SATURDAY 08 FEBRUARY 2020

SAT 19:00 Rick Stein's Long Weekends (b0795rt5)
Reykjavik

Rick Stein embarks on a series of culinary long weekends in search of food excellence and brilliant recipes to cook at home, heading to markets, restaurants, wineries, cafes and bars.

Rick enjoys a winter break in Reykjavik in search of the perfect cod and samples succulent fjord-reared roast lamb.


SAT 20:00 Natural World (b03cwxnl)
2013-2014

Meerkats: Secrets of an Animal Superstar

Meerkat pups Squirt and Weeny belong to one of the most famous animal families on the planet, animals that are now stars of screens both big and small. These furry celebrities are also part of the longest-running animal behaviour study ever, now in its 20th anniversary year.

David Attenborough tells the full story of the study - from its pioneering days when it was a challenge to even get close to a meerkat, to the very latest revelations about these animals and their complex lives. For Squirt and Weeny, the study means very little, as they are facing up to the challenge of a drought and one of the toughest years in their family's history.


SAT 21:00 Inspector Montalbano (m0005wqw)
A Diary from '43

As Vigata celebrates St George’s Day, an elderly man, born locally, returns to Sicily after having lived in America for many years. On the same day a diary dating from WWII is discovered hidden in an old bunker. Inspector Montalbano is entrusted with the dark secrets revealed in the diary and starts to research the time around which it was written. But during his investigation, a 90-year-old businessman is found murdered in his own home. Montalbano starts to think that the events cannot possibly be unrelated.

In Italian with English subtitles.


SAT 22:55 Clive James (m000f8wt)
Postcard from Rome

Rome was once the focal point for the world's jet set. Now Clive James travels to the eternal city in search of the dolce vita and to acquire some Roman sophistication.

During his stay, he meets a socialite prince, Mussolini's son and learns a lesson from a sexologist.


SAT 23:40 The Other Side of Hope (m000f8ww)
Khaled arrives in Helsinki, Finland, from Syria, having lost his home and his family. He applies for asylum and begins trying to find his sister, who he believes is still alive.

On the other side of town, travelling salesman Waldemar Wikstrom packs up his things and sets out to fulfil his dream of owning a restaurant.

Khaled and Waldemar's paths soon cross.


SAT 01:15 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.


SAT 01:45 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.


SAT 02:20 Score: Cinema's Greatest Soundtracks (m0002pf6)
What makes a film score unforgettable? Featuring Hans Zimmer, James Cameron, Danny Elfman, John Williams, Quincy Jones and Trent Reznor, amongst many others, Score: Cinema’s Greatest Soundtracks brings Hollywood's elite composers together for a privileged look inside the challenges and creative secrecy of the world's most international music genre, the film score.



SUNDAY 09 FEBRUARY 2020

SUN 19:00 Railways: The Making of a Nation (b07x4f7s)
The New Commuters

Historian Liz McIvor explores how Britain's expanding rail network was the spark to a social revolution, starting in the 1800s and continuing through to modern times. A fast system of transportation shaped so many areas of our industrial nation - from what we eat to where we live, work and play. The railways generated economic activity but they also changed the nature of business itself. They even changed attitudes to time and how we set our clocks! Our railways may have reflected deep class divisions, but they also brought people together as never before, and helped forge a new sense of national identity.

This episode looks at the railways enabled us to live further and further from the places where we worked. Before the age of steam you would need a horse to travel long distances on land. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries our railways encouraged the development of suburbia inhabited by a new type of resident and worker - the commuter. In some cases, new places emerged on the map simply because of the railways - places like Surbiton. Liz visits London and the south east of England, our nation's largest commuter zone. The Victorian rail network was never part of a single grand plan, but emerged and evolved, line by line, over decades. For today's commuters, work is still going on to create a system that serves their needs!


SUN 19:30 Iolo's Snowdonia (b09qtryj)
Series 1

Episode 2

It's summer and peak season on the summit of Snowdon. It's time for Iolo to get away from the crowds to look for peaceful, stunning scenery and spectacular wildlife. In secret hidden sites, he finds buzzards nesting, beautiful dragonflies and night-flying moths being hunted by migrant nightjars from Africa. There's a colony of rare silver-studded blue butterflies who were once living by the sea but today have been isolated inland as the coastline has changed. Iolo also climbs Cadair Idris, the highest peak in the southern part of the park, and explores extraordinary sand dunes full of colourful orchids along Snowdonia's 30 miles of stunning coast. But summer isn't complete for Iolo without a day on the moors watching the most threatened bird of prey in Britain - the hen harrier.


SUN 20:00 Attenborough: 60 Years in the Wild (p00zsqsz)
Life on Camera

Sir David Attenborough gives his unique perspective on over half a century of innovation in wildlife film-making - developments that have brought ever more breathtaking and intimate images of wildlife to our television screens, changing our view of life on the planet forever.

He revisits key places and events in his filming career, reminisces with his old photos and reflects on memorable wildlife footage - including him catching a komodo dragon and swimming with dolphins.

Returning to his old haunts in Borneo, he recalls the challenges of filming in a bat cave and shows how with modern technology we can now see in the dark.


SUN 21:00 Art on the BBC (m000f1jy)
Series 1

The Many Faces of Picasso

Picasso is known as the godfather of modern art. In this programme, art historian David Dibosa explores six decades of BBC archive to discover how television has influenced our understanding of him.

David reveals how film-makers have portrayed two different Picassos - the child genius who drew like a master and the adult who rejected his conventional talent in a quest to reflect the world, in ways that shattered all the rules.

He also finds that film-makers have long been fascinated by Picasso’s private life. A notorious womaniser, Picasso used his lovers as muses and left behind a trail of broken relationships.


SUN 22:00 Picasso's Last Stand (b09xptbr)
Picasso's Last Stand reveals the untold story of the last decade of the great artist's life, through the testimony of family and close friends - many of them the people he allowed into his private world in the 1960s. As his health declined in these final years, Picasso faced damaging criticism of his work and intimate revelations about his bohemian lifestyle for the first time. And yet, in the midst of disaster, he rediscovered his revolutionary spirit with a creative surge that produced some of his most sexually frank and comic work. Exhibitions of the new style horrified and disappointed contemporaries. But now his biographer Sir John Richardson and granddaughter Diana Widmaier Picasso argue that this last enormous effort produced some of his greatest and most profound art: the stunning counter-attack of a protean genius coming to terms with old age.


SUN 23:00 It’s True, It’s True, It's True: Artemisia on Trial (m000f8wq)
A gripping dramatisation of the 1612 trial of Agostino Tassi for the rape of the young painter Artemisia Gentileschi. Based on surviving court transcripts, Breach Theatre’s award-winning show blends history, myth and contemporary commentary to ask: how much has really changed in the last four centuries?

The story centres on an unwelcome visit from Tassi to Artemisia’s home while her father is away. What happens next is disputed. In court, the accused man’s strategies - questioning the victim’s morality, rubbishing the evidence and nobbling the witnesses - mirror the smokescreen tactics of sexual abusers today.

Filled with rage, shot through with satire and including re-enactments of Gentileschi’s celebrated biblical paintings, this critically acclaimed play shines a spotlight on a remarkable woman who went on to become one of the most successful painters of her generation.


SUN 00:15 Jane Austen: Behind Closed Doors (b08sqxk1)
Lucy Worsley explores the different houses in which Jane Austen lived and stayed, to discover just how much they shaped Jane's life and novels.

On a journey that takes her across England, Lucy visits properties that still exist, from grand stately homes to seaside holiday apartments, and brings to life those that have disappeared. The result is a revealing insight into one of the world's best-loved authors.


SUN 01:15 Raiders of the Lost Past with Janina Ramirez (m0008567)
Series 1

The Sutton Hoo Hoard

Janina Ramirez explores the surprise discovery in a Suffolk garden of the Sutton Hoo Hoard – an incredible Anglo-Saxon ship-burial dating from the early 7th century AD and the final resting place of a supremely wealthy warrior-king.

The ship’s ruined burial chamber was packed with treasures: Byzantine silverware, sumptuous gold jewellery, a lavish feasting set and, most famously, an ornate iron helmet.

Now known as Britain’s Tutankhamun, the hoard transformed our understanding of the Dark Ages, revealing that 7th-century Britain was not the primitive place we had imagined, but a world of exquisite craftsmanship, extensive international connections, great halls, glittering treasures and formidable warriors.

The find captured the imagination of a nation on the brink of war, not just as incredible treasure, but as a symbol of pride and identity, and a representation of the Anglo-Saxon culture Britain was about to fight for.

Yet, as Janina discovers, the story of the hoard's survival and discovery is something of a miracle.


SUN 02:15 Art on the BBC (m000f1jy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



MONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020

MON 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m000f8x4)
Series 1

10/02/2020

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


MON 19:30 Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage (b00cl6nw)
Montenegro and Albania

On the next step of his sea voyage from Venice to Istanbul, Francesco da Mosto is sailing into the Bay of Kotor where Venetian sailors knew they were leaving safe waters for the dangers of pirates and the ships of rival powers.

So perhaps it's wise for Francesco and the crew to stop off at the magical little church of Santuario della madonna della scarpello, perched on a few rocks in the open sea. Here Venetian sailors prayed for a safe voyage or, if they were lucky, where they offered thanks to God for a safe return.

Many Venetian ships came to grief here - if not through attack then they fell victim to the elements. Off the coast of Montenegro, Francesco dives to a shipwreck deep on the ocean bed.

Next is Ulcinj - a pirate fortress town - where captives taken by pirates were held before being sold into slavery. Even today it has an air of menace. Francesco sees the original cells where Venetians unlucky enough to fall into the hands of the pirates were imprisoned.

The next stop is Durres on the coast of Albania - poor and facing an uncertain future after the all-too-recent rule of Communist dictator, Enver Hoxha. The capital city of Tirana is still the stuff of spies and Cold War intrigue but the colourful city mayor is pinning his hopes on a dramatic makeover of the city.


MON 20:00 A Very British Romance with Lucy Worsley (b06jp0zq)
Episode 3

Lucy Worsley concludes her series with the most dramatic transformation of romance yet. Out of the carnage of World War One came a racier species of romantic love. It could be found in the novel The Sheik, the Fifty Shades of Grey of its time, while in real life Marie Stopes urged husbands and wives to explore their sexual desire.

New entertainments like dining out for two allowed couples to get to know one another without a chaperone, while going to the cinema provided a dark environment where hands could roam free. But as the hedonistic era of World War Two encouraged these more permissive attitudes, divorce rates soared. Romance, though, would prevail, with a fightback led by the queen of romance herself, Barbara Cartland.


MON 21:00 The 80s with Dominic Sandbrook (b07p0f9y)
Under Pressure

The second episode sees mid-1980s Britain wrestling with two contradictory impulses - the rise of a strong nationalist sentiment and the emergence of an increasingly globalised world.

By the middle of the decade, Britain felt like an embattled nation, facing threats from enemies within as well as out - a nation struggling to establish an identity on the global stage, and also trying to re-establish what it means to be British. This was the period that forever marked the 80s as a decade of conflict and division. But not all those conflicts were obvious. Some were fought with bullets, others with money, some were fought in our homes, others in our heads.

This episode examines everything from the invasion of the Falkland Islands to the invasion of the home computer and the moral panic surrounding 'video nasties', from the Americanisation of our popular culture to the picket line skirmishes playing out nightly on our televisions, and from the spectre of Aids and the threat of the IRA to immigration and identity politics.


MON 22:00 Storyville (m000f8x8)
Advocate: A Lawyer without Borders

Jewish lawyer Lea Tsemel is a controversial figure in Israel. For the last 50 years, she has fearlessly defended Palestinians prosecuted in Israeli courts for resisting the occupation both violently and non-violently. Taking on tough cases, including charges of terrorism, the odds are stacked sharply against her. To many Israelis, Lea defends the indefensible, but for Palestinians she is more than a lawyer, she is an advocate.

This documentary follows Tsemel’s caseload, including the high-profile trial of 13-year-old Ahmed - her youngest client to date - charged with the attempted murder of two Israelis for his involvement in a stabbing attack. Ahmed, whose 15-year-old cousin led the attack but was killed by police on the scene, now depends on Lea to prove he had no intent to kill, in order to save him from a lengthy sentence in an adult prison.

The film also gets deep under the skin of Lea herself, tracing her landmark cases and revealing how her political activism as a rebellious student came to shape her career as a defender of human rights. The film explores the political significance of her work and the personal price one pays for taking on the role of devil’s advocate.


MON 23:35 Art of Germany (b00wgpnc)
Dream and Machine

Andrew Graham-Dixon continues his exploration of German art by looking at the tumultuous 19th century and early 20th century, and how artists were at the forefront of Germany's drive to become a single nation.

Andrew travels to the north and the coastal town of Greifswald, the birthplace of Caspar David Friedrich, the most influential of the German romantics, to discover how the Baltic coast impacted on his mysterious paintings of the German landscape. He also visits Berlin and explores the art of the powerful Prussian state, which would spearhead the unification of Germany in 1871.

The episode ends with the outbreak of World War I and the attempts of artists Franz Marc and Otto Dix to rationalise the catastrophic experiences of the world's first technological war, a war driven by the innovations of Prussia.


MON 00:35 Treasures of the Indus (b06bblwb)
Of Gods and Men

In a journey across the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Sona Datta traces the development of the Hindu religion from its origins as an amalgamation of local faith traditions to its dominant position today. She uncovers this fascinating tale by looking at the buildings in which the faith evolved, moving from the caves and rock temples on the shores of the Bay of Bengal at Mahabalipurem, through the monolithic stone temple at Tanjavur to the vast complex of ornately carved towers, tanks and courtyards at Madurai, where every evening the god Shiva processes around the precincts to visit the bedchamber of his partner Parvati.


MON 01:35 Sylvia Plath – Inside the Bell Jar (b0bg2jgc)
Bringing to life that ‘queer sultry summer’ of 1953, Sylvia Plath: Inside The Bell Jar is the first film to unravel the story behind her seminal novel.
The book captures the struggles of an ambitious young woman’s attempts to deal with the constraints of 1950’s America; the bright lights of New York dim, turn to depression and attempted suicide The film weaves the autobiographic narrative of the book with the testimony of her friends, and daughter Frieda Hughes: some speaking for the first time.


MON 02:35 A Very British Romance with Lucy Worsley (b06jp0zq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



TUESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2020

TUE 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m000f8wz)
Series 1

11/02/2020

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


TUE 19:30 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04dzrtr)
Andreas Vesalius

In 1537, the 23-year-old Andreas Vesalius became the most famous anatomist in Europe. He went on to produce the first complete account of the human body and how to dissect it, his drawings setting the gold standard for anatomical art for centuries to come and earning him the title of 'the founder of modern anatomy'. Adam Rutherford tells his story.


TUE 20:00 London: A Tale of Two Cities with Dan Cruickshank (p00r36lv)
Dan Cruickshank follows in the footsteps of John Stow and John Strype, two of London's greatest chroniclers, to explore one of the most dramatic centuries in the history of London.

The 17th century saw London plunged into a series of devastating disasters. The Civil War, a murderous plague and the destruction that was the great fire should have seen the small medieval city all but destroyed. Yet somehow, London not only survived but emerged as one of the wealthiest and most influential cities in Europe.

Using two remarkable surveys written at either end of this momentous century, Dan discovers how a unique combination of innovation, ambition and sheer spirit of enterprise saw Londoners thrive. His journey reveals the twists and turns of a century that laid the foundations of one of the most important cities on the planet.


TUE 21:00 The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China (b080396k)
From the depths of the greatest tomb on earth comes an epic new story that could rewrite history, revealing for the first time the true origin of one of the world's most powerful nations: China.

In this landmark film, historian Dan Snow, physical anthropologist Professor Alice Roberts and scientist and explorer Dr Albert Lin investigate a series of earth-shattering discoveries at the mighty tomb guarded by the Terracotta Warriors, a site two hundred times bigger than Egypt's Valley of the Kings and the final resting place of China's first emperor.

Mobilising the latest technology, delving into some of the oldest texts, enlisting world experts and employing forensic science, together the three reveal an explosive secret from the foundations of the Chinese empire.


TUE 22:00 Contagion: The BBC Four Pandemic (p059y0p1)
The government rates the global outbreak of a deadly flu virus as a major threat to the UK. It could happen at any time. To predict the impact of the next pandemic more accurately than ever before, new data is needed - and lots of it. Dr Hannah Fry is on the case.

She sets out to recruit the nation to download the BBC Pandemic app in a ground-breaking experiment to help plan for when the next deadly virus comes to the UK. How quickly will it spread? How many could it kill? What can we do about it? The BBC Four Pandemic experiment will find out.

Hannah masterminds the experiment and adopts the role of Patient Zero by walking the streets of Haslemere in Surrey to launch the outbreak. Meanwhile, emergency physician Dr Javid Abdelmoneim finds out why flu is still such a danger to society a century after Spanish flu killed up to 100 million people worldwide. He meets researchers trying to discover what makes some people more contagious than others and visits a factory that will produce vaccine when the next pandemic flu virus emerges.

Armed with the information he gathers and the results of the BBC Four Pandemic experiment, Hannah and Javid make a shocking revelation.


TUE 23:15 Reporting History: Mandela and a New South Africa (m00052bl)
On the 25th anniversary of Mandela's election, BBC Correspondent Fergal Keane goes back to examine his reports, and considers why history did not turn out the way he expected.

At the heart of the film is an interview in which Fergal explores his decades of reporting in South Africa, from the fear being caught up in violent protests to the joy of reporting for BBC Newsbeat as Mandela was sworn in. He also meets historians and other experts as he considers how Mandela’s legacy has played out.


TUE 00:15 Sold! Inside the World's Biggest Auction House (b083s5t6)
Episode 1

The programme goes behind the scenes in London, Dubai, New York and Hong Kong, as staff, experts, advisers and buyers set art trends, prices and records.

However, in 2016, the auction house's 250th anniversary year, there are fears that a downturn in the global economy could have a negative impact on the multibillion-pound industry.


TUE 01:15 Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing (b06ynswh)
Series 2

Dress Wars

Big Fat Gypsy Wedding dressmaker Thelma Madine takes on the world of the feis with a unique range of Irish dance dresses.


TUE 01:45 Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing (b06zdqwd)
Series 2

Tradition with a Twist

After stepping out in style on Britain's Got Talent in 2014, the Innova dance troupe are brought down to earth, and back to the beautiful coastline beaches of Portstewart.


TUE 02:15 London: A Tale of Two Cities with Dan Cruickshank (p00r36lv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2020

WED 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m000f8xf)
Series 1

12/02/2020

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


WED 19:30 The Beauty of Anatomy (b04fmg8g)
Rembrandt and Ruysch

In the 17th century in Holland, anatomy became the cutting edge of medical science, inspiring the great artists of the age like Rembrandt to produce the most beautiful anatomical paintings yet created.

Adam Rutherford travels to the Hague and Amsterdam to find out what it was that drew Rembrandt to anatomy and why dissecting bodies was thought a suitable subject for high art.


WED 20:00 World's Busiest Railway 2015 (b0684sgm)
Episode 3

Dan Snow, Anita Rani, Robert Llewellyn and John Sergeant go behind the scenes to reveal the hidden areas of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station unseen by commuters.

Robert visits a city-sized repair facility where, every 18 months, train carriages are given their version of an MOT. He tries his hand at repairing seats and discovers that carriages are still painted by hand.

Our cameras are on board with one of the train drivers - known as motormen - and are given privileged access to the lounge where they gather before going on duty.

Anita heads onto the roads of Mumbai to see if commuting by road is any easier than by rail. But with an average speed of just 9 kmph, she discovers that progress is slow and hazardous by car.

We're in the station control room when a train with a suspected fire on board threatens to bring evening rush hour to a halt, and we reveal the secret station workers who only come out at night.

John Sergeant visits two rural stations that still operate historical systems for train control and discovers how a silver ball can keep passengers safe.


WED 21:00 A Very British History (m000f3xf)
Series 2

Birmingham Irish I Am

Musician Angela Moran, whose grandparents were amongst thousands of Irish to move to Britain’s second city in the 1950s, tells the story of the Birmingham Irish through the memories of local people and rare archive footage.

She hears about life during the 50s and 60s, and also looks at the impact the 1974 terrorist pub bombings had on the city – an act of unimaginable horror in which 21 people were killed and 220 injured. There were consequences for the local Irish community too. The annual St Patrick’s Day Parade was cancelled and people hid their identity.

Angela also shares her own experiences of growing up in the 90s when being Irish was fashionable and something to be celebrated.


WED 22:00 Ireland's Treasures Uncovered (b070w5kh)
The story of the iconic Irish artefacts that have helped to shape and create modern Ireland, both north and south.

The programme reveals the surprising tales behind treasures such as the Tara Brooch, the Broighter Hoard, the Waterford Charter Roll and others, revealing new stories behind the artefacts that we thought we knew. It also reveals the most recent astounding finds that are adding to the list of Ireland's Treasures.

Using key access to Ireland's two largest museums, in Belfast and Dublin, the programme brings together archaeologists and curators who have spent their lives working to understand the true context for these emblematic treasures.


WED 23:00 Art, Passion & Power: The Story of the Royal Collection (b09q02kn)
Series 1

Palaces and Pleasuredomes

Andrew Graham-Dixon continues his exploration of the Royal Collection, the vast collection of art and decorative objects owned by the Queen. In the third episode he has reached the age of the Romantics - the flamboyant George IV who created so much of the visual look of the modern monarchy, and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, for whom collecting was an integral part of their happy marriage.

As Prince of Wales, George was a famously loose cannon - a spendaholic prince whose debts ballooned in tandem with the royal waistline. But as a collector, Andrew argues, George was one of the great artistic figures of the Romantic age. His tastes were very much formed by the fallout from the French Revolution; as the great French aristocratic collections were broken up, an exodus of great art flooded into London's auction rooms - and George was there to buy them. He assembled a world-class collection of Dutch and Flemish masters, including key works by Rembrandt, Cuyp and de Hooch, as well as some of the greatest examples of French furniture ever produced, which Andrew sees in the state rooms of Buckingham Palace.

George IV was a natural showman and Andrew argues that his visit to Edinburgh in 1822 helped pioneer the modern monarchy's use of spectacle. But, like Henry VIII and Charles before him, George had the sense to partner up with an artist of genius - Sir Thomas Lawrence. The result of their collaboration is seen in a series of stirring battlefield portraits that line Windsor Castle's Waterloo Chamber.

Queen Victoria is often depicted as the uptight opposite of her louche uncle, but Andrew argues that, for her, art was just as important. This was a passion that she could share with her beloved husband, Prince Albert, who believed that learning how to make art was the best way to understand it.

Andrew visits Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, still filled with their art possessions, including marble facsimiles of the arms and legs of her infant children, commissioned by Victoria herself.

Andrew argues that Albert was a natural curator; he instilled a love for collecting in his children and compiled an early 'database' of the complete works of Raphael which he kept in his new 'print room' in Windsor Castle as a tool for art historians. But it is on the streets of South Kensington ('Albertopolis') that Andrew discovers Albert's real legacy - the museums and educational institutions here are a testimony to his vision for the area, purchased with the help of profits from the Great Exhibition.


WED 00:00 Sold! Inside the World's Biggest Auction House (b084kqsg)
Episode 2

In part two of the series following a year in the life of the world's largest auction house Christie's, global president Jussi Pilkannien and his team chart the highs and lows of auctions in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. It is a story full of drama as we find out if Brexit spooked the art market and if Christie's' big push into Asia is paying off.

With rare access to some of the richest collectors in the world, we find out how and why they buy at Christie's and where they put some of the world's most expensive artworks. We meet the auction experts who find treasure in unexpected places - an umbrella stand that turns out to be worth millions and an exceptional Rubens which has not been seen in public for 150 years. But in a year of turmoil, will such works sell well? What are Christie's doing to make sure the 250th anniversary sale, on which they have staked their reputation, is a success? And what is happening in China that makes Jussi so convinced that it is the future?


WED 01:00 Victorian Sensations (m00059cx)
Series 1

Electric Dreams

Victorian Sensations transports us to the last years of Queen Victoria’s reign to explore a moment of thrilling discovery and change that continues to resonate today.

In the first of three films focusing on the technology, art and culture of the 1890s, mathematician Dr Hannah Fry explores how the latest innovations, including x-rays, safety bicycles and proto-aeroplanes, transformed society and promised a cleaner, brighter and more egalitarian future.

Whereas Victorian progress in the 19th century had been powered by steam and gas, the end of the 1800s marked the beginning of a new 'Electric Age'. Hannah discovers how electrical energy dominated the zeitgeist, with medical quacks marketing battery-powered miracle cures, and America’s new electric chair inspiring stage magicians to electrify their illusions. The future had arrived, courtesy of underground trains and trams (as well as electric cars), and in the 1890s the first houses built specifically with electricity in mind were constructed.

Like our own time, there was concern about where this technology would lead and who was in control. HG Wells warned of bio-terrorism, while the skies were increasingly seen as a future battleground, fuelling the race to develop powered flight.

Hannah outlines the excitement around the coming Electric Age. Electricity was a signifier of modernity, and Hannah discovers how electric light not only redefined the way we saw ourselves but changed what we expected from our homes. The new enthusiasm for all things electric was also something exploited by canny entrepreneurs. In the 1890s, many believed that electricity was life itself and that nervous energy could be recharged like a battery.

In 1896, out of nowhere, the x-ray arrived in Britain. Hannah delves into the story of what Victorians considered to be a superhuman power. This cutting-edge technology was a smash hit with the public, who found the ghoulish ability to peer under flesh endlessly entertaining. In the medical profession, x-rays caused a revolution and, as well as changing our views of our bodies, the x-ray revealed new fears in society about personal privacy and control over technology - concerns that sound very familiar today.

Electricity ruled the imagination, but it was a simple mechanical device that brought the greatest challenge to the social order: the safety bicycle. It offered freedom on a scale unimagined before and, for women of the time in particular, a new independence, changes to their clothes to make cycling easier and the opportunity for a chance encounter with a member of the opposite sex. But there was also a darker side, with fears of how technology might be turned against us becoming a constant element in contemporary 1890s fiction.

One technological landmark that the Victorians knew was coming, and that they (rightly) anticipated would one day unleash fire and bombs on British cities, was the flying machine. A thing of fantasy yet also, due to the ingenuity of the age’s engineers, something that might become a reality at any moment. Leading the way for British hopes of achieving powered flight was Percy Pilcher. Hannah looks at how, after several successful flights, Pilcher designed a triplane with an engine he intended to fly, when disaster struck.


WED 02:00 Pedalling Dreams: The Raleigh Story (b08j8mvl)
For the last 150 years, Britain has been a nation of bike lovers. And for much of that time, one make has been associated with quality, innovation and Britishness - Raleigh bikes.

Born in the back streets of Nottingham in 1888, Raleigh grew to become the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world. For over a century, the company was known for its simple and practical bikes, built to last a lifetime. For generations, its designs were thought second to none, enjoyed by adults and children alike.

Now, with wonderful personal testimony and rare and previously unseen archive film, this documentary tells the extraordinary tale of the ups and downs of Raleigh bikes - a beautifully illustrated story full of remarkable characters, epic adventures and memorable bikes.

Meet the people who rode and raced them, the workers who built them and the dealers who sold them. Find out how cycling saved the life of Raleigh's founder, discover the technological advances behind the company's success and join Raleigh bike riders who recall epic adventures far and wide.

Along the way, the programme takes viewers on a journey back to cycling's golden age - rediscover the thrill of learning to ride your first bike and find out what went on inside the Raleigh factory, where the company's craftsmen produced some of Britain's most iconic bikes.

Finally, the documentary reveals what went wrong at Raleigh - the battles it had with its rivals, the controversy behind the design of the Chopper and the effect the closure of its factories had on its loyal workers. This is the extraordinary untold story of the rise and fall of Raleigh bikes.


WED 03:00 World's Busiest Railway 2015 (b0684sgm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



THURSDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2020

THU 19:00 Beyond 100 Days (m000f8xh)
Series 1

13/02/2020

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


THU 19:30 The Pennine Way (b05rcysn)
Episode 3

Explorer Paul Rose heads for the North Pennines in the latest stage of his journey along the Pennine Way. He goes white-water rafting down the River Tees and takes in one of Britain's best views at High Cup Nick. Paul also hears about a weather phenomenon unique to the Pennine Way and spends a night at a remote mountain refuge close to the highest point of the Pennine Way.


THU 20:00 Walt Disney (b08605f7)
Episode 1

Documentary about the life and legacy of Walt Disney, featuring archival footage only recently released from the Disney vaults, alongside scenes from some of his greatest films and the sketches from which they were created.

Those who helped turn his dreams into reality - his friends, family, animators and designers - reveal the real man behind the legend. They disclose the previously unknown processes, single-mindedness and sometimes sheer unpleasantness and discrimination that lay behind his seemingly effortless masterpieces.

Through bankruptcy, strikes, great risk and more, Disney's refusal to accept failure and his determined pursuit of his creative vision produced cartoons and movies that would define an entire industry. Both an inspiring story and a cautionary tale about the price of ambition, this film offers an unprecedented look at the man who created a world and built an empire.

Part one explores Disney's early days, when he created Mickey Mouse, through to the triumph of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated film.


THU 21:00 Life Cinematic (m000f8xk)
Series 1

Sam Taylor-Johnson

British director Sam Taylor-Johnson reveals the films that have influenced her life and career. Her choices range from classics such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to modern blockbusters, including The Talented Mr Ripley, Brokeback Mountain and Claire Denis’s French masterpiece, Beau Travail.

Sam also offers insights into the making of her most recent movie, A Million Little Pieces, and reflects on her early introduction to cinema, as well as her experience of moving to Hollywood to live and work.


THU 22:00 Inside Cinema (m000f8xm)
Series 1

Meet the Family

Meet the Family, voiced by Kathy Burke (Nil by Mouth, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), puts cinematic families on the analyst's couch for a deep dive into what makes some of the most dysfunctional dynasties in cinema tick.

How do film-makers go about dramatising the one thing we all have in life - family? Maybe it's about drawing directly from your own life, like Christina Crawford's account of being raised by a nightmare mother, A-list star Joan Crawford, in the infamous Hollywood scandal magnet, Mommie Dearest. Or maybe dramatising the furthest extremes that families will go to needs to involve fantasy, as in magical Oscar-winning fairy tale, Pan's Labyrinth, where a little girl escapes from her wicked stepfather into a dreamlike but dangerous underworld.

Even when film-makers have their familial inspiration sorted out, families on the big screen still pose unique challenges, even to the greatest directors in cinema. How can you possibly make every single family member in a massive cinematic ensemble like Gosford Park memorable, when even people in real life have trouble remembering who their second cousins are? How do you know where to start and finish your story about a family, when every family stretches back through infinite generations? Perhaps, like Lars von Trier, you could start with the end of the world. And what about empathy? How do we know who to root for in a film like American Beauty, which only gives us one side of the story?

Through the lens of films as varied as 8 Mile, Do the Right Thing, Tokyo Story, Aliens, Bicycle Thieves, The Hangover III, Dead Ringers, Home Alone, Ratcatcher, Back to the Future and many more, we zoom in on families in film, discovering how film-makers have imagined them on the big screen - and what that tells us about our place in our own families.


THU 23:00 Wonders of the Universe (b0101h6w)
Messengers

In the last episode of Professor Brian Cox's epic journey across the universe, he travels from the fossils of the Burgess Shale to the sands of the oldest desert in the world to show how light holds the key to our understanding of the whole universe, including our own deepest origins.

To understand how light holds the key to the story of the universe, you first have to understand its peculiar properties. Brian considers how the properties of light that lend colour to desert sands and the spectrum of a rainbow can lead to profound insights into the history and evolution of our universe.

Finally, with some of the world's most fascinating fossils in hand Brian considers how, but for an apparently obscure moment in the early evolutionary history of life, all the secrets of light may have remained hidden. Because although the universe is bathed in light that carries extraordinary amounts of information about where we come from, it would have remained invisible without a crucial evolutionary development that allowed us to see. Only because of that development can we now observe, capture and contemplate the incredible wonders of the universe that we inhabit.


THU 00:00 How We Built Britain (b007qmpw)
Scotland: Towering Ambitions

David Dimbleby travels Britain and through 1,000 years of history to discover the buildings that have made us who we are. In Scotland he visits Stirling Castle, dramatic symbol of the birth of a new country, and the fairytale tower house of Craigevar. He travels to the crofts of the Outer Hebrides, to the castle that inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula, to the sparkling granite city of Aberdeen and to the tenements of Glasgow - home of Scotland's greatest architect, Charles Rennie Macintosh.


THU 01:00 The Silk Road (p03qb1gq)
Episode 1

In the first episode of his series tracing the story of the most famous trade route in history, Dr Sam Willis starts in Venice and explores how its Renaissance architecture and art has been shaped by the east and by thousands of exchanges along the Silk Road.

From Venice Sam travels to China's ancient capital, Xian. Here, Sam's story takes him back in time to reveal the tale of an emperor who was so desperate for horses to help protect his borders that he struck one of the most significant trade deals in human history - he wanted war horses, he gave the most precious material in the world, silk. From this single deal, a network of trading paths were carved out across thousands of miles by merchants, traders, envoys, pilgrims and travellers. It is known to us today as the Silk Road.


THU 02:00 Life Cinematic (m000f8xk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


THU 03:00 Inside Cinema (m000f8xm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



FRIDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2020

FRI 19:00 World News Today (m000f8x0)
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 (m000f8x5)
Simon Mayo, Sybil Ruscoe and Rod McKenzie present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 16 March 1989 and featuring New Order, Gloria Estefan, Chanelle, Fuzzbox, Madonna, Soul II Soul ft Caron Wheeler, Jason Donovan and Guns N' Roses.


FRI 20:00 Love Songs at the BBC: A Valentine's Day Special (b00ymh70)
It's a time for guilty pleasures, for courtship, for declarations of love, for looking someone in the eye and whispering sweet nothings, accompanied by a compilation of some of the greatest and squishiest love songs from the likes of Celine Dion, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, Jason and Kylie, 10cc and Lionel Richie, all from the Top of the Pops era. If Hot Chocolate and Chaka Khan don't get the temperatures rising, then nothing will.


FRI 21:00 Top of the Pops (m000f8x9)
Mark Goodier and Andy Crane present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 23 March 1989 and featuring The Reynolds Girls, Alyson Williams, Donna Summer, Coldcut ft Lisa Stansfield, Pat and Mick, Roachford, The Bangles, Kym Mazelle, Kim Wilde, Paula Abdul, Madonna and Bobby Brown.


FRI 21:30 Classic Albums (m000f8xc)
Tears for Fears: Songs from the Big Chair

Documentary that explores the creation of the second album by Tears for Fears. Songs from the Big Chair took the gothic synth-pop foundations of the band and combined them with arena-ready anthems, leading to critical acclaim and three international hit singles, Mothers Talk, Shout and Everybody Wants to Rule the World.

This documentary, made with the full cooperation of the band, explores how the album was recorded and how the band left their indelible imprint on new wave music.


FRI 22:30 Roy Orbison: Love Hurts (b09j0r8s)
Roy Orbison died 29 years ago but he's hardly forgotten. As one of rock 'n' roll's pioneers he achieved superstar status in the 60s, writing and releasing a series of smash singles such as Oh, Pretty Woman, Only the Lonely, In Dreams and Crying. But while his professional life was full of triumph, Roy suffered terrible misfortune in his personal life, losing his wife and two of his children in successive tragedies, rebuilding his life by relying on his music to distract him from desolation.

Roy's legacy as a beloved rock legend and a devoted father is revealed through intimate interviews with Roy's three surviving sons, featuring previously unseen home videos as Alex, Roy Jnr and Wesley Orbison discuss the immense talent and fierce determination that provided the driving force behind their father's incredible success and the dedication to Roy's family that helped create a strong spiritual base to escape the pressures of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

This is the personal story of the relationship between three children and their father; a father who died when they were young, and who they have reconnected with and come to understand through embracing his life's work. It is not often that one gets to understand the person who is the music phenomenon, but in this film about relationships, family, love, loss and affirmation, we get to see the man behind the ever-present dark sunglasses and brooding loner persona, witnessing his struggle with personal demons, and ultimately redemption and acknowledgement from his peers.


FRI 23:30 Sounds of the 70s 2 (b01hz75h)
Guilty Pleasures - Love Will Keep Us Together

An unashamed celebration of the instantly recognisable classics from the decade of love. A half hour of 'Our Tune' anthems and the soundtrack to many a love affair and wedding party, including performances from The Carpenters, Bread, Charles Aznavour, John Denver, 10cc, Bellamy Brothers, Exile, Captain and Tennille, and Dr Hook.


FRI 00:00 Radio 2 In Concert (b09kt4rp)
Tears for Fears

This show sees Tears for Fears take to the stage for another incredibly special and unique Radio 2 In Concert. After forming as synth pop duo in the early 80s, Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith achieved huge success on both sides of the Atlantic and as a result of such a huge fanbase, over 30,000 people applied to be part of the audience for this intimate gig. However, only a few hundred were lucky enough to witness the boys from Bath perform their classic hits which included Mad World, Shout, Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Sowing the Seeds of Love at the BBC's iconic Radio Theatre in the heart of London.


FRI 01:00 ... Sings Bacharach and David! (b01gxl5w)
The BBC have raided their remarkable archive once more to reveal evocative performances from Burt Bacharach and Hal David's astonishing songbook. Love songs from the famous songwriting duo were a familiar feature of 60s and 70s BBC entertainment programmes such as Dusty, Cilla and The Cliff Richard Show, but there are some surprises unearthed here too.

Highlights include Sandie Shaw singing Always Something There to Remind Me, Aretha Franklin performing I Say a Little Prayer, Dusty Springfield's Wishin' and Hopin', The Stranglers' rendition of Walk on By on Top of the Pops, The Carpenters in concert performing (They Long to Be) Close to You and Burt Bacharach revisiting his classic Kentucky Bluebird with Rufus Wainwright on Later...with Jools Holland.


FRI 02:00 Classic Albums (m000f8xc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:30 today]


FRI 03:00 Love Songs at the BBC: A Valentine's Day Special (b00ymh70)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]