SATURDAY 13 APRIL 2013

SAT 19:00 South Pacific (b00kmv11)
Castaways

In the South Pacific there is no such thing as a deserted island. They may be the most isolated in the world, but every one of the region's 20,000 islands has been colonised, from New Guinea - home to birds of paradise and the tribe whose brutal initiation ceremony turns young warriors into 'crocodile' men - to Fiji, French Polynesia and Hawaii.

This is the story of the ultimate castaways - from saltwater crocodiles and giant eels to crested iguanas and weird frogs - who succeeded against all odds to reach islands thousands of miles apart. These journeys are no mean feat. It has been estimated that an average of one species in every 60,000 years makes it to Hawaii. Incredibly, many of these colonisers made it to the islands thanks to some of the most violent forces of nature like cyclones and tsunamis.

The voyages of the South Pacific's first people - the Polynesians - were no less remarkable. These journeys were some of the greatest acts of navigation ever undertaken, and they changed the nature of the South Pacific forever.


SAT 20:00 David Attenborough's First Life (b00w14gy)
Conquest

In fifty years of broadcasting, Sir David Attenborough has travelled the globe to document the living world in all its wonder. Now, in a landmark series, he completes his journey by going back in time to the very roots of the tree of life, in search of the very first animals.

Attenborough's journey continues in Canada's Rocky Mountains, where fossils document an explosion in animal diversity never seen before or since. Travelling from there to North Africa, the rainforests of Australia and the east coast of Scotland, Attenborough discovers how animals evolved to conquer not only the oceans but also the land and air.

These remote and fascinating creatures are brought to life as never before with the help of cutting-edge scientific technology and photorealistic visual effects. From the first large predators to the first legs on land, these were creatures that evolved the traits and tools that allow all animals, including ourselves, to survive to this day.


SAT 21:00 Arne Dahl (b01rxpc1)
Series 1

The Blinded Man - Part 2

A special police unit is set up after three businessmen are murdered over three consecutive nights. Detective Jenny Hultin leads the so-called A Unit to investigate the killings while the financial world panics. Under enormous pressure they attempt to solve the case before more finance officers are murdered.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 Young Guns Go for It (b0077p22)
Series 1

Culture Club

The story of Culture Club and the passionate but doomed love affair between singer Boy George and drummer Jon Moss that provided the band's creative drive. All four members discuss the glamour, success and drug culture of the 80s, and the central relationship that was both the making and undoing of the band.


SAT 23:10 Young Guns Go for It (b00shyg4)
Series 1

The Human League

Members past and present talk about the three distinct groups that have existed under the banner of the Human League, the Sheffield synthesiser band that enjoyed huge commercial success.


SAT 23:40 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!


SAT 00:40 The Sky at Night (b08kbg6g)
They Fall to Earth

Meteorites regularly hit Earth, although most go undetected. Occasionally a big meteorite collides with Earth and when it does, it can cause devastation. Lucie Green and Chris Lintott visit the Natural History Museum to look at its meteorite collection and discuss the recent Russian impact. Jon Culshaw goes on a meteorite hunt, while Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel give their beginners' guide on how to look at Saturn.


SAT 01:10 David Attenborough's First Life (b00w14gy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 02:10 South Pacific (b00kmv11)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SAT 03:10 Young Guns Go for It (b0077p22)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 today]



SUNDAY 14 APRIL 2013

SUN 19:00 The First Master Chef: Michel Roux on Escoffier (p00ypy02)
Michel Roux Jr explores the life and influence of his great culinary hero, Georges Auguste Escoffier - the man who turned eating into dining. The first great restaurant chef, Escoffier established restaurants in grand hotels all over the world and in these centres of luxury and decadence the world's most glamorous figures of the day would mix - actresses and princes, duchesses and opera singers. Catering to this international jet set, Escoffier produced fabulous dishes that combined luxury and theatricality, elevating restaurant food to an art form.

Escoffier was born the humble son of a Provencal blacksmith, but at 13 began working in a restaurant kitchen. In the 19th century they were infernal, coal-fired, unventilated places and chefs had a shorter life expectancy than even coal miners. As Escoffier worked his way up the career ladder, he dedicated himself to improving the lot of his staff - from banning alcohol and swearing in his kitchens to buying smart clothes for young chefs who couldn't afford them. He always told his staff to 'dress like you are somebody, his great-grandson Michel Escoffier tells Roux as they have lunch in an original 19th century Parisian dining room.

Escoffier really made his name when he and partner Cesar Ritz came to London to run the brand new Savoy Hotel at the request of Richard D'Oyly Carte. In a time of untold luxury and decadence, when money and pleasure combined like never before, he cooked and named dishes for all of London's society - from Queen Victoria and Bertie, the fun-loving Prince of Wales, to the most glamorous entertainers of the day such as Oscar Wilde, actress Sarah Bernhardt and opera singer Nellie Melba. 125 years later, Michel joins historian Kate Williams to enjoy a delicious peach melba in the Savoy and discover how the Victorian British were convinced that eating out was the thing to do - until Escoffier and Ritz, 'nice' women would never have been seen eating in public.

But there's a dark secret, one that Michel has heard of but never wanted to believe - that after eight years Escoffier was fired from the Savoy for being on the fiddle. Food journalist Paul Levy, who first published the accusations, tells all.

As well as delving into the history of his hero, Michel also explores the palpable influence that Escoffier has on all our lives today. Whenever we step into a restaurant and order a meal it's his traditions, systems and skills at work - the a la carte menu, the prix fixe, the organisation of the kitchen and the way a dining room is decorated - and it's for that reason that Michel, one of this country's most celebrated and favourite chefs, says that he owes his whole career to Escoffier.

Along the way we witness some of his most delicious dishes and we see the evolution of one of Michel's own creations, as he explores one of Escoffier's most basic recipes and turns it into a Michelin-starred 21st-century dish.


SUN 20:00 The Century That Wrote Itself (b01rvzts)
The Written Self

Adam Nicolson traces our modern sense of self back to the time when ordinary people first took up the quill. At a time of great upheaval, writing was both a means of escape and of fighting for what you believed. Account books became confessionals, and letters weapons against the authorities. From an ambitious shepherd to a Quaker woman imprisoned for her conscience, rising literacy allowed people to re-write both the country's future and their own.


SUN 21:00 When Frost Met Bakewell: Joan Bakewell at 80 (b01rxpck)
Pioneering female BBC broadcaster of the 1960s, Joan Bakewell subjects herself to an interrogation by David Frost, looking back on more than 50 years at the heart of television and a life often lived in the glare of celebrity. From her early years as the face of Late Night Line Up, the end-of-the-day live programme that broke the rules of polite television, through to her days on Newsnight, covering arts, entertainment, politics and even pornography, this no-holds barred interview recalls how it was to be a lone woman at the BBC, the fun she had in swinging London and how she came to be branded 'the thinking man's crumpet'.


SUN 22:00 Bakewell at the BBC (b01s0zl8)
A glorious romp through 50 years of little-seen archive in which Joan Bakewell brings back to life the biggest stars of arts and entertainment, stage and screen. A trailblazing interviewer in a mini-skirt, Joan fearlessly confronts the most self-important and pompous and keeps her dignity. See her joust with Sir Robin Day, flirt with Sir Kenneth Clark of Civilisation fame and keep her end up with Bette Davis. From Arthur Askey to Nelson Mandela, from Bing Crosby to Jacob Bronowski, these are some of the finest moments in the BBC archive. And worth watching simply for the frocks.


SUN 23:00 Motor Racing at the BBC: That Petrol Emotion (b01rsgm3)
Episode 4

There's a distinct change of soundtrack for Formula One's 'Rock 'n' Roll Years' as the archive series enters the 1970s. This was the era of three-time world champion Jackie Stewart, but also of the topless Pirelli calendar - much ogled over by the BBC's 'motoring correspondents' in archive sequences from another world. The mood darkens, though, when Graham Hill, the gentleman giant of British grand prix racing, is killed in a freak plane crash and another British drive,r Roger Williamson, is filmed dying trackside in his mangled, blazing car.


SUN 23:30 imagine... (b00t15v1)
Summer 2010

Tom Jones - What Good Am I?

As he prepares to celebrate his 70th birthday, singing legend Sir Tom Jones is still recording, performing and collaborating with some of the biggest names in pop. In this episode of Imagine, Alan Yentob examines the extraordinary story of one of Britain's most recognisable pop icons.

In a frank and revealing interview, Sir Tom describes the dizzying ascent from his humble beginnings as a miner's son in south Wales to becoming a headline act in Las Vegas and recalls many of his most cherished moments from a career that enabled him to sing alongside Elvis, establish himself as a hairy-chested sex symbol and make one of the most successful comebacks in pop history.


SUN 00:30 BBC Four Sessions (b01mtrwf)
Tom Jones

Sir Tom Jones in a unique session of folk, blues and beyond from the beautiful LSO St Lukes in the City.

Jones and a special band put together by Ethan Johns, the producer of his last two albums Praise & Blame and Spirit in the Room, deliver songs of guilt, redemption and judgement drawn from those records and also collaborates with special guests Seasick Steve on Mississippi Fred McDowell's You Gotta Move, with 84 year-old American folk legend Tom Paley on the Mississippi Sheiks' Sitting on Top of the World and young Londoner Josh Osho on Big Bill Broonzy's Black Brown and White Blues.

Filmed more like a rehearsal in the round than a concert with Ethan Johns on guitar, Richard Causon on keys, Dave Bronze on bass, Jeremy Stacey on drums and The Staves - three young sisters from Watford - on backing vocals, this BBC FOUR Session finds Jones The Voice in masterful yet genial form, exploring his roots in the songs and styles of the American South in the 50s and 60s - early rock n roll, country, gospel, folk, blues and beyond.


SUN 01:30 Nigel Slater: Life Is Sweets (p00y4hd1)
Chocolate limes, buttered brazils, sherbert dib-dabs and marshmallows. Food writer Nigel Slater charts the origins of British sweets and chocolates from medicinal, medieval boiled sweets to the chocolate bars that line the supermarket shelves today.

With adverts of the sweets everyone remembers and loves, this nostalgic, emotional and heartwarming journey transports Nigel back to his childhood by the powerful resonance of the sweets he used to buy with his pocket money. Nigel recalls the curiously small toffee that inspired him to write his memoir, the marshmallow, which he associates with his mother, and the travel sweet, which conjures up memories of his father. He marvels at the power of something as incidental as a sweet to reveal emotions, character and the past.


SUN 02:30 Tom Jones at the BBC (b00vz5ml)
An archive celebration of Tom Jones's performances at the BBC from the start of his pop career in the mid-60s to Later...with Jools Holland in 2010 and all points in between, including Top of the Pops and The Dusty Springfield Show. A chronological celebration of Sir Tom through the years that is also a history of music TV at the BBC over most of the past 50 years.


SUN 03:30 Motor Racing at the BBC: That Petrol Emotion (b01rsgm3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]



MONDAY 15 APRIL 2013

MON 19:00 World News Today (b01rxftr)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00q2pvm)
Series 1

Windermere to Kendal

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. In a series of four epic journeys, he travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what remains of Bradshaw's Britain.

Michael's second epic journey takes him north, from Preston to Scotland, on one of the first railways to cross the border. On this third leg, he takes a steamboat tour of Lake Windermere, visits Wordsworth's home village of Grasmere and makes sausages with a local Herdwick sheep farmer.


MON 20:00 Britain on Film (b01qnnqp)
Series 1

Country Living

The series looking at the culture, economics and society of 1960s Britain turns its attention to one of our great national treasures - the countryside. Drawing on the archive of high-quality colour films produced by the country's biggest cinema company, the Rank Organisation, this film shows how new technologies and production methods were changing the face of agriculture and records how country life was adapting to the new economic and moral realities of a fast-changing nation.


MON 20:30 Motor Racing at the BBC: That Petrol Emotion (b01rxpcr)
Episode 5

The final part of Formula One's 'Rock 'n' Roll Years' archive series focuses on an era when motor racing lit up the world... with cigarette advertising. The sport was now largely bankrolled by sponsors who emblazoned their names all over the cars and the drivers. Those branded overalls needed big personalities to fill them and attract audiences to their brands, and none came bigger than Britain's James Hunt. BBC cameras followed this rake's progress from his time with the amateur Hesketh Racing, run by aristocrat Lord Hesketh, through to his later incarnation as Marlboro Man at McLaren. 'Hunt the Shunt' had charisma and charm to burn, but by the end of the decade he had burnt himself out.


MON 21:00 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.


MON 22:00 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.


MON 23:00 David Attenborough's First Life (b00w14gy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


MON 00:00 Catholics (b01cqrvv)
Children

'Show me the child of seven and I'll show you the man', goes the Jesuit proverb. Award-winning documentary filmmaker Richard Alwyn observes the truth of the saying in this film about children becoming Catholic.

Filmed throughout Lent and into summer 2011, it focuses on the children of St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School in Chipping, Lancashire. The tiny rural school has 33 pupils, six of whom are preparing to make their First Holy Communion.

Alwyn's lyrical, poignant film observes the essence of Catholicism being distilled into young children. Encouraged to celebrate the riches of the natural world and to remember those less fortunate than themselves, the children are also required to reflect on Christ's brutal death and resurrection. Occasionally, this graphic story of suffering might seem to threaten the children's infectious charm and innocence.

The local parish priest, Fr Anthony Grimshaw, now in his 70s, has a strong presence in the children's lives. To the younger ones he's the avuncular character who comes into school to read Winnie the Pooh. To the older ones, he is more 'on message', talking with them about faith and fielding questions about his belief in the existence of Satan in this world.

Around this observation of the Catholic life of the children and the school is the story of a handful of its pupils, aged seven and eight, preparing for their First Holy Communion. Here, the children are introduced to the bewildering mystery at the heart of the Catholic faith - when they believe bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

This beautiful film is full of the spirit of childhood and shows how being Catholic is a complex identity that can bring both agony and ecstasy.


MON 01:00 Britain on Film (b01qnnqp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 01:30 Motor Racing at the BBC: That Petrol Emotion (b01rxpcr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


MON 02:00 Timeshift (b017zqw8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 03:00 Timewatch (b00sl29f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



TUESDAY 16 APRIL 2013

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b01rxfv6)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00q2q87)
Series 1

Carlisle to Glasgow

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. In a series of four epic journeys, he travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

Michael's second epic journey takes him north, from Preston to Scotland, on one of the first railways to cross the border. On this fourth leg, he meets the wild clansmen of Carlisle, the Border Reivers, witnesses a wedding in Gretna Green and visits a secret World War I munitions factory.


TUE 20:00 Ocean Giants (b013q50m)
Giant Lives

This episode explores the intimate details of the largest animals that have ever lived on our planet - the great whales. From the balmy waters of the Indian Ocean to the freezing seas of the Arctic, two daring underwater cameramen - Doug Allan, Planet Earth's polar specialist, and Didier Noirot, Cousteau's front-line cameraman - come face to face with fighting humpback whales and 200-ton feeding blue whales.

Teaming up with top whale scientists, Giant Lives discovers why southern right whales possess a pair of one-ton testicles, why the arctic bowhead can live to over 200 years old and why size truly matters in the world of whales.


TUE 21:00 The Secret Life of Rockpools (b01rtdr4)
Paleontologist Professor Richard Fortey embarks on a quest to discover the extraordinary lives of rock pool creatures. To help explore this unusual environment he is joined by some of the UK's leading marine biologists in a dedicated laboratory at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. Here and on the beach in various locations around the UK, startling behaviour is revealed and new insights are given into how these animals cope with intertidal life. Many popular rock pool species have survived hundreds of millions of years of Earth's history, but humans may be their biggest challenge yet.


TUE 22:00 I, Claudius (b0074ss0)
Some Justice

As Augustus learned of Livia's plot against Postumus, she took action which resulted in Tiberius becoming emperor. The situation in the East now threatens Tiberius's position.


TUE 22:55 The High Art of the Low Countries (b01rtf47)
Boom and Bust

Andrew Graham-Dixon looks at how the seemingly peaceful countries of Holland and Belgium - famous for their tulips and windmills, mussels and chips - were in fact forged in a crucible of conflict and division. He examines how a period of economic boom driven for the first time by a burgeoning and secular middle class led to the Dutch golden age of the 17th century, creating not only the concept of oil painting itself, but the master painters Rembrandt and Vermeer combining art and commerce together as we would recognise it today.


TUE 23:55 Parks and Recreation (b01rx3lk)
Series 2

Sister City

Leslie gets to play host to Pawnee's sister city, the Parks and Recreation Department of Boraqua, Venezuela. Tom is made a errand boy and April is playing hard to get.


TUE 00:15 Parks and Recreation (b01rx3lm)
Series 2

Kaboom

Leslie and her crew continue to help organise the new playground. Leslie receives advice from Mark.


TUE 00:35 Arne Dahl (b01rxpc1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


TUE 02:05 Great British Railway Journeys (b00q2q87)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:35 The Secret Life of Rockpools (b01rtdr4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL 2013

WED 19:00 World News Today (b01rxfvp)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b00q2qt0)
Series 1

Edinburgh to Kirkcaldy

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. In a series of four epic journeys, he travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

Michael's second epic journey takes him north, from Preston to Scotland, on one of the first railways to cross the border. On this fifth leg, he makes apple juice in the Clyde Valley orchards, pays a thrilling visit to the top of the Forth Rail Bridge and relives his childhood memories in his grandparents' home town of Kirkcaldy.


WED 20:00 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.


WED 21:00 The Century That Wrote Itself (b01rxpdn)
The Rewritten Universe

Adam Nicolson explores the 17th century's contradictory attitudes towards the nature of reality. While a puritan struggled to accept God's will, an early naturalist accepted nothing without testing it first. How did God work? How did the world work? What was our place within it? These questions overflow from the era's diaries and notebooks, famous and unknown alike. Curiouser and curiouser, spreading literacy allowed explosive ideas not just to be recorded but shared, as Adam reveals the texts that rewrote our world.


WED 22:00 Parks and Recreation (b01ryv5d)
Series 2

Greg Pikitis

Leslie asks Dave and Andy to help her catch a teenage vandal. Ann makes plans to throw a Halloween party.


WED 22:20 Parks and Recreation (b01ryv5j)
Series 2

Ron and Tammy

Ron's ex-wife Tammy still has a powerful hold over him. Leslie is forced to fight off a rival bid for her lot by the library department.


WED 22:45 Timewatch (b00sl29f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]


WED 23:45 10 Things You Didn't Know About... (b008pr87)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 00:45 When Frost Met Bakewell: Joan Bakewell at 80 (b01rxpck)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Sunday]


WED 01:45 Bakewell at the BBC (b01s0zl8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


WED 02:45 The Century That Wrote Itself (b01rxpdn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013

THU 19:00 World News Today (b01rxfw9)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b01ryv79)
Tony Blackburn introduces the weekly pop chart programme featuring performances from Alan Price, Dee D Jackson, Gene Farrow, Raffaella Carra, Child, Bonnie Tyler, Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams, Genesis, Dr Hook, Brian & Michael and Legs & Co.


THU 20:00 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077hrr)
Series 1

Stranger on a Train

Five years have passed. Bob has travelled to London to buy a wedding present and Terry has returned from Cyprus after a spell in the army. By chance, they meet on the last train home and the events of the past few years flood out.


THU 20:30 Brushing up on... (b01s1c4y)
Series 1

British Tunnels

Danny Baker considers some tunnel-based archive footage and endeavours to give a quick brush up on these mysterious, subterranean realms.


THU 21:00 The High Art of the Low Countries (b01rxpy1)
Daydreams and Nightmares

Following a brief period of decline, the entrepreneurial and industrious region of the Low Countries rose again to become a cultural leader in the modern age. Despite its small and almost insignificant size it produced important forward-thinking artists like van Gogh, Mondrian, Magritte and Delvaux, who changed the face of art forever.

Andrew's journey takes him to a remote beach in north west Holland that inspired Mondrian's transition to his now-renowned abstract grid paintings. Andrew digs deep into the psychology and social history of the region, exploring how the landscape of the past has informed the culture and identity of the Low Countries today and the impossibility of the Dutch drive to turn the philosophy of Mondrian's geometric order into a way of living.


THU 22:00 A Night at the Rijksmuseum (b01s0zpp)
Andrew Graham-Dixon goes behind the scenes at the Rijksmuseum as the staff prepare to open the doors following a ten-year renovation, the most significant ever undertaken by a museum. Featuring over 8,000 works of art, Holland's national museum tells the story of 800 years of Dutch history and houses a world-famous collection including masterpieces by artists from Vermeer to Rembrandt. So, as the final paintings are rehung and objects settle into their new home, has the long wait been worth it?


THU 23:00 The Secret Life of Rockpools (b01rtdr4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


THU 00:00 Ocean Giants (b013q50m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


THU 01:00 Top of the Pops (b01ryv79)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 01:45 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (b0077hrr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 02:15 Brushing up on... (b01s1c4y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


THU 02:45 The High Art of the Low Countries (b01rxpy1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 19 APRIL 2013

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b01rxfwt)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Sacred Music: The Story of Allegri's Miserere (b00g81g7)
Simon Russell Beale tells the story behind Allegri's Miserere, one of the most popular pieces of sacred music ever written. The programme features a full performance of the piece by the award-winning choir the Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers.


FRI 20:00 God's Composer (b017sw77)
Simon Russell Beale continues his Sacred Music journey in this special celebration marking the 400th anniversary of the death of the great Spanish Renaissance composer Tomas Luis de Victoria. In exploring the extraordinary world of this intensely spiritual man - musician, priest and mystic - Simon's travels take him to some of Spain's most stunning locations, from the ancient fortified city of Avila, with its medieval walls and glorious cathedral, to the magnificent El Escorial palace, where Philip II would listen to Victoria's music though a small door leading off his bedroom directly to the high altar of the Basilica.

In Madrid, Simon explores the dramatic religious paintings of Victoria's contemporary El Greco in the Prado Museum and visits the convent of Las Descalzas Reales, named after the barefoot nuns who worshipped there and where Victoria spent the final three decades of his life as choirmaster and organist.

The music is specially performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen in the church of San Antonio de los Alemanes, a hidden baroque jewel built in Victoria's lifetime in the heart of Madrid.


FRI 21:00 Arena (b017lbh4)
George Harrison: Living in the Material World

Part 1

Martin Scorsese's portrait of the late George Harrison.

Scorsese traces Harrison's life from his beginnings in Liverpool to becoming a world-famous musician, philanthropist and filmmaker, weaving together interviews with George and his closest friends, photographs and archive footage including live performances - much of it previously unseen.

The result is a rare glimpse into the mind of one of the most talented artists of his generation.

Part one looks at George's early years in The Beatles - from their first gigs in Hamburg and the beginning of Beatlemania, through to his psychedelic phase and involvement in religion and Indian music.

The programme includes contributions from Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Sir George Martin and Phil Spector.


FRI 22:35 Arena (b017lbr0)
George Harrison: Living in the Material World

Part 2

The second and concluding part of Martin Scorsese's portrait of George Harrison.

Part two looks at Harrison's post-Beatles days - as a member of the Travelling Wilburys and a solo artist, as well as looking at his non-musical ventures, including his work as a movie producer and his family life with wife Olivia and son Dhani.

Racing legend Jackie Stewart tells of George's love of motor racing, Monty Python's Eric Idle recounts how George saved the Life of Brian from catastrophe by re-mortgaging his mansion to help finance it, and there are contributions from Travelling Wilbury bandmates including Tom Petty.

Harrison's widow Olivia Harrison gives a poignant account of her life with the Beatle, including the harrowing tale of the night when a violent intruder attacked them at home one evening in 1999.

Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Olivia and Dhani Harrison, among many others, talk openly about George's many gifts and contradictions and reveal the lives they shared together.


FRI 00:30 The Songs of Nick Drake: Way to Blue (b00s06v5)
Filmed at the Barbican in January 2010 and curated by Joe Boyd, producer and general champion of Nick Drake, 90 minutes of performance highlights from a diverse but renowned cast of modern day troubadours.

Presenting their own interpretations of Drake's songs are Vashti Bunyan, Green Gartside, Lisa Hannigan, Scott Matthews, Teddy Thompson, Krystle Warren, Robyn Hitchcock, Kirsty Almeida and Harper Simon.

A celebration of the songs of Nick Drake, the concert features the original orchestrations of Nick's friend, the late Robert Kirby. It includes a house band anchored by Danny Thompson, the legendary bassist who played on Drake's first two albums.

Highlights include Teddy Thompson's version of the timeless River Man, Lisa Hannigan's haunting and compelling version of Black Eyed Dog, Krystle Warren's bluesy take on Time Has Told Me, Robyn Hitchcock's psychedelic spin on Parasite and Neil MacColl's accomplished rendition of the classic Northern Sky.

During his lifetime Nick Drake found little mainstream success, but since his death at the untimely age of 26 in 1974 he has been revered as one of the most influential and important English songwriters of his era.


FRI 01:55 ... Sings The Beatles (b00ml7p5)
Recorded for the 40th anniversary of Abbey Road, The Beatles' final album, a journey through the classic and curious covers in the BBC archives.

Featuring Sandie Shaw singing a sassy Day Tripper, Shirley Bassey belting out Something, a close-harmony Carpenters cover of Help!, Joe Cocker's chart-topping With a Little Help from My Friends, Oasis reinventing the Walrus and a little Lady Madonna from Macca himself.

Plus a few 'magical' moments from Candy Flip, The Korean Kittens and Su Pollard.


FRI 02:55 God's Composer (b017sw77)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]