SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2014

SAT 19:00 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01bs7jq)
Frozen in Time

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 forever, 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 three, Fortey looks at the ice age. 2.8 million years ago - triggered by slight changes in the Earth's orbit around the sun and shifts in its ocean currents - the world began to cool. Within a few thousand years much of the planet was shrouded in a dense cloak of ice that would come and go until only 10,000 years ago. We call this age of ice - the Pleistocene Age - and it transformed the hierarchy of nature. This is the story of how a few specialist species that evolved to live in the biting cold survived into the present day.


SAT 20:00 Yellowstone (b00jc6p6)
Winter

Series following the fortunes of America's wildlife icons in Yellowstone, the most extensive thermal area on Earth.

In winter, Yellowstone is frozen solid - locked in snow as deep as a house for over six months. Whether you hunt for meat, live off stored body fat or whether you simply hibernate, you need to take every advantage, however slight, to save precious energy - then you might just make it through the winter to enjoy the green grass and balmy days of spring.

As we follow the grip of winter over the course of six freezing months, we chart the fortunes of Yellowstone's wildlife in a finely balanced fight to survive. Bison use their massively powerful heads to dig through some of the deepest snow in America to reach the grass beneath. A red fox listens out for mice scurrying six feet beneath the snow before diving headfirst into the drift to snap up its prey, while otters slide through Yellowstone's winter wonderland to find any remaining open water where they can fish. All the while, as the herds of elk and bison are gradually weakened by the cold, one animal gets stronger - the wolf.

But all is not as it first seems - there are larger powers at work. Whether a wolf, a bison or an elk makes it through is intimately linked to Yellowstone's greatest secret. Sleeping beneath the ice and snow-covered surface is one of the world's largest volcanoes. In an extraordinary twist of nature, everything from the freezing winter cold to the creation of a snowstorm is determined by the power of Yellowstone's volcanic heart.


SAT 21:00 Crimes of Passion (b04j8rn2)
Roses, Kisses and Death

The country estate of Christer's fiancee Gabriella is surrounded by fragrant roses of every colour. Puck and Einar (Eje for short) travel there for their engagement party, but the rose-scented idyll soon turns into a stifling backdrop when Puck finds Gabriella's grandfather poisoned in his bed. Little by little, we learn that the relationships between the people living on the estate are anything but uncomplicated and that there is a sexual frustration behind every well-polished marriage. The question is, to what extent beautiful Gabriella is involved in the intrigues and how much of a coincidence it is that her grandfather is killed just when Christer is in the house.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 Top of the Pops (b03mpphw)
The Story of 1979

1979 was a unique year for Top of the Pops, which saw the show record its highest audience of 19 million viewers and in which physical format singles sales hit an all-time high of 79 million. 1979 is maybe the most diverse year ever for acts on Top of the Pops with disco at its peak, new wave, 2 Tone, reggae, rock, folk and electro records all making the top five.

Original interviews with Gary Numan, Nile Rodgers, Woody from Madness, Jah Wobble, Chas and Dave, Janet Kay, Linda Nolan, Jim Dooley, Secret Affair, the Ruts, Legs and Co and many others tell the story of an exceptional year.

In the year that the 'winter of discontent' saw continuing strikes black out ITV and TOTP reduced during a technicians strike to a narrator introducing videos, the show also found itself the site of conflict backstage. TOTP's old guard of 70s MOR acts had their feathers continually ruffled by new wave bands, as the Skids spat at the Nolan Sisters backstage and Generation X urinated off the roof onto the Dooleys.

Elsewhere in the corridors of TV Centre, in preparation for playing their single Death Disco, Public Image Ltd demanded their teeth were blacked out in make-up to appear ugly, while Gary Numan remembers the overbearing union presence which prevented TOTP artists moving their own microphones without a union technician and the Musicians Union trying to ban him from the show for his use of synthesizers.

The most popular musical styles of 1979 were 2 Tone, reggae and disco. The latter saw Nile Rodgers, the man of the year, score four hits with Chic as well as writing and producing a further four hits with Sister Sledge, Sheila B Devotion and Sugarhill Gang, who appeared with what would prove to be the first ever rap hit.

Jamaican and UK reggae artists scored continual hits through the year and then watched as the Police notched up three hits with white reggae and the label 2 Tone revived the 60s reggae style known as ska. In November, in what is remembered as the 2 Tone edition, all three of the label's new acts - Madness, Specials and Selecter - appeared on one historic night and took the show by storm, with Madness capping off their performance of One Step Beyond by leading a 'nutty train' conga through the studio.


SAT 23:30 Animals Through the Night: Sleepover at the Zoo (b03x3yff)
In a never-before-attempted sleep experiment, Bristol Zoo has been rigged with cameras and sensors and Liz Bonnin and sleep expert Bryson Voirin stay up all night to see what the animals get up to when they think no-one is watching. From red pandas and lions to meerkats and tapirs, for the first time a whole range of animal sleep behaviours is compared and contrasted across the course of a single night.

The programme delves into the extraordinary world of animal sleep, looking at not only what science has already discovered, but the questions which remain to be answered. From dolphins, which have come up with ingenious solutions to allow them to sleep while swimming, through to ants that have developed complex behavioural patterns which ensure that the colony sleeps undisturbed, to meerkats, who keep an ear open for danger during sleep, and flamingos, which arrange themselves in order to keep a wary eye out for night-time predators.


SAT 01:00 Top of the Pops (b03mpphy)
1979 - Big Hits

1979 Top of the Pops collection, offering 60 minutes of the year's greatest, cheesiest and oddest performances. 1979 was the year music went portable with the launch of the Sony walkman and another year Top of the Pops, the BBC's flagship music show, managed to still draw over 15 million viewers every Thursday night.

The mod revival and 2 Tone was in full stomp, featured here with the Jam, the Specials, Madness and the Selecter. If new wave was your bag there is Elvis Costello, Squeeze and Gary Numan. In 1979 there was little chance of seeing a show on TV featuring Dame Edna's performance of Waltzing Matilda alongside the Ruts with Babylon's Burning, but the British public's eclectic taste predicted the chart and thus saw them together on TOTP in June.

With singles sales at their peak, it was a regular occurrence for groups like Racey and The Nolans to sell over a million copies and their performances may tell us why, or maybe not! Plus new wave pop from Lene Lovich, disco from Chic and a peek at the nation's favourite, Chas & Dave, singing Gertcha.


SAT 02:00 Yellowstone (b00jc6p6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 03:00 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01bs7jq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 21 SEPTEMBER 2014

SUN 19:00 The John Moores Painting Prize with Alexei Sayle (b04jmvkl)
The John Moores Painting Prize is one of the country's most prestigious art awards. Established over 50 years ago by Sir John Moores, the man behind the Littlewoods pools empire, past winners include David Hockney, Richard Hamilton and Peter Doig, while Sir Peter Blake, who won the junior section in 1961, is now the prize's patron.

Alexei Sayle has followed the prize avidly since he was a child growing up in Liverpool and it even inspired him to train as a painter at Chelsea School of Art, before a career as a stand-up comedian beckoned.

In this film, Alexei returns to Liverpool to follow the progress of the 2014 John Moores Painting Prize. He visits some of the shortlisted artists in their studios and talks to Sir Peter Blake, Jake Chapman and Peter Doig about the importance of the award and goes behind the scenes at this year's award ceremony.


SUN 19:30 Secret Knowledge (b03d6b1j)
The Hidden Jewels of the Cheapside Hoard

In 1912, workmen demolishing a building in London's Cheapside district made an extraordinary discovery - a dazzling hoard of nearly 500 Elizabethan and Jacobean jewels. For the first time since its discovery, all the pieces from this priceless treasure trove were on display at the Museum of London in an exhibition in October 2013.

With exclusive close-up access to the fabulous collection, award-winning jewellery designer Shaun Leane goes behind the scenes during the run-up to the exhibition to uncover some of the secrets of the hoard. Who did the jewels belong to? Why were they buried? And why were they never retrieved?

As Shaun uncovers a world of astonishing skill and glittering beauty, he also reveals a darker story of forgery, intrigue and even murder.


SUN 20:00 Byzantium: A Tale of Three Cities (b03l7psf)
Episode 2

Series in which historian Simon Sebag Montefiore traces the sacred history of Istanbul. Known as the 'city of the world's desire', it's a place that has been the focus of passion for believers of three different faiths - Paganism, Christianity and Islam - and for nearly 3,000 years its streets have been the battleground for some of the fiercest political and religious conflicts in history.

In the second episode he explores modern Istanbul in search of the last desperate centuries of Christian Byzantium, in which the once glorious city was buffeted by enemies from both east and west and yet still produced a golden artistic renaissance. This is story of the Christian crusaders who destroyed the city, and the Ottoman Muslims who restored it to life as an imperial capital after the epic siege of 1453.


SUN 21:00 British Art at War: Bomberg, Sickert and Nash (b04hk9n8)
Walter Sickert and the Theatre of War

In the years preceding 1914, David Bomberg, Walter Sickert and Paul Nash set out to paint a new world, but, as the century unfolded, found themselves working in the rubble.

Walter Sickert's early career as an actor is long forgotten and he's now remembered for his art. But he never left the stage behind. Always shape-shifting between roles, Sickert's appearance never stayed still. And his art, too, was in perpetual transformation. Dazzlingly original, deeply unsettling, poised on the brink of violence. For most, proof that Sickert is the godfather of modern British art, but for a few at the fringes, evidence he's Jack the Ripper.

But Sickert was no perpetrator, just an unflinching witness, notably, to the cataclysm of World War One. Too old to fight in Flanders, Sickert painted edgy, compelling, subtle pictures of those who'd been left behind. He painted people trying to get on with lives that were being shattered by the conflict. Almost alone of his generation, Sickert truly understood that the theatre of war was not confined to the trenches.


SUN 22:00 Trishna (b040lw6d)
Trishna is a young woman living in a small village in Rajastan. When her father is incapacitated by a road accident, her family look to her to become the main breadwinner. In steps Jay, the son of a rich entrepreneur who, smitten with Trishna's beauty, decides to help her and give her a job at one of his father's hotels. Here, Jay starts to restlessly pursue Trishna's affections, but are his intentions as pure as they seem?

In English and Hindi.


SUN 23:45 Top of the Pops (b00zwrn5)
1964 to 1975 - Big Hits

1964 saw the birth of a very British institution. Spanning over four decades, Top of the Pops has produced many classic moments in pop culture.

Digging deep within the darkest depths of the BBC's archive, this compilation offers some memorable performances from 1964 through to 1975 from the likes of The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Status Quo, Procol Harum, Stevie Wonder, Queen and The Kinks, and opens the vintage vaults to rare performances from Stealers Wheel, Julie Driscoll, Peter Sarstedt and The Seekers.

So sit back and witness once again where music met television.


SUN 01:15 Quadrophenia: Can You See the Real Me? (b01k83bl)
In his home studio and revisiting old haunts in Shepherd's Bush and Battersea, Pete Townshend opens his heart and his personal archive to revisit 'the last great album the Who ever made', one that took the Who full circle back to their earliest days via the adventures of a pill-popping mod on an epic journey of self-discovery.

But in 1973 Quadrophenia was an album that almost never was. Beset by money problems, a studio in construction, heroin-taking managers, a lunatic drummer and a culture of heavy drinking, Townshend took on an album that nearly broke him and one that within a year the band had turned their back on and would ignore for nearly three decades.

With unseen archive and in-depth interviews from Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, John Entwistle and those in the studio and behind the lens who made the album and 30 page photo booklet.

Contributors include Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Ethan Russell, Ron Nevison, Richard Barnes, Irish Jack Lyons, Bill Curbishley, John Woolf, Howie Edelson, Mark Kermode and Georgiana Steele Waller.


SUN 02:25 British Art at War: Bomberg, Sickert and Nash (b04hk9n8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



MONDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2014

MON 19:00 World News Today (b04j69sd)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b03t7spn)
Series 5

Ilford to Rochester

Steered by his Bradshaw's, Michael Portillo heads along the Essex bank of the Thames before crossing the river into the Garden of England, Kent.

He begins this leg at Barkingside, where a Victorian philanthropist called Dr Thomas Barnardo made it his life's work to transform the lives of destitute children.

From Upminster Michael takes the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway to Tilbury and finds out how the line and the old station transformed the town into one of the country's most important ports. At the docks, Michael tries his hand at loading a container on to a pocket wagon.

Over the river at Gravesend Michael discovers how one of Queen Victoria's favourite army officers, General Gordon, left his mark on the town.

Michael's last destination on this leg is Rochester, where he encounters a host of familiar characters and explores the city which was home to one of the Victorian era's greatest writers, Charles Dickens.


MON 20:00 British Gardens in Time (b040y79r)
Stowe

Stowe, one of the most remarkable creations of Georgian England, is the birthplace of the landscape garden. Created on a vast scale with 36 temples, eight lakes and a dozen avenues, Stowe launched the career of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown and fostered a rebellion that overthrew the first British prime minister, Robert Walpole.

Rather than being a garden of flowers and shrubs, Stowe is a garden of ideas and its grottos and classical monuments spell out a furious, coded political manifesto. Stowe's creator, Viscount Cobham, dreamt of climbing to the pinnacle of political power and establishing a long-lived dynasty, but less than a century after his death, his family was to become the most scandalous bankrupts in English history.


MON 21:00 Lost Kingdoms of Central America (b04j8st0)
The People Who Greeted Columbus

The Taino people of the Caribbean were the first people of the Americas to greet Christopher Columbus. But, as Dr Jago Cooper reveals, they had a multicultural society complete with drug-infused rituals, strange skulls and amazing navigation. In deep caverns and turquoise seas, Jago uncovers their hidden history.


MON 22:00 Storyville (b040y72t)
The Himalayan Boy and the TV Set

Documentary which provides a vivid glimpse into a vanishing way of life in the Himalayas, as new technology extends its tentacles even into these remote regions.

In 1999, the King of Bhutan made a landmark proclamation approving the use of television and the internet. The film begins at the end of this process as Laya, the last remaining village tucked away within the Himalayan kingdom, becomes enmeshed in roads, electricity and cable television. Through the eyes of Peyangki, an eight-year-old monk impatient with prayer and eager to acquire a TV set, the film documents the seeds of this seismic shift sprouting.

During a three-day journey to the thriving capital of Thimphu, the young boy discovers cars and toilets in the search for the perfect television to bring back to the village. The trip enforces the sense that their tranquil village life is about to become extinct.


MON 23:10 Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (b01bs7jq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


MON 00:10 The Wonder of Animals (b04hkd1h)
Elephants

Chris Packham explores the anatomy and physiology of the largest land animal on the planet - the elephant. Their size seems ill-suited to surviving the most arid regions of Africa, but their inner workings allow them to defy the extreme heat of the desert and find food and water in seemingly barren landscapes, while their extraordinary memory enables them to repel predators.

Chris reveals how hairs on the skin help keep elephants cool, how sensors in their feet may be able to guide them towards rain and how a unique pouch in their mouths stores water. Recent research has even discovered that elephants can distinguish between the voices of human friend and foe.


MON 00:45 Inside the Perfect Predator (b00rfh1s)
Documentary using groundbreaking computer graphics and close-up photography to reveal the inner alchemy that gives four extraordinary hunters the edge, from the moment they detect their prey through to the vital kill.

Soaring above the people of London is the fastest animal on the planet, the peregrine falcon, on a mission to kill for her chicks. Off the coast of South Africa the world's largest predatory fish, the great white shark, has just completed a 7,000-mile journey and is hungry for seal blubber. On the plains of Africa the fastest land animal, the cheetah, struggles to provide for her cubs as her enemies move in. And having survived a drought by entering into a state of suspended animation, the prehistoric Nile crocodile is poised to ambush his dinner.


MON 01:45 British Gardens in Time (b040y79r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 02:45 Lost Kingdoms of Central America (b04j8st0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2014

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b04j69sk)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b03t7v9d)
Series 5

Faversham to Dorking

Michael Portillo continues his journey from Norwich to Chichester beginning in Faversham in Kent, at one of the country's oldest surviving breweries, Shepherd Neame. Michael discovers how the brewery invested heavily in the railways and even ran rolling stock with its own smart livery taking beer to London.

After making his own delivery to the Railway Tavern in one of the brewery's oldest vehicles, Michael heads for the south coast to the defensive town of Dover, little more than 25 miles from the historic enemy, the French. Here he uncovers one of Dover's best-kept secrets, the sunken fortress known as the Western Heights.

In the Weald of Kent, Michael finds out how the railways helped to put Tonbridge School on track for cricketing glory before heading into Surrey where he blow-dries a hen in Dorking!


TUE 20:00 World War I at Home (b045ghms)
The Trawlermen

Miranda Krestovnikoff examines the role of east coast fishermen in World War I and in particular finds out about the Grimsby trawler captain who left a zeppelin crew to die and was accused by the Germans of being a war criminal.


TUE 20:30 The Secret Life of Books (p025zl2q)
Series 1

The Mabinogion

Cerys Matthews tells the extraordinary story of one of the great literary treasures of the medieval world - the Mabinogion. Its ancient tales, once recited aloud by storytellers, were later translated from Welsh by a Victorian enthusiast, Lady Charlotte Guest, bringing them to an international audience. Their influence can still be detected in works such as JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones.

'When I was growing up I had a Mabinogion poster, the illustrations were almost psychedelic', says Matthews, who was enchanted. 'I'd fallen in love with the unpredictable plots, the beautiful language and the larger than life characters'.

Here were unforgettable creations - a king who could stride across the Irish Sea, a woman made entirely of flowers, goats that mysteriously changed into wild boars and the first ever appearance of King Arthur. As Matthews delves deeper into these strange tales, she examines some of the original, ancient manuscripts and visits some of the locations in Wales which first inspired many of the stories.

Produced in partnership with the Open University.


TUE 21:00 Timeshift (b03p7jh9)
Series 13

Hurricanes and Heatwaves: The Highs and Lows of British Weather

A glorious national obsession is explored in this archive-rich look at the evolution of the weather forecast from print via radio to TV and beyond - and at the changing weather itself. It shows how the Met Office and the BBC have always used the latest technology to bring the holy grail of accurate forecasting that much closer - even if the odd messenger like TV weatherman Michael Fish has been shot along the way.

Yet as hand-drawn maps have been replaced by weather apps, the bigger drama of global warming has been playing itself out as if to prove that we were right all along to obsess about the weather. Featuring a very special rendition of the shipping forecast by a Cornish fishermen's choir.


TUE 22:00 Timeshift (b01n8hl9)
Series 12

Magnificent Machines: The Golden Age of the British Sports Car

Timeshift sets its rear-view mirror to look back at the golden age of the British sports car. It's the story of how - in the grey austerity of the postwar years - iconic marques like Jaguar, Austin-Healey, MG and Triumph sparked a manufacturing frenzy that helped to democratise speed and glamour.

From the MG Midget, much loved by American GIs, through to the more affordable Austin Healey 'frog-eye' Sprite and the E-Type Jaguar, seen by many as the ultimate sports car, this is a tale of how, for a brief time, Britain was home to two-seater heaven.


TUE 23:00 Yellowstone (b00jc6p6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


TUE 00:00 Natural World (b01d8nbk)
2011-2012

Grizzlies of Alaska

A mother grizzly bear brings up her two cubs in the wilds of Alaska. She must keep them safe from prowling males, teach them to hunt and prepare them to survive the savage winter. Alaska has the highest density of grizzlies in the world, so fights and face-offs are common. Biologist Chris Morgan spends the summer in this land of bears, often getting far too close for comfort.


TUE 01:00 A History of Britain by Simon Schama (b0074n44)
Series 3

The Two Winstons

Simon Schama tackles the 20th century through the lives of two men - Winston Churchill and George Orwell. Both men, so very different in almost every way, lived through and wrote about the key moments of British 20th-century life - the Depression, Empire, two world wars and the Cold War. What unites them, argues Schama, is one shared theme - forget history at your peril.


TUE 02:00 World War I at Home (b045ghms)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 02:30 The Secret Life of Books (p025zl2q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 03:00 Timeshift (b03p7jh9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2014

WED 19:00 World News Today (b04j69sq)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys (b03t7wht)
Series 5

Brighton to Chichester

On the final leg of his journey between the cathedral cities of Norwich and Chichester, Michael Portillo discovers the history behind the extraordinary Pavilion at Brighton and learns that Queen Victoria was not an admirer of the Prince Regent's flamboyant taste. Michael finds that while above ground the railways brought day trippers to frolic in fashionable Brighton, underground, Victorian engineers built a magnificent network of sewers more than 40 miles in length, which are still functioning today.

At Bramber, he discovers at the time of his guide, tourists flocked to the town in huge numbers due to a Victorian museum of taxidermy. Michael's next stop is the impressive castle at Arundel and he's pleased to find that the Duke of Norfolk was a great supporter of the railways. His rail journey ends in Chichester from where he heads up into the South Downs for a taste of life in the fast lane at Goodwood.


WED 20:00 Britain on Film (b033664h)
Series 2

Road, Rail and Runways

Throughout the 1960s, the Rank Organisation produced hundreds of short colour films on almost every aspect of British life. In a series reworking the best of this material to offer fascinating and often surprising insights into a transformative period of recent British history, this episode concentrates on the unprecedented upheavals in Britain's transport systems during a period when the popularity of air travel soared, rail networks were comprehensively dismantled and towns and cities were being reshaped to accommodate the unstoppable rise of the motor car.


WED 20:30 The Wonder of Animals (b04j8ttk)
Great Apes

Chris Packham explores the evolution of the great ape's brain to reveal how different parts have been adapted over time by its anatomy, ingenuity and sociability, culminating in one of the most complex brains on the planet. Chris examines how the ability to use two hands asymmetrically sets the great ape apart from other tool-using animals and how social living is linked to the evolution of the amygdala in both humans and our ape cousins. New research reveals how bonobos' peace-loving reputation may have developed through a similar domestication process to that undergone by our pet dogs.


WED 21:00 Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion (b04j8ttm)
Idols

Just how did Britain become the place where the best music goes with the most eye-catching styles? Lauren Laverne narrates a series about the love affair between our music and fashion, looking at how musicians and designers came up with the coolest and craziest looks and how we emulated our idols.

British pop and rock is our great gift to the world, at the heart of the irrepressible creative brilliance of Britain. But it has never just been about the music. Across the decades we have unleashed a uniquely British talent for fusing the best sounds with stunning style and fashion to dazzling effect.

The second episode takes us through the 1970s, a decade of political, social and cultural upheaval reflected best in its music and fashion. Suzi Quatro on Top of the Pops unleashed her leather jumpsuit into the living rooms of Britain at the birth of the rock chick look. The fantastical world of prog rock emerged, with its golden-caped leader Rick Wakeman and his army of intellectual but corduroy-wearing followers journeying from the university campus to medieval and fantastical Arthurian worlds. Queen rocked the rainbow in their Zandra Rhodes-designed costumes, amazing the audience and cementing the band as one of the country's most loved and most flamboyant bands of all time.

But no other British music and fashion movement has had more reverberation than the international phenomena of punk, beginning (and, some say, ending) with The Sex Pistols' sweary appearance with Bill Grundy on the Today programme.

However, this isn't just a story of brilliant musicians and maverick designers, it's a story that touches us all because, at some point in our lives, we've all delved into the great dressing-up box and joined the pageant that is British music and fashion.


WED 22:00 Versailles (b00lv83z)
The Dream of a King

Drama-documentary recreating the life and loves of France's most famous king, Louis XIV.

Dubbed the Sun King by his admiring court, Louis conquered half of Europe, conducted dozens of love affairs and dazzled his contemporaries with his lavish entertainments. But perhaps his greatest achievement - and certainly his longest lasting love - was the incredible palace he built at Versailles, one of the wonders of the world.

Filmed in the spectacular staterooms, bedrooms and gardens of Versailles itself, this beautifully photographed drama-documentary brings the reign of one of Europe's greatest and most flamboyant monarchs triumphantly to life, with the help of interviews with the world's leading experts on his reign.


WED 23:00 British Art at War: Bomberg, Sickert and Nash (b04hk9n8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Sunday]


WED 00:00 Byzantium: A Tale of Three Cities (b03l7psf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]


WED 01:00 Secret Knowledge (b03d6b1j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 on Sunday]


WED 01:30 Versailles (b00lv83z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


WED 02:30 The Wonder of Animals (b04j8ttk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 03:00 Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion (b04j8ttm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2014

THU 19:00 World News Today (b04j69sw)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b04j8w5s)
Weekly pop chart programme presented by Peter Powell with performances by Randy Vanwarmer, Madness, Boney M, the Ruts, the Crusaders, ELO, Bill Lovelady, Roxy Music and Cliff Richard and dance sequences by Legs & Co.


THU 20:00 The Bridge: Fifty Years Across the Forth (b04g80p8)
A unique amateur film provides the centrepiece of a documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of Scotland's great landmarks, the Forth Road Bridge. The documentary traces the memories of the people who built the bridge, the biggest of its kind in Europe at the time, as well as those who ran the Forth ferries that stopped running when it opened in 1964.


THU 21:00 Do We Really Need the Moon? (b00yb5jp)
The moon is such a familiar presence in the sky that most of us take it for granted. But what if it wasn't where it is now? How would that affect life on Earth?

Space scientist and lunar fanatic Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock explores our intimate relationship with the moon. Besides orchestrating the tides, the moon dictates the length of a day, the rhythm of the seasons and the very stability of our planet.

Yet the moon is always on the move. In the past, it was closer to the Earth and in the future it will be farther away. That it is now perfectly placed to sustain life is pure luck, a cosmic coincidence. Using computer graphics to summon up great tides and set the Earth spinning on its side, Aderin-Pocock implores us to look at the Moon afresh: to see it not as an inert rock, but as a key player in the story of our planet, past, present and future.


THU 22:00 Lost Kingdoms of Central America (b04j8st0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 23:00 British Gardens in Time (b040y79r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


THU 00:00 Top of the Pops (b04j8w5s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 00:40 World War I at Home (b045ghms)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


THU 01:10 The Secret Life of Books (p025zl2q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Tuesday]


THU 01:40 The Bridge: Fifty Years Across the Forth (b04g80p8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 02:40 Do We Really Need the Moon? (b00yb5jp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2014

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b04j69t3)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 BBC Proms (b03p7p6n)
Chamber Music

Vilde Frang and Michail Lifits

Petroc Trelawny introduces highlights from the first in a series of BBC Proms chamber music concerts from Cadogan Hall in London. The young Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, accompanied by the German pianist Michael Lifits, plays Mozart's Violin Sonata in G, the 'Blues' movement from Ravel's second Violin Sonata and Estrellita by the Mexican composer Manuel Ponce.


FRI 20:00 Sound of Cinema: The Music That Made the Movies (b03b45h4)
The Big Score

In a series celebrating the art of the cinema soundtrack, Neil Brand explores the work of the great movie composers and demonstrates their techniques. Neil begins by looking at how the classic orchestral film score emerged and why it's still going strong today.

Neil traces how in the 1930s, European-born composers such as Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold brought their Viennese training to play in stirring, romantic scores for Hollywood masterpieces like King Kong and The Adventures of Robin Hood. But it took a home-grown American talent, Bernard Herrmann, to bring a darker, more modern sound to some of cinema's finest films, with his scores for Citizen Kane, Psycho and Taxi Driver.

Among those Neil meets are leading film-makers and composers who discuss their work, including Martin Scorsese and Hans Zimmer, composer of blockbusters like Gladiator and Inception.


FRI 21:00 Storyville (b0074nrj)
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Classic rock film documenting David Bowie's last public appearance as his androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. This memorable final concert at the Hammersmith Odeon was filmed by DA Pennebaker, famous for such 1960s rock documentaries as Don't Look Back and Monterey Pop. The 17 songs performed include Changes, Time and Suffragette City.


FRI 22:25 Queen: The Legendary 1975 Concert (b00p4hgm)
On Christmas Eve 1975, Queen crowned a glorious year with a special concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon. The show on the final night of their triumphant UK tour was broadcast live on BBC TV and radio, and has become a legendary event in Queen's history.

Featuring stunning renditions of early hits Keep Yourself Alive, Liar and Now I'm Here alongside Brian May's epic guitar showcase Brighton Rock, a rip-roaring version of the then new Bohemian Rhapsody and the crowd-pleasing Rock 'n' Roll Medley, this hour-long concert shows Queen at an early peak and poised to conquer the world.


FRI 23:15 TOTP2 (b007897x)
70s Special

A 'then and now' special featuring a number of 1970s artistes as they were in 2002. As well as archive footage, the show also includes previously unseen performances by Donny Osmond, David Cassidy, Page and Plant and Alice Cooper.


FRI 00:00 Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion (b04j8ttm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


FRI 01:00 Storyville (b0074nrj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:25 Queen: The Legendary 1975 Concert (b00p4hgm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:25 today]


FRI 03:15 TOTP2 (b007897x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:15 today]