SATURDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2017

SAT 19:00 The Incredible Human Journey (b00kfqps)
Out of Africa

Dr Alice Roberts travels the globe to discover the incredible story of how humans left Africa to colonise the world - overcoming hostile terrain, extreme weather and other species of human. She pieces together precious fragments of bone, stone and new DNA evidence and discovers how this journey changed these African ancestors into the people of today.

Alice travels to Africa in search of the birthplace of the first people. They were so few in number and so vulnerable that today they would probably be considered an endangered species. So what allowed them to survive at all? The Bushmen of the Kalahari have some answers - the unique design of the human body made them efficient hunters and the ancient click language of the Bushmen points to an early ability to organise and plan.

Humans survived there, but Africa was to all intents and purposes a sealed continent. So how and by what route did humans make it out of Africa? Astonishing genetic evidence reveals that everyone alive today who is not African descends from just one successful, tiny group which left the continent in a single crossing, an event that may have happened around 70,000 years ago. But how did they do it? Alice goes searching for clues in the remote Arabian Desert.


SAT 20:00 Wild China (b00bf5b0)
Heart of the Dragon

The fairy-tale hills of Guilin and the cormorant fishermen of the Li River form the heart of this exploration of the colourful rice-growing cultures and strange creatures of southern China - a land of endless hills, mysterious caverns, spectacular rock pinnacles and traditional cultures with a taste for wildlife.


SAT 21:00 Black Lake (b0834nr2)
Series 1

Episode 3

Hanne finds a new drawing depicting a death in the lake, together with the recurring message 'GAADEK JAAMIT' and looks for a local Sami person who can translate it. Meanwhile, tensions rise at the remote Swedish ski resort as friends don't know who to trust - everyone seems to be hiding something, and they are not making themselves popular with the locals. Jessan is recovering, and hatches a plan to find out what is going on, but it's not to everyone's liking.

In Swedish, Nowegian and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 21:45 Black Lake (b083wbb6)
Series 1

Episode 4

The situation at the isolated ski resort worsens. Jessan has a bad dream and spirals out of control. Osvald has a secret. Johan finds out who the mystery buyer is, and Hanne just wants to go home.

In Swedish, Nowegian and Danish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 James May: The Reassembler (b076np2b)
Series 1

Lawnmower

James is faced with the 331 pieces that make up a 1959 petrol lawnmower. The Suffolk Colt helped make mowing accessible to the masses by producing a smaller and affordable machine to keep our nation's lawns at regulation height. As this is a petrol lawnmower, James's first task is to put the engine back together before he gets to grips with the gearing, the clutch and the blades themselves. Armed only with his toolbox and an endless supply of tea, James experiences the highs and lows only possible when attempting to put history back together again, piece by piece.


SAT 23:00 Top of the Pops (b095fm57)
Peter Powell and Richard Skinner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 19 July 1984. Featuring The Mighty Wah!, Prince, Billy Idol, Blancmange, Divine, Thompson Twins and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.


SAT 23:30 Top of the Pops (b095fnbp)
Simon Bates and Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 2 August 1984. Featuring Black Lace, Kane Gang, A Flock of Seagulls, Trevor Walters, George Michael and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.


SAT 00:00 Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop (b00nq7q9)
Fleetwood Mac are one of the biggest-selling bands of all time and still on the road. Their story, told in their own words, is an epic tale of love and confrontation, of success and loss.

Few bands have undergone such radical musical and personal change. The band evolved from the 60s British blues boom to perfect a US West Coast sound that saw them sell 40 million copies of the album Rumours.

However, behind-the-scenes relationships were turbulent. The band went through multiple line-ups with six different lead guitarists. While working on Rumours, the two couples at the heart of the band separated, yet this heartache inspired the perfect pop record.


SAT 01:00 Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds: A Tale of Three Cities (b04gbdww)
New York 1951

Dr James Fox tells the story of New York in 1951, where the world we know today was born. This was the year when Jackson Pollock brought a new dynamism to American painting, when the dazzling jazz style known as bebop hit its stride and when Jack Kerouac defined the Beat Generation with his book On the Road. It was where a young Marlon Brando took cinema by storm, a dapper Brit named David Ogilvy reinvented advertising and modern television arrived with the triumphant debut of a show called I Love Lucy.



SUNDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2017

SUN 19:00 Britain Beneath Your Feet (b0619k6l)
Series 1

Building Britain

This series is a unique view of Britain - from below. In this first of two programmes, Dallas Campbell reveals why we can only understand the familiar world around us by discovering the hidden wonders beneath our feet. Breathtaking computer graphics strip away the earth to lay bare this secret world that's rarely explored.

Dallas finds out how the Shard of London - the tallest skyscraper in Western Europe - stays standing on soft clay. He canoes along a secret river under the city of Bristol and discovers why Edinburgh was sited on an ancient volcano. Exploring the natural world, he abseils down an underground waterfall higher than Niagara. And beneath one of the nation's oldest oak trees, he discovers a vast root system that's wider and more intricate than its branches.


SUN 20:00 Britain Beneath Your Feet (b061v75n)
Series 1

On the Move

Dallas Campbell reveals a fascinating and secret world hidden below Britain. In this episode he explores how what goes on underground keeps our country on the move. He delves into the past to discover how a secret wartime pipeline is now delivering fuel to Heathrow Airport. Extraordinary computer graphics lay bare the underwater engineering genius that allowed the iconic Forth Rail Bridge to be built in the 19th century.

Along the way Dallas meets some of the hidden army of workers that keep Britain running from underground, from the drivers of the largest tunnelling machines in the world to the engineers running a vast power station under a mountain in Wales. In one memorable scene, he helps dislodge a 'fatberg' that's blocking one of London's sewers. And he does some secret filming of badgers that are threatening the foundations of a primary school and helps to relocate the whole sett.


SUN 21:00 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096nbkq)
Introduction

Listen to Britain is one of the great masterpieces of 20th-century film. BBC Four celebrates its 75th anniversary by rescreening the classic documentary ahead of an evening of 12 new films inspired in some way or other by the original. These were commissioned by BBC Four and the BFI from new and emerging filmmakers as a result of a national call-out.

The evening is introduced by Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald, an ardent fan of Jennings, who speaks passionately about why Listen to Britain is one of his all-time favourite films, not least because it demonstrated that documentaries could be art.

That notion is borne out in the 12 new, short documentary films shown tonight: Each responds to the idea of 'listening to Britain' in a surprising, entertaining and original way - some playing on the theme of listening, others questioning the very notion of Britishness in our current, divided times. They offer glimpses of lives lived from the Welsh valleys to the Scottish lowlands, from the heart of middle England to the sometimes mean streets of London. Ranging from wry observation to fierce polemic, most offer a chance to listen to those whose voices are seldom heard.

Together they offer a powerful portrait of a nation of great contrasts - a series of memorable picture postcards, creating a richly patterned mosaic of life in the UK in 2017 and introducing the distinctive voices of the next generation of British documentary film-makers.


SUN 21:05 Listen to Britain (b096p0bb)
Listen to Britain is one of the great masterpieces of 20th-century film. BBC Four celebrates its 75th anniversary by rescreening the classic documentary ahead of an evening of 12 new films inspired in some way or other by the original, commissioned by BBC Four and the BFI from new and emerging film-makers as a result of a national call-out.

Created by the celebrated director Humphrey Jennings and his superb editor Stewart McAllister, it was commissioned in 1942 as a piece of wartime propaganda, but its elegance and artistry have ensured that its influence has extended far beyond its original purpose. It is made up of a series of nimbly and subtly connected scenes, depicting a day and a night on the Home Front. And despite lacking any dialogue, story or narration it nonetheless sent a powerful and lucid message to anyone watching either in Britain or abroad - this is a nation united: pulling together with fortitude and stoicism, determined to maintain its character as a civil and civilized culture, keeping calm and carrying on.

Having stripped away the usual trappings of either documentary, or feature film, Jennings uses both masterful framing and ingenious cutting to display how the business of war abuts the day-to-day. On first glance the director's hand is often imperceptible. But make no mistake: it's always there. Jennings makes poetry from the pictures, from lapping waves to dancing couples and floating barrage balloons. And the soundscape is just as carefully designed: moving between the sound of children playing to the rumble of military vehicles, between the puff of a steam train to the clatter of a factory.

And running throughout is music - played in pubs, in schoolyards, in church vaults, on factory radios and culminating in a lunch-time concert by pianist Myra Hess at London's National Gallery - where everyone from the Queen to the office worker on her break are shown to share a common pleasure.

Listen to Britain's portrait of a nation had an extraordinary impact - it's been said that when they saw it, cinema audiences in UK stood up and applauded, overwhelmed to see a film that captured their experience of wartime life so well. But whether or not it really captured that truth (or simply what they wanted to be true), in the years since it has certainly shaped the nation's collective consciousness: this is now the wartime Britain people often think of when they're asked to picture that time.


SUN 21:25 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096p7v0)
Accents Speak Louder Than Words

Kasha moved from Poland to the UK 27 years ago, but she has only recently started to experience problems with her accent. After moving to a more insular part of the UK and feeling discriminated against because of the way she speaks, Kasha is motivated to neutralise her accent in order to fit in. With the help of Christine, an elocution teacher, she undergoes accent training to sound less like a foreigner. The film reveals Kasha's struggle to be fully accepted in the country she now calls home. It is a story about contemporary multicultural Britain, highlighting the universal need to fit in, to feel at home and be accepted by others.


SUN 21:35 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096p9wh)
Listen to Bridgeton

Documentary which explores the last corporation bus garage in Glasgow and examines how our lost industrial past is providing hope for the future. Within the vast impressive space of Bridgeton bus garage the care taken to restore old vehicles is emblematic of the personal journey some of the individuals working here are on, rebuilding their lives after a troubled past. A layered soundscape evokes the unique atmosphere of this building, highlighting how each vehicle has its own individual acoustics and voice, just like the people working there.


SUN 21:45 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096pcy6)
Maesteg

A day in the life of 'Stumpy', a taxi driver in the small ex-mining town of Maesteg, as he takes his regular fares around the Welsh valleys. Through Stumpy's conversations with his passengers, we are taken on a journey of everyday life as they deal with love, life, and loss. An open, funny, tender poem to Maesteg and the lives that are lived there.


SUN 21:55 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096s011)
Eric

How can one dog make such a big impact on so many lives? A glimpse of the world through the eyes of Eric, a therapy dog, unveils the profound relationships he has with marginalised and often overlooked people in his local community, and highlights the beautiful simplicity of the therapeutic power of dogs.


SUN 22:05 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096s8ft)
In Other Words

Three young London poets reveal their personal struggles with mental illness through intimate poetic performances that simultaneously paint a portrait of modern-day London as they connect with their urban communities, raising awareness and creating empowering connections.


SUN 22:15 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096s013)
India Hope: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman

A profile of India Hope, a 24-year-old female poet with Down's syndrome. Through the affective and sometimes brutal honesty of her own words the film portrays a young woman who refuses to be contained by a label, ultimately showing us that there is far more to India that we might relate to than feel different from.

When the original 'Listen to Britain' was made, people like India were not included in documentaries - people with Down's are simply absent from the film archive and the film strip itself. This film seeks to readdress that historical omission.

It hopes to contribute to the wider discussion of the worth of people with Down's by not only inviting viewers to look and listen to India but also to experience life from her perspective and to increase visibility of people with Down's in the public domain, highlighting their personalities, perspectives and achievements as individuals.

Shot on 16 mm film, through interview and poetry, the film gives us a chance to hear directly from India herself. She does not speak for all people with Down's, she is as singular as any artist. And the world will be richer for hearing her voice.


SUN 22:20 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096s1q6)
That Yorkshire Sound

An audio-driven animated documentary covering a day of life in Yorkshire. This is a rhythmical glimpse of the diverse life and culture that exists in this varied landscape. It captures the sound of Yorkshire, from its multicultural bustling cities like Bradford and Sheffield to the delicate sounds of birds in the countryside and the hypnotic rhythm of the motorways and train tracks. The narrative was developed to encapsulate the varied experience across a cross section of England's largest county.

Marcus grew up in Pontefract, West Yorkshire and wanted to reflect his experiences of the diverse landscapes and cultures on his doorstep. Over several months he worked with animators Ana Stefaniak and Matthew Armitage to produce the animation using a mixture of watercolour, oil pastel and digital techniques. Thousands of drawings make up this two-minute documentary using colour and sound to move between many different perspectives. Marcus recorded sound from multiple locations in Yorkshire focusing on different landscapes and the rhythmical aspects of life in Yorkshire. Working with sound designer Marian Mentrup they edited these recordings into a piece that moves quickly between locations and people living life throughout Yorkshire.


SUN 22:25 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096s1q8)
Silent Roars

Young females of Britain are creating a roar across the internet. With millions listening, they are sparking online debate about the biggest issues facing their peers; from climate change and transphobia, to racism.

The internet is speaking back to them. But it's not all positive. Their followers are sending these women uncontrollable numbers of messages, and it's sculpting their real-life existence and challenging their sense of self. From a 15-year-old bird watcher who daily receives islamophobic comments, to a black transgender woman who is attacked for who she is, this ethereal audio-visual poem centres on four of the internet's biggest stars. As we explore the relationships these women have with the online world, we'll uncover why despite the hostility they are continuing to speak out online.

Cast: Munroe Bergdorf, Ella Grace Denton, Elizabeth Farrell, Mya-Rose Craig.


SUN 22:35 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096s3rf)
Learning to Swim

A moving glimpse into the quiet world of an ordinary English town in Surrey where a group of people have formed their own practical and positive response to the enormity of the refugee crisis. Ahmed is a refugee from Syria. Separated from family and friends and far from home he must put the past behind him. Ingrid and her son Ross have welcomed him into their home, but as they support Ahmed in his efforts to find a new life they find themselves on an unexpectedly rewarding and life-affirming journey.

Whilst many simply watched in horror as events unfolded, others in towns and villages all across the UK have worked energetically to raise money, collect supplies and clothing to send to camps on the frontline. Some have even taken refugees into their own homes, offering them food, shelter and support. They are determined to show that despite the climate of fear there is room for refugees in the UK and they are welcome here.


SUN 22:45 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096s8fy)
CLASH

CLASH challenges the national obsession with period dramas and calls out their failure to reflect modern diversity, asking what it means for those excluded from this vision of the UK. Humphrey Jennings' Listen to Britain propagated a myth of national unity. CLASH, through the perspectives of underrepresented queer people of colour, critiques the myths we still tell ourselves on screen. Through candid interviews and staged period drama sequences, the film explores the issues surrounding nostalgic, 'heritage' film and television, and how they erase the diverse history of Britain, particularly its colonial past.


SUN 22:50 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096s8g2)
From HK to MK

What does it mean to be British? Gabriel, a dentist originally from Hong Kong, has lived in Milton Keynes for nearly 50 years. His mixed race son Michael couldn't wait to leave. Now a film-maker, he returns to the city to discover how his father feels about the place he has made home.


SUN 23:00 Listen to Britain 2017 (b096s1qb)
Voices of Britain

A tapestry of images woven together by snippets of interviews, musings on memory, identity and our perception of the self, Voices of Britain is a portrait of how our similarities outweigh our differences and an exploration of what it means to be an individual in a collective society.

Shot in June 2017, the Manchester attack echoing through the collective consciousness, the month of the snap general election, the Borough Market attack and the Grenfell Tower fire, the film never directly explores or addresses the exact events taking place in the country at the time of production. Instead, it stands as a time capsule of the mood of the people, the feel of the society, the tone of the country.

Using mixed media, including found footage, home videos and recorded interviews, Voices of Britain takes a whirlwind tour from coast to coast, gazing on families, communities and individuals across every region of our country. Households scattered across Britain reveal the vibrancy of our country today, taking us on a journey into the minds, hearts, and souls of communities to reflect on how, where and why we as Brits live the way we do. Centring on the hopes, fears, and dreams of those that call Britain home, as they attempt to provide security for future generations, and retain their cultural identity.


SUN 23:15 When Albums Ruled the World (b01qhn70)
Between the mid-1960s and the late 1970s, the long-playing record and the albums that graced its grooves changed popular music for ever. For the first time, musicians could escape the confines of the three-minute pop single and express themselves as never before across the expanded artistic canvas of the album. The LP allowed popular music become an art form - from the glorious artwork adorning gatefold sleeves, to the ideas and concepts that bound the songs together, to the unforgettable music itself.

Built on stratospheric sales of albums, these were the years when the music industry exploded to become bigger than Hollywood. From pop to rock, from country to soul, from jazz to punk, all of music embraced what 'the album' could offer. But with the collapse of vinyl sales at the end of the 70s and the arrival of new technologies and formats, the golden era of the album couldn't last forever.

With contributions from Roger Taylor, Ray Manzarek, Noel Gallagher, Guy Garvey, Nile Rodgers, Grace Slick, Mike Oldfield, Slash and a host of others, this is the story of When Albums Ruled the World.


SUN 00:45 Precision: The Measure of All Things (b033664m)
Heat, Light and Electricity

From lightning bolts and watt engines to electromagnetic waves and single electrons, Professor Marcus du Sautoy continues his journey into the world of measurement as he reveals how we came to measure and harness the power of heat, light and electricity. It's a journey that has involved the greatest minds in science and, today, is getting down to the very building blocks of atoms.


SUN 01:45 Treasures of the Louvre (b01r3n6r)
Paris-based writer Andrew Hussey travels through the glorious art and surprising history of an extraordinary French institution to show that the story of the Louvre is the story of France. As well as exploring the masterpieces of painters such as Veronese, Rubens, David, Chardin, Gericault and Delacroix, he examines the changing face of the Louvre itself through its architecture and design. Medieval fortress, Renaissance palace, luxurious home to kings, emperors and more recently civil servants, today it attracts eight million visitors a year. The documentary also reflects the latest transformation of the Louvre - the museum's recently-opened Islamic Gallery.



MONDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2017

MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0962yyp)
Series 1

25/09/2017

The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Through the Lens of Larkin (b095zds8)
A look at the life and loves of Philip Larkin, one of the 20th century's greatest British poets, seen through his photographs.

Throughout his life Larkin recorded the people and events around him and took scores of self-portraits. Poet and academic John Wedgwood Clarke looks through more than five thousand photographs found after Larkin's death and asks what they tell us about his work.


MON 20:00 Dangerous Earth (b084n7z1)
Tornado

Dr Helen Czerski peers into the heart of the storm to find out how advances in technology are giving new insight into tornadoes - the fastest winds on the planet. From the breathtaking footage that capture the extreme weather events that produce them, to the latest experiments investigating their incredible destructive power, Helen discovers how our increasing understanding of the subtle changes deep within a storm is improving our ability to predict when and where these devastating beasts will strike.


MON 20:30 Dangerous Earth (b084n7z7)
Iceberg

Dr Helen Czerski reveals the latest scientific insights into icebergs. From side-scanning sonar that scrutinises the edge of glaciers where icebergs are born, to satellite images that show how icebergs create hotspots for life and eyewitness pictures that give us a unique glimpse of how they transform over time, we can now capture on camera the mysteries of icebergs - and how their lifecycle is intricately linked to our changing planet.


MON 21:00 The Vietnam War (b096k8wz)
Series 1

Deja Vu (1858-1961)

After a long and brutal war, Vietnamese revolutionaries led by Ho Chi Minh end nearly a century of French colonial occupation. With the Cold War intensifying, Vietnam is divided in two at Geneva. Communists in the North aim to reunify the country, while America supports Ngo Dinh Diem's untested regime in the South.


MON 21:55 The Vietnam War (b096k948)
Series 1

Riding the Tiger (1961-1963)

President Kennedy and his advisers wrestle with how deeply to get involved in South Vietnam. As the increasingly autocratic Diem regime faces a growing communist insurgency and widespread Buddhist protests, a grave political crisis unfolds.


MON 22:50 Cold War, Hot Jets (b03h8r3y)
Episode 1

Britain emerged from the Second World War in financial crisis, but one technological innovation provided hope for the future - a world-leading jet aviation industry. During the Cold War, the jet engine became a lucrative export and a powerful piece of military hardware, but selling to the wrong buyer could alter the balance of power.


MON 23:50 A Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley (p01fv16l)
The Golden Age

Lucy Worsley explores the Edwardian era and the golden age of detective fiction between the wars - the time of Dr Crippen, Agatha Christie and the films of Alfred Hitchcock.


MON 00:50 She-Wolves: England's Early Queens (b01dpqtx)
Jane, Mary and Elizabeth

In the medieval and Tudor world there was no question in people's minds about the order of God's creation - men ruled and women didn't. A king was a warrior who literally fought to win power then battled to keep it. Yet despite everything that stood in their way, a handful of extraordinary women did attempt to rule medieval and Tudor England. In this series, historian Dr Helen Castor explores seven queens who challenged male power, the fierce reactions they provoked and whether the term 'she wolves' was deserved.

Helen looks at what happened when England was faced not just with inadequate kings, but no kings at all. In 1553, for the first time in English history all the contenders for the crown were female. In the lives of these three Tudor queens - Jane, Mary and Elizabeth - she explores how each woman struggled in turn with wearing a crown that was made for a male head. Elizabeth I seemed to show that not only could a woman rule, but could do so gloriously. But at what cost?


MON 01:50 The Art of Gothic: Britain's Midnight Hour (b04n1mrb)
The City and the Soul

As the Industrial Revolution promised more and more inexplicable wonders of the modern world, Gothic art and literature became both backward and forward looking. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley warned of the dangers of how science could get out of control, while Sir Giles Gilbert Scott used Gothic architecture to memorialise Prince Albert as a medieval hero. Meanwhile, poets indulged in hallucinatory drugs to reach new Gothic heights. Where would it all end?


MON 02:50 Dangerous Earth (b084n7z1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 03:20 Dangerous Earth (b084n7z7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]



TUESDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2017

TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0962yz7)
Series 1

26/09/2017

The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Timothy Spall: Back at Sea (b013rknf)
The Bit in the Middle

Sea adventurers Timothy Spall and his wife Shane take their barge to three different countries and the Isle of Man. From Whitehaven, where Spall learns about the pirate John Paul Jones, they steam over to Douglas to visit his son, actor Rafe Spall, who is there to work on BBC Two's The Shadow Line. Next they visit a city Tim loves dearly, Belfast, and a special pub he says is 'the finest drinking establishment in the English-speaking world'. Finally, it's across to Portpatrick and Scotland, as they clock up some serious nautical mileage in their circumnavigation of the British Isles.


TUE 20:00 Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream (b0851kfd)
Episode 2

Simon Sebag Montefiore tells the story of Vienna, triumphant after the Ottoman threat receded at the end of the 17th century. No longer an outpost defending the west from Islamic invaders, the imperial capital was to become the most glittering in the world. The Habsburg emperors transformed the city from a fortress into a great cultural capital. Vienna became a city that would define the arts; a magnet for musicians, including Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven.


TUE 21:00 Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer? (b00l7qdh)
Episode 1

King Henry VIII had a fascinating and enlightening relationship with art. He came to the throne as the Renaissance swept across Europe, yet England's new king never lost sight of the medieval chivalry of his forefathers. In the first of a two-part documentary, architectural historian Jonathan Foyle looks at the palaces, tapestries, music and paintings created in Henry's name and questions whether the art he commissioned compensates for the religious treasures he would come to destroy.


TUE 22:00 Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City (b0186b56)
Invasion, Invasion, Invasion

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. For the Jewish faith, it is the site of the western wall, the last remnant of the second Jewish temple. For Christians, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the site of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest sanctuary of Islam.

In episode two, Simon discovers the impact on the holy city of a new faith - Islam. He explores Muhammad's relationship with Jerusalem, the construction of one of Islam's holiest shrines - the Dome of the Rock - and the crusaders' attempts to win it back for Christianity.

He also brings to life lesser-known characters, whose impact still resonates - Al Hakim's destructive delusions of grandeur and Queen Melisende's embellishment of crusader Jerusalem, as well as the notorious stand-off between Saladin and Richard the Lionheart.

The episode ends in the 13th century with King Frederick II, whose groundbreaking power-sharing deal prefigures the tortuous peace negotiations of our own times. Then, as now, peace did not last.


TUE 23:00 British Gardens in Time (b04092n6)
Great Dixter

Great Dixter lays claim to being the most innovative, spectacular and provocative garden of the 20th century. Made famous by the much-loved eccentric plantsman and writer Christopher Lloyd, who used the garden as a living laboratory and documented his experiments in a weekly column in Country Life, Great Dixter began life as a Gertrude Jekyll-inspired Arts and Crafts garden surrounding a house designed by Edwin Lutyens.

The Lloyd family created Dixter just before the outbreak of the First World War with the intention of establishing a rural idyll for Christo and his five siblings. Dixter was to be both Christo's horticultural nursery and the setting for his rebellion in late middle age as he finally threw off the shackles of his intense bond with his mother to make the garden and his life his own.


TUE 00:00 Black Lake (b0834nr2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


TUE 00:45 Black Lake (b083wbb6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:45 on Saturday]


TUE 01:30 Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream (b0851kfd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


TUE 02:30 British Gardens in Time (b04092n6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2017

WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0962yzd)
Series 1

27/09/2017

The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Timothy Spall: Back at Sea (b0140vqb)
Scotch Mist

As summer comes to a close, Timothy Spall's trip around the coast of his beloved Britain reaches the halfway mark. He encounters several Scottish ports and islands, but mostly in the famous Scottish misty drizzle. Before the weather worsens he winds his way through the Scottish western islands and takes his barge Princess Matilda back to her roots by venturing up the Caledonian Canal, a short cut from the west of Scotland to the east which sets up next year's trip down the east coast and back home to London. This year Timothy and his wife Shane have travelled further than in any other of their previous six years at sea. All they need is somewhere to moor up for winter.


WED 20:00 An Art Lovers' Guide (b08nz05n)
Series 1

Amsterdam

With sumptuous palaces, exquisite artworks and stunning architecture, every great city offers a dizzying multitude of artistic highlights. In this series, art historians Dr Janina Ramirez and Alastair Sooke take viewers on three cultural city breaks, hunting for off-the-beaten-track artistic treats and finding new ways of enjoying some very famous sights.

In this opening episode, they head to Amsterdam, a city that pioneered so much of modern life, from multinational trade to the way we design our homes. To find out how, Alastair and Janina take us on a fast-paced tour of the city's cultural hotspots. Picking their way through the crowds queuing to see Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum, they also introduce us to the paintings of Jan Steen, a Dutch legend whose paintings capture the city's freewheeling lifestyle.

They take us on an entertaining tour of the canals that helped build Amsterdam and explore the city's reputation for tolerance in the oldest surviving Jewish library in the world. Along the way, Alastair and Janina discover how art and culture reflect the liberal attitudes, appetite for global trade and love of home comforts that helped shape the character of this trailblazing city.


WED 21:00 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b096m6nx)
Series 2

Glasgow

Pollok House is a country house right in the middle of a Glasgow city park, bordered on one side by the M77 and on the other side by the south side of Glasgow. It is owned by Glasgow City Council and looked after by the National Trust for Scotland. It truly is a house for the people, surrounded by the people. As well as an excellent tea room, Pollok has an impressive collection of Spanish art, the legacy of the man who once owned the house, Sir William Stirling-Maxwell. Unfortunately, some of Pollok's treasures have been placed in storage due to a leaking roof and urgent renovations. But could one of these displaced pictures be a priceless work, lost for centuries, hiding north of the border? It would be international news if it was.

Dr Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri travel to Glasgow to investigate a long-lost picture of one of the most famous gay men in history, possibly painted by one of the most famous artists in history. The subject of the painting is none other than George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who was the gay lover of James VI of Scotland (James I of England). But how did he end up in Glasgow? While Bendor squares up to a rival portrait in Florence which claims to be the real Buckingham portrait, Emma finds that William Stirling-Maxwell had a secret family in Jamaica and that sugar and tobacco built Glasgow long before shipbuilding was its major industry.


WED 22:00 The Renaissance Unchained (b070sq9t)
Gods, Myths and Oil Paints

Waldemar Januszczak challenges the traditional notion of the Renaissance having fixed origins in Italy and showcases the ingenuity in both technique and ideas behind great artists such as Van Eyck, Memling, Van der Weyden, Cranach, Riemenschneider and Durer.


WED 23:00 Britain in Focus: A Photographic History (b08k0srb)
Series 1

Episode 3

In the final episode, Eamonn McCabe traces the story of British photography from the explosion of colour images in the late 1950s to the ongoing impact of the digital revolution.

Eamonn enters the colourful Britain of postcard producer John Hinde, whose postwar experiments with colour photography captured a new mood of optimism and leisure in the country. He sees how colour snaps began to replace black-and-white prints in the family album as cheaper cameras and new processing techniques allowed ordinary people to record the world around them in colour. Eamonn meets John Bulmer, who broke new ground by using colour for documentary photography in his striking images of the north of England for the Sunday Times colour magazine. And he finds out why Jane Bown refused to follow the trend by sticking to black and white for her striking portraits of the era's most memorable faces.

Eamonn explores how a new, independent movement in photography emerged in the 1970s, fostering talents like Peter Mitchell, who used colour photography to comment on a changing urban Britain. Eamonn sees how this new movement encouraged Fay Godwin to infuse her poetic landscapes with political and environmental concerns, and meets Birmingham-based photographer Vanley Burke, whose work chronicled the growing African-Caribbean community in Handsworth. And Eamonn joins one of today's best-known British photographers, Martin Parr, to find out how he has trained a satirical eye on modern society.

Assessing the impact of the 'big bang' of digital photography, Eamonn goes back to his roots as a sports photographer - covering boxing in the East End of London. He reflects on how technology has developed from when he started in the 1970s, with manual cameras and rolls of film, to the digital cameras of today. Eamonn then sees how the digital revolution has shaped a new generation of practitioners - in whose hands a thoroughly 21st-century British photography is being created.


WED 00:00 Hidden Histories: Britain's Oldest Family Businesses (b03slwfr)
Durtnell the Builder

Alex Durtnell's family have been builders for over 400 years. We follow Alex as he travels back through the centuries and rediscovers the houses his family have built, right back to the reign of Elizabeth I.

Narrated by Margaret Mountford.


WED 01:00 Britain's Pompeii: A Village Lost in Time (b07myxws)
Professor Alice Roberts joins the team excavating a 3,000-year-old Bronze Age village in the Cambridgeshire Fens that has been called the British Pompeii.

The village earned its nickname because 3,000 years ago it burned to the ground, and as it burned it fell into the peat, preserving both the houses and their contents. Until its discovery, we had little real idea of what life was like in Bronze Age Britain.

Now we can peek inside our Bronze Age ancestors' homes as archaeologists discover perfectly preserved roundhouses, and the contents inside them - right down to the utensils in their kitchens. These roundhouses were built in a style never seen in the UK before - testimony not only to the villagers' technical skills, but also of their connections to Europe.

The team has made other incredible discoveries on the dig - from Britain's oldest-found wheel, to swords used in battle, and bowls still containing preserved remnants of food. One of the biggest revelations is the discovery of a complete set of the early technology used to produce cloth - a full industrial process we've never seen in Britain before.

This glimpse into domestic life 3,000 years ago is unprecedented, but it also transforms our impressions of Bronze Age Britain - far from being poor and isolated, it seems the villagers were successful large-scale farmers who used their farming surplus to trade with Europe, exchanging their crops for beautiful glass jewellery and multiple metal tools per household.

As part of the dig, the archaeologists also investigate the cause of the fire - was it just a terrible accident, or did the villagers' wealth provoke an attack?


WED 02:00 Carved with Love: The Genius of British Woodwork (b01pyfd2)
The Glorious Grinling Gibbons

Series about great British woodworkers continues by looking at the life and work of Grinling Gibbons. He isn't a household name, but he is the greatest woodcarver the British Isles has ever produced. Working in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London, Gibbons created delightful carved masterpieces for the likes of Charles II and William of Orange. This film explores the genius of the man they called the 'Michelangelo of wood'.


WED 03:00 An Art Lovers' Guide (b08nz05n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



THURSDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2017

THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b0962yzt)
Series 1

28/09/2017

Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London return to report on the events that are shaping the world.


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b0964pqg)
Richard Skinner and John Peel present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 9 August 1984. Featuring Tracey Ullman, Windjammer, Jeffery Osborne, Blancmange, Laura Branigan and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.


THU 20:00 British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley (b08cgp55)
Series 1

The Glorious Revolution

In this episode, Lucy debunks another of the biggest fibs in British history - the 'Glorious Revolution'.

In 1688, the British Isles were invaded by a huge army led by Dutch prince, William of Orange. With his English wife Mary he stole the throne from Mary's father, the Catholic King James II. This was the death knell for absolute royal power and laid the foundations of our constitutional monarchy. It was spun as a 'glorious and bloodless revolution'. But how 'glorious' was it really? It led to huge slaughter in Ireland and Scotland. Lucy reveals how the facts and fictions surrounding 1688 have shaped our national story ever since.


THU 21:00 The 80s with Dominic Sandbrook (b07n7gtn)
The Sound of the Crowd

Sandbrook takes a fresh look at a dynamic decade. 1980s Britain changed in everything from politics and sport to fashion and popular culture.

In the opening years of the 1980s, the powerful new forces of choice and consumerism were radically reshaping British life. The first episode looks at how the early 80s saw the powerful new forces of choice and consumerism radically reshape British life, tearing down existing ways of doing things and ripping up the rule book of British politics. This new culture of consumer-driven populism propelled Margaret Thatcher to victory. For the first time, 'who we were' became a question less about the fixed identities of region and class, and much more about the choices we made, from where we shopped to how we cooked, to what we wore. Thatcher may have embodied this change - but she didn't drive it.

This episode takes in everything from the popularity of Delia Smith to affordable fashions on the high street, from the subcultures of Britain's youth to the crisis of identity that rocked and splintered the political left. But it also shows how the mood of aspiration that swept the nation left certain sections of society adrift and alienated, from the hollowed out industrial heartlands of the Midlands to the inner city communities of south London and Liverpool.


THU 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.


THU 23:00 Top of the Pops (b06vkg5r)
1981 - Big Hits

A bumper crop of hits from the Top of the Pops archive showcasing an exciting year on the pop charts. 1981 embraced disco and ska, new wave punk, the burgeoning New Romantic scene and the rise of synthpop, with some prog quirkiness and good old rock 'n' roll thrown in.

Performances from big-hitter soloists Phil Collins, Shakin' Stevens and Kim Wilde are featured alongside the exuberant chaos of groups like Tenpole Tudor, Adam and the Ants and The Teardrop Explodes. It's party time as Odyssey fill the dancefloor with the infectious Going Back to My Roots and Clare Grogan adopts some unorthodox shapes for Altered Images' Happy Birthday. And The Specials' 2 Tone social-commentary classic Ghost Town vies with Ultravox's Vienna and The Human League's Don't You Want Me for song of the year.


THU 00:00 Top of the Pops (b0964pqg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 00:35 Music Moguls: Masters of Pop (p039x5f7)
Myth Makers

Part three of this illuminating series exploring the music business from behind the scenes takes a look at PR, the unseen force behind all the biggest musical acts in the world. With unique revelations, unseen footage and unrivalled access, it tells the story of the rise of PR within the music industry through the eyes of the people who lived it. Highlights include the PR campaigns behind superstars Jimi Hendrix, Taylor Swift and David Bowie.

Narrated by PR Alan Edwards.


THU 01:35 Twin Sisters: A World Apart (b053pxdt)
Documentary telling the poignant true story of twin sisters from China, found as babies in a cardboard box in 2003 and adopted by two separate sets of parents - one from California, the other from a remote fishing village in Norway.

In the US, Mia is raised a typical all-American girl, with a bustling life filled with violin lessons, girl scouts and soccer, while Alexandra grows up in the quietude of the breathtakingly beautiful but isolated village of Fresvik, Norway.

Neither of the adoptive parents were told their daughters were twins, but a chance sighting at the orphanage enabled them to keep in touch, until a DNA test proved their hunch had been right. Both girls grew up knowing they had an identical twin living on the other side of the world.

The film tells the remarkable story of their parallel journey, punctuated by only the odd visit, videos and photographs - until they meet for a longer visit in Norway when they are eight years old. Despite living completely different lives and speaking different languages, they are mirrors of each other - the magical bond between them is extraordinary.

This is the story of our notions of family - the genetic ones we inherit and the ones we create.


THU 02:35 British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley (b08cgp55)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



FRIDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2017

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b0962z0b)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b0964py4)
Andy Peebles and Steve Wright present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 16 August 1984. Featuring Tears for Fears, Howard Jones, Black Lace, Iron Maiden, A Flock of Seagulls, Trevor Walters and George Michael.


FRI 20:00 The Live Lounge Show (b0964py6)
Series 1

Miley Cyrus and More

Clara Amfo takes us behind the scenes of Radio 1's Live Lounge - the biggest live studio showcase in the world. Live Lounge sessions happen twice a week across the year, attracting an array of some of the biggest and best artists on the planet. In September, however, it gets turbo-charged with a performance every weekday across the whole month. We bring you the very best of the second week of performances and Live Lounge exclusive interviews.

Clara heads to Malibu to catch Miley Cyrus in session in her very own back garden.

Also, there is live music from Rita Ora, Wolf Alice, George Ezra and Rag'n'Bone Man.

This is live performance with a twist as each artist performs their own track and a cover version. Any Live Lounge listeners will know that the cover version is usually a recently released single... but not this year! To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Radio 1, the cover can be any track from the last 50 years. Tune in for Miley's take on The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - a worldwide hit in 1972 for Roberta Flack.


FRI 21:00 The Last Pirates: Britain's Rebel DJs (b096k6g1)
In the 1980s a new generation of pirate radio stations exploded on to Britain's FM airwaves. Unlike their seafaring swinging 60s forerunners, these pirates broadcast from London's estates and tower blocks to create a platform for black music in an era when it was shut out by legal radio and ignored by the mainstream music industry.

In the ensuing game of cat and mouse which played out on the rooftops of inner-city London across a whole decade, these rebel DJs used legal loopholes and technical trickery to stay one step ahead of the DTI enforcers who were tasked with bringing them down. And as their popularity grew they spearheaded a cultural movement bringing Britain's first multicultural generation together under the banner of black music and club culture.

Presented by Rodney P, whose own career as a rapper would not have been possible without the lifeblood of pirate radio airplay, this film also presents an alternative history of Britain in the 1980s - a time of entrepreneurialism and social upheaval - with archive and music that celebrates a very different side of Thatcher's Britain.

Featuring interviews with DJs, station owners and DTI enforcers - as well as some of the engineers who were the secret weapon in the pirate arsenal - this is the untold story of how Britain's greatest generation of pirate radio broadcasters changed the soundtrack of modern Britain forever.


FRI 22:00 Disco at the BBC (b01cqt74)
A foot-stomping return to the BBC vaults of Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Later with Jools as the programme spins itself to a time when disco ruled the floor, the airwaves and our minds. The visual floorfillers include classics from luminaries such as Chic, Labelle and Rose Royce to glitter ball surprises by The Village People.


FRI 23:00 TOTP2 (b0480lzx)
TOTP2 Presents the 90s

A Top of the Pops 2 special featuring music from the 90s, with archive studio performances and promo videos. Includes performances from The Spice Girls, Michael Jackson, Pulp, The Prodigy, Madonna, Blur, Take That and many more.


FRI 00:00 Top of the Pops (b0964py4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 00:30 Ultimate Number Ones (b01nwfxv)
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the UK chart, from the vaults of the BBC archive comes a selection of hits that attained the toppermost of the poppermost prize and made it to number one in the hit parade. From across the decades, we applaud the most coveted of all chart positions with smash hits and classics from The Bee Gees, T. Rex, Donna Summer, John Lennon, Culture Club, The Spice Girls, James Blunt, Rihanna, Adele and many more.


FRI 01:30 Big in America: British Hits in the USA (b01bywsr)
Compilation of British rock 'n' roll acts in performance with tracks that crossed over to the US charts. From The Dave Clark Five to Coldplay, the Brits have rocked America and sometimes even done better across the pond than here - take a bow A Flock of Seagulls, Supertramp and Bush - who are also included here alongside darker British global exports like Black Sabbath and The Cure.


FRI 02:30 The Last Pirates: Britain's Rebel DJs (b096k6g1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]