meades on France (b01b8zkw)
A Biased Anthology of Parisian Peripheries

France granted independence to its colonies in the 1960s. That, anyway, is the official line. In fact, through such agencies as Francophonie which notionally promotes the French language and the secretive Francafrique which wields influence throughout much of Africa, the French state is in reality still a colonial power.

Jonathan inspects the Parisian palaces of tyrannical dynasties, the sites of political murders and the village where the Ayatollah Khomeini lived in exile.


MON 03:25 Lost Kingdoms of Africa (b01bgndm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 31 JANUARY 2012

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b01bgnmn)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Climbing Great Buildings (b00ty5jl)
Liver Building

Dr Jonathan Foyle, architectural historian and novice climber, scales Britain's most iconic structures, from the Normans to the present day, to reveal the buildings' secrets and tell the story of how our architecture and construction has developed over 1,000 years.

The next step of Jonathan Foyle's journey takes him to the Liver Building in Liverpool. Built from 1908, this behemoth in concrete was Britain's first skyscraper that influenced buildings all over the world.

On his climbs Jonathan, aided by top climber Lucy Creamer, scales over 250 feet to reveal how this granite building isn't quite what it seems and investigates how a concrete boat paved the way for this immense skyscraper. He climbs up a disused lift shaft to literally get under the skin of this groundbreaking construction; comes face-to-face with the biggest clock in Britain; and tests the limits of his courage to traverse over a sheer drop of over 200 feet to get up close and personal with a couple of beautiful birds.


TUE 20:00 Botany: A Blooming History (b011wz4q)
Photosynthesis

The air we breathe, and all the food we eat, is created from water, sunlight, carbon dioxide and a few minerals. That's it, nothing else. It sounds simple, but this process is one of the most fascinating and complicated in all of science. Without it there could be no life on earth. It's that important.

For centuries people believed that plants grew by eating soil. In the 17th century, pioneer botanists began to make the connection between the growth of a plant and the energy from the sun. They discovered how plants use water, sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce sugars - how, in fact, a plant grows.

The process of photosynthesis is still at the heart of scientific research today. Universities across the world are working hard to replicate in the lab what plants do with ruthless efficiency. Their goal is to produce a clean, limitless fuel and if they get it right it will change all our lives.


TUE 21:00 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01bgnmq)
Fugitive from the Fire

It is estimated that 99 per cent of species have become extinct and there have been times when life's hold on Earth has been so precarious it seems it hangs on by a thread.

This series focuses on the survivors - the old-timers - whose biographies stretch back millions of years and who show how it is possible to survive a mass extinction event which wipes out nearly all of its neighbours. The Natural History Museum's professor Richard Fortey discovers what allows the very few to carry on going - perhaps not for ever, but certainly far beyond the life expectancy of normal species. What makes a survivor when all around drop like flies? Professor Fortey travels across the globe to find the survivors of the most dramatic of these obstacles - the mass extinction events.

In episode two, Fortey focuses on the 'KT boundary'. 65 million years ago, a 10km-diameter asteroid collided with the Earth and saw the end of the long reign of the dinosaurs. He investigates the lucky breaks and evolutionary adaptations that allowed some species to survive the disastrous end of the Cretaceous Age when these giants did not.


TUE 22:00 The World Against Apartheid: Have You Heard from Johannesburg? (b01bgnms)
Fair Play

Ten years in the making, this series explores how a violent and racist government was destroyed by the concerted efforts of men and women working on multiple fronts inside and outside South Africa for more than three decades. Featuring archive of the struggle never seen before on television and interviews with the major players, it is one of the most fascinating stories of the last century.

This second episode looks at how athletes and activists around the world hit white South Africa where it hurts - on the playing field. Knowing that fellow blacks in South Africa were denied even the most basic human rights, let alone the right to participate in international sports competitions, African nations refused to compete with all-white South African teams, boycotting the Olympics and eventually creating a worldwide media spectacle that forced the International Olympic Committee to ban apartheid teams from future games. By the 1970s, only South Africa's world champion rugby team remained, and citizens across the world took to the fields to close the last door on apartheid sports.


TUE 23:00 Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life (b00hd5mf)
David Attenborough is a passionate Darwinian, and sees evolution as the cornerstone of all the programmes and series he has ever made. Here, he shares his personal view on Darwin's controversial idea. Taking us on a journey through the last 200 years, he tracks the changes in our understanding of the natural world. Ever since Darwin, major scientific discoveries have helped to underpin and strengthen Darwin's revolutionary idea so that today, the pieces of the puzzle fit together so neatly that there can be little doubt that Darwin was right. As David says: 'Now we can trace the ancestry of all animals in the tree of life and demonstrate the truth of Darwin's basic proposition. All life is related.'

David asks three key questions: how and why did Darwin come up with his theory of evolution? Why do we think he was right? And why is it more important now than ever before?

David starts his journey in Darwin's home at Down House in Kent, where Darwin worried and puzzled over the origins of life. He goes back to his roots in Leicestershire, where he hunted for fossils as a child and where another schoolboy unearthed a significant find in the 1950s, and he revisits Cambridge University, where both he and Darwin studied and where many years later the DNA double helix was discovered, providing the foundations for genetics.

At the end of his journey in the Natural History Museum in London, David concludes that Darwin's great insight revolutionised the way in which we see the world. We now understand why there are so many different species, and why they are distributed in the way they are. But above all, Darwin has shown us that we are not set apart from the natural world and do not have dominion over it. We are subject to its laws and processes, as are all other animals on earth to which, indeed, we are related.


TUE 00:00 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01bgnmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 01:00 Botany: A Blooming History (b011wz4q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 02:00 The World Against Apartheid: Have You Heard from Johannesburg? (b01bgnms)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 03:00 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01bgnmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 01 FEBRUARY 2012

WED 19:00 World News Today (b01bgnsx)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Climbing Great Buildings (b00ty5r3)
Coventry Cathedral

Dr Jonathan Foyle, architectural historian and novice climber, scales Britain's most iconic structures, from the Normans to the present day, to reveal the buildings' secrets and tell the story of how our architecture and construction have developed over 1,000 years.

The next step of Jonathan Foyle's journey takes him to Coventry Cathedral. Built in 1955 after the original cathedral was bombed in the war, this modernist masterpiece came to symbolise the hope and rebirth of a nation.

Jonathan, aided by top climber Lucy Creamer, abseils 295 feet between the ruins of the old and new cathedrals to explore how Basil Spence's experiences fighting on the beaches of Normandy shaped his design for the cathedral. On his climbs throughout the building, Jonathan scales the cathedral's immense etched window that utilised the most cutting-edge techniques in its creation and reveals why it's called the west window when it sits in the south of the building. He discovers a world-record-breaking 74-foot-high tapestry that weighs nearly three quarters of a ton and incorporates 1,000 different shades of wool, and reveals how a trip to the dentist defined one of Coventry's most striking features.


WED 20:00 High Flyers: How Britain Took to the Air (b00nnlz3)
Documentary which tells the story of the golden age of British aviation and of how the original 'jet set' shaped air travel for generations to come. In Britain in the 1920s and '30s a revolution took place that would change forever our perspective on the world. While the country was in the grip of recession, dashing pilots and daring socialites took to the air, pushed back boundaries and forged new links across the globe. The era of commercial air travel was born.


WED 21:00 Jonathan Meades on France (b01b1l63)
Just a Few Debts France Owes to America

'Go home yankee - but take me with you.' The French delude themselves that they are indifferent towards the USA, yet all around them there is blatant evidence of the country's cultural indebtedness to American architecture, American sprawl, American music and American fast food. The Atlantic coast of western France might be the Atlantic coast of the eastern United States. A sort of road movie that contains scenes of musical embarrassment, so be prepared to wince.


WED 22:00 Outnumbered (b015fbr4)
Series 4

Episode 5

Mum is still convinced Jake has a secret, while Ben is determined to enter a school talent competition with an unusual double act. Then a couple of surprise callers make life more difficult than usual for the family.


WED 22:30 Twenty Twelve (b0109dvv)
Series 1

Episode 5

There are only three applicants for the post of Curator of the Cultural Olympiad, so how difficult can it be to select the best candidate? As Ian Fletcher and his team find out, it is almost impossible. As if that wasn't enough, their ultimate boss, Sebastian Coe, has decided that it would be good for the profile of Twenty Twelve if members of the team entered the London Marathon.

As the pressure on Ian as Head of Deliverance gradually increases, the cracks in his marriage are starting to get wider and wider. Could this possibly mean that the secret hopes of his ever-loyal PA Sally might one day move closer to fulfilment?


WED 23:00 Arena (b01bpccn)
Dennis Potter

1987 edition in which Alan Yentob interviews TV dramatist Dennis Potter about his work through the years, touching on subjects such as why and how he started writing, his sense of being different as a child, the insularity of his past in Forest of Dean, starting at the BBC in 1959 and a failed attempt at going into politics.


WED 00:00 Borgen (b01bfrvb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


WED 00:55 Borgen (b01bfrvh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:55 on Saturday]


WED 01:55 Outnumbered (b015fbr4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


WED 02:25 Twenty Twelve (b0109dvv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]


WED 02:55 Jonathan Meades on France (b01b1l63)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 02 FEBRUARY 2012

THU 19:00 World News Today (b01bgpm3)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b01bgpm5)
27/01/77

From January 1977, Tony Blackburn introduces David Parton, the New Seekers, the Brothers, Mr Big, Andy Fairweather-Low, Barry Biggs, Status Quo and Julie Covington. Dance sequence from Legs and Co.


THU 20:00 Horizon (b00vv0w8)
2010-2011

Asteroids - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Famed for their ability to inflict Armageddon from outer space, asteroids are now revealing the secrets of how they are responsible for both life and death on our planet.

Armed with an array of powerful telescopes, scientists are finding up to 3,000 new asteroids every night. And some are heading our way.

But astronomers have discovered that it's not the giant rocks that are the greatest danger - it's the small asteroids that pose a more immediate threat to Earth.

Researchers have explained the photon propulsion that send these rocks across space, and have discovered that some asteroids are carrying a mysterious cargo of frost and ice across the solar system that could have helped start life on Earth.


THU 21:00 Bullets, Boots and Bandages: How to Really Win at War (b019jsls)
Staying Alive

Military historian Saul David explores how wars are really fought - in the backroom of military planning. He begins by looking at how to keep an army fed and housed.


THU 22:00 The Singing Detective (b0074qxt)
Skin

Dennis Potter's classic drama serial with music. Pulp thriller writer Philip Marlow is in hospital with the skin complaint psoriasis, tormented by his past and threatened by his future. His memories, his 1930s-style gumshoe fiction and his disease weave him an altered reality.


THU 23:10 Lost Kingdoms of Africa (b01bgndm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 00:10 Top of the Pops (b01bgpm5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 00:50 Bullets, Boots and Bandages: How to Really Win at War (b019jsls)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


THU 01:50 Climbing Great Buildings (b00ty5r3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 on Wednesday]


THU 02:20 Horizon (b00vv0w8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 03:20 Bullets, Boots and Bandages: How to Really Win at War (b019jsls)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 03 FEBRUARY 2012

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b01bgql9)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Masterworks: Six Pieces of Britain (b0077t05)
William Walton - Belshazzar's Feast

Michael Berkeley looks at William Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, the first commission given by the BBC to a British composer. It is put in the context of Walton's life, from the industrial town of Oldham to the Italian island of Ischia, and ends with a performance in Leeds Town Hall.


FRI 20:45 Walton at the Proms (b01bpl8r)
Two highlights of William Walton's music performed at the BBC Proms. Marking the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002 is Walton's Anniversary Fanfare and the march Orb and Sceptre, played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin. From 2007, in a Prom celebrating music from great British films, comes the score Battle in the Air from the film Battle of Britain, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra under the baton of John Wilson.


FRI 21:00 How the Brits Rocked America: Go West (b01bgqlc)
Stairway to Heaven

The second part of a series celebrating the success of British rock in America looks at how Led Zeppelin spearheaded a British stadium rock assault on the States in the 70s. The Beatles gave the world a glimpse of the future of rock at Shea Stadium in 1965, but it would be Page, Plant and co who would take it to the bank.

With contributions from Paul McCartney and Jimmy Page.


FRI 22:00 The Making of Elton John: Madman Across the Water (b00vs4yv)
Documentary exploring Elton John's childhood, apprenticeship in the British music business, sudden stardom in the US at the dawn of the 70s and his musical heyday. Plus the backstory to the album reuniting him with Leon Russell, his American mentor. Features extensive exclusive interviews with Elton, plus colleagues and collaborators including Bernie Taupin, Leon Russell and others.


FRI 23:00 Elton John at the BBC (b00vs5c0)
Elton John's career tracked in archive from performances, interviews and news clips.


FRI 00:00 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 00:55 How the Brits Rocked America: Go West (b01bgqlc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 01:55 The Making of Elton John: Madman Across the Water (b00vs4yv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 02:55 Elton John at the BBC (b00vs5c0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]


FRI 03:55 Classic Albums (b00vlq0y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:00 today]