SATURDAY 22 JUNE 2019

SAT 19:00 TOTP2 (b01by968)
The 60s

Episode 2

Second of three shows compiling some of the BBC's rare 60s archive hits by the likes of Clodagh Rodgers, The Move, Tom Jones and the Bee Gees. Plus more from Top of the Pops and other shows from the time.


SAT 19:30 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World (m0006967)
2019

Main Prize Final

At the end of a week in which we have enjoyed some exceptional performances, BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2019 reaches its thrilling finale. The winners of the four rounds are joined by this year’s judges’ wildcard to compete for what many consider the most prestigious prize in opera.

Acclaimed soprano Danielle De Niese joins Petroc Trelawny and Josie d’Arby as special guest presenter to bring full coverage of the final from St David’s Hall, Cardiff. 2017 winner Catriona Morison returns to the Welsh capital as our guest together with acclaimed bass Jonathan Lemalu and vocal coach Mary King, who will both provide their expert insights.

The finalists will perform in front of a packed house that includes the competition’s distinguished judging panel made up of leading names in opera - José Cura, Wasfi Kani, Dame Felicity Lott, Frederica von Stade and chair of the jury, David Pountney.

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Ariane Matiakh and Ewa Strusinska, provide the accompaniment. At the end of the evening, one artist will be awarded the title of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2019.


SAT 22:00 Inspector Montalbano (b08rn19h)
The Mud Pyramid

A man's body is found inside an industrial pipe on a building site. Montalbano and Fazio manage to identify the victim and try to contact his missing wife. Meanwhile, journalist Lucia Gambardella reaches out to Montalbano with information on a local corruption ring involving fraudulent building contracts.

In Italian with English subtitles.


SAT 23:45 Top of the Pops (m00062g5)
Simon Mayo and Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 14 January 1988 and featuring Climie Fisher, Tiffany, Krush, Morris Minor and the Majors, The Christians, AC/DC, Terence Trent D'Arby, Belinda Carlisle and George Michael.


SAT 00:15 Talking Pictures (b01rscc0)
Orson Welles

A retrospective look at television appearances made over the years by the legendary Hollywood actor and director Orson Welles, capturing the milestones and highlights of his life and career. Narrated by Sylvia Syms.


SAT 01:00 Peaky Blinders (b04kklnm)
Series 2

Episode 1

As the 1920s begin to roar, business is booming for the Peaky Blinders gang. Tommy Shelby starts to expand his legal and illegal operations, with an eye on the racetracks of the south. Meanwhile, an enemy from Tommy's past returns to Birmingham.


SAT 02:00 Peaky Blinders (b04l8zyp)
Series 2

Episode 2

Tommy offers to help Polly by searching for her children, who long ago were taken from her. In London, Tommy risks his life by meeting enigmatic leader Alfie Solomons. Meanwhile Arthur continues to feel the devastating effects of the Great War.


SAT 03:00 Peaky Blinders (b04lssgp)
Series 2

Episode 3

Tommy hatches a plan to take control of the southern racecourses. He also meets the aristocratic May Carleton and sees an opportunity to move up in the world. Meanwhile both Major Campbell and London gangster Darby Sabini plan Tommy's downfall.



SUNDAY 23 JUNE 2019

SUN 19:00 Tennis: Queen's (m0006nbc)
2019

Finals Day Part 3

Sue Barker presents live coverage of the final from the Queen’s Club in London.


SUN 19:40 Wild (b0078zqn)
2005-06 Shorts

Storm Geese

More than 50,000 geese fly out of stormy Atlantic skies to spend winter on the beautiful Scottish island of Islay, making for one of Britain's most impressive and least known winter wildlife spectacles - thousands of handsome barnacle geese and angel-like families of swans set against magnificent mountain and wild ocean backdrops.

Some say the haunting calls of the geese flying at night led to ancient Celtic legends of the hounds of hell yelping as they ran through the skies during very wild storms. The real story is just as remarkable - most of these birds have flown more than 2,000 miles all the way from Greenland.

Why should so many birds gather on one small island for winter? And what impact do they have when they all arrive?


SUN 19:50 FIFA Women's World Cup (m0006c41)
2019

France v Brazil

Coverage of France v Brazil in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, hosted by France.


SUN 22:40 Prejudice and Pride: The People's History of LGBTQ Britain (p0578x02)
Series 1

Episode 1

Every so often the world changes beyond your wildest dreams. In 1967, the Sexual Offences Act partially decriminalised homosexuality, offering lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people the opportunity to start living openly for the first time.

Presented by Stephen K Amos and Susan Calman, this unique series features LGBTQ people from across the UK as they share the objects that have helped define their lives during 50 transformative years.

In episode one, these crowdsourced treasures range from a rare collection of the first openly gay magazine (featuring a virtually unknown young singer called David Bowie) to letters from worried parents trying to understand their newly 'out' daughters and sons.

Over 20 incredible years, 1967-1987, we meet the fearless revolutionaries of the Gay Liberation Front, a transgender pioneer who almost caused a strike and a woman who faced losing her children when she came out as a lesbian. By the early 1980s, LGBTQ people were starting to build a community, which would be tested to the limit when Aids loomed.

This is the story of ordinary people in extraordinary times - told through their cherished possessions - charting the joys and heartbreaks of just being true to yourself.

Prejudice and Pride: The People's History of LGBTQ Britain is part of Gay Britannia, a season of programming produced in 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act.


SUN 23:40 Prejudice and Pride: The People's History of LGBTQ Britain (b08zn99q)
Series 1

Episode 2

Every so often the world changes beyond your wildest dreams. In 1967 the Sexual Offences Act partially decriminalised homosexuality, offering lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people the opportunity to start living openly for the first time.

Presented by Stephen K Amos and Susan Calman, this unique series features LGBTQ people from across the UK as they share the objects that helped define their lives during 50 transformative years.

In episode two, these crowdsourced artefacts include a copy of the controversial schoolbook Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin, naval discharge papers and even a pair of Ugg boots.

We meet the nun-impersonating freedom fighters the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the writer behind TV's steamiest lesbian kiss and a Muslim man who set up an LGBT support group for Southeast Asians.

Ranging from 1987 to 2017, this was an era when public acceptance of homosexuality overtook the government's - a time when many celebrities came out and stood up for LGBTQ rights. But it is also the story of ordinary people in extraordinary times - told through their treasured possessions - charting the joys and heartbreaks of just being true to yourself.

Prejudice and Pride: The People's History of LGBTQ Britain is part of Gay Britannia, a season of programming produced in 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act.


SUN 00:40 Peaky Blinders (b04mlypg)
Series 2

Episode 4

Tommy finds out exactly what mission Major Campbell is forcing him to undertake. Arthur spearheads a ferocious takeover of London's Eden Club. Meanwhile, Polly's son Michael is welcomed into the business and quickly experiences the dark side of the Peaky Blinders.


SUN 01:40 Peaky Blinders (b04n6zyy)
Series 2

Episode 5

Tommy is caught by surprise when his powerbase in London is obliterated. As Tommy struggles to save his family and regain the upper hand, May expresses her feelings for him, and he is paid a visit by an old friend.


SUN 02:40 Peaky Blinders (b04nyw0f)
Series 2

Episode 6

As derby day arrives, Tommy is faced with impossible decisions as he plans to strike back at his enemies and take the family business to another level. Meanwhile, Major Campbell has one final card to play - one that he is certain will bring about Tommy's demise.



MONDAY 24 JUNE 2019

MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m000696g)
Series 1

24/06/2019

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


MON 19:30 Great Continental Railway Journeys (b08gcz1d)
Series 4 - Reversions

Sofia to Istanbul - Part 1

Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide in hand, Michael Portillo travels through the Balkans, following the route of the historic Orient Express. His journey begins in Sofia, where he discovers the then newly independent orthodox Christian nation, which had broken free of the decaying Ottoman Empire and found an ally in a British prime minister. In the ancient city of Plovdiv, Michael discovers a Roman amphitheatre built in the 2nd century AD and still in use today. Further east in the beautiful region of Rumelia, Michael picks roses with the flower girls to produce precious rose oil in a 100-year-old distillery.


MON 20:00 Life (b00ncr13)
Challenges of Life

In nature, living long enough to breed is a monumental struggle. Many animals and plants go to extremes to give themselves a chance.

Uniquely, three brother cheetahs band together to bring down a huge ostrich. Aerial photography reveals how bottle-nosed dolphins trap fish in a ring of mud, and time-lapse cameras show how the Venus flytrap ensnares insect victims.

The strawberry frog carries a tadpole high into a tree and drops it in a water-filled bromeliad. The frog must climb back from the ground every day to feed it.

Fledgling chinstrap penguins undertake a heroic and tragic journey through the broken ice to get out to sea. Many can barely swim and the formidable leopard seal lies in wait.


MON 21:00 A Year to Save my Life: George McGavin and Melanoma (m000696j)
After being diagnosed with a rare and deadly form of malignant melanoma - acral lentiginous melanoma - television presenter and biologist Dr George McGavin embarks on a highly emotional and deeply personal journey as he goes through treatment for his cancer. George’s treatment is targeted drug therapy, using drugs approved for use by the NHS only weeks before his diagnosis.

During this journey, he is given unprecedented access to the process and science behind his medical treatment and diagnosis. He also meets some of the most highly regarded scientists in the field of cancer research in his quest to understand not just his disease but what the future holds as a whole for cancer treatment. Amongst them are Professor Sir Michael Stratton, director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute and chief executive officer of the Wellcome Genome Campus, whose work resulted in the discovery of the mutation in the B RAF gene responsible for his form of melanoma. George also travels to Houston, Texas to meet Professor James P Allison, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine, to find out about his pioneering work in the field of immunotherapy - the greatest breakthrough in cancer research in a century.

Back home in his own hospital, he meets a unique group of stage four melanoma patients who owe their lives to Professor Allison’s work. Ultimately, his journey culminates when he receives his prognosis, after three months of treatment, which will determine his future. Will these groundbreaking drugs actually work?


MON 22:00 Horizon (b0752f85)
2016

Project Greenglow - The Quest for Gravity Control

This is the story of an extraordinary scientific adventure - the attempt to control gravity. For centuries, the precise workings of gravity have confounded the greatest scientific minds - from Newton to Faraday and Einstein - and the idea of controlling gravity has been seen as little more than a fanciful dream. Yet in the mid 1990s, UK defence manufacturer BAE Systems began a ground-breaking project code-named Greenglow, which set about turning science fiction into reality. On the other side of the Atlantic, Nasa was simultaneously running its own Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project. It was concerned with potential space applications of new physics, including concepts like 'faster-than-light travel' and 'warp drives'.

Looking into the past and projecting into the future, Horizon explores science's long-standing obsession with the idea of gravity control. It looks at recent breakthroughs in the search for loopholes in conventional physics and examines how the groundwork carried out by Project Greenglow has helped change our understanding of the universe. Gravity control may sound like science fiction, but the research that began with Project Greenglow is very much ongoing, and the dream of flying cars and journeys to the stars no longer seems quite so distant.


MON 23:00 Colour: The Spectrum of Science (b06nxwld)
Colours of Life

We live in a world ablaze with colour. Rainbows and rainforests, oceans and humanity, earth is the most colourful place we know of. But the colours we see are far more complex and fascinating than they appear. In this series, Dr Helen Czerski uncovers what colour is, how it works, and how it has written the story of our planet - from the colours that transformed a dull ball of rock into a vivid jewel to the colours that life has used to survive and thrive. But the story doesn't end there - there are also the colours that we can't see, the ones that lie beyond the rainbow. Each one has a fascinating story to tell.

The raw, early Earth had plenty of colour, but that was nothing compared with what was going to come next. That canvas was about to be painted with a vast new palette - and the source of those colours was life. Green is the colour of the natural world and yet it's the one colour that plants have evolved not to use.

The huge diversity of human skin tones tells the story of how humanity spread and ultimately conquered the planet. But the true masters of colour turn out to be some of the smallest and most elusive. Helen travels to the Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee during the one week in the year when fireflies light up the night sky with their colourful mating display. And she reveals the marine animals that hide from the world by changing the colour of their skin.


MON 00:00 Tales from the National Parks (b016psp6)
The Peak District

The national parks are Britain's most treasured landscapes, but they are increasingly becoming battlefields. They were designated 60 years ago as places for everyone, but is that still the case? In this series, the award-winning film-maker Richard Macer spent a year amid conflicts in three different parks, on a journey to discover who they are really for.

In each park the stories are very different, but there is something that unites them all - fiercely divided communities who are prepared to fight in order to preserve their right to enjoy the countryside. For each film Macer has secured access to the National Park Authority - an organisation which looks after the landscapes and decides upon planning matters. In all these stories the park authorities have a key role to play in trying to find amicable solutions to the problems which confront them.

A war is breaking out in the charming villages of the Peak District, with walkers, horseriders and residents angry at 4x4 drivers and trailbikers motoring up and down the green lanes for pleasure. So an 80-year-old retired primary school teacher decides to launch a campaign to get the motorists banned from a lane in her village of Great Longstone. Over the next few months the campaign snowballs, and more and more villages decide they've had enough of the off-roaders on their lanes.

Macer filmed for over a year in the Peak District and was granted exclusive access to the inner workings of how the park is run. Will the Peak District Park Authority bow down to public pressure or will it side with the off-roaders?


MON 01:00 Peaky Blinders (b079vtpm)
Series 3

Episode 1

It is Thomas Shelby's long-awaited wedding day. In the middle of the celebrations, a mysterious visitor imperils the entire Shelby family, and Tommy finds himself pulled into a web of intrigue more lethal than anything he has yet encountered.


MON 01:55 Peaky Blinders (b07bksbb)
Series 3

Episode 2

Tommy discovers the extent of the mission given to him and the extreme lengths his new paymasters are willing to go to in their quest for power.

Meanwhile his own family's activities lead to escalating danger in Birmingham.


MON 02:55 Peaky Blinders (b07cgpy2)
Series 3

Episode 3

Responding to the Italians' actions, Tommy is set on a path of deadly vengeance. Meanwhile, as he makes plans for his mission on behalf of the Russians, he realises there is a traitor in his midst.



TUESDAY 25 JUNE 2019

TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m000696b)
Series 1

25/06/2019

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


TUE 19:30 Horizon (p0327fp0)
2016

Tim Peake Special - How to be an Astronaut

In December 2015, Tim Peake became Britain’s first astronaut on board the International Space Station. For two years Tim had been filming a video diary for Horizon as he prepared to leave; from family life, to the rigorous training, this is an intimate portrait and remarkable insight into the world of an astronaut.


TUE 19:40 Pop Go the Sixties (b0088nyx)
Series 1

The Kinks

Another mind-bendingly colourful nugget of pop mined from the BBC's archive.


TUE 19:45 FIFA Women's World Cup (m0006c4j)
2019

Round of 16: Netherlands v Japan

It is the final game of the round of 16 and the quarter-final line up is complete after this face off in Rennes. Gabby Logan presents live coverage, with Alex Scott and Jordan Nobbs providing the analysis.


TUE 22:00 Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley (b06w0gn7)
Age of Extremes

Lucy Worsley continues her journey through Russia in the footsteps of the Romanovs, the most powerful royal dynasty in modern European history.

In this episode she examines the extraordinary reign of Catherine the Great, and the traumatic conflict with Napoleonic France that provides the setting for the novel War and Peace.

Lucy begins in the 18th century, when the great palaces of the Romanovs were built. But in Romanov Russia, blood was always intermingled with the gold - these splendid interiors were the backdrop to affairs, coups and murder.

At the magnificent palace of Peterhof near St Petersburg, Lucy charts the meteoric rise of Catherine the Great, who seized the Russian throne from her husband Peter III in 1762 and became the most powerful woman in the world. Catherine was a woman of huge passions - for art, for her adopted country (she was German by birth) and for her many lovers.

Lucy visits the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, once the home of Catherine's vast art collection. Here she explores how, once Catherine had taken the throne, she compensated for her foreign origins by taking careful control of her image, using her portraits and clothes to create a brand that looked authentically Russian yet also modern and sophisticated. Lucy tells how Catherine expanded her empire through military victories overseas, while at home she encouraged education and introduced smallpox inoculation to Russia. But Catherine struggled to introduce deeper reforms, and the institution of serfdom remained largely unchanged. Lucy explains how this injustice fuelled a violent rebellion.

Nevertheless, Catherine left Russia more powerful on the world stage than ever. But all she had achieved looked set to be undone when Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. Lucy relives the pivotal battle of Borodino, when the Russian army finally confronted the French forces; the traumatic destruction of Moscow; and, under Catherine's grandson Alexander, the eventual victory over the French that provided the Romanov dynasty with its most glorious hour.


TUE 23:00 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.


TUE 00:00 Ice Age Giants (p018ccn2)
Last of the Giants

Professor Alice Roberts journeys 40,000 years back in time on the trail of the great beasts of the ice age. This was the last time that giants like mammoths, woolly rhinos and sabre-toothed cats ruled our planet. Drawing on the latest scientific detective work and a dash of graphic wizardry, Alice brings the ice age giants back to life.

Astonishingly, even after thousands of years of ice crushing the northern hemisphere and temperatures of 20 degrees lower than those of today, many of the great giants of the ice age still walked the earth. It was only when the world had warmed up again that mammoths, woolly rhinos, sabre-toothed cats, giant ground sloths and glyptodonts finally became extinct. Alice sets off on her last voyage back to the ice age to discover why.

She learns the moving story of a mother mastodon, an extinct relative of the elephant. From her tusks, scientists can tell how many calves she had and whether they reached adulthood. This evidence, together with harrowing injuries on other skeletons, tells a perplexing story of a species on the edge of extinction - mastodons were turning on mastodons. By looking at the behaviour of elephants today, scientists have come up with a surprising theory as to why this happened.

The woolly rhino tells another story. Believe it or not, the one thing it couldn't stand was snow - which stopped it from getting enough grass. During the ice age in Europe and Siberia, snow was thin on the ground as so much water was locked up in the ice sheets. But when the ice ended, the snows increased, rhinos found themselves stuck and their little legs were unable to get them out of trouble.


TUE 01:00 Peaky Blinders (b07czw04)
Series 3

Episode 4

Tommy and Tatiana play a personal and dangerous game to acquire information from one another, and Tommy finally comprehends the magnitude of Tatiana's warped ideals.

Meanwhile, Polly reveals a dark secret, with terrible consequences for Tommy.


TUE 01:55 Peaky Blinders (b07dwngq)
Series 3

Episode 5

As the Russians test the Peaky Blinders, Tommy realises that he is being seriously outmanoeuvred. But he has an ace up his sleeve in the form of an enemy turned ally - if only he can control him.


TUE 02:55 Peaky Blinders (b07fg86c)
Series 3

Episode 6

As Tommy prepares to commit the most audacious crime of his career, a blow is struck against him that could change everything. As he faces his worst fears, he needs his family more than ever - but who can he trust?



WEDNESDAY 26 JUNE 2019

WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m000696c)
Series 1

26/06/2019

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


WED 19:30 Great Continental Railway Journeys (b08gd56c)
Series 4 - Reversions

Sofia to Istanbul - Part 2

Michael Portillo arrives in Istanbul, takes a boat trip on the Bosphorus, samples Turkish delight, and crosses from Europe to Asia on the Marmaray metro line which joins the two continents.


WED 20:00 Timeshift (b00nrtj6)
Series 9

The Last Days of the Liners

Documentary which tells the story of how, in the years following the Second World War, countries competed to launch the most magnificent passenger ships on the great ocean routes.

National pride and prestige were at stake. The Americans had the United States, the fastest liner of all; the Dutch had the elegant Rotterdam; the Italians had the sleek Michelangelo; the French had the France as their supreme symbol of national culture and cuisine; and Britain had the Queens Mary and Elizabeth.

The coming of the jetliner and the 1960s' assault on class and privilege might have swept this world away, but as the film explains, the giant vessels sailed on. Today, more people than ever travel on big ships - liners that have a modern take on glamour and romance.


WED 21:00 Operation Mincemeat (b00wllmb)
For more than 60 years, the real story behind Operation Mincemeat has been shrouded in secrecy. Now, Ben Macintyre reveals the extraordinary truth in a documentary based on his best-selling book.

In 1943, British intelligence hatched a daring plan. As the Allies prepared to invade Sicily, their purpose was to convince the Germans that Greece was the real target. The plot to fool the Fuhrer was the brainchild of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.

British agents procured the body of a tramp and reinvented his entire identity. He was given a new name, an officer rank and a briefcase containing plans for a fake invasion of Greece. The body was floated off the Spanish coast where Nazi spies would find it.

The deception was an astonishing success. Hitler fell for it totally, ordering his armies to Greece to await an invasion that never happened. Meanwhile, the Allies landed in Sicily with minimal resistance. The island fell in a month. The war turned in the Allies' favour.

Together with original witnesses, Macintyre recreates the remarkable story of how one brilliant team, and one dead tramp, pulled off a deception which changed the course of history.


WED 22:00 Castle Commando (b01bfl4x)
In January 1942, the historic Achnacarry Estate was transformed into a wartime paramilitary academy. In four years of operation, 25,000 men came to the Scottish Highlands to endure the world's toughest infantry training course.

Narrated by Rory Bremner, Castle Commando looks back on the larger-than-life characters that helped shape Winston Churchill's legendary raiding troops. Veterans remember how the ferocious Highland landscape was the perfect environment for the most exacting, most gruelling military training of World War II.


WED 23:00 Secrets of the Super Elements (b08rv9r6)
Forget oil, coal and gas - a new set of materials is shaping our world and they're so bizarre they may as well be alien technology. In the first BBC documentary to be filmed entirely on smartphones, materials scientist Prof Mark Miodownik reveals the super elements that underpin our high-tech world. We have become utterly dependent on them, but they are rare and they're already running out. The stuff that makes our smartphones work could be gone in a decade and our ability to feed the world depends mostly on a mineral found in just one country. Mark reveals the magical properties of these extraordinary materials and finds out what we can do to save them.


WED 00:00 Timeshift (b06pm5vf)
Series 15

How Britain Won the Space Race: The Story of Bernard Lovell and Jodrell Bank

The unlikely story of how one man with some ex-WWII army equipment eventually turned a muddy field in Cheshire into a key site in the space race. That man was Bernard Lovell, and his telescope at Jodrell Bank would be used at the height of the Cold War by both the Americans and the Russians to track their competing spacecraft. It also put Britain at the forefront of radio astronomy, a new science which transformed our knowledge of space and provided the key to understanding the most mind-bending theory of the beginnings of the universe - the Big Bang.


WED 01:00 Peaky Blinders (b09g85kh)
Series 4

The Noose

December 1925. Tommy Shelby OBE (Cillian Murphy) has acquired unprecedented legitimacy. The former gangster is also a man alone, estranged from his family and focused only on business. But when he receives a mysterious letter on Christmas Eve, Tommy realises that the Shelbys are in danger of annihilation.

As the enemy closes in, Tommy flees his country house and returns to the only safe place he knows: Small Heath, Birmingham, the slum where he grew up. Facing a more determined and sophisticated threat than ever before, the Shelby family must find a way to put differences aside, work together, take up arms and fight for survival...


WED 02:00 Peaky Blinders (b09gvn5j)
Series 4

Heathens

As the Shelbys come to terms with the shocking events of Christmas Day, Tommy endeavours to unite his family. Until the current threat is dealt with, their only safe place is together in Small Heath. Johnny Dogs and Charlie set about arming the locals - everyone is now a Peaky bodyguard. Tommy enlists the help of tough Romany Gypsy Aberama Gold, who wants something unusual in return.

Jessie Eden confronts Tommy about the workers' pay. She warns him that revolution is in the air, and when Tommy doesn't relent she calls his bluff. As the situation plays out, Tommy's factory manager tells him he has one more meeting - with a mysterious businessman from Paris. But what transpires is no ordinary meeting with no ordinary businessman...


WED 03:00 Peaky Blinders (b09hc65q)
Series 4

Blackbird

The Italians launch another attack on the Peaky Blinders. Tommy realises that the Shelbys need to evolve if they are to survive, but some of the family are reluctant to part with tradition.

As the strike takes hold at the Lanchester factory, Tommy pays a personal visit to Jessie Eden, but he is outmanoeuvred when she reveals something she knows about his past.

Changretta plots to continue the vendetta in the most devastating way possible. As well as identifying an enemy of the Shelby family who could help him, Luca makes direct contact with someone at the heart of the Peaky Blinders organisation.



THURSDAY 27 JUNE 2019

THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m000696w)
Series 1

27/06/2019

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


THU 19:30 Great Continental Railway Journeys (b08gdltd)
Series 4 - Reversions

Vienna to Trieste - Part 1

Armed with his 1913 railway guide, Michael Portillo travels the Habsburg imperial line from Vienna across the awe-inspiring Semmering Pass, a handmade railway line blasted through the Alps.

Michael's journey takes him through a patchwork of nations which a century ago formed part of the Austro Hungarian empire. His destination is the Adriatic port of Trieste. In Vienna, he encounters a pre-Cold War spy and hears for himself the concert that caused a riot in 1913. At the winter sports resort of Semmering, rails of a slippier kind prove hard to navigate when Michael takes to a toboggan.

In Austria's second city, Graz, Michael ventures underground at the Lurgrotte Caves to find out about a famous turn-of-the-century rescue operation. Over the border in the former imperial territory of Slovenia, Michael discovers how an earthquake in Ljubljana encouraged its citizens to assert their national identity in architecture and art. In high spirits, with the help of the local liquor, Michael says 'Nosdraviya' to Slovenia and heads south.

Arriving in Italy at the empire's southern port of Trieste, Michael savours the imported coffee which fuelled the cafe culture of its elegant capital, Vienna.


THU 20:00 A Year in the Wild (b01lvh65)
Cairngorms

The harsh beauty and surprising wildlife of Scotland's Cairngorms National Park through the eyes of the people who know it best.

The Cairngorms is Britain's largest and wildest National Park. A land of Arctic extremes in the heart of the Scottish highlands. Its granite mountains and ancient pine forests are home to some of our rarest and most spectacular animals, including golden eagles, ptarmigan, capercaillie, red deer and crested tits. This lyrical and thought-provoking film reveals the inner secrets of this wild landscape over a year through the eyes of individuals who know and love the Cairngorms: a mountain guide, an artist, a salmon ghillie, a gamekeeper and a nature writer.


THU 21:00 Britain's Nuclear Bomb: The Inside Story (b08nz0xh)
In 1957, Britain exploded its first megaton hydrogen bomb - codenamed Operation Grapple X. It was the culmination of an extraordinary scientific project, which against almost insuperable odds turned Britain into a nuclear superpower. This is the inside story of how Britain got 'the bomb'.

The BBC has been granted unprecedented access to the top-secret nuclear research facility at Aldermaston. The programme features interviews with veterans and scientists who took part in the atomic bomb programme, some speaking for the first time, and newly released footage of the British atomic bomb tests.


THU 22:00 Madagascar (b00ytrmr)
Lost Worlds

David Attenborough tells the story of one of the most intriguing wild places on earth: Madagascar, the huge island of dramatic landscapes, where the wildlife is strange and unique, some of it having been filmed for the very first time.

In this episode, we travel deep into Madagascar's most luxuriant landscape: the rainforests that cloak the island's eastern mountains. Remote and mysterious, this little-known region of towering peaks and precipitous escarpments is home to over half of all Madagascar's unique species.

Narrated by David Attenborough, this second episode showcases an amazing collection of wildlife, many of which have never been filmed before. Cyanide-eating lemurs, cannibalistic frogs, meat-eating plants, cryptic leaf-tailed geckos, tadpole-eating wasps, tunnel-digging chameleons and house-proud flycatchers are just some of the weird and wonderful wildlife featured.

Along this coast, every cliff and valley is like a lost world where nature has run riot. Amongst the boulders of the Andringitra Highlands, a few hardy troops of ringtailed lemurs make their home. To fight the sub-zero cold, they have developed thick coats and can only survive the freezing nights by huddling together in rocky crevices. In this high 'desert', they must eat cacti for moisture.

Descend just a few hundred metres and it's a very different world, where dense forests are permanently shrouded in clouds. The Marojejy Massif is the last sanctuary of one of Madagascar's rarest lemurs, the elusive, ghostly white silky sifaka. There are thought to be only two hundred of these playful and endearing creatures left on earth.

Lower again are the lush rainforests of Ranomafana, where thickets of bamboo hide one of Madagascar's most remarkable animals, the golden bamboo lemur, only discovered recently. It's incredibly specialised, eating just one species of bamboo, a plant loaded with highly toxic cyanide. No one knows how they can survive consuming lethal doses of this poison.


THU 23:00 Britain's Lost Masterpieces (b0bgfwdn)
Series 3

Manchester

At the Manchester Art Gallery, Dr Bendor Grosvenor discovers a painting of a country gentleman from the 1770s which he believes has been misattributed to Nathaniel Dance. He feels sure it is in fact by the German painter Johann Zoffany, a favourite portraitist of the royal family under King George III. While the painting is restored, Bendor investigates the life of Zoffany - a chancer and adventurer who squandered his royal patronage through a series of predictable errors of judgement.

Travelling to Florence to see the location of Zoffany's greatest painting, the Tribuna of the Uffizi Gallery, Bendor also visits Parma, where Zoffany painted an extraordinary self-portrait. The artist ended his career in India, where he made a fortune, and Bendor goes to look at Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match in Tate Britain with art historian Sona Datta. They unpack the undercurrent of sexual innuendo Zoffany had filled the picture with.

Emma Dabiri investigates Manchester's support for the abolition of slavery through the history of the gallery's first purchase - a portrait of the black American actor Ira Aldridge. She discovers the story of the Manchester Art Treasures exhibition of 1857, the largest art exhibition ever held in Britain, and looks into the Manchester Gallery attacks by three suffragettes in 1913.


THU 00:00 Utopia: In Search of the Dream (b092sb6f)
Series 1

A Good Place Within

Art historian Richard Clay asks whether utopia is, ultimately, a state of mind. Can we find utopia within? He explores the many ways we have created to immerse ourselves in a perfect moment, of epiphany or transcendence, pushing the boundaries of artistic expression and pleasure.

Seeking answers in a broad range of arts, Richard meets digital games pioneer Sid Meier, Rada improvisation teacher Chris Heimann and opera impresario Martin Graham. He tries to compose a haiku and uncovers traces of the hedonistic medieval carnival tradition in the churches and pubs of his native Lancashire.

Richard also compares and contrasts different musical escapes, interviewing Acid House legend A Guy Called Gerald and the celebrated minimalist composer Steve Reich. This is not about the utopia of the future but about the utopia of the immediate world that we can experience now.


THU 01:00 Peaky Blinders (b09j0hxs)
Series 4

Dangerous

The Peaky Blinders are lured by the Italians into a cat-and-mouse chase on the streets of Birmingham, where it becomes clear that Tommy has met his match. Trapped in Small Heath, Tommy tries to console himself with a visit from an old flame but it soon becomes clear that he can't always get what he wants.

As his factory lies idle, Tommy confronts the possibility that the Communists might win and he will be deemed a traitor to his class. Meanwhile, Changretta prepares to spring another trap.


THU 02:00 Peaky Blinders (b09jhn03)
Series 4

The Duel

Tommy finds himself engaged in bloody battle with Luca Changretta and his gang. The family gather to find out what happened, but Lizzie has even greater news to break.

Meanwhile, an army colonel has questions for Ada about her past as a communist, and Jessie Eden confirms just how far she is prepared to go in pursuit of her cause. And sensing an opportunity to capitalise on his situation, Luca Changretta makes his way to London to present a plan to Alfie Solomons.


THU 03:00 Peaky Blinders (b09k8gjf)
Series 4

The Company

It is the night of the big fight - Bonnie Gold versus Goliath. But as the bell rings and the crowd goes wild, dangers lurk in the shadows for Tommy Shelby and his family.

When Changretta plays his final ace, he sets in motion a series of events that will change the Peaky Blinders forever.



FRIDAY 28 JUNE 2019

FRI 19:00 World News Today (m000696v)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (b00zwrn5)
1964 to 1975 - Big Hits

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

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

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


FRI 21:00 Glastonbury (m0006nq6)
2019

Sheryl Crow, Jorja Smith

Nine-times Grammy Award winner, Sheryl Crow, supported The Eagles at Wembley last weekend and is about to release her eleventh studio album, the duet-heavy Threads. Expect a career-spanning Pyramid Stage hits set from Missouri-born Crow who last played Glastonbury in 1997.

Walsall’s Jorja Smith was born in 1997 and her smoky and Drake-endorsed R&B helped her win first the Brits Critics’ Choice award in 2018 and then this year’s Best British Female in recognition of the success of her Lost & Found debut album.


FRI 22:00 Glastonbury (m0006nq8)
2019

The Charlatans

West Midlands’ finest The Charlatans are celebrating 30 years of their organ-fuelled swirling British garage rock and have been drafted in at short notice to perform on the Other Stage. The Charlatans have released 13 studio albums and, despite having lost two key members since their inception in 1989, remain one of Britain’s most enduring and best-loved live bands. Earlier this year they released a retrospective box set of 7-inch singles, Everything Changed, to celebrate Record Store Day.


FRI 22:30 Glastonbury (m0006972)
2019

Tame Impala

Enter the wonderous psych pop universe guided by frontman Kevin Parker.


FRI 00:00 Boy George's 1970s: Save Me from Suburbia (b07z7y5v)
British popstar Boy George recalls, revisits and assesses how the 1970s moulded the person and artist he has become. This is his musical, social and sexual coming of age, when he discovered the power of his own sexuality before setting about turning that persona into a popstar. Set against a backdrop of social discord, disenfranchisement and sexual repression, the 70s was also conversely the decade that revelled in colour and creative chaos, giving the world glam rock, disco and punk, and the young George O'Dowd was at the birth of them all. The documentary includes contributions from contemporaries like Martin Degville (Sigue Sigue Sputnik), Andy Polaris (Animal Nightlife), DJ Princess Julia and popstar Marilyn.

Boy George says: 'I think of the 70s as being this glorious decade where I discovered who I was and discovered all these amazing things - punk rock, electro music, fashion, all of that. And yeah of course there was that dark side to the 70s, the rubbish, the strikes, the poverty, and I'd get chased and confronted for the way I looked. But I was a teenager. I didn't have any time for misery. I was just having a great time with my friends.'.


FRI 01:00 Top of the Pops (b00zwrn5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 02:30 Storyville (b00ml582)
How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin

Documentary which tells the extraordinary unknown story of how The Beatles helped to destroy the USSR.

In August 1962, director Leslie Woodhead made a two-minute film in Liverpool's Cavern Club with a raw and unrecorded group of rockers called The Beatles. He arranged their first live TV appearances on a local show in Manchester and watched as the Fab Four phenomenon swept the world.

Twenty-five years later while making films in Russia, Woodhead became aware of how, even though they were never able to play in the Soviet Union, The Beatles' legend had soaked into the lives of a generation of kids. This film meets the Soviet Beatles generation and hears their stories about how the Fab Four changed their lives, including Putin's deputy premier Sergei Ivanov, who explains how The Beatles helped him learn English and showed him another life.

The Soviet authorities were alarmed by the seditious potential of rock 'n' roll, with The Beatles a special target and denounced as 'bugs' in official papers. Their smuggled records were destroyed and their music was banned, but the myth blossomed as bootlegs and photos were covertly traded and even rented amongst fans.

Soon there were thousands of rock bands across the USSR trying to make music with crude homemade guitars. Speakers on lampposts installed to broadcast propaganda were grabbed by rock hopefuls, while reports that an electric pickup could be cannibalised from a telephone led to phone boxes being raided and disabled.

Millions of young people fell in love with The Beatles and the culture of the Cold War enemy, and defected emotionally from the Soviet system. The Beatles prepared the cultural way for the fall of the Berlin Wall and ultimately helped to wash away the foundations of that system.