SATURDAY 02 JUNE 2012

SAT 19:00 Talk at the BBC (b01f16qk)
Episode 2

Funny, surreal and extraordinary - extracts from interviews broadcast on the BBC from the 1950s to the 1970s, arguably the golden age of conversation.


SAT 20:00 Lost Kingdoms of Africa (b01cc84j)
Series 2

Bunyoro & Buganda

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.

Casely-Hayford travels to Uganda to explore the rise and fall of two great kingdoms. For centuries Bunyoro was the region's dominant power, using history and mythology to make a claim on the land. But its position was challenged by the rapid rise of Buganda, a neighbouring kingdom that had once been a collection of cultivators on the shores of Lake Victoria. Casely-Hayford goes in search of the fascinating reasons for the dramatic reversal of fortunes, and how one kingdom used the arrival of Europeans to its own advantage.


SAT 21:00 Den fördömde (b01jmq9q)
Sebastian Bergman

The Cursed One: Part 2

Back in Stockholm, Bergman attempts to get his life back in order, with a surprise discovery giving him a new lease of life. He starts to deal with his sexual addiction and tries to get back into work. When the Stockholm CID realise they have a serial killer on their hands, Bergman insists they hire him to help out.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 American Nomads (b01777fp)
Beneath the America we think we know lies a nation hidden from view - a nomadic nation, living on the roads, the rails and in the wild open spaces. In its deserts, forests, mountain ranges and on the plains, a huge population of modern nomads pursues its version of the American dream - to live free from the world of careers, mortgages and the white picket fence.

When British writer Richard Grant moved to the USA more than 20 years ago, it wasn't just a change of country. He soon found himself in a world of travellers and the culture of roadside America - existing alongside, but separate from, conventional society. In this film, he takes to the road again, on a journey without destination.

In a series of encounters and unplanned meetings, Richard is guided by his own instincts and experiences - and the serendipity of the road. Travelling with loners and groups, he encounters the different 'tribes' of nomads as he journeys across the deserts of America's south west.


SAT 00:00 Top of the Pops (b01jcf5f)
19/05/77

David 'Kid' Jensen looks at the weekly pop chart from 1977 and introduces Suzi Quatro, Linda Lewis, Carole Bayer Sager, Tony Etoria, the Jacksons, the Jam, the Bay City Rollers, Joe Tex, Joy Sarney and Rod Stewart, with a dance sequence from Legs & Co.


SAT 00:40 Disco at the BBC (b01cqt74)
A foot-stomping return to the BBC vaults of Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Later with Jools as the programme spins itself to a time when disco ruled the floor, the airwaves and our minds. The visual floorfillers include classics from luminaries such as Chic, Labelle and Rose Royce to glitter ball surprises by The Village People.


SAT 01:40 Lost Kingdoms of Africa (b01cc84j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 02:40 Talk at the BBC (b01f16qk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 03 JUNE 2012

SUN 19:00 Dinosaurs, Myths and Monsters (b014lsgb)
From dinosaurs to mammoths, when our ancient ancestors encountered the fossil bones of extinct prehistoric creatures, what did they think they were? Just like us, ancient peoples were fascinated by the giant bones they found in the ground.

In an epic story that takes us from Ancient Greece to the American Wild West, historian Tom Holland goes on a journey of discovery to explore the fascinating ways in which our ancestors sought to explain the remains of dinosaurs and other giant prehistoric creatures, and how bones and fossils have shaped and affected human culture.

In Classical Greece, petrified bones were exhibited in temples as the remains of a long-lost race of colossal heroes. Chinese tales of dragons may well have had their origins in the great fossil beds of the Gobi desert. In the Middle Ages, Christians believed that mysterious bones found in rock were the remains of giants drowned in Noah's Flood.

But far from always being wrong, Tom learns that ancient explanations and myths about large fossilsed bones often contained remarkable paleontological insights long before modern science explained the truth about dinosaurs. Tom encounters a medieval sculpture that is the first known reconstruction of a monster from a fossil, and learns about the Native Americans stories, told for generations, which contained clues that led bone hunters to some of the greatest dinosaur finds of the nineteenth century.

This documentary is an alternative history of dinosaurs - the neglected story of how mythic imagination and scientific inquiry have met over millennia to give meaning to the dry bones of prehistory. Today, as our interest in dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures continues unabated, it turns out we are not so far away from the awe and curiosity of our ancient ancestors.


SUN 20:00 The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Computer (b01hlkcq)
In 1901, a group of divers excavating an ancient Roman shipwreck near the island of Antikythera, off the southern coast of Greece, found a mysterious object - a lump of calcified stone that contained within it several gearwheels welded together after years under the sea. The 2,000-year-old object, no bigger than a modern laptop, is now regarded as the world's oldest computer, devised to predict solar eclipses and, according to recent findings, calculate the timing of the ancient Olympics. Following the efforts of an international team of scientists, the mysteries of the Antikythera Mechanism are uncovered, revealing surprising and awe-inspiring details of the object that continues to mystify.


SUN 21:00 The Elgin Marbles (b0078r2l)
Drama-documentary in which art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon tells the story of the greatest cultural controversy of the last 200 years. He explores the history of the Elgin Marbles, tells the dramatic story of their removal from Athens and cites the arguments for and against their return to Greece.


SUN 22:30 Delphi: The Bellybutton of the Ancient World (b00w4jtx)
What really went on at the ancient Greek oracle at Delphi, how did it get its awesome reputation and why is it still influential today?

Michael Scott of Cambridge University uncovers the secrets of the most famous oracle in the ancient world. A vital force in ancient history for a thousand years, it is now one of Greece's most beautiful tourist sites, but in its time it has been a gateway into the supernatural, a cockpit of political conflict, and a beacon for internationalism. And at its heart was the famous inscription which still inspires visitors today - 'Know Thyself'.


SUN 23:30 Punk Britannia (p00s81jz)
Pre-Punk 1972-1976

Narrated by Peter Capaldi, this opener of a three-part documentary series in BBC FOUR's celebrated 'Britannia' strand is scheduled to chime with the 35th anniversary of the Queen's Silver Jubilee and the arrival of punk as national and then international music culture. The film explores the road to punk in Britain, which begins in the early 70s with a young generation already conscious that they have 'missed the 60s party' and are stuck in a Britain heading for economic woes and dwindling opportunities. Meanwhile the music of the day - prog and super rock - seems to ask not for their interest and involvement, but only their awe and their money.

But before the punk generation finally arises to have its say during 1976 come a group of pub rockers, a generation of bands sandwiched between 60s hippies and mid-70s punks who will help pave the way towards the short, sharp shock of punk, only to be elbowed aside by the emergence of the Sex Pistols, the Clash et al.

An unlikely cast of characters set the scene for punk in early 70s Britain. Reacting against overblown super rock of the day and the glam their younger sisters like on Top of the Pops, pub rock set the template for punk. Small venues, fast retro rock 'n' roll and bags of attitude typified bands like Dr Feelgood, Ducks Deluxe, Kilburn and the High Roads and Eddie and the Hotrods. These bands engendered a small London scene which is sometimes forgotten and helped define the Pistols, the Clash and the Damned, both positively and negatively.

Featuring copious unseen archive footage and interviews with John Lydon, Paul Weller, Mick Jones, Wilko Johnson, Nick Lowe, Adam Ant, Brian James and many more.


SUN 00:30 Evidently... John Cooper Clarke (b01jcdbc)
Documentary which records and celebrates the life and works of 'punk poet' John Cooper Clarke, looking at his life as a poet, a comedian, a recording artist and revealing how he has remained a significant influence on contemporary culture over four decades.

With a bevy of household names from stand-up comedy, lyricists, rock stars and cultural commentators paying homage to him, the film reveals Salford-born Cooper Clarke as a dynamic force who remains as relevant today as ever, as successive generations cite him as an influence on their lives, careers and styles.

From Bill Bailey to Plan B, Steve Coogan to Kate Nash and Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner to cultural commentators such as Miranda Sawyer and Paul Morley, the film reveals the life behind one of Britain's sharpest and most witty poets - a national treasure.


SUN 01:30 We Who Wait: TV Smith & the Adverts (b01jch17)
We Who Wait tells the story of punk band the Adverts and the continuing music career of their former frontman TV Smith, one of the most talented, literate and passionate - yet curiously overlooked - songwriters to emerge from London's vibrant '77 new wave scene.

Smith formed the Adverts in late '76 with his girlfriend Gaye and press criticism of the band's alleged musical ineptitude was answered by a defiant and iconic debut single, One Chord Wonders. A couple of months later, they secured their first chart hit with the macabre punk classic, Gary Gilmore's Eyes. Gaye's status as reluctant punk icon ensured the band received a lot of press attention and a promising future beckoned. However, after a well-received but underperforming debut LP and a critically-reviled follow-up, the Adverts suffered an acrimonious collapse.

Pushed to the margins of the music industry by shifting musical trends and a stubborn refusal to compromise, Smith nonetheless continued a dogged struggle to make a living as a singer and songwriter in the face of critical hostility and industry indifference. After years of bad luck, personal loss and failed bands, Smith's persistence is finally paying dividends. He has carved out a career as a solo artist and troubadour and painstakingly built a new audience through constant touring. To this day, he remains a fiercely inventive songwriter and an electrifying live performer - an enduring embodiment of punk's DIY ethos, passion and power.

The film is a testament to one of UK music's great outsiders, featuring a wealth of stills and archive footage and contributions from former band members, collaborators, critics and friends including Smith and Gaye Advert, Brian James, Richard Strange, John Robb, Greil Marcus, Miles, Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye and many others.


SUN 02:30 The Elgin Marbles (b0078r2l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



MONDAY 04 JUNE 2012

MON 19:00 On Film (b012znnw)
Highlands on Film

From crofters, mountains and midges to hunting, whisky and the Highland Games, key archive gems from newsreel and documentary collections combine to create a portrait of the region and its people.


MON 19:30 Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury (b011g6dw)
The Llangollen Canal

Seasoned stomper Julia Bradbury dons her walking boots once again to explore her own British backyard, travelling along the country's network of canals and their accompanying towpath trails. This sees her navigating Highland glens, rolling countryside and river valleys, as well as our industrial heartlands, following these magical waterways as they cut a sedate path through some of the country's finest scenery.

Julia's final walk takes her to north Wales, where 200 years ago the great engineer Thomas Telford had to overcome seemingly impossible challenges in order to access the valuable slate industries of Snowdonia. In doing so, he created a masterpiece of 19th-century engineering - an aqueduct 126 feet high and spanning 1,000 feet across the Vale of Llangollen. To find out why it has become a world heritage site, Julia follows the cut of the Llangollen Canal, starting at the picturesque Horseshoe Falls. Her six-mile walk takes her along the winding Dee Valley, ending on the aqueduct that Telford described as 'a stream through the skies'.


MON 20:00 The Lighthouse Stevensons (b00y6hym)
The story of the remarkable family who tamed the wild Scottish coastline, told 200 years after the building of their first iconic lighthouse, the Bell Rock.


MON 21:00 The Horizon Guide to Pandemic (b00m3z7w)
In the wake of the swine flu outbreak, virologist Dr Mike Leahy uses over 50 years of BBC archive to explore the history of pandemics - infectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites.

Inspired by the Horizon back catalogue, he tells the extraordinary story of smallpox, one of the most violent killers in history, as well as the success of mass vaccination and the global politics of malaria. Through the lens of television the programme charts our scientific progress from the early steps in understanding AIDS to the code-cracking of SARS and deadly predictions of bird flu.

Each pandemic episode tells us something about the world and our place within it. In his journey through the ages Dr Leahy charts science's ongoing battle with nature and questions which one is winning.


MON 22:00 Storyville (b01jrlsf)
Surviving Progress

Documentary telling the double-edged story of the grave risks we pose to our own survival in the name of progress. With rich imagery the film connects financial collapse, growing inequality and global oligarchy with the sustainability of mankind itself. The film explores how we are repeatedly destroyed by 'progress traps' - alluring technologies which serve immediate need but rob us of our long term future. Featuring contributions from those at the forefront of evolutionary thinking such as Stephen Hawking and economic historian Michael Hudson. With Martin Scorsese as executive producer, the film leaves us with a challenge - to prove that civilisation and survival is not the biggest progress trap of them all.


MON 23:25 The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (b01jcf5h)
Documentary about the greatest public ceremony of the twentieth century. As well as recounting the events of Coronation Day, 2nd June 1953, the film focuses on the months of meticulous planning beforehand. What took place behind the scenes is told using diaries, letters, official records and government papers, together with much rare, evocative archive. There are interviews with historians and experts on royal ceremonial as well as participants in the ceremony.

The Coronation was an immense challenge - the views of forceful personalities from die-hard traditionalists to forward-thinking innovators had to be reconciled, the movements of thousands had to be marshalled like clockwork, and the BBC had to mount its most ambitious television outside broadcast to date in the teeth of prime minister Winston Churchill's opposition. At the centre of it all was the 27-year-old Queen, bearing an immense responsibility while remaining apparently calm and unperturbed throughout.

This is a story of precision planning, last minute nerves and an ancient ceremony which brought together church, state, aristocracy and monarchy in a glorious panoply - the like of which will never be seen again.


MON 00:55 On Film (b012znnw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:25 Canal Walks with Julia Bradbury (b011g6dw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 01:55 The Horizon Guide to Pandemic (b00m3z7w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 02:55 Storyville (b01jrlsf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



TUESDAY 05 JUNE 2012

TUE 19:00 Timeshift (b017zqw8)
Series 11

The Golden Age of Trams: A Streetcar Named Desire

Move along the car! Timeshift takes a nostalgic trip on the tram car and explores how it liberated overcrowded cities and launched the era of the commuter. The film maps the tram's journey from early horse-drawn carriages on rails, through steam, and to electric power.

Overhead wires hung over Britain's towns and cities for nearly 50 years from the beginning of the 20th century until they were phased out everywhere except Blackpool. Manchester, the last city to lose its trams was, however, among the first to reintroduce them as the solution to modern-day traffic problems.

The film includes a specially recorded reading by Alan Bennett of his short story Leeds Trams, and contributions from Ken Dodd and Roy Hattersley.


TUE 20:00 The Grammar School: A Secret History (b0192q6y)
Episode 1

The British grammar schools provided five consecutive prime ministers as well as many high fliers in industry, science and the arts. Yet at the height of their success they were phased out.

Featuring David Attenborough and Joan Bakewell amongst many others, this two-part series uses personal stories and rare archive footage to reveal the secret history of some of Britain's most successful schools, whose aim was to give the very best education to talented children - whatever their background.


TUE 21:00 Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls (b01jmt5t)
Act Three: At Work and At Play

Lucy Worsley explores the lives of some of the most remarkable women of the age, including writers, actresses, travellers and scientists.

Against a backdrop of religious and political turmoil, the rise of print culture, the rapid growth of London, the burgeoning scientific revolution and the country's flourishing trading empire, she meets a host of female mavericks who took advantage of the extraordinary changes afoot to challenge the traditional male bastions of society.

Women like Nell Gwyn, the most famous of a new generation of actresses; Aphra Behn, the first professional female writer; and Christian Davies, who disguised herself as a man to fight as a soldier - all of them gained notoriety and celebrity, challenging the inequalities of the age. As Lucy discovers, these women's attitudes, ambitions and achievements were surprisingly modern.


TUE 22:00 10 Things You Didn't Know About... (b008pr87)
Tsunamis

Iain Stewart journeys across the oceans to explore the most powerful giant waves in history, with ten remarkable stories about tsunamis.

These massive waves can be taller than the biggest skyscraper, travel at the speed of a jet plane and when they reach land, rear up and turn into a terrifying wall of water that destroys everything in its path. These unstoppable, uncontrollable forces of nature caused the ruin of an entire ancient civilization, may have played a small part in the demise of the dinosaurs, and in World War II were used as a weapon. Yet astonishingly, two men who surfed the tallest wave in history - half a kilometre high - survived.


TUE 23:00 Den fördömde (b01jmq9q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


TUE 00:30 The Grammar School: A Secret History (b0192q6y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 01:30 Timeshift (b017zqw8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:30 10 Things You Didn't Know About... (b008pr87)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 03:30 Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls (b01jmt5t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 06 JUNE 2012

WED 19:00 World News Today (b01jljfg)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00xhy37)
Series 2

Llanwrst to Porthmadog

Michael Portillo explores the Conwy valley, stopping at Britain's first artists' colony at Betws-y-Coed, visiting the Victorian slate capital of Blaenau Ffestiniog and taking a steam train down to the harbour at Porthmadog.


WED 20:00 The Secret Life of Ice (b016fpyy)
Ice is one of the strangest, most beguiling and mesmerising substances in the world. Full of contradictions, it is transparent, yet it can glow with colour, it is powerful enough to shatter rock, but it can melt in the blink of an eye. It takes many shapes, from the fleeting beauty of a snowflake to the multimillion-tonne vastness of a glacier and the eeriness of the ice fountains of far-flung moons.

Science writer Dr Gabrielle Walker has been obsessed with ice ever since she first set foot on Arctic sea ice. In this programme, she searches out some of the secrets hidden deep within the ice crystal to try to discover how something so ephemeral has the power to sculpt landscapes, to preserve our past and inform our future.


WED 21:00 The Secrets of Scott's Hut (b010n2lm)
Ben Fogle joins an expedition across Antarctica to find Captain Scott's hut, frozen in time for a century. The hut was built to support Scott's 1911 attempt to be first to the South Pole, and was later abandoned together with 10,000 personal, everyday and scientific items.

Ben uncovers the hut and its contents, finding new information about his hero Scott and his famously tragic expedition. Scott's diaries are read by Kenneth Branagh.


WED 22:30 Natural World (b0078zwl)
2005-2006

Penguins of the Antarctic

Antarctica's penguins are some of the most endearing animals on earth, but behind the comical behaviour is a continual struggle to survive the deadly cold. Each penguin has its own strategy - some rely on thick down coats and fat reserves, others migrate north for the winter or stay on volcano-heated islands. Life in the freezer is getting even tougher as Antarctica's climate starts to change. The ice-loving Emperor penguins may be the first to lose out, but their cousins, the King penguins, are waiting in the wings to take over. All penguins must draw on their ability to defy the odds if they are to survive their greatest challenge yet.


WED 23:20 Timeshift (b016pwgw)
Series 11

Of Ice and Men

Timeshift reveals the history of the frozen continent, finding out why the most inhospitable place on the planet has exerted such a powerful hold on the imagination of explorers, scientists, writers and photographers.

Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest place on the globe. Only a handful of people have experienced its desolate beauty, with the first explorers setting foot here barely a hundred years ago.

From the logbooks of Captain Cook to the diaries of Scott and Shackleton, from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner to HP Lovecraft, it is a film about real and imaginary tales of adventure, romance and tragedy that have played out against a stark white backdrop.

We relive the race to the Pole and the 'Heroic Age' of Antarctic exploration, and find out what it takes to survive the cold and the perils of 'polar madness'. We see how Herbert Ponting's photographs of the Scott expedition helped define our image of the continent and find out why the continent witnessed a remarkable thaw in Russian and American relations at the height of the Cold War.

We also look at the intriguing story of who actually owns Antarctica and how science is helping us reimagine a frozen wasteland as something far more precious.

Interviewees include Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Francis Spufford, Huw Lewis-Jones, Sara Wheeler, Henry Worsley, Prof David Walton and Martin Hartley.


WED 00:20 Great British Railway Journeys (b00xhy37)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 00:50 The Secret Life of Ice (b016fpyy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 01:50 The Secrets of Scott's Hut (b010n2lm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 03:20 Natural World (b0078zwl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]



THURSDAY 07 JUNE 2012

THU 19:00 World News Today (b01jljg0)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 The Sky at Night (b0816dgx)
Juice

A European mission called JUICE has been announced which will visit Jupiter and its fascinating moons Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. Sir Patrick Moore finds out why these icy moons may harbour conditions suitable for life, and also the latest news from the Cassini mission, currently sending back astounding images from Saturn.


THU 20:00 Wonders of the Solar System (b00rf172)
Original Series

Empire of the Sun

Professor Brian Cox visits some of the most stunning locations on earth to describe how the laws of nature have carved natural wonders across the solar system.

In this first episode Brian explores the powerhouse of them all, the sun. In India he witnesses a total solar eclipse - when the link to the light and heat that sustains us is cut off for a few precious minutes.

But heat and light are not the only power of the sun over the solar system. In Norway, Brian watches the battle between the sun's wind and earth, as the night sky glows with the northern lights.

Beyond earth, the solar wind continues, creating dazzling aurora on other planets. Brian makes contact with Voyager, a probe that has been travelling since its launch 30 years ago. Now 14 billion kilometres away, Voyager has just detected the solar wind is beginning to peter out. But even here we haven't reached the end of the sun's rule.

Brian explains how its greatest power, gravity, reaches out for hundreds of billions of kilometres, where the lightest gravitational touch encircles our solar system in a mysterious cloud of comets.


THU 21:00 Destination Titan (b0109ccd)
It's a voyage of exploration like no other - to Titan, Saturn's largest moon and thought to resemble our own early Earth. For a small team of British scientists this would be the culmination of a lifetime's endeavour - the flight alone, some two billion miles, would take a full seven years.

This is the story of the space probe they built, the sacrifices they made and their hopes for the landing. Would their ambitions survive the descent into the unknown on Titan's surface?


THU 22:00 Being Neil Armstrong (b00lkvln)
It has been said that 10,000 years from now only one name will still be remembered, that of Neil Armstrong. But in the four decades since he first set foot on the moon, Armstrong has become increasingly reclusive.

Andrew Smith, author of the best-selling book Moondust, journeys across America to try and discover the real Neil Armstrong. He tracks down the people who knew Armstrong, from his closest childhood friend to fellow astronauts and Houston technicians, and even the barber who sold his hair, in a wry and sideways look at the reluctant hero of the greatest event of the 20th century.


THU 23:00 Timeshift (b0074qt0)
Series 4

British Space Race

The space race might seem a two-horse race between America and the Soviet Union, but for a short time Britain was the unlikely player in the world of rocket research. This is the story of the unsung pioneers of British space exploration - the rocket engineers, the scientists and the dreamers who, despite lack of resources, never gave up on their vision for bringing the future into the present. Featuring the original rocket engineers and Professor Colin Pillinger, lead scientist of Beagle 2.


THU 23:40 Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls (b01jmt5t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


THU 00:40 Storyville (b01jrlsf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]


THU 02:05 The Sky at Night (b0816dgx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:35 Wonders of the Solar System (b00rf172)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 03:35 Being Neil Armstrong (b00lkvln)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



FRIDAY 08 JUNE 2012

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b01jljgj)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Rostropovich: The Genius of the Cello (b015j8g5)
No-one has done more for the cello than Mstislav Rostropovich, or Slava as he was widely known. As well as being arguably the greatest cellist of the twentieth century, he expanded and enriched the cello repertoire by the sheer force of his artistry and his personality and composers lined up to write works for him.

In this film by John Bridcut, friends, family and former pupils explore the unique talents of this great Russian artist, and listen to and watch him making music. Contributors include his widow Galina Vishnevskaya and their daughters Olga and Elena; the eminent conductors Seiji Ozawa and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky; and cellists who attended his famous classes in Moscow, including Natalya Gutman, Mischa Maisky, Moray Welsh, Elizabeth Wilson and Karine Georgian.

The film traces the development of Rostropovich's international career amid the political tensions of the final years of the Soviet Union.


FRI 21:00 Punk Britannia (b01jmwjd)
Punk 1976-1978

Daydreaming England was about to be rudely awoken as punk emerged from the London underground scene. A nation dropped its dinner in its lap when the Sex Pistols swore on primetime television. Punk had finally found its enemy- the establishment. In Manchester, the Buzzcocks' self-released Spiral Scratch was a clarion call for a do-it-yourself generation, while the Clash's White Riot tour took punk's message across Britain. Moral outrage followed the Pistols around the country, effectively outlawing punk - but there was one refuge for the music. Nestled in the wasteland of 70s Covent Garden, the Roxy was punk's cathedral. Punk interlopers the Jam raised the bar for lyricism, challenging punk's London elite.

Punk also began to extend its three-chord vocabulary through an alliance with reggae, memorably captured by the Clash on White Man in Hammersmith Palais. With their second single, God Save the Queen, the Pistols scored a direct hit at the establishment in summer '77, but a disastrous PR stunt on a Thames barge would mark a turning point. The darker underbelly of the summer of '77 would see race riots in Lewisham. This street turbulence was the backdrop for a rawer, working class sound. If the Pistols and the Clash had been the theory, a second wave led by Sham 69 was the reality.

By '78 punk was becoming a costume - the very pop orthodoxy it had originally sought to destroy. For many punk ended when the Pistols split, beset by internal problems, following an abortive tour of the USA in January '78. Those practitioners who would go on to enjoy sustained success sought to modify their sound to survive, such as Siouxsie Sioux. Punk had shown what it was against, now it was time to show what it was for in the post-punk era.

With John Lydon, Mick Jones, Siouxsie Sioux and Paul Weller.


FRI 22:00 Punk Britannia at the BBC (b01jmwjg)
An archive celebration of studio performances from the British bands that broke through courtesy of punk between 1975 and 1982. Starting with Dr Feelgood and Eddie and the Hot Rods and culminating in Gang of Four, with performances from Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Something Else and other shows by The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Buzzcocks, The Damned, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many more. Hey ho, let's go!


FRI 23:30 Arena (b01jn409)
Who Is Poly Styrene?

1979 film portrait of the late New Wave singer-songwriter, Poly Styrene.


FRI 00:10 Synth Britannia at the BBC (b00n93c6)
A journey through the BBC's synthpop archives from Roxy Music and Tubeway Army to New Order and Sparks. Turn your Moogs up to 11 as we take a trip back into the 70s and 80s!


FRI 01:10 Punk Britannia (b01jmwjd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:10 Punk Britannia at the BBC (b01jmwjg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]