Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping the world.
Sam Roddick explores the enduring appeal of Botticelli's masterpiece The Birth of Venus, one of the most celebrated paintings in western art and a joyous celebration of female sexuality. Its journey to worldwide fame was far from straightforward and it lay in obscurity for centuries. Artist and entrepreneur Sam explains why Botticelli's nude was so revolutionary and explores its impact on contemporary culture with artists such as Terry Gilliam, who memorably reinvented Venus for his Monty Python's Flying Circus animations.
Artists Daphne Todd and Lachlan Goudie lead the first ever live televised life drawing class, hosted by 2019 Celebrity Painting Challenge winner Josie d’Arby. Watch live and draw along at home as six amateur artists, including some famous faces, aim to capture a series of poses.
Artist and teacher Diana Ali will also be providing insightful tips on tackling some tricky aspects of life drawing. A great opportunity for people with artistic skills, as well as those who think they have none, to pick up a pencil and draw. Class commences at
Anna resorts to devious means to get her way. Warren loses his cool over a muesli yoghurt.
Egg takes his work worries to a therapist, but finds that football is the only way forward.
Meanwhile, Miles thinks that his days are numbered when Delilah agrees to take an HIV test, and Anna gets an interesting offer when she uses her feminine charms to get work.
Warren fears that Kira might 'out' him to the rest of the family. Anna tries her hand at marriage guidance. And Miles beats his father at his own game.
This third episode traces the crucial importance of the sea to Britain's trade and to individual livelihoods of coastal communities. Joined on this leg of his epic sail by his son Fred, David follows the trade routes of the west coast of Scotland along the monumental channels that cut through the romantic Highlands and brought wealth and prosperity to the heart of Scotland. The journey starts at Craobh Haven and takes David along the Crinan Canal, around the Isle of Bute and up the River Clyde towards Glasgow.
With the craze of Irish dance videos plastered across social media channels, master-tapper Chris Naish has a week to pull together a dance crew to shoot a video for his new project.
Led by Irish dance teacher Deborah Anderson, the Zephaniah Dance Ministry come together in Portadown to spread the good news of the Gospel through Irish dance.
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'.
WEDNESDAY 05 FEBRUARY 2020
WED 19:00 The Wonder of Animals (b04kzvxq)
Dolphins
Chris Packham explores the success of the most widespread of marine mammals, the dolphin. Contrary to their amiable reputation, they are in fact ruthless predators. They hunt using a combination of specialised anatomy and complex communication, requiring a big brain.
Chris explains the inner workings of dolphin echolocation, reveals how a pod uses body movements to communicate the location of food and explores the strategies used by orcas during a hunt.
WED 19:30 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04dq8kl)
Galen and Leonardo
Adam Rutherford begins his series investigating the close relationship between discoveries in anatomy and the works of art that illustrate them by looking at the work of the 2nd-century Roman anatomist Claudius Galen and the artist and part-time dissector Leonardo da Vinci.
WED 20:00 World's Busiest Railway 2015 (b0684q75)
Episode 2
Dan Snow, Anita Rani and Robert Llewellyn examine the role the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai plays in long-distance travel across India. The country's rail passengers travel three million km every day - that's the distance to the moon and back, four times.
Anita joins passengers on a long-distance sleeper across India to discover who's travelling, what they pay for their tickets and what the conditions are like on board.
The station team have just six hours to service trains after every journey. With trains measuring more than half a kilometre in length, this is a gargantuan task. Robert joins the team to watch this turnaround in action.
Dan gets his hands dirty with the behind-the-scenes support teams who process more than 25,000 dirty sheets a day and ensure that everyone on board is fed and watered.
And we go on board one of India's poshest tourist trains, where you can travel like a maharaja at a cost of £600 per night.
WED 21:00 Timeshift (b068fvln)
Series 15
The Trains That Time Forgot: Britain's Lost Railway Journeys
Timeshift journeys back to a lost era of rail travel, when trains had names, character and style. Once the pride of the railway companies that ran them, the named train is now largely consigned to railway history.
Writer and presenter Andrew Martin asks why we once named trains and why we don't do so anymore. He embarks on three railway journeys around Britain, following the routes of three of the most famous named trains - the Flying Scotsman, the Cornish Riviera Express and the Brighton Belle. We reflect on travel during the golden age of railways - when the journey itself was as important as reaching your destination - and compare those same journeys with the passenger experience today.
WED 22:00 This Life (b007804y)
Series 1
Brief Encounter
Anna has a passionate one-night stand, but discovers that there's no such thing as casual sex. Miles resents his father's interference at work, and Warren finds it easier to confide in a stranger than in his own brother.
WED 22:40 This Life (b007805l)
Series 1
Cheap Thrills
Milly is losing patience with Egg's novel-writing career. Meanwhile, Anna stirs up trouble at chambers when she tries to liven up the boss's party.
WED 23:20 This Life (b0078061)
Series 1
Just Sex
Warren falls in love, but when his romance turns sour he makes the decision not to live a lie.
Meanwhile, Milly and O'Donnell are becoming increasingly close at work, and Jerry finds an unexpected ally in Anna.
WED 00:00 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.
WED 01:00 Britain and the Sea (b03m3x1j)
Pleasure and Escape
Having examined the sea as a source of exploration, defence and trade, David Dimbleby explores how it emerged as a source of pleasure, Punch and Judy and sand sculpture.
Starting at Gorleston-on-Sea, David explores the creation of a seaside holiday culture that remains uniquely British to this day.
Sailing down the Suffolk and Essex coasts and into the Thames, David also shows how the sea became an irresistible subject for our most celebrated artists and architects, before finally docking in the very heart of British maritime power - Greenwich.
WED 02:00 World's Busiest Railway 2015 (b0684q75)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
WED 03:00 Timeshift (b068fvln)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THURSDAY 06 FEBRUARY 2020
THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m000f1j8)
Series 1
06/02/2020
Katty Kay in Washington and Christian Fraser in London report on the events that are shaping the world.
THU 19:30 The Pennine Way (b05qt6vr)
Episode 2
Explorer Paul Rose's journey along the Pennine Way takes him to the Yorkshire Dales. In 1965, the Pennine Way was launched in the Dales village of Malham. Paul returns to hear from those who remember the opening ceremony. He also dons his climbing gear to have a crack at the limestone cliff face of Malham Cove, gets a front row seat at a sheep mart in Wensleydale and enjoys a well-earned pint in Britain's highest pub.
THU 20:00 Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema (m0002pfq)
Oscar Winners: A Secrets of Cinema Special
As the red carpet season reaches its climax, Mark turns his keen eye and sharp wit on past winners of the most prestigious awards of all. What gave them the edge over their rivals? Mark shows that, despite their apparent differences, Oscar-winning films have more in common than you might think. Certain kinds of film recur, such as war, social justice and the all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza. But, as Mark explains, it’s not just about your choice of subject; it's how you treat it that counts. In a special show that ranges from the earliest awards winners to the most recent victors, Mark reveals the films that laid down the template for cinematic glory, celebrates the classics that have endured and savours some of the movies’ most acclaimed performances.
THU 21:00 Life Cinematic (m000f1jb)
Series 1
Edgar Wright
British director Edgar Wright talks to Robbie Collin about the films that have influenced his life and career. His choices range from modern classics such as An American Werewolf in London, Carrie and Bullitt to contemporary films, including Mad Max: Fury Road. There's also a musical classic from the 1930s, Dames.
Edgar also provides an insight into the making of his most recent movie, Baby Driver, and reflects on his early introduction to cinema as well as the important role that music plays in his films.
THU 22:00 This Life (b0078082)
Series 1
Father Figure
O'Donnell could prove to be Milly's knight in shining armour, but will she risk her relationship with Egg for a romantic fantasy?
Meanwhile, Anna decides that an older man is just what she needs, and Miles deals with a flasher who claims to be a nudist.
THU 22:40 This Life (b007808h)
Series 1
Let's Get It On
Tensions mount as jealousy, lust, shame and over-age clubbing combine to test the five flatmates.
Milly is feeling let down and confused, Egg is sure that he has been two-timed, Anna has to decide between youth and experience, and Warren discovers that alcohol doesn't help one's powers of persuasion.
THU 23:20 Wonders of the Universe (b00zv39p)
Falling
In the third episode, Professor Brian Cox takes on the story of the force that sculpts the entire universe - gravity.
Gravity seems so familiar, and yet it is one of the strangest and most surprising forces in the universe. Starting with a zero-gravity flight, Brian experiences the feeling of total weightlessness, and considers how much of an effect gravity has had on the world around us.
But gravity also acts over much greater distances. It is the great orchestrator of the cosmos. It dictates our orbit around the sun, our relationship with the other planets in our solar system, and even the way in which our solar system orbits our galaxy.
Yet the paradox of gravity is that it is actually a relatively weak force. Brian takes a face distorting trip in a centrifuge to explain how it is that gravity achieves its great power, before looking at the role it plays in one of the most extraordinary phenomena in the universe - a neutron star. Although it is just a few kilometres across, it is so dense that its gravity is 100,000 million times as strong as on Earth.
Over the centuries our quest to understand gravity has allowed us to understand some of the true wonders of the universe, and Brian reveals that it is scientists' continuing search for answers that inspires his own sense of wonder.
THU 00:20 How We Built Britain (b007nnmy)
The Heart of England: Living It Up
David Dimbleby journeys through Britain, and through 1,000 years of our history, to discover the buildings that have made us who we are.
Dimbleby explores the great country houses of the reign of Elizabeth I. He reveals the exquisite forest of chimneys on the roof of Burghley House, decodes the riddle of the mysterious Triangular Lodge, explores priest holes, knot gardens, a hunting lodge and Shakespeare's schoolroom, ending his journey in a rare Puritan chapel.
THU 01:20 Awesome Beauty: The Art of Industrial Britain (b093q7gp)
Lachlan Goudie explores Britain's spectacular industrial landscapes and the artists and artworks inspired by them in a passionate and thought-provoking journey that challenges our national stereotypes. Travelling the length and breadth of the UK, and visiting an impressive range of industrial sites, from shipyards to quarries, mines to abandoned wind tunnels, steelworks to space age laboratories, Goudie builds a surprising and compelling alternative picture of Britain.
Featuring revelatory industrial art by the likes of JMW Turner, Graham Sutherland and photographer Maurice Broomfield, the film reveals the awesome beauty, drama and significance of our industrial heritage and proves there is so much more to these isles than the picture postcard cliche of a 'green and pleasant land'.
THU 02:20 Secret Knowledge (b01r3n6p)
The Art of the Vikings
Through interpretations of some of the archaeological treasures of the Swedish National Museum, now on display in Edinburgh, Dr Janina Ramirez of Oxford University explores the fascinating wealth of Viking culture and its long-lasting influence on the British Isles.
THU 02:50 Life Cinematic (m000f1jb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
FRIDAY 07 FEBRUARY 2020
FRI 19:00 World News Today (m000f1ls)
The news programme for audiences who want more depth to their daily coverage. With a focus on Europe, Middle East and Africa.
FRI 19:30 Top of the Pops (m000f1lv)
Gary Davies and Anthea Turner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 2 March 1989 and featuring Living in a Box, Sam Brown, Jason Donovan, Tyree ft Kool Rock Steady, Depeche Mode, Deacon Blue, Donna Summer, Wasp, Gloria Estefan, Texas, Simple Minds and Poison.
FRI 20:00 Doris Day - Virgin Territory (b0074rwd)
Doris Day has often been dismissed as an actress and overlooked as a singer, despite career highs such as Calamity Jane and Pillow Talk. Covering her early years as a band singer, and her troubled private life, this documentary re-evaluates one of the screen's most enduring legends.
FRI 21:00 Top of the Pops (m000f1lx)
Nicky Campbell and Lenny Henry present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 9 March 1989 and featuring The Reynolds Girls, Dusty Springfield, Womack & Womack, Deacon Blue, Paula Abdul, Bananarama and Lananeeneenoonoo, Donna Summer, Jason Donovan and Wasp.
FRI 21:30 There's Only One Madonna (b00748kl)
Documentary charting Britain's relationship with Madonna, examining the influence Madonna has had on British music and fashion, and how she provoked a debate over sexual and gender politics - inspiring a generation of women, whilst remaining a huge gay icon. The film follows a group of fans on their journey to Barcelona for the first night of Madonna's Drowned World Tour and finds out what Madonna means to them. Contributors include backing singer Donna DeLory, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Rosanna Arquette, Mel C, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, Hear'Say and Janet Street-Porter.
FRI 22:25 Madonna Rebel Heart Tour (b0952xgk)
Shot around the world and featuring a collection of live and behind-the-scenes footage, Madonna Rebel Heart Tour is packed with visual theatrics, stunning costumes and intricate choreography, featuring new hits and beloved classic songs spanning all decades of Madonna's illustrious career, including Living for Love, Bitch I'm Madonna, Material Girl, Holiday and an acoustic version of Like a Prayer.
FRI 00:25 Classic Albums (b07ycbrb)
The Wailers: Catch a Fire
This edition looks at the making of the 1973 Wailers album, Catch a Fire, the album that brought international recognition to Bob Marley.
Already big names in their native Jamaica, it took until this release for Marley and Co to finally go global. It features interviews with key musicians and engineers who helped make the album, as well as record label boss Chris Blackwell, who talks about how the band had song-writing and performing skills in abundance but needed to be put through the equivalent of a "rock blender" to make them palatable to a wider audience. Through first-hand accounts, this programme tells how they did just that.
The programme takes a track-by-track look at the making of the record. In London, the producer Chris Blackwell and original engineer Tony Platt lead viewers through the original multi-tracks of Slave Driver, Concrete Jungle, Stir it Up, Rock It Baby and others. Rabbit Brundrick (keyboards) and Wayne Perkins (electric guitar) tell how they were brought back in to add the rock and roll parts to the songs. It is illustrated with archive footage from the Wailers in concert, early interviews with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, plus television performances and rare home movies - all of which provide a unique insight into the process behind the recording of this landmark album.
FRI 01:25 Reginald D Hunter's Songs of the South (p02j959j)
Mississippi and Louisiana
In the final part of his road trip, Reginald D Hunter follows in the footsteps of Huckleberry Finn with a trip down the Mississippi from Memphis to New Orleans through the Delta to learn about the birth of blues and how it manifests itself today.
In Louisiana, Reg takes a detour to a bayou to learn about Creole culture and zydeco before winding up in New Orleans to meet the city's musical triumvirate of Dr John, Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas.
Also featuring Stax musicians Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd.
FRI 02:25 Bros: After the Screaming Stops (m0001qyv)
A film charting Matt and Luke Goss's reunion 28 years on from when they were one of the biggest bands in the world. The Goss twins have hardly spoken and not played together since their split. With an incredibly fractured relationship and only three weeks to go until sell-out gigs at the O2 London, will they be able to put their history aside and come together as brothers to play the show of their lives?