SATURDAY 08 APRIL 2017

SAT 19:00 The Silk Road (p03qb25g)
Episode 2

In the second episode of his series tracing the story of the most famous trade route in history, Dr Sam Willis travels west to Central Asia, a part of the Silk Road often overlooked and yet the place of major innovations, big historical characters and a people - the Sogdians - whose role was pivotal to its success.

In the high mountain passes of Tajikistan, Sam meets the last survivors of that race, who once traded from the Mediterranean to the China Sea. In the Uzbek cities of Samarkand and Bukara, he discovers how they were built by armies of captive craftsmen for one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever seen - Timur.

From here, Sam follows the flow of goods back towards the markets of the west, showing how their trading culture sparked cultural, technical and artistic revolutions all along the Silk Road, and goes back to school to learn where modern mathematics and astronomy were born.


SAT 20:00 Dust Storms (p04w6tbh)
Up to five billion tons of dust blows around the earth each year. This film looks at the growing menace created by these phenomena. Focusing on the Middle East, one of the world's worst affected areas, and with the help of the world's top scientists the programme looks at why dust storms happen, how they affect our health and what we can do about them.


SAT 20:45 Wild (b00jd9yx)
Scotland

Otters, Puffins and Seals

Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan explores his native Mull and some of the nearby islands, filming otters, deer, puffins, seals and a minke whale.


SAT 21:00 Department Q (b0801gdr)
The Keeper of Lost Causes

Carl Morck, a troubled detective, is assigned to the newly created 'Department Q', a basement-bound job filing cold cases. He is allocated an assistant, Assad, and between them they review the case files to determine which ones can be closed. Always one to go against orders, Morck throws them headlong into the mystery of a politician's disappearance during a ferry crossing five years earlier.

Based on the first of Jussi Adler-Olsen's 'Department Q' series of novels.

In Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 Top of the Pops (b08l6rjw)
Peter Powell and Andy Peebles present another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 14 July 1983. Featuring Paul Young, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Heaven 17, Echo & the Bunnymen and Bananarama.


SAT 23:05 Top of the Pops (b08l6sly)
Mike Read and Janice Long present another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 28 July 1983. Featuring KC and the Sunshine Band, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Lotus Eaters and Bananarama.


SAT 23:40 Psychedelic Britannia (b06jp24b)
Documentary exploring the rise and fall of the most visionary period in British music history: five kaleidoscopic years between 1965 and 1970 when a handful of dreamers reimagined pop music.

When a generation of British R&B bands discovered LSD, conventions were questioned. From out of the bohemian underground and into the pop mainstream, the psychedelic era produced some of the most groundbreaking music ever made, pioneered by young improvising bands like Soft Machine and Pink Floyd, then quickly taken to the charts by the likes of The Beatles, Procol Harum, The Small Faces and The Moody Blues, even while being reimagined in the country by bucolic, folk-based artists like The Incredible String Band and Vashti Bunyan.

The film is narrated by Nigel Planer, with contributions and performances from artists who lived and breathed the psych revolution - Paul McCartney, Ginger Baker, Robert Wyatt, Roy Wood, The Zombies, Mike Heron, Vashti Bunyan, Joe Boyd, Gary Brooker, Arthur Brown, Kenney Jones, Barry Miles, The Pretty Things and The Moody Blues.


SAT 00:45 Totally 60s Psychedelic Rock at the BBC (b06jp24d)
A compilation from the depths of the BBC archive of the creme de la creme of 1960s British psychedelic rock from programmes such as Colour Me Pop, How It Is, Top of the Pops and Once More with Felix.

Featuring pre-rocker era Status Quo, a rustic-looking Incredible String Band, a youthful Donovan, a suitably eccentric performance from The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, a trippy routine from Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity, a groovy tune from The Moody Blues, a raucous rendition by Joe Cocker of his version of With a Little Help From My Friends and some pre-Wizzard Roy Wood with The Move.

Plus classic performances from the likes of Procol Harum, Cream, Jimi Hendrix and The Who.


SAT 01:45 Pink Floyd Beginnings 1967-1972 (b0803q78)
Pink Floyd released their first single in 1967, and as their popularity around the world grew, they increasingly travelled outside the UK to perform live shows and make TV appearances. After The Dark Side of the Moon became a global smash, the band concentrated on the creative freedom of live performance, leaving the world of TV behind, but now, after painstaking research, tapes of those early historic appearances have been tracked down and compiled into a fascinating hour of early Pink Floyd.

With frontman Syd Barrett, they perform Astronomy Domine and Jugband Blues, and after Syd's departure, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason can be seen playing a full range of their eclectic material, from out and out pop in It Would Be So Nice, through instrumental improvisations, collaboration with choir and orchestra on Atom Heart Mother and enduring rock material like Wot's... Uh the Deal.

Beginnings 1967-1972 tracks the fascinating gestation of one of the world's most creative and heralded groups in the less well-known period that preceded the triumphs of The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall.


SAT 02:45 Psychedelic Britannia (b06jp24b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:40 today]



SUNDAY 09 APRIL 2017

SUN 19:00 Britain at War: Imperial War Museum at 100 (b08k5xdm)
In 2017, the Imperial War Museum celebrated its centenary. It was founded while the First World War was still raging and, in its first hundred years, the IWM expanded hugely, with five sites including the Churchill War Rooms and HMS Belfast. It shares stories of those who have lived, fought and died in conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth.

This programme, presented by Falklands veteran and charity campaigner Simon Weston CBE, looks at ten key objects from the IWM's collection. Each of the objects has a special advocate to explore what it reveals about the story of conflict - Bear Grylls ventures onto HMS Belfast, Al Murray looks at a Spitfire at Duxford, and the artists Cornelia Parker and Steve McQueen discuss how they have responded to war and loss in their work. Kate Adie tells the remarkable tale of the typewriter in the Churchill War Rooms, Dame Kelly Holmes meets the extraordinary Johnson Beharry VC to hear about his experiences in the Iraq War, and Anita Rani explores the incredible heroism of one soldier in the British-Indian Army.


SUN 20:00 Teenage Tommies (b04pcmz5)
In this moving tribute to the teenage heroes of the Great War, Fergal Keane unearths the most powerful stories of Britain's boy soldiers. With as many as 250,000 boys under the age of 18 having served in the British Army during World War I, and with every tenth volunteer lying about his age, Fergal finds out what made them enlist. Was it motivated by patriotism or the spirit of adventure?

Fergal follows the children into the trenches to see how they coped with the reality of war. He explores how, as the casualties began to mount, a movement grew in Britain to get them home. Fergal also meets the children and grandchildren of these former boy solders, uncovering heartrending but often uplifting stories and taking them on an emotional journey to the places where their ancestors trained and fought.


SUN 21:00 Horizon (b01f893x)
2011-2012

Global Weirding

Something weird seems to be happening to our weather - it appears to be getting more extreme.

In the past few years we have shivered through two record-breaking cold winters and parts of the country have experienced intense droughts and torrential floods. It is a pattern that appears to be playing out across the globe. Hurricane chasers are recording bigger storms and in Texas, record-breaking rain has been followed by record-breaking drought.

Horizon follows the scientists who are trying to understand what's been happening to our weather and investigates if these extremes are a taste of what is to come.


SUN 22:00 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards (b08m9ffk)
2017

Highlights

Performances and other highlights of this week's BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, presented by Mark Radcliffe and Julie Fowlis at the Royal Albert Hall.

The vibrant scene from the UK and beyond is celebrated at this annual gathering of the folk family with performances from Ry Cooder, Al Stewart, Billy Bragg, Shirley Collins, Jim Moray, Fara, DaoirĂ­ Farrell and Afro Celt Sound System.

Electro-folk fusion group Afro-Celt Sound System get proceedings off to an energetic start and there's a wide variety of folk and roots talent throughout the show. In the 50th year of his career, American roots rock legend Ry Cooder makes a rare UK appearance, performing Jesus on the Mainline. He picks up a Lifetime Achievement Award, as does platinum-selling folk-rock singer-songwriter Al Stewart, who performs his 1976 song, On the Border.

Nominated for two Radio 2 Folk Awards, the great English traditional singer Shirley Collins has returned to the stage after a long break, and here she performs a track from her comeback album, Lodestar. There's also the exciting young singer from Dublin, Daoiri Farrell and the distinctive tones of Jim Moray with his bold Upcetera band. Long-time Woody Guthrie fan Billy Bragg plays I Ain't Got No Home in This World Anymore in tribute to his icon, who died 50 years ago. Orkney quartet Fara wield haunting harmonies and fiddles. And there's a specially curated performance from the Ballads of Child Migration, featuring the voices of children who were forcibly migrated from Britain to Australia and Canada, it's narrated by Barbara Dickson, with songs performed by an assembled cast of folk luminaries - Kris Drever, Boo Hewerdine, O'Hooley and Tidow, Andy Cutting, Jez Lowe, While & Matthews, John McCusker and Mike McGoldrick.

Awards ranging from Lifetime Achievement Awards to the Young Folk Award, Album of the Year and Folk Singer of the Year are handed out by a procession of folk-loving guests including Ray Davies, Sharleen Spiteri and Nick Lowe.


SUN 23:00 Arena (b08d80fd)
Alone with Chrissie Hynde

Arena spends the summer with supercool self-confessed rock chick, Chrissie Hynde - shopping for clothes in Paris, hanging out with Sandra Bernhard in New York, life in London and a special trip back to her home town of Akron, Ohio.

A thoughtful and intimate portrait of a 'lone, hungry, irritable wolf', featuring a glorious live performance at one of London's newest venues.


SUN 00:30 The Story of Maths (b00dzy91)
The Genius of the East

When ancient Greece fell into decline, mathematical progress stagnated as Europe entered the Dark Ages, but in the east mathematics reached new heights.

Du Sautoy visits China and explores how maths helped build imperial China and was at the heart of such amazing feats of engineering as the Great Wall.

In India, he discovers how the symbol for the number zero was invented and Indian mathematicians' understanding of the new concepts of infinity and negative numbers.

In the Middle East, he looks at the invention of the new language of algebra and the spread of eastern knowledge to the west through mathematicians such as Leonardo Fibonacci, creator of the Fibonacci Sequence.


SUN 01:30 The Bermuda Triangle: Beneath the Waves (b007c68n)
Professor Bruce Denardo attempts to prove whether there is any truth behind the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, where many ships and planes have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. New investigation techniques reveal the truth behind the infamous disappearance of Flight 19. Graham Hawkes is also able to reveal, by using a state-of-the-art submarine, how five wrecks mysteriously wound up 730 feet down in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.


SUN 02:30 Storyville (b04ndsb3)
Exposed: Magicians, Psychics and Frauds

Renowned magician James 'The Amazing' Randi has been wowing audiences with his jaw-dropping illusions, escapes and sleight of hand for over 50 years. When he began seeing his cherished art form co-opted by all manner of con artists, he made it his mission to expose the simple tricks charlatans have borrowed from magicians to swindle the masses.

This entertaining film chronicles Randi's best debunkings of faith healers, fortune tellers and psychics. It documents his rivalry with famed spoon-bender Uri Geller, whom Randi eventually foiled on a high-profile television appearance. Another target was evangelist Peter Popoff, whose tent-show miracles and audience mind-reading were exposed as chicanery when Randi revealed a recording of Popoff's wife feeding him information through a radio-transmitter earpiece.

In telling Randi's strange, funny and fascinating life story, the film shows how we are all vulnerable to deception - even, in a surprising twist, 'The Amazing' Randi himself.

This documentary is part of Louis Theroux: Docs That Made Me, a collection of his favourite documentaries.
As someone who interviewed Uri Geller a number of times and came close to making a film about him, it's easy to see why this Storyville film grabbed Louis Theroux. The themes of 'fakery and quackery' and the charismatic figure of arch skeptic James Randi make this an entertaining look into how we separate fact from fiction.

Exposed: Magicians, Psychics & Frauds is the winner of multiple awards... The Audience Award (AFI Docs Festival, 2014), Jury Award (Dallas Video Festival, 2014), Best Documentary (Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, 2014), Jury Prize (Key West Film Festival, 2014), Jury Award (Napa Valley Film Festival, 2014), Jury Award (Newport Beach Film Festival, 2014).



MONDAY 10 APRIL 2017

MON 19:00 100 Days (b08ltsxc)
Series 1

10/04/2017

As President Trump takes office, Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping our world.


MON 19:30 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04gbdwt)
The Hunter Brothers

Dr Adam Rutherford investigates the story of the Hunter brothers, the celebrated anatomists who controversially transformed both medicine and art in 18th-century Britain.

Their belief that their students could only learn anatomy by carrying out dissections created an unprecedented demand for dead bodies and a market for the growing trade of body snatching from graveyards.


MON 20:00 Yellowstone (b00jrh7r)
Summer

As the spring melts the winter snow, the full extent of Yellowstone is gradually revealed. Now, from the surrounding lowlands herds of elk, pronghorn and bison return from their winter feeding grounds to take advantage of America's richest natural grasslands - right in the heart of Yellowstone. In only a few weeks, a brutally harsh deep freeze has been transformed into a flower-decked nursery perfect for the year's newborn animals. There is also a new cast of characters that emerge bleary-eyed from hibernation as grizzly bears begin to teach their young the secrets of survival in Yellowstone - how to hunt fish in the still-frozen rivers and, as the season progresses, when to move out through valleys and grasslands into summer forests and up into Yellowstone's alpine peaks. In this spectacular wilderness, over 10,000ft high, they slide and scrabble, hunting millions of tiny moths buried under rocks on the barren slopes.

But summer here is fickle - even on Midsummer's Day, winter can descend from the surrounding mountains bringing punishing snows to fragile flower meadows. August is the only month in the year when it does not snow, but then, just as it seems the easy living of summer has finally arrived, it is brought to an abrupt end as fires sweep through the forest, laying Yellowstone to waste.

Yellowstone is the most geothermally active place on earth. There are 10,000 boiling springs, bubbling mudpots and fumeroles there, and more geysers than in all the rest of the world put together. For some, nature's fountains are more than just a marvel, they are an obsession. 'Geyser Gazers' have seen them all and can even imitate them.


MON 21:00 Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley (b06vm9qp)
Reinventing Russia

Lucy Worsley travels to Russia to tell the extraordinary story of the dynasty that ruled the country for more than three centuries. It's an epic tale that includes giant figures such as Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, the devastating struggle against Napoleon in 1812, and the political murders of Nicholas II and his family in 1918 which brought the dynasty to a brutal end.

In this first episode, Lucy investigates the beginning of the Romanovs' 300-year reign in Russia. In 1613, when Russia was leaderless, 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov was plucked from obscurity and offered the crown of Russia. Mikhail was granted absolute power and began the reign of the Romanovs as the most influential dynasty in modern European history.

Lucy also charts the story of Peter the Great, the ruthless and ambitious tsar who was determined to modernise Russia at the end of the 17th century. Lucy traces Peter's accession to the throne as a nine-year-old, when he witnessed a revolt led by royal guards and the slaughter of his uncles and close advisors. Sixteen years later, Peter would vengefully execute a thousand rebellious guards. Throughout his reign, Peter would demonstrate an unwavering commitment to establishing Russia as a naval power - Lucy explores the lengths to which Peter would go to ensure this became a reality, including the creation of a new maritime capital, St Petersburg.

Lucy shows how the Romanovs embraced and sponsored the arts on an astonishing scale - from building spectacular palaces to commissioning grand artworks - that all still dazzle today.

As well as studying this unique royal family, Lucy also considers the impact the Romanovs had on the lives of ordinary Russians, who were often little better than slaves to the elite.


MON 22:00 A Timewatch Guide (b052775d)
Series 1

Cleopatra

Using the BBC film archives, historian Vanessa Collinridge explores how our view of Cleopatra has changed and evolved over the years - from Roman propaganda, through Shakespeare's role in casting her as a doomed romantic heroine, to her portrayal in the golden age of Hollywood.

Along the way Vanessa investigates Cleopatra's relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, her role as a politician, whether she should be seen as a murderer, and her tragic end. Drawing on the views of academic experts, BBC documentaries and drama, Vanessa charts how, throughout history, Cleopatra's image has been subject to myth, cliche and propaganda.


MON 23:00 Oceans (b00g639s)
Arctic Ocean

The team ventures into one of the world's most hostile environments, the Arctic Ocean, which plays a crucial role in controlling our climate.

Expedition leader Paul Rose, environmentalist Philippe Cousteau Jr, maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue and marine biologist and oceanographer Tooni Mahto head to this hostile and remote ocean, where they plan to dive beneath the polar ice cap to explore how the ice, the dominant feature of this ocean, is shrinking and how this could affect the rest of the world.

The polar bear is threatened by the retreating ice - but it is not alone. The team risks diving in sub-zero temperatures to collect samples of some of the tiny creatures that form the basis of the Arctic's complex food chain.

As the seas warm, the Atlantic walrus could be a global warming winner, in the short-term, and the team attempts to find out why. And they search for a glimpse of the world's only white whale, the beluga.


MON 00:00 Everyday Miracles: The Genius of Sofas, Stockings and Scanners (b04fd6s9)
Home

Professor Mark Miodownik shows us what is so great about stuff. All the things of modern life around us that we maybe take for granted are revealed to be little pieces of domestic magic - everyday miracles - from razor blades to tights, via plywood and foam rubber. On the road and in the lab with explosive experiments, Mark reveals why the everyday, and even the mundane, is anything but.


MON 01:00 The Toilet: An Unspoken History (b01kxyhd)
We each spend three years of our lives on the toilet, but how happy are we talking about this essential part of our lives? This film challenges that mindset by uncovering its role in our culture and exploring the social history of the toilet in Britain and abroad - as well as exploring many of our cultural toilet taboos.

Starting in Merida, Spain, with some of the earliest surviving Roman toilets, we journey around the world - from the UK to China, Japan and Bangladesh - visiting toilets, ranging from the historically significant to the beautiful, from the functional and sometimes not-so-functional to the downright bizarre.

Leading our journey is Everyman figure, Welsh poet and presenter Ifor ap Glyn, who has a passionate interest in the toilet, its history and how it has evolved over the centuries, right up to the development of the current design. Finally, there's a glimpse of the future and a possible solution to the global sanitation issues we now face.


MON 02:00 Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities (b04f83xq)
Vienna 1908

Dr James Fox tells the story of Vienna in 1908, a city of amazing creativity and dangerous tension. This was the year Gustav Klimt painted his masterpiece The Kiss, Sigmund Freud revealed the Oedipus complex, Egon Schiele produced startling pictures of humanity stripped to the bare essentials, and both music and architecture took a bold step in a radical new direction. But it was also the year a struggling young artist named Adolf Hitler arrived in the city, a year that would put Vienna and Europe on the road to destruction.


MON 03:00 Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley (b06vm9qp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 11 APRIL 2017

TUE 19:00 100 Days (b08ltsxl)
Series 1

11/04/2017

As President Trump takes office, Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping our world.


TUE 19:30 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04gvbdt)
Gray's Anatomy

The world's most famous study of the human body is Gray's Anatomy. The accuracy of the descriptions and the stark beauty of the illustrations made it an instant bestseller. Adam Rutherford tells the story of how, in just three years, Dr Henry Gray and Dr Henry Carter put it together based on dissections they personally performed.


TUE 20:00 1066: A Year to Conquer England (b08jnwlp)
Series 1

Episode 3

In this three-part drama-documentary series, Dan Snow explores the political intrigues and family betrayals between Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans that led to war and the Battle of Hastings.

When the winds finally change, Duke William leads his vast invasion fleet across the Channel after months of being trapped in a port in northern France. But King Harold is 300 miles away in the north, having defeated the Vikings. He has to rush back south, gather a new army and head to Hastings to take on this new invasion. The two armies meet at battle in Sussex on 14 October 1066, and the outcome changes the shape of England and Europe forever.


TUE 21:00 The Big Thinkers (b08mhnyz)
Should We Go to Mars?

The attempt to send and land astronauts on Mars risks billions of dollars and the lives of those brave enough to attempt it. Is the possible benefit really worth the risk? And is it really achievable?

Guiding us through this ethical and scientific minefield is Dr Kevin Fong. Kevin's diverse background in astrophysics, aeronautics and medicine makes him uniquely placed to understand the technical and human challenges of this perilous journey. With the help of the BBC's rich archive and a cast of supporting experts, Kevin leads us through the journey to Mars stage by stage.

For Kevin, not only is this the toughest journey we will ever attempt, it is one that he feels we ultimately must make if we are to survive as a species.


TUE 22:00 The Beginning and End of the Universe (b0754t74)
The Beginning

Professor Jim Al-Khalili takes us back in time to tackle the greatest question in science: how did the universe begin? Uncovering the origins of the universe is regarded as humankind's greatest intellectual achievement. By recreating key experiments Jim unravels the cosmic mystery of science's creation story before witnessing a moment, one millionth of a second, after the universe sprang into existence.


TUE 23:00 Ray Mears Goes Walkabout (b00bvqvb)
Desert

Ray Mears is in desert survival mode as he follows in the footsteps of an unsung hero of Australian exploration, John McDouall Stuart, to find out how he became the first European to succeed in crossing this continent from south to north and back again. Ray shows how to wring water from these barren lands and how travelling light is the key to success on such an epic journey.


TUE 00:00 Servants: The True Story of Life Below Stairs (b01n7rl1)
Class War

Dr Pamela Cox explores what happened when servants directly challenged their masters and mistresses, causing havoc in the golden age of Edwardian society.

It is the story of wayward laundry maids, butlers selling their stories to the press, and even suffragette maids. Above all, it is the story of how the Victorian 'ideal' of service came to be questioned - not by employers, but by the servants themselves.

The middle classes had an insatiable need for servants in their heavily furnished townhouses, but at the same time the number of people in the so-called 'servant class' dropped, as young workers were lured into shops and factories. To plug the gap, a new source of servants was found - shockingly, among the urban poor - mopping up orphans, waifs and strays from slums, workhouses and reforms schools and training them for careers in domestic service. As the clouds of war gathered, the whole notion of service was in crisis.


TUE 01:00 Natural World (b03799xd)
2013-2014

The Mating Game

David Attenborough narrates the charming and fascinating story of some real-life animal romantics. There are show-offs and singers, dancers and fighters, stories of undercover affairs and heart-warming devotion. A male polar bear plays hard to get, a lemur's odour bags him a mate, and a lizard proves tender and faithful to the very end. It reveals that animals can be loving, complex, funny and inventive - it's all part of the Mating Game.


TUE 02:00 How to Be a Surrealist with Philippa Perry (b08l6qd8)
Melting clocks, lobster telephones - the perplexing images of surrealist art are instantly recognisable to millions. But for psychotherapist Philippa Perry the radical ideas which inspired the original artists are often overlooked. In this film, Philippa takes us on a playful journey into the unconscious to discover the deep roots of surrealism in the political upheavals of 1920s Europe and new ways of understanding the human psyche.

Among her surrealist adventures, Philippa sets up her own Bureau of Surrealist Research on the streets of Paris and invites members of the public to tell her their dreams, she uncovers the role of women in the surrealism movement and has a go at being an artist's muse herself, rolls up her sleeves to try some surrealist techniques with art critic Adrian Searle, and puts on a screening of Dali and Bunuel's famous film Un Chien Andalou for a group of unsuspecting art students.


TUE 03:00 The Big Thinkers (b08mhnyz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL 2017

WED 19:00 100 Days (b08ltsxr)
Series 1

12/04/2017

As President Trump takes office, Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping our world.


WED 19:30 Into the Wind (b08lvxxs)
There is no walking without weather. It marks all experiences of being outdoors - for better or for worse.

For writer, birdwatcher and radio producer Tim Dee, the weather is never an innocent bystander - especially the wind. In any walk that he makes - to watch birds, to record sounds, to reflect on the landscape and the natural world - the wind is an active agent. It carries birds, it buffets microphones, it brings and takes away much of what moves and shapes his life.

In this poetic, mesmeric film, documentary film-maker Richard Alwyn follows Tim Dee on a walk along the vast open marshland of the Lincolnshire Wash, as he embarks on an idiosyncratic mission to capture the elusive sound of 'pure' wind. On the way, under extraordinary skies and dramatic light, Dee reflects on landscape and walking, on birds and writing, and on the 'wild track' of life - wind, bringer of birds into his world and with that, joy and inspiration about the business of being alive.

The problem, of course, is that recording the sound of wind is a quixotic quest because 'in some ways, it doesn't exist as a sound. What we think of as the wind is the sound that the wind is making as it rubs over the surface of the world,' says Dee. Undaunted, Dee walks to the lone high spot on the terminally flat Wash, there to raise his boom in an attempt to capture the wind as it arrives fresh out of the north, pure and untouched, new and exciting. 'I'm probably the first thing this wind has hit for about 1,000 miles or so - and it's telling me so.'


WED 20:00 Nature's Wonderlands: Islands of Evolution (b06yjm68)
Hawaii: A New Eden

Three-part series in which Professor Richard Fortey investigates why islands are natural laboratories of evolution and meets some of the unique and remarkable species that live on them. Examining some of the crucial influences on natural selection that are normally overlooked - like geology, geography, isolation and time - the series reveals that there is much more to evolution than 'survival of the fittest'. Charting the lifecycle of islands - from their birth and colonisation to the flowering of evolutionary creativity that often accompanies their maturity, and what happens when an island grows old and nears its end - Fortey encounters wild lemurs in the rainforest of Madagascar, acid-resistant shrimps in the rock pools of Hawaii, and giant wolf spiders in Madeira as he searches for the hidden rules of island evolution.

In the first episode, Fortey is on Hawaii to investigate how life colonises a newly born island. According to some estimates, Hawaii has been successfully colonised by only one new species every 35,000 years due to its remote location - yet the Hawaiian Islands teem with a great diversity of life. In search of the evolutionary secrets of how one species becomes many, Fortey encounters beautiful honeycreeper birds whose evolution rivals that of Darwin's famous finches; carnivorous caterpillars who now can't eat leaves, and giant silversword plants that thrive in parched volcanic soil at 10,000 feet.


WED 21:00 Natural World (b01sjtt3)
2013-2014

Leopards: 21st Century Cats

Natural World Special. Leopards are one of India's most powerful predators. Built for strength rather than speed, they hunt in the shadows and ambush their prey. In an ever shrinking world, their lives are colliding with people - attacks are reported regularly and hundreds of these big cats are stoned, trapped or shot. What is it like living with these animals on your doorstep? And for the leopards, what does it take to survive in a world of over a billion people?


WED 22:00 Dust Storms (p04w6tbh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


WED 22:45 The Big Thinkers (b08mhnyz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 23:45 Sappho: Love & Life on Lesbos with Margaret Mountford (b05tc6w7)
With a PhD in papyrology, Margaret Mountford goes in search of the truth behind the legend of Sappho, the most controversial writer of the ancient world and the first authentic woman's voice in western history.

The sensational discovery of a lost papyrus containing the words to songs unheard for 1,700 years sends Margaret on a journey of exploration.

From the fragmentary documents, ruined temple architecture and surviving oriental jewellery, the programme conjures the real world of the woman, whose erotic writings gave us the words 'sapphic' and 'lesbian', after the island of Lesbos the place of her birth.

Was she indeed the first lesbian, a priestess, prostitute, a stern schoolmistress or an aristocratic lady of leisure as readers over the centuries have variously alleged. Plus how each generation's view of the archetypal liberated woman of letters tells us as much about us and our fears and concerns as it does about her.


WED 00:45 1066: A Year to Conquer England (b08jnwlp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


WED 01:45 Nature's Wonderlands: Islands of Evolution (b06yjm68)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:45 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.



THURSDAY 13 APRIL 2017

THU 19:00 100 Days (b08ltsxx)
Series 1

13/04/2017

As President Trump takes office, Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping our world.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b08m9f47)
Another edition of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 11 August 1983. Presented by Richard Skinner and Tommy Vance, featuring tracks by David Grant, Level 42 and Depeche Mode.


THU 20:00 The Bridge: Fifty Years Across the Forth (b04g80p8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 02:45 on Wednesday]


THU 21:00 Timeshift (b08lvtz6)
Series 17

Blazes and Brigades: The Story of the Fire Service

Timeshift looks back on nearly two centuries of British firefighting, and explores how major incidents and the evolution of equipment from manual pumps to motorised fire engines have helped forge the modern fire service.

The founding father of modern firefighting was Scotsman James Braidwood, whose pioneering techniques helped save Westminster Hall when the Houses of Parliament were consumed by fire in 1834. Remarkably, London had no publicly funded fire service at the time - and it was only after Braidwood's death tackling a warehouse blaze nearly 30 years later that the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was created.

The fireman soon became an iconic figure of heroism in Victorian painting and popular literature - but the provision of fire brigades and the standard of their equipment varied widely across the country. Motorised fire engines were available from the beginning of the 20th century, but it took the arrival of World War Two for the fire service to be organised on a national footing. Professional and volunteer firefighters worked side by side to tackle the devastating incendiary bombs dropped on British cities by the Nazis. Doug Lightning, the last surviving firefighter of the Sheffield Blitz in December 1940, recalls his own experience of helping to save key buildings during the attack.

In the post-war years, improvements to the fire service saw the introduction of new equipment, including the state-of-the art Dennis F7 fire engine - we take one of the last surviving examples back on the road in Manchester. Firemen were also called on to help with non-fire-related disasters. Interviewee Brian Sadd recalls the exploits of his father Fred during the floods that hit the east coast of England in 1953. Fred rescued 27 people, was awarded the George Medal and became the star of a comic strip in The Eagle.

A series of tragic incidents in the 1960s raised awareness of the importance not just of tackling blazes but of fire prevention. However, Britain was unprepared for the record hot summer of 1976, when a series of fires swept through the countryside. We speak to Mary-Joy Langdon, who in volunteering to help became Britain's first female firefighter, heralding changes to what was once seen very much as a man's job.

But the service wasn't immune to the industrial unrest of the decade. 1977 saw once tight-knit teams divided by the first national firefighters' strike, the film explores the media and public reaction to this unprecedented event. With the strike resolved, technology and equipment continued to improve in the 1980s, spurred on by a series of high-profile tragedies, culminating in the King's Cross underground station fire of November 1987, in which 31 people lost their lives, including one of the first firemen on the scene.

The King's Cross disaster led to a further overhaul of fire safety regulations. Today there are more than 50 regional fire services in the UK, dealing with nearly 2,000 call-outs a day. Increasingly, fewer of these are to actual fires. Firefighters respond to a range of incidents from road traffic accidents to terrorist attacks and natural disasters, and in recognition of this, in 2004 the service was officially renamed the Fire and Rescue Service.


THU 22:00 Bucket (b08lvwl2)
Series 1

Episode 1

The irrepressible Mim celebrates turning 70 by writing a bucket list. Her reserved daughter Fran tries to make the effort, but new starts and openness are easier said than done.


THU 22:30 Yellowstone (b00jrh7r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


THU 23:30 The Silk Road (p03qb25g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


THU 00:30 Top of the Pops (b08m9f47)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 01:05 Depeche Mode: 101 (b01bywst)
DA Pennebaker's classic verite documentary as alternative/modern rock outfit Depeche Mode break America in 1989. The film follows Depeche Mode preparing for the final concert of their Music for the Masses tour at Pasadena's Rose Bowl, while also following a group of young fans who have won tickets to the concert as they travel to the show by bus across America.

'I'm not sure about this. Let's go home', lead singer Dave Gahan tells the rest of the band before they take the stage in Pasadena. Pennebaker tracks Depeche Mode as their 1987 Music for the Masses album and tour prepares the way for 1990's Violator hit album and tour, which saw the boys from Basildon turn into monsters of rock.


THU 03:05 Bucket (b08lvwl2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



FRIDAY 14 APRIL 2017

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b08ltsy2)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b08m9f4x)
John Peel and David Jensen present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 1 September 1983. Featuring Modern Romance, Madness, Genesis, Big Country, Stray Cats and UB40.


FRI 20:00 BBC Young Dancer (b08lvwy6)
2017

Contemporary Dance Final

With the grand final of BBC Young Dancer just a week away, Anita Rani presents the last of the category finals, with the spotlight firmly on contemporary dance. Connor Scott, the first ever winner of this biennial competition, won through this category two years ago as a wildcard and the line-up promises to be just as strong this year.

BBC Young Dancer is for dancers aged 16-21 across four categories - ballet, contemporary, street dance and South Asian dance. In this contemporary final we follow five dancers as they progress through the competition with highlights of their performances at The Lowry, Salford, in front of a judging panel boasting three of the country's top dance experts: Sharon Watson, artistic director of Leeds-based Phoenix Dance; Mark Bruce, award-winning dancer and choreographer and artistic director of the Mark Bruce Company; and judging across all four BBC Young Dancer categories, the critically acclaimed choreographer and dance producer, Shobana Jeyasingh.

For one dancer a guaranteed place in the final at Sadler's Wells awaits. And at the end of the programme the name of the wildcard or wildcards who will join the four category winners in the series finale will also be announced.

Finalists are: Nora Monsecour, Jacob Lang, John-William Watson, Nafisah Baba and Joshua Attwood.


FRI 21:00 Top of the Pops (b04w0fyz)
The Story of 1980

1980 was the year that both pop music and TOTP changed. A new generation of British pop arrived with Dexy's, Adam Ant, The Human League and OMD. The show changed as the veteran TOTP orchestra was laid off, the studio audience doubled in size, new sets were built and a range of celebrity co-hosts from Elton John to Kevin Keegan to Russ Abbott arrived.

This documentary explores these dramatic changes in Top of the Pops, British pop and British society with a cast including Adam Ant, The Human League, OMD, Kevin Rowland, Coronation Street actress Sally Lindsay (who appeared with St Winifred's School Choir), Kelly Marie, Ray Dorset, Johnny Logan, The Vapors, The Piranhas and Richard Skinner.


FRI 22:00 Top of the Pops (b04w0fz1)
1980 - Big Hits

British pop and the BBC's flagship chart show said goodbye to the 70s and trembled on the edge of a new era for the show, for British music and for British society. This meant a continuing love for the nutty boys, Madness, who feature in this compilation with My Girl, and the man with the best cheekbones in pop, Adam Ant, gave us Antmusic.

We get to check out The Pretenders' first number one, Brass in Pocket, alongside Dexys Midnight Runners' tribute to soul legend Geno Washington. There are the early stirrings of new romantic with Spandau Ballet, and it's a veritable mod revival with The Piranhas and 2-Tone with The Beat.

Plus Hot Chocolate, OMD, Motorhead and many more top hits proving the 80s were truly beginning.


FRI 23:00 Music for Misfits: The Story of Indie (b06f17bk)
The DIY Movement

The story of British indie over three musically diverse episodes. Much more than a genre of music, it is a spirit, an attitude and an ethos.

In the 1970s, the music industry was controlled by the major record labels, and the notion of releasing a record independently seemed like an impossible dream. At a time when even The Sex Pistols were on a major label, the true act of rebellion was would be to do it yourself.

It took an independent release from Buzzcocks in 1976 with the Spiral Scratch EP to begin a change in the game. The initial pressing of 1,000 copies was funded by family and friends and sold out immediately. The notion of independently releasing your own music was compelling, and it became a call to action.

Independent record labels began to pop up all over the UK, each one with its own subculture and sound - from Factory in Manchester to Zoo in Liverpool, Postcard in Glasgow and London labels such as Mute, Beggars Banquet and Rough Trade. They were founded by people with no business experience, just a passion for music and a commitment to helping others achieve creative autonomy. These labels were cutting, releasing and distributing the music themselves. Bedsits became offices and basements became studios. This was DIY, and it felt like a countercultural movement set against all that the mainstream had to offer.

These labels were pivotal in getting the new sounds to a generation hungry for change. Queues of hopeful bands waited to drop off demo tapes, and the first wave of indie bands emerged from the newly formed labels. It was a fantastically creative, if somewhat hand-to-mouth time, yet bands also had the freedom to make all the decisions about their image and musical direction themselves. Pioneering music from bands such as Joy Division, Throbbing Gristle, Echo and the Bunnymen, Orange Juice and Aztec Camera is featured in this episode.

These new indie sounds offered a defiantly oppositional stance to prevailing trends in popular culture. With new music exploding out of cities everywhere, it was indie label founder Iain McNay, from Cherry Red, who had the idea for an indie chart - its music spoke to a generation of kids who did not identify with the mainstream sounds on the radio.


FRI 00:00 Top of the Pops (b08m9f4x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 00:30 Top of the Pops (b04w0fyz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 01:30 Top of the Pops (b04w0fz1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 02:30 Music for Misfits: The Story of Indie (b06f17bk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]