SATURDAY 20 JANUARY 2018

SAT 19:00 Shipwrecks: Britain's Sunken History (b03lytyp)
Civilising the Sea

Shipwrecks are the nightmare we have forgotten - the price Britain paid for ruling the waves from an island surrounded by treacherous rocks. The result is a coastline that is home to the world's highest concentration of sunken ships. But shipwrecks also changed the course of British history, helped shape our national character and drove innovations in seafaring technology, as well as gripping our imagination.

The terrible toll taken by shipwrecks was such that in the winter of 1820 some 20,000 seaman lost their lives in the North Sea alone. That's 20 jumbo jets. But in the final part of his series, maritime historian Sam Willis tells the stirring story of how the Victorians were finally driven into action, finding various ingenious solutions - from rockets that could fire rescue lines aboard stricken vessels to lifejackets, lifeboats and the Plimsoll Line, which outlawed overloading.

In Africa, he traces the legend of the Birkenhead Drill - the origin of 'women and children first'. Decorum even in disaster was the new Victorian way and it was conspicuously on hand to turn history's most iconic shipwreck - Titanic - into a tragic monument to British restraint.


SAT 20:00 Alaska: Earth's Frozen Kingdom (b0536hxc)
Winter

Alaska is one of the most iconic wildernesses on the planet - America's last frontier.

This three-part series follows a year in Alaska, revealing the stories of pioneering Alaskans, both animal and human, as they battle the elements and reap the benefits of nature's seasonal gold rush.

Alaska is huge - by far the biggest US state - and still one of the wildest places on earth. It has deep forests and vast mountain ranges, and a third of it sits above the Arctic Circle. The whole state goes through some of the most extreme seasonal changes: temperatures can reach into the 90s F (30s C) in the summer and can plummet to -80F (-60C) in the winter.

Yet plenty survives here - Alaska is home to some of the hardiest animals on the planet. Each one has its own quirky way of getting through the challenges of the seasons. Above all, this is a land of great characters.

Black bear cubs are faced with a daunting climb down from their tree den and a mother sea otter nurses her baby through the chilly days of early spring. Stealthy 50-tonne sperm whales steal fish from the end of fishermen's lines in an extraordinary marine 'heist', grizzly bears grow big on a sudden wealth of salmon, and a huge male moose finds unlikely ways to impress a female. Thousands of bald eagles gather for a winter feast, and arctic foxes risk everything to find food in the alien world of an oil boomtown. People, too, must go with the flow of the extreme seasons, facing winter storms at sea to catch snow crabs, rushing across ice rivers with teams of huskies and taking advantage of Alaska's endless summer daylight to grow world-class giant vegetables.

Surviving the bone-chilling cold, deadly blizzards and darkness of an Alaskan winter takes courage, cunning and remarkable endurance. In the raw beauty of windswept mountain peaks, icy tundra and snowbound forests, this is the story of the tough and resourceful characters that face up to the ultimate challenges of this untameable land.


SAT 21:00 Spiral (b09p6y5g)
Series 6

Episode 7

Revenge has repercussions for Josephine. The detective squad, to redeem their reputation after the disastrous Roma camp raid, dig dirt on the corrupt coppers. Laure must make choices for baby Romy.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 21:55 Spiral (b09p6y5j)
Series 6

Episode 8

Watching assorted suspects stretches the detectives' resources, but yields results. Josephine challenges Roban's ruling on the male escort case. Gilou has a heart-to-heart with Laure.

In French with English subtitles.


SAT 22:55 The Vietnam War (b09bdyrp)
Series 1

The Weight of Memory (March 1973-Onward)

While the Watergate scandal rivets Americans' attention and forces President Nixon to resign, the Vietnamese continue to savage one another in a brutal civil war. When hundreds of thousands of North Vietnamese troops pour into the South, Saigon descends rapidly into chaos and collapses. For the next 40 years, Americans and Vietnamese from all sides search for healing and reconciliation.


SAT 23:50 Top of the Pops (b09lv82p)
Peter Powell and Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 17 January 1985. Featuring The Limit, Prince, Amii Stewart, Russ Abbott, Grandmaster Melle Mel and Foreigner.


SAT 00:30 Neil Sedaka: King of Song (b03v2yxt)
Neil Sedaka is one of the most successful American singer-songwriters of the last century. A classically trained musician, he won a scholarship to the Juilliard School at the age of nine and four years later he embarked on a writing career that would see him create some of the most perfect pop songs of all time. Throughout his career he wrote, recorded and sang a number of instantly recognisable and memorable tunes, as well as delivering a string of hits as a songwriter for other artists.

This documentary portrait film tells the story of Neil Sedaka's life and career, in which he had two distinct periods of success. Between 1958 and 1963 he sold over 25 million records, but then his career nose-dived after the Beatles and the British Invasion hit the USA. Leaving his homeland, he found success in the UK in the early 1970s and relaunched his career before returning to the US and achieving new stardom with songs like Solitaire and Laughter in the Rain.

Neil gives great insight into how he created catchy classics like Calendar Girl, (Is This the Way to) Amarillo, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen and Stupid Cupid, amongst many others.


SAT 01:30 Neil Sedaka Says: All You Need Is the Music (b00pwstt)
During a career which was originally designed to make him a classical pianist, the musical achievements and statistics of singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka have made him a compelling figure in contemporary music, with 600 songs written and 20 million records sold. The hits from his early rock 'n' roll days to his later, more lyrical age are all included in this special one-man show from the 1980s.


SAT 02:15 Shipwrecks: Britain's Sunken History (b03lytyp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2018

SUN 19:00 Only Connect (b09p30yd)
Series 13

Cricketers v Escapologists

Victoria Coren Mitchell hosts the series where knowledge will only take you so far. Patience and lateral thinking are also vital.

Two teams of high-scoring losers return for a last chance to stay in the competition. They compete to find the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random. So join Victoria if you want to know what connects Robin Masters, Madeline Magellan, Temperance Brennan and Jessica Fletcher.


SUN 19:30 University Challenge (b09p30yg)
2017/18

Episode 23

The second round of the quiz for students continues when two teams representing their universities aim to reach the quarter-finals. Jeremy Paxman asks the questions.


SUN 20:00 This World (b03q9r9n)
The Tea Trail with Simon Reeve

Adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve heads to east Africa to uncover the stories behind the nation's favourite drink. While we drink millions of cups of the stuff each day, how many of us know where our tea actually comes from? The surprising answer is that most of the leaves that go into our everyday teabags do not come from India or China but are bought from an auction in the coastal city of Mombasa in Kenya.

From here, Simon follows the tea trail through the epic landscapes of Kenya and Uganda and meets some of the millions of people who pick, pack and transport our tea. Drinking tea with everyone from Masai cattle herders to the descendants of the original white tea planters, Simon learns that the industry that supplies our everyday cuppa is not immune to the troubles of the continent - poverty, low wages and child labour.


SUN 21:00 Hunt vs Lauda: F1's Greatest Racing Rivals (b0377tb1)
The victory duel for the 1976 Formula 1 Championship has become the stuff of legend. The spectacular battle for supremacy that raged all season between Austrian Niki Lauda and 'True Brit' James Hunt has never been equalled. Could swashbuckling Hunt catch the scientific Lauda? Could Niki overcome an appalling crash to come back from the dead and fight James all the way to the last race of the season?

This powerful story captures the heart of the 1970s - told through unseen footage and exclusive interviews with the people who were really there - the team managers, families, journalists and friends who were in the front row of the season that changed Formula 1 forever.


SUN 22:00 Before the Winter Chill (b04jj2zn)
Paul and Lucie Natkinson are a couple in late middle age with everything. A happy, trusting relationship, good friends and plenty of money. When Paul begins receiving bouquets of flowers at work he puts it down to a grateful patient, but Lucie suspects he has a stalker. The little signs that something is wrong continue and when Paul begins behaving in a strange, distracted and distant manner, Lucie fears the worst and believes that her loving husband has begun an affair.


SUN 23:40 Natural World (b01k784h)
2011-2012

The Unnatural History of London

Seals, parakeets and even pelicans that eat pigeons have all made London their home. That's as well as badgers, foxes, scorpions, and pigeons that ride the tube. But even more wonderful are the people who love the exotic wildlife of our capital, from Billingsgate fish porters and Indian chefs to 'Crayfish Bob', who scours London's canals for Turkish invaders. This is a warm-hearted portrait of the world's greenest capital city and the Londoners who love its secret wildlife.


SUN 00:40 Hunt vs Lauda: F1's Greatest Racing Rivals (b0377tb1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


SUN 01:40 This World (b03q9r9n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SUN 02:40 Art, Passion & Power: The Story of the Royal Collection (p05qqyd8)
Series 1

Dangerous Magic

In a major four-part series, Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the history of the Royal Collection, the dazzling collection of art and decorative objects owned by the Queen. Containing over a million items, this is one of the largest art collections in the world - its masterpieces by Van Dyck, Holbein, Leonardo da Vinci, Vermeer and Canaletto line the walls of Windsor Castle, Hampton Court and many other palaces, museums and institutions around Britain.

Andrew argues that on the surface, the Royal Collection projects permanence, but within these objects are stories of calamity, artistic passions and reinvention. Their collecting shows how these kings and queens wielded power, but it also reveals their personalities - it's through their individual passions that we see them at their most human.

In this first episode, Andrew marvels at the works acquired by the great founders of the modern Royal Collection - Henry VIII and Charles I. Henry VIII deployed the most essential rule of royal collecting, that great art projects great power. Andrew decodes The Story of Abraham series of tapestries in Hampton Court Palace's Great Hall, explaining how these luxury artworks contain a simple message for his terrified court - obedience.

But Henry also presided over the first great age of the portrait in England; his painter, Hans Holbein the Younger, was a magician who stopped time, preserving the faces of Henry's court forever. Andrew visits the Royal Collection's set of over 80 Holbein drawings in Windsor Castle's print room to see how the artist helped the English to understand themselves in a new way.

Henry VIII tried to overwhelm with magnificence, but for Charles I art was a way to compete with other kings through taste. He was our first connoisseur-king and the greatest royal collector in British history. It was a fateful journey to Spain to win the hand of a Spanish princess that opened Charles's eyes to the works of Titian and Raphael. But his transformation into a world-class collector was sealed with the wholesale purchase of the enormous art collection of the impoverished Mantuan court. The greatest of the Mantuan treasures were Mantegna's nine-picture series of The Triumphs of Caesar that Charles installed at Hampton Court. They are themselves a visual depiction of how power - and art - passes from the weak to the strong. Charles was top dog for now - but for how long?

Andrew explores how Charles I's Royal Collection introduced a new artistic language to British art. The sensuality of Titian and the epic canvases of Tintoretto, still in the Royal Collection today, were a revelation for a country whose visual culture had been obliterated by the Reformation. And we see how Sir Anthony van Dyck created a glamorous new style for the king that could have served as a new beginning for British art. But this was a future that would never happen - the English Civil War and Charles I's execution put an end to this first great age of royal collecting, with the king's artworks sold in 'the most extravagant royal car-boot sale in history'.



MONDAY 22 JANUARY 2018

MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09p69lh)
Series 1

22/01/2018

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


MON 19:30 Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank (b0078yvw)
Secrets of the Tomb Builders

Dan visits the magnificent underground tombs in the Valley of the Kings, in search of clues about the unsung heroes of this ancient world - the mysterious community of craftsmen who spent their lives building lavish burial chambers for the pharaohs.

The tombs are wonderful feats of art and engineering and Dan finds a wealth of intriguing evidence about the lives of the supposedly anonymous people who built them. Given rare access to the most complex tomb of all - the 150-room necropolis built for the sons of Rameses II - Dan speculates on the skill of the men who designed and excavated this tomb thousands of years ago.

In the tomb of Thutmosis III, he discovers an unfinished burial chamber, where the intricate process of tomb building was stopped in its tracks, leaving detailed evidence of the techniques of artwork used by these ancient artisans. Across the dry desert hills beyond the Valley of the Kings, Dan visits the village where the tomb-builders lived, explores their homes and reveals their personal lives through unique written records that have survived for thousands of years.

Were the tomb-builders slaves, forced to use their skills to glorify the dead pharaohs? Dan pieces together the truth, and reveals an unexpectedly intimate picture of these ancient artists and craftsmen.


MON 20:00 Highlands - Scotland's Wild Heart (p03q49b2)
Autumn and Winter - Against All Odds

The third part of the Highland wildlife saga narrated by Ewan McGregor.

It's a still, clear autumn day in Glen Affric in the north west Highlands. The forests are flushed with gold, but it's a shallow beauty that marks the beginning of the Highlands' longest, darkest and most overwhelming season.

Animals that can't migrate to milder climes have to be equipped to deal with an all-out assault from the weather. Reindeer, ptarmigan and mountain hare are all adapted for these arctic-like conditions, but this turns out to be one of the snowiest winters in living memory, driving the animals of the Highlands to the absolute limit.


MON 21:00 The Queen Mary: Greatest Ocean Liner (b07d2wy4)
With exclusive access to the magnificent liner and its extensive archive of film and photographs, this documentary explores the action-packed life of the Clyde-built ship - an epic journey through some of the most dynamic periods of the 20th century.

Built with the blood and sweat of the master craftsmen of the Clydebank shipyards, she helped drag a nation from the depths of the great depression and set sail as a symbol of new hope and a better future. Leaving Southampton on 27 May 1936, her maiden voyage to New York set a new benchmark in transatlantic travel. Designed in peacetime to link the old world with the new, she ferried movie stars, politicians and royalty across the Atlantic, luxuriously cocooned in an art-deco floating palace.

Then, in 1939, she was transformed to challenge the fury of the Nazis in the Battle of the Atlantic. With a wartime record to rival that of the highest-ranking general, she carried whole armies through enemy-infested seas. Hitler offered a bonus of $250,000 and the Iron Cross to any U-boat captain who could sink the Queen Mary.

When the war was over, the Queen Mary gave passage to thousands of British war brides and children who planned a new life in the New World. The Queen Mary was a great attraction to the rich and famous celebrities of the 1950s and 60s.

From an exclusive interview with singer Johnny Mathis, we find out what it was like to perform on the rough seas of the Atlantic. The liner continued in service until 1967 and is now a floating luxury hotel and museum docked in a custom-made lagoon in Long Beach, California.


MON 22:00 Hidden Killers (b03l7nl8)
New Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home

Suzannah Lipscomb takes us back to the late Victorian era when cities were expanding and mass consumerism took hold. But from the food they ate to the clothes they wore and the new products that thrilled them, the Victorians were surrounding themselves with killers. What made taking a bath and drinking milk potentially so dangerous? And how did the Victorian woman turn herself into a walking fire hazard?

The domestic horrors of home life in the 19th century and the terrible consequences are laid bare, revealing how the Victorian ideal of 'safe as houses' was far from the reality.


MON 23:00 The Victorians (b00hxqr0)
Series 1

Having It All

Jeremy Paxman continues his exploration of the Victorian world. Inspired by the paintings of the day, he tells the story of Victorian power.

Railways, factories and military might made Britain the richest country in the world. Paxman finds British generals dressed in togas in the Foreign Office, meets the horse that led the Charge of the Light Brigade, drives a steam train and visits a fort, a steelworks and a millionaire's mansion to tell the story of the time when Britain seemed to be having it all.


MON 00:00 Rule Britannia! Music, Mischief and Morals in the 18th Century (b04097wg)
Episode 1

Suzy Klein investigates music as a weapon in the fight for British identity; helping to cement the power of a new German royal family and used in Jacobite uprisings against them. She discovers why Italian opera was all the rage, thanks partly to a fascination with castrated male singers.

When Handel arrived in London, the city realised it has a genius on its hands, a man capable of creating music of such power, vigour and vitality that it can stir the hearts of the whole nation. Music stirred a 'bottom up' revolution, as the Beggar's Opera brought the satirical, subversive songs of the street onto the British stage, inventing modern musical theatre as we know it.

Featured music includes Rule Britannia, God Save the King, Handel's Water Music and Thomas Arne's guide to hating the French - Beer-Drinking Britons.


MON 01:00 Top of the Pops (b073b5wt)
Richard Skinner introduces the pop programme, featuring Siouxsie & the Banshees, Imagination, Phil Collins, Squeeze, The Jam, Toyah and Adam & the Ants, plus a dance performance from Legs & Co.


MON 01:35 Top of the Pops (b073rgxz)
Peter Powell introduces the pop programme, featuring Linx, Phil Collins, Odyssey, The Specials, Imagination and Smokey Robinson, and a dance performance from Legs & Co.


MON 02:10 Highlands - Scotland's Wild Heart (p03q49b2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



TUESDAY 23 JANUARY 2018

TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09p69ln)
Series 1

23/01/2018

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


TUE 19:30 Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank (b0078yz1)
The Pharaoh Hunter

Dan traces the unexpected twists and mysteries in the life of Howard Carter, the great British archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, and reveals the hidden legacy of Carter's work. Carter rose from humble origins to become the most famous archaeologist in the world, but despite his spectacular success in discovering Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, Carter was never honoured in this country, and received no official recognition from the British.

Dan travels through Egypt, looking for clues to this mystery as he follows the rollercoaster of Carter's career, from his first visit to Egypt as a teenager hired to copy Egyptian art, right up to the fame of his later years. On the way, Dan finds out that Carter played a crucial role in updating the science of archaeology and unearths his original artwork and his fascinating diary.


TUE 20:00 Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain (b00p1gc0)
Having a Ball

Andrew Marr's epic series charting the events that shaped Britain.

In the 1920s, Imperial Britannia was sliding from view and a more modern Britain tried everything new and asked endless questions about how we should live our lives. A great new age of experiment arrived in politics, writing, art, sex and drugs. Survivors of World War I threw themselves into the new urban scene of nightclubs, cocktails and jazz, where royalty, gangsters and Hollywood stars rubbed shoulders with new money.

With rare archive material and vivid anecdotes, Andrew Marr tells the story of the postwar housing boom; the birth of radio broadcasting and the creation of the BBC; and revolutionary union activities on 'Red' Clydeside. Michael Collins risked his life by negotiating with Lloyd George over Ireland, and his assassination kicked off a bloody civil war that was feared by some to be the beginning of the end of the British Empire. The modern scourge of political sleaze engulfed Lloyd George in a cash-for-honours scandal involving blackmail, spies and the strange disappearance of a radical MP. The General Strike and the Wall Street Crash brought Britain's Roaring Twenties to a dramatic close. As the cocktail party of the decade came to an end, there were uncertain times ahead for modern Britain.


TUE 21:00 Art, Passion & Power: The Story of the Royal Collection (b09p6mr9)
Series 1

Paradise Regained

In the year 1660, something miraculous began to happen. After the execution of Charles I, the Royal Collection had been sold off and scattered to the four winds. But now, with the restoration of Charles II, the monarchy was back. And with it their driven, sometimes obsessive, passion for art. Slowly but surely, new pieces were acquired, as others were returned out of fear of reprisal. The Royal Collection had sprung back to life.

Andrew Graham-Dixon tells the story of the Royal Collection's remarkable resurrection, following its fortunes from Charles II through to the 18th century and the enlightened purchases of George III. This is when some of the Queen's greatest treasures were collected - a magnificent silver-gilt salt cellar in the form of castle, kept in the Tower of London, a gold state coach, adorned with cherubs and tritons, and masterpieces by Vermeer, Canaletto and Leonardo da Vinci.

Andrew discovers the extraordinary peace offerings given to the 30-year-old Charles II by fearful citizens, because they had backed the Parliamentarians in the Civil War. And then there are works given by other countries, hoping to curry favour with the restored monarch - Holland gave sculptures, a yacht, a bed and a collection of paintings worth nearly £30 million in today's money, including two magnificent masterpieces by Titian that are still in the Collection.

At Windsor Castle, Andrew reveals Charles II's life of extravagance - this was a king who dined in public, as if he was a god, in an attempt to rival France's Louis XIV, the Sun King. His palace walls were hung with paintings of beautiful young women, the 'Windsor Beauties'. Even Charles's furniture speaks of excess - tables and mirrors completely covered in silver.

But Charles was also a king who bought wisely and Andrew is astonished by the recent discoveries of Royal Collection Trust conservators. Blank pages from Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks (most likely acquired in Charles II's reign) come alive under ultraviolet light, revealing drawings unseen for centuries.

Andrew shows how the Collection grew during the 18th century, despite philistine kings like George II ('I hate painting', he once shouted in his German accent). Under George III, royal collecting soared to new heights, driven by the new king's enlightened curiosity in the wider world and his desire to understand how it worked. Andrew travels to Venice to tell the story of one of the greatest purchases in the Royal Collection's history - as a young king, George III paid £20,000 to Canaletto's agent Consul Joseph Smith for a superb collection including over 50 paintings by the Venetian master.

George III, like Charles II, would be feted with gifts including the Padshahnama - an illustrated Indian chronicle of the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (famous for commissioning the Taj Mahal). Andrew discovers the incredible painting, so delicate that it was, legend tells us, painted with brushes made with hairs taken from the necks of baby kittens. Because of his restless curiosity, by the end of his reign George III had overseen some of the greatest acquisitions in the Royal Collection's history.


TUE 22:00 The Stuarts (b03tv7f2)
A King without a Crown

This three-part series argues that the Stuarts, more than any other, were Britain's defining royal family.

After Charles I's disastrous attempt to militarily impose political and religious uniformity throughout his kingdoms, both the Stuart dynasty and its three kingdoms fell into an abyss. Charles lost his head and his family fled into exile.

In this second episode, Dr Clare Jackson reveals how the unprecedented religious violence of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms shaped the very DNA of British political culture and how the trauma suffered shaped subsequent constitutional crises in the years to come.


TUE 23:00 Catching History's Criminals: The Forensics Story (p02l4q38)
Instruments of Murder

Sherlock has his mind palace, Morse his music - every detective has an edge. For most, it's forensic science. This three-part series provides a rare and fascinating insight into the secret history of catching murderers, charting two centuries of the breakthroughs that have changed the course of justice. Surgeon and writer Gabriel Weston explores this rich history through some of the most absorbing, and often gruesome, stories in the forensic casebook - and looks ahead to how forensics will continue to solve the murders of the future.

Where there's a murder there's usually a weapon. It's a key piece of evidence that can hold all the clues needed to catch the killer and shine a light into the mind of the murderer. In this final episode, Gabriel investigates the forensic advances that have elevated the murder weapon from its role of mere evidence to that of key witness.

Arsenic, the undetectable weapon of choice in the 19th century, was exposed as the murder weapon with one simple chemical test, and distinctive marks left on a victim's skull led detectives to the murder weapon and the killer.

Gabriel also looks to the future and the latest advances in forensics. Scientists have developed 3D laser scanning that can be used to reconstruct the exact sequence of events at the scene of a gun crime and decipher whether a shooting was murder or self-defence. Gabriel also investigates the pioneering chemistry that can now determine where in the world someone has spent time based on just a few strands of their hair.


TUE 00:00 Timeshift (b04z23k9)
Series 14

Battle for the Himalayas: The Fight to Film Everest

Between the 1920s and the 1960s the world's great powers sent vast military-style expeditions to conquer the peaks of the Himalayas, with Everest at their head. This was a great game played - camera in hand - by Imperial Britain, Nazi Germany and superpower America. As a result, Himalayan mountaineering's most iconic, epic and tragic moments didn't just go down in history, but were caught on film - from the deaths of Mallory and Irvine on Everest in 1924, to Everest's final conquest in 1953 by Hillary and Tensing. Using footage never before seen on British television, this is the story how of how film-makers turned the great peaks into great propaganda.


TUE 01:00 Top of the Pops (b074hn32)
Simon Bates introduces the pop programme, featuring The Evasions, Randy Crawford, Depeche Mode, Elaine Paige, Kirsty MacColl and Gillan, and a dance performance from Legs & Co.


TUE 01:35 Top of the Pops (b074hntc)
Peter Powell introduces the pop programme, featuring Spandau Ballet, Saxon, Dexys Midnight Runners, Third World, Kate Bush, Bad Manners and The Specials, and a dance performance from Legs & Co.


TUE 02:10 Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain (b00p1gc0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 24 JANUARY 2018

WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09p69lt)
Series 1

24/01/2018

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


WED 19:30 Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank (b0078z27)
The Rebel Pharaoh

Dan Cruickshank travels the Nile, from magnificent Karnak to the desolate ruins of El Amarna, in search of the truth about Akhenaten, the most radical and mysterious pharaoh ever to rule Egypt, and his beautiful wife Nefertiti.

They were a golden couple, rich and all-powerful, but when Akhenaten had a personal religious conversion, it changed everything. Akhenaten decided to overturn the entire religious belief system of ancient Egypt and convert the whole nation to his own new religion. He swept aside centuries of worship of many gods and declared that there was only one god, the Sun - the 'Aten'. To the ancient Egyptians this was heresy, but as he was the pharaoh, no-one could stop him. He then built a vast new sacred city in the desert, far away from the ancient capital of Thebes, a city dedicated to the Aten, in which he and Nefertiti lived in splendour.

But, as Dan discovers, the royal couple's dreams would soon come to a tragic end. From the grand temples at Karnak, Dan traces the route of the heretic king and queen along the Nile to the site of their splendid new city at El Amarna, in Middle Egypt - now just a poignant, desolate ruin where Akhenaten and Nefertiti lived out their glorious but doomed lives.


WED 20:00 Handmade: By Royal Appointment (b07gys9d)
House of Benney

In a small workshop in a country house in Wiltshire, silversmith Simon Benney makes distinctive jewellery and exquisite household objects for the royal family and private clients. Simon is following in the footsteps of his father Gerald Benney, who revolutionised the design of British silverware in the postwar era. This film follows the making of an engraved gold and diamond pendant, featuring Simon's trademark enamel finish, using techniques his father learnt from Faberge.


WED 20:30 A Stitch in Time (b09p6mxw)
Series 1

Dido

Fusing biography, art and the history of fashion, Amber Butchart explores the lives of historical figures through the clothes they wore. She looks at Dido Belle, the 18th-century daughter of an enslaved African woman brought up at Kenwood House in London.


WED 21:00 Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (b085zjww)
Episode 2

This episode follows the end of Henry's marriage to Katherine of Aragon, made possible by Henry's rejection of Catholicism and the pope, with him setting himself up as head of the Church of England. He marries his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and she gives birth to a baby girl, Elizabeth.

After rumours spread that Anne has been unfaithful to the king, she is arrested and executed, leaving Henry free to marry Jane Seymour. Jane gives birth to a son, Edward, but Henry's joy is overshadowed by grief as Jane dies 12 days later.


WED 22:00 A Timewatch Guide (b06zdll0)
Series 2

Queen Elizabeth I

Vanessa Collingridge examines the life of Elizabeth Tudor, with particular interest in how documentary television and the BBC has examined her legacy and interrogated her reign. Using Timewatch and other BBC archive stretching back over 60 years, Vanessa looks at her upbringing, her conflicts with her enemies including Mary, Queen of Scots, and her greatest victory against the Spanish Armada. The programme seeks to understand how Elizabeth I created a legacy that we still live with today, and examines how that legacy has changed over the centuries.


WED 23:00 The Brecon Beacons with Iolo Williams (b076vhs7)
Series 1 - Reversions

Episode 1

In this episode, it's the winter and spring. During the coldest months, there are often blizzards on the high peaks while the lowlands are sunny. On the snowy slopes, foxes look for food while a great grey shrike, a ruthless hunter from Scandinavia, looks for animals to eat. Cormorants like to congregate near water reservoirs while red deer hide away in secluded gullies in one of the wildest locations in the Beacons.

During spring, the nesting season is in full swing. Hundreds of dotterel rest on the Black Mountain during their journey from Africa to their breeding sites in Scotland, peregrines nest in an old quarry in the Central Beacons.

Next to the largest natural lake in south Wales, water voles are managing their ditches. Iolo discovers a magnificent diverse landscape with huge caves, stunning waterfalls, ancient woodland and canals.

He visits the most crooked church in Britain and an old gunpowder works and meets Kate Mobbs-Morgan who uses a horse to lead timber from an ancient oak woodland, National Park warden Judith Harvey who takes Iolo to one of the best views in the Beacons, and Trefor Prothero who teaches Iolo the art of traditional hedge laying. On the uplands near Llandeilo, Stuart Fry is repairing a 300-year-old stone wall.


WED 00:00 Timeshift (b08dwxhn)
Series 16

Flights of Fancy: Pigeons and the British

Timeshift ventures inside places of sporting achievement, scientific endeavour and male obsession - the lofts of pigeon fanciers - to tell the story of a remarkable bird. As racer, messenger and even beauty pageant contestant, the humble pigeon has been a steadfast part of British life for centuries.

Pigeons have served in two world wars, flown over oceans and crossed barriers of age, class and race to take their place as man's best feathered friend. Meanwhile, pigeon fanciers have contrived to make them faster and more eye-catching, using backyard genetics to breed the perfect bird.

Popular affection for pigeons has nosedived in recent decades due to a growing distaste at what they leave behind, and legislation has seen them chased out of public spaces. But as this programme shows, dedicated British pigeon fanciers are determined to keep their pastime alive. So what does the future hold for the 21st-century pigeon?


WED 01:00 Top of the Pops (b075f6my)
Richard Skinner introduces the pop programme, featuring the Vapors, Tight Fit, Gidea Park, Sheena Easton, Visage and the Specials, and a dance performance from Legs & Co.


WED 01:35 Top of the Pops (b075f6zc)
Steve Wright introduces the pop programme, featuring Kim Wilde, The Undertones, Duran Duran, Bill Wyman, Stevie Wonder, Spandau Ballet, The Specials and Shakin' Stevens, and a dance performance from Legs & Co.


WED 02:10 Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (b085zjww)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 25 JANUARY 2018

THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (b09p69lz)
Series 1

25/01/2018

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


THU 19:30 Top of the Pops (b09p7cnx)
Peter Powell and Janice Long present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 31 January 1985. Featuring Big Sound Authority, Art Of Noise, Bruce Springsteen and Foreigner.


THU 20:00 How We Got to Now with Steven Johnson (b05473dz)
Time

From submariners who live on an 18-hour day to the railway clerk who fought to standardise time zones, and the cobbler who invented the first cheap watch, innovation expert Steven Johnson discovers the surprising journey of time in our lives. He locates the unsung heroes whose ideas transformed our world of time from the sundial to clocks accurate to billionths of a second.


THU 21:00 Forces of Nature with Brian Cox (b07kxdr9)
Somewhere in Spacetime

Professor Brian Cox follows Earth's epic journey through space. He takes to the air in a top-secret fighter jet to race the spin of the planet and reverse the passage of the day. In Brazil, a monstrous wave that surges up the Amazon River provides an epic ride of a different kind - chased by a top surfer through the rainforest, this tidal wave marks Earth's constant dance with the moon. Greenland experiences some of the biggest swings in seasons in the world, but despite the deep freeze, the harsh winter brings opportunity to the Inuit people who live there.

All this spectacle here on Earth signals that we are thundering through the universe at breakneck speed. Brian explains why we can't feel it and how understanding motion brings us to understanding the nature of space and time itself, leading to the astonishing conclusion that the past, present and future all exist right now.


THU 22:00 Prehistoric Autopsy (b01nlz8j)
Homo Erectus

At the Prehistoric Autopsy HQ in Glasgow, anatomist professor Alice Roberts and biologist Dr George McGavin continue their journey back into our evolutionary past.

They are going back 1.5 million years to meet one of the earliest humans. Once again with the help of a team of international experts, this shows the recreation of one of our most successful prehistoric ancestors from the bones up. They walked the earth far longer than any other human species and were the first ancestors to look a lot like we do today. The species is Homo erectus and the individual being reconstructed is known as Nariokotome Boy.

To make the reconstructions as accurate as possible, Alice and George have travelled the globe, gathering evidence from the world's leading scientists. In the lab at the Prehistoric Autopsy HQ, scientists put the latest theories to the test to see how similar or different we really are to our ancient ancestors, while experimental archaeologists look for clues as to how they lived.

All the research has been fed to a team of model makers who have spent months painstakingly reconstructing his skeleton, muscles, skin and hair.

The team reveal the latest research that suggests Homo erectus were good hunters, were skilled at making stone tools and could probably control fire. They also look at evidence that suggests some individuals were helping those who couldn't help themselves. It may be the oldest evidence we have for something we think of as a human trait - compassion.

And in the end the carefully reconstructed Narikotome Boy will finally be revealed as we come face to face with another of our prehistoric ancestors.


THU 23:00 Lost Land of the Volcano (b00mwcqx)
Episode 3

Steve Backshall heads a team descending into the crater of a giant extinct volcano covered in thick jungle. Deep in the heart of the remote island of New Guinea, this lost land is protected on all sides by fortress walls half a mile high. They are the first outsiders ever to penetrate this hidden world, which biologists have long believed could be home to spectacular new creatures.

George McGavin travels east to an erupting volcano and discovers a rare bird that depends on the hot ash for its survival. Sudden explosions bring the trip to a quick halt as giant boulders crash into camp.

The series culminates in the lost world of the crater as Steve and wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan discover two large mammals that have no fear of people and are totally new to science - a giant rat that is as big as a cat, and a cuscus, which is a tree-climbing marsupial.


THU 00:00 Top of the Pops (b09p7cnx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 00:30 How to Build a Dinosaur (b014vy5y)
Dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago and we have hardly ever found a complete skeleton. So how do we turn a pile of broken bones into a dinosaur exhibit? Dr Alice Roberts finds out how the experts put skeletons back together, with muscles, accurate postures and even, in some cases, the correct skin colour.


THU 01:30 How We Got to Now with Steven Johnson (b05473dz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


THU 02:30 Forces of Nature with Brian Cox (b07kxdr9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 26 JANUARY 2018

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b09p69mc)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b09p7cqn)
Richard Skinner and Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 7 February 1985. Featuring King, Bryan Adams, Phil Collins, Kirsty MacColl, Howard Jones, Billy Ocean, and Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson.


FRI 20:10 The Good Old Days (b09pc5q3)
Leonard Sachs presents the old-time music hall programme, first broadcast on 2 July 1981. Featuring Roy Hudd, Lorna Dallas, Robert White, Richard Stilgoe, Jenny Till, Tom Mennard, Bill Drysdale & Christine Cartwright, and members of the Players' Theatre.


FRI 21:00 Hits, Hype & Hustle: An Insider's Guide to the Music Business (b09p6stj)
Series 1

On the Road

Music promoter John Giddings takes us on an entertaining ride behind the stage lights to tell the story of how live performance has become a billion-pound industry.

As the founder and promoter of the modern Isle of Wight festival and one of the world's biggest live promoters, John knows more than most how to put a show on the road. And how the world of live performance has changed.

Where once bands would tour to promote an album, in the age of downloads and disappearing record sales, the live arena is a huge business. Bigger than ever before.

For a genuine behind-the-scenes insight into the scale and logistics of the modern mega-tour, John takes us backstage at U2's latest stadium spectacular. We also join John behind the scenes at Isle of Wight 2017, the festival he runs and where Rod Stewart and Run DMC are among the big names on the line-up.

But we also travel back to tell the story of the original Isle of Wight Festival, where a bunch of young promoters with big ideas persuaded Bob Dylan, The Who and Leonard Cohen to perform. A tale of unpaid artists, frantic last-minute negotiations and general mayhem, it was an event that transformed the music industry. And for a young John Giddings, who was in the audience, it was the beginning of a whole career.

Along the way, some of the biggest names in rock and pop share their insights from life on the road and how the world of live performance has changed.

Phil Collins reminisces about his youthful trips to the Marquee Club. Earth, Wind & Fire reveal the extraordinary planning that went into their theatrical stage shows. Stewart Copeland recalls The Police's pioneering international tours, including a memorable visit to India at the invitation of a local women's organisation, The Time and Talents Club. Melanie C talks of her nerves taking to the road with the Spice Girls, who unlike most touring bands had no real experience of live performance. And Alex James remembers the thrill of live performance but also the reality behind some of their tours... not just to please the fans but to pay the taxman.


FRI 22:00 Glastonbury Golden Greats (b05zqn68)
The iconic artists that have been booked to play the Glastonbury Festival have often been the talking point each year.

A look back at performances from the likes of Dame Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, Neil Diamond, Al Green, Willie Nelson, BB King, Johnny Cash, and 2014's appearance by the queen of country, Dolly Parton.


FRI 23:00 Guitar Heroes at the BBC (b00plj0l)
Part VI

In this sixth and final show to round out the Guitar Heroes series, axe fans get classic riffs from Pete Townshend as The Who play Won't Get Fooled Again, Rod and Ronnie with The Faces doing Miss Judy's Farm at the old BBC TV Theatre, some weird yodel-rock from Dutch prog rockers Focus, folky acoustic numbers from Davey Graham and Ralph McTell, and some flamboyant fretwork from Americans Nils Lofgren and Ted Nugent.

Filmed in the 1970s for shows including Top of the Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test, these tracks pay tribute to a golden era in rock and to the last of the 70s Guitar Heroes.

Complete line-up:

The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again
The Faces - Miss Judy's Farm
Focus - Hocus Pocus
Man - Day and Night
Chris Spedding - Motor Bikin'
Nils Lofgren - Back It Up
The Cate Brothers - In One Eye and Out the Other
Ralph McTell - Dry Bone Rag
The Runaways - Wasted
The Motors - Dancing the Night Away
Ted Nugent - Free For All
The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love
Gary Moore - Back on the Streets
Judas Priest - Take on the World
Davey Graham - City and Suburban Blues
ZZ Top - Cheap Sunglasses.


FRI 00:00 Top of the Pops (b09p7cqn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 00:40 The Kinks at the BBC (b012ht1w)
The story of The Kinks, one of the UK's most important and influential bands, as told from the vaults of the BBC archive.

From their humble beginnings in north London, brothers Ray and Dave Davies, school friend Pete Quaife and local drummer Mick Avory exploded onto the music scene of early 1960s London.

From this series of unique archive performances, we learn that blues was their first love and Dave's signature guitar sound would go on to influence a generation of guitar players. As Ray's uniquely English songwriting style developed, the spectre of Ray and Dave's rocky fraternal relationship continually loomed in the background, through concerts for The Old Grey Whistle Test in the 1970s to appearances on Top of the Pops in the 1980s.

The inevitable band split came in 1996, and the BBC archive continues with Ray's reinvention as a solo artist with performances on the Electric Proms and up to the present day on Later... with Jools Holland. All the while the brothers continue to tease and goad the press - and one another - with talk of a Kinks reunion.


FRI 01:40 Hits, Hype & Hustle: An Insider's Guide to the Music Business (b09p6stj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:40 Glastonbury Golden Greats (b05zqn68)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]