SATURDAY 18 AUGUST 2012

SAT 19:00 Natural World (b00tcf7z)
2010-2011

Echo - An Unforgettable Elephant

A celebration of the life and legacy of Echo, the world's most famous elephant, who was born in 1945 and died in 2009, and who Natural World followed for the last 20 years of her life.

The timing of Echo's death could not be worse. The wise old matriarch had guided her family for half a century, but the cruellest drought in living memory devastated her home under the shadow of Kilimanjaro. Will her 38-strong band of relatives and descendants overcome the loss of their leader, hunger and poachers to survive?


SAT 20:00 The First World War from Above (b00vyrzh)
Fergal Keane tells the story of the World War One from a unique new aerial perspective. Featuring two remarkable historical finds, including a piece of archive footage filmed from an airship in summer 1919, capturing the trenches and battlefields in a way that has rarely been seen before. It also features aerial photographs taken by First World War pilots - developed for the first time in over 90 years - that show not only the devastation inflicted during the fighting, but also quirks and human stories visible only from above.


SAT 21:00 Wallander (b01m5cbx)
The Fifth Woman

Part 3

As concerns about public safety grow, a man is violently attacked by a vigilante group. Wallander's investigation widens to another police district as they look for a woman who was on the maternity ward when a nurse was attacked. Just as the team seem to be making progress with the investigation, Wallander is forced to confront the way he neglects his family when his father's illness gets the better of him.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:00 Wallander (b01m87pf)
The Fifth Woman

Part 4

After confusion during the chase at the railway station Wallander is drugged by their escaping suspect and Maja is shot, but the net is closing on their nemesis. When their suspect is finally brought in Wallander faces a race against time to find out not only why this has all been happening, but more importantly where the last victim is being held.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 23:00 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.


SAT 00:00 The Sky at Night (b082q8yw)
Home-grown Observatories

Up and down the country amateur astronomers are out in their back-garden observatories looking at stars, galaxies and nebulae. The team visits some astronomers on their own turf, to find out what keeps them up late at night.


SAT 00:30 The First World War from Above (b00vyrzh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 01:30 Storyville (b01lyczn)
Racing Dreams

Storyville: the coming-of-age story of three kids who dream of one day becoming professional race car drivers. Eleven-year-old Annabeth, twelve-year-old Josh and thirteen-year-old Brandon compete for the championship in the World Karting Association's national series, widely considered the little league for professional racing. Clocking speeds of up to 110 kmh, these young drivers race their way through the year-long national series that spawned many top drivers. At the same time - in intimate moments of young love and family struggle - they navigate the treacherous road between childhood and young adulthood.


SAT 02:50 Natural World (b00tcf7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 19 AUGUST 2012

SUN 19:00 Himalaya with Michael Palin (b0074qqv)
The Roof of the World

Leaving Everest Base Camp Michael Palin takes the high road to Lhasa to see for himself what the Chinese have done to Tibet. From the Potala Palace to the great monasteries of Tashilunpo and Sera he sees that religion is once again tolerated, while at the same time the old Tibetan centre of the city is being torn down and replaced with modern Chinese shopping malls and nightclubs.

Following the pilgrims to the holy Namtso Lake he finally gets warm in an Olympic sized hotspring before learning how to milk a yak with a nomad family with whom he travels to the summer horse festival in Yushu.


SUN 20:00 Timewatch (b00fg9hw)
2008-2009

The Last Day of World War One

Michael Palin tells the story of how the First World War ended on 11th November 1918 and reveals the shocking truth that soldiers continued to be killed in battle for many hours after the armistice had been signed. Recounting the events of the days and hours leading up to that last morning, Palin tells the personal stories of the last soldiers to die as the minutes and seconds ticked away to the 11 o'clock ceasefire.


SUN 21:00 Wilde (b0074nq6)
Poignant dramatisation of Oscar Wilde's life, telling the story of the devoted husband and kind father who also happened to be attracted to men - in particular to the spoilt Alfred Lord Douglas, or 'Bosie'. Their relationship outraged Bosie's father, the maniacal Marquess of Queensberry, and led to a sensational trial which spelled Wilde's downfall, vividly highlighting the brutal homophobia of the Victorian legal system.


SUN 22:50 Omnibus (b01m5czv)
Gore Vidal's Gore Vidal Part Two

Part two of a film biography about the late Gore Vidal, looking at the life of one of America's leading literary figures who for years entranced and enraged the US with his outspoken views, novels and essays. In this part he recalls the last 35 years of his life, starting from the time his friend John F Kennedy was elected as US president.


SUN 23:40 Wilderness Explored (b00dzyz5)
Australia's Red Heart

Australia's stark and beautiful red centre is now seen as part of the country's national identity, with Uluru, or Ayres Rock, a national symbol. But this vast desert centre was originally seen as a place of death and silence by the first white explorers. It has taken 200 years for a new perception to emerge, one that recognises it as a place of life and creation - the way it has always been seen by the continent's original inhabitants, the Aborigines.


SUN 00:40 The Andy Williams Show (b00n5bt9)
Duets

Compilation of the best duets selected from crooner Andy Williams's private archive of his weekly 1960s variety show on NBC. The show attracted the cream of the crop from the world of showbiz, from Bing Crosby and Ray Charles to Johnny Mathis and Ella Fitzgerald, who were more than happy to share the microphone with the king of easy listening.

Including Over the Rainbow with Judy Garland, and Andy at the piano with Ray Charles for What'd I Say.


SUN 01:40 The Andy Williams Show (b00n806r)
Solo

A collection of the original American Idol's greatest hits and special performances from his weekly variety show, broadcast in the United States on NBC between 1962 and 1971. Including classic tracks Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses and Music To Watch Girls By.


SUN 02:10 Himalaya with Michael Palin (b0074qqv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



MONDAY 20 AUGUST 2012

MON 19:00 World News Today (b01m35xf)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Wilderness Explored (b00f3p40)
Congo

The first Europeans to penetrate the vast forests of central Africa encountered an exuberance of animals, plants and minerals. Their accounts created a sensation back in their own countries, none more so than that of the gorilla, yet has this abundance of wildlife and resources been at the expense of the region's indigenous populations?


MON 20:30 Nature's Microworlds (b01m42rx)
Svalbard

In a revelatory look at Svalbard, the most northerly region in the series, Steve Backshall leaves no stone unturned as he unravels the secrets that lie covered in ice for most of each year. Svalbard is cold, dark and foreboding, yet it is home to the world's largest land predator and the most northerly population of large herbivore. But Steve discovers that the real secret to this place comes from a very different world.


MON 21:00 Growing Children (b01m42rz)
OCD

In this fascinating film, Laverne Antrobus explores the complicated and often misunderstood condition of obsessive compulsive disorder. Laverne reveals what is actually happening in the brains of children with OCD that makes them so different from other youngsters. She meets OCD sufferers, examines the causes of such a debilitating disorder and takes a look at the innovative methods being used to overcome it. She meets the parents whose lives have been overtaken by caring for their child and interviews the scientists investigating the causes. As Laverne learns about the illness, we get an amazing insight into the developing mind and how we all process day-to-day anxieties and stress.

OCD is one of the most common anxiety disorders in children, affecting over 1 per cent of people in the UK. Sufferers have intrusive obsessive thoughts that can cause extreme anxiety which compels them to repeatedly perform compulsive behaviours aimed at reducing that anxiety. Symptoms can range broadly, something that Laverne discovers through visiting two different teenagers. Anna suffers from obsessive hand washing, something which is beginning to dominate her life more and more. In a powerful interview with Laverne we learn just how much control OCD has over her and the way she thinks. The next teenager that Laverne meets is Jonathan. In contrast to Anna his OCD is characterised by obsessive irrational thoughts in which he thinks he has harmed someone, even though it is something he has never done.

Laverne embarks on a quest to discover why anxiety is part of human nature and what happens when it goes too far. At King's College London she conducts a test to measure her response to threats and the theory that anxiety has evolved as a defensive response. Laverne also confronts her own fear of spiders at an anxiety workshop where she is made to handle a tarantula.

Laverne then examines the different way that brains of children with OCD actually develop. Why are they so over-anxious? What has happened? A combined team of scientists are carrying out one of the most comprehensive studies into the OCD brain, giving Laverne a chance to gain a unique understanding into the condition. As the scans from this research are fully analysed, they are producing some extraordinary three-dimensional images of a key area of the brain thought to be affected by OCD - the basal ganglia.

Jonathan's life is so dominated by his OCD that he has resorted to a five-day therapy for teenagers and their families in cognitive behavioural therapy at the Maudsley hospital in south London. Laverne has a privileged insight into this treatment as she follows the family through the course of an emotional week. She sees how the Maudsley team tackles OCD head on by making people with the condition confront their fears. In some dramatic scenes Laverne witnesses Jonathan being given a knife to handle and asked to stand on the edge of a train station platform in order to face his irrational thoughts.

The exact cause of OCD is still not known, but in this powerful and heartwarming film Laverne finds out the new clues pointing to its origin. We also gain a true understanding of how it can affect people and the life-changing treatments that are on offer.


MON 22:00 The Naughty Room (b01m6mzj)
20-year-old Subaru's drug-blurred apathy is jarred by the discovery that he has a neighbour of similar age, Todd, a virtual prisoner since childhood. Trying to help Todd gives Subaru some purpose, but he fails to consider the consequences.


MON 23:15 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 00:15 Men about the House (b00sxhl5)
Father may be the head of the family, a potent symbol of authority, but he has always been the butt of some of our biggest laughs in British sitcom. Over the last five decades some of our most iconic comedy dads have been bewildered by a changing world and struggled with the work/life balance. These dads have coped with every curveball their writers threw at them and in the process changed the course of British comedy. They remain our most enduring Men About The House.


MON 01:15 Nature's Microworlds (b01m42rx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


MON 01:45 Growing Children (b01m42rz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 02:45 Wilderness Explored (b00f3p40)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]



TUESDAY 21 AUGUST 2012

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b01m35xl)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00xxr39)
Series 2

Durham to Grosmont

Michael visits the historic Durham Cathedral, sees one of the first locomotives in Darlington and takes a Dracula tour in Whitby, before ending his journey on a steam train across the North Yorkshire moors.


TUE 20:00 The Last Explorers (b017sp66)
William Speirs Bruce

Neil Oliver retraces the expeditions of four Scottish explorers who planted ideas rather than flags - ideas that shaped the modern world we know today.

Following in the footsteps of a scientific explorer who has become all but lost to history, Neil charts the remarkable story of William Speirs Bruce, one of Britain's greatest, but least-known, explorers. Bruce set out to conquer Antarctica, not for imperial glory, but to advance scientific knowledge in an era when exploration had become harnessed to national prestige.


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 Mud, Sweat and Tractors: The Story of Agriculture (b00k9bms)
Beef

A look at how two of our finest native breeds of cattle, Hereford and Aberdeen Angus, reigned supreme before the Second World War and helped earn Britain a reputation as the 'stockyard of the world'. The programme also shows how, since then, both breeds have been transformed to a much larger size - from standing only to the stockman's waist to reaching his shoulder.


TUE 23:00 Lost Cities of the Ancients (b00792vj)
The Dark Lords of Hattusha

It was one of the greatest vanishing acts in history. More than 3,000 years ago a mysterious and ruthless civilisation rose from nothing, created a brutal and unstoppable army and built an empire that rivalled Egypt and Babylon. Yet, just as it was at the height of its powers, the great empire suddenly vanished from history.

This is the story of the formidable Hittites, a civilisation bent on world domination. Their long-lost capital, Hattusha, which disappeared thousands of years ago, was recently rediscovered, and archaeologists have unearthed one of the most astonishing and ingenious cities of the ancient world, featuring rings of impenetrable walls, secret tunnels, temples, palaces and a vast pyramid-like structure facing Egypt.

Buried in this lost city is one of the greatest libraries of the ancient world. All the secrets of the mysterious Hittite empire were written in two codes - one a unique form of hieroglyphs. Using these deciphered texts, the film recreates the ancient world of the Hittites, telling the story of what happened to them, and what caused an empire built to last forever to vanish so completely from history.


TUE 00:00 Wallander (b01m5cbx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


TUE 01:00 Wallander (b01m87pf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Saturday]


TUE 02:00 Great British Railway Journeys (b00xxr39)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:30 The Last Explorers (b017sp66)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 03:30 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01bgnmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 22 AUGUST 2012

WED 19:00 World News Today (b01m35xt)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Top of the Pops (b01m43qm)
21/07/77

Dave Lee Travis looks at the weekly pop chart from 1977 and introduces John Miles, the Bay City Rollers, the Jam, Barry Biggs, Smokie, Danny Williams, the Brotherhood of Man, Alessi, the Rah Band, Queen and a Legs & Co dance sequence.


WED 20:00 The Eiger: Wall of Death (b00tlwj3)
A history of one of the world's most challenging mountains, the Eiger, and its infamous north face. The film gets to the heart of one of Europe's most notorious peaks, exploring its character and its impact on the people who climb it and live in its awesome shadow.


WED 21:00 Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies (b01m81f5)
Military Marvels

In the heady postwar years of the 1950s and 60s, British flying was at its zenith and its aircraft industry flourished in a dazzling display of ingenuity and design brilliance. Having invented the jet engine, Britain was now set to lead the world into the jet age with a new generation of fighters and bombers. The daring test pilots who flew them were as well known as the football stars of today, while their futuristic-looking aircraft, including the Meteor, Canberra, Valiant, Vulcan and the English Electric Lightning, were the military marvels of the age.


WED 22:00 Natural World (b00tcf7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


WED 23:00 Timewatch (b00fg9hw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]


WED 00:00 The Naughty Room (b01m6mzj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]


WED 01:15 Growing Children (b01m42rz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


WED 02:15 Top of the Pops (b01m43qm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:50 Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies (b01m81f5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 23 AUGUST 2012

THU 19:00 World News Today (b01m35xz)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 BBC Proms (b01m43sh)
2012

The National Youth Orchestra

From the Royal Albert Hall, the vast forces of the National Youth Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko perform Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony, the composer's iconic musical celebration of love. The programme also includes Varese's musical parody Tuning Up, Anna Meredith's HandsFree featuring body percussion, and the London premiere of Nico Muhly's Gait, inspired by the motion of horses. Introduced by Charles Hazlewood.


THU 21:50 Caravans: A British Love Affair (b00hw3s0)
Documentary about the love affair between the British and their caravans, which saw the country establish the world's largest caravan manufacturer and transformed the holiday habits of generations of families.

In telling the intriguing story of caravanning in Britain from the 1950s through to the present day, the film reveals how caravans were once the plaything of a privileged minority, but after World War II became a firm favourite with almost a quarter of British holidaymakers.

It explores how changes in caravanning across the years reflect wider changes in British society, in particular the increased availability of cars during the 1950s and 60s, but also the improved roads network and changing attitudes towards holidaymaking and leisure time.

Enthusiasts and contributors include Dorrie van Lachterop from the West Midlands and Christine Fagg from Hertfordshire, remarkable and adventurous women who started touring alone in their caravans during the 1950s.


THU 22:50 Robert Hughes on Goya: Crazy Like a Genius (b0074mnz)
Documentary in which the late art critic Robert Hughes travels across Spain in search of the reality beyond the mythology of Spanish painter Francisco Goya. Goya has long been Hughes's favourite artist but has become a particular obsession since a near-fatal car accident left Hughes living with nightmares of Goya's often dark and violent imagery.


THU 00:00 Nature's Microworlds (b01m42rx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Monday]


THU 00:30 Lost Cities of the Ancients (b00792vj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Tuesday]


THU 01:30 Caravans: A British Love Affair (b00hw3s0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:50 today]


THU 02:30 Robert Hughes on Goya: Crazy Like a Genius (b0074mnz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:50 today]



FRIDAY 24 AUGUST 2012

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b01m35y4)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 BBC Proms (b01m44n6)
2012

The Romantics

From the Royal Albert Hall, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Vladimir Jurowski take us on a romantic and passionate journey with music by Tchaikovsky and Mahler. Mezzo-soprano Alice Coote sings Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer, inspired by the composer's own unhappy love affair. The concert ends with a performance of Tchaikovsky's Manfred, a highly-charged symphonic portrayal of Lord Byron's dramatic poem of the same name. Introduced by Charles Hazlewood.


FRI 21:15 The Joy of Country (b018jmrs)
This celebration of the history and aesthetic of country music tracks the evolution of the genre from the 1920s to the present, exploring country as both folk and pop music - a 20th century soundtrack to the lives of working-class Americans in the South, forever torn between their rural roots and a mostly urban future, between authenticity and showbiz.

Exploring many of the great stars of country from Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams to Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton, director Andy Humphries's meditation on the power and pull of country blends brilliant archive and contributions from a broad cast that includes Dolly Parton, the Handsome Family, Laura Cantrell, Hank Williams III, kd lang and many more.

If you have ever wondered about the sound of a train in the distance, the keening of a pedal steel guitar, the lure of rhinestone or the blue Kentucky hills, and if you want to know why twang matters, this is the documentary for you.


FRI 22:20 Country at the BBC (b017zqwb)
Grab your partner by the hand - the BBC have raided their archive and brought to light glittering performances by country artists over the last four decades.

Star appearances include Tammy Wynette, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and, of course, Dolly Parton. All the greats have performed for the BBC at some point - on entertainment shows, in concert and at the BBC studios. Some of the rhinestones revealed are Charley Pride's Crystal Chandeliers from the Lulu Show, Emmylou Harris singing Together Again on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Billie Jo Spears's Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad from the Val Doonican Music Show.

We're brought up to date with modern country hits by kd lang, Garth Brooks, Alison Krauss and Taylor Swift, plus a special unbroadcasted performance from Later...with Jools Holland by Willie Nelson.


FRI 23:50 Dolly Parton: Platinum Blonde (b0074pt7)
Dolly Parton is one of the world's great superstars, feted for her figure as much as for her music. Platinum Blonde goes inside her world to discover the woman under the wigs as she returned to the concert stage in the UK in 2002 after an absence of 20 years. Born into grinding poverty in rural Tennessee, Dolly has risen to the top of her tree in music, films and as a businesswoman who owns her own theme park.

Friends, family and colleagues - including Lily Tomlin, Kenny Rogers, Billy Connolly, Dabney Coleman and Alison Krauss - help tell her story, along with the full and frank views of Dolly herself. With cameo appearances from Sinead O'Connor, Norah Jones, Jonathan Ross and Terry Wogan.


FRI 00:50 The Joy of Country (b018jmrs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:15 today]


FRI 01:55 Country at the BBC (b017zqwb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:20 today]


FRI 03:25 Dolly Parton: Platinum Blonde (b0074pt7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:50 today]