SATURDAY 18 JULY 2020

SAT 19:00 This Farming Life (b074zh92)
Series 1

Episode 7

Lambing season is just a month away for most of the farmers.

In central Scotland near Loch Lomond, Anne is left in charge of the farm on her own and begins by feeding breakfast to over 2,000 animals.

East of Inverness, Martin tends to their 500 pregnant ewes - and gets the lambing sheds ready with dad Stevie. Further west in Argyll, George takes a group of Belgian hunters out on a deer-stalking trip, and later he and wife Sybil co-host a judging competition where knowledge of blackface sheep is put to the test.

In the far north, John heads to the vet with a pedigree ewe that's pregnant with triplets, and the vet decides to perform a caesarean. Bobby returns and selects the sheep to go for slaughter. Martin takes two of his top bulls to market - they failed to sell before and this is their last chance. Martin's farm depends on them making a good sale, but will they attract the buyers?


SAT 20:00 Nature's Weirdest Events (b063wfx8)
Series 2: Cutdowns

Episode 3

Chris Packham investigates the strangest stories from the natural world.


SAT 20:15 Wonders of the Great Barrier Reef with Iolo Williams (b0bltzbn)
On the other side of the world under the crystal clear blue waters of the Pacific Ocean lies one of the most enchanting places on the planet. Over ten thousand miles away on the north eastern coast of Australia lies the Great Barrier Reef, one of the natural wonders of our world. It provides shelter to some hidden wildlife sanctuaries that contain some magical marine creatures.

Invited on a reef adventure by Emmy Award-winning underwater cinematographer and marine biologist Richard Fitzpatrick, conservationist and naturalist Iolo Williams dives deep beneath the surface of the coral sea to discover what state this natural wonder is in. Together they travel from the extreme swells of the northern part of the reef right down to the cooler pristine corals of the south. They discover how healthy the Great Barrier Reef really is in some of its key locations to see and find out if there are real signs of hope the reef can survive the threat of global warming.


SAT 21:15 Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm (m000l3vn)
Black Sabbath, Queen, The Stone Roses, Oasis, Coldplay, Simple Minds, Robert Plant and Manic Street Preachers are some of the greatest bands and musicians of our time, but what is the one thing these titans of music have in common?

This film tells the unlikely tale of how two Welsh farming brothers turned their dairy farm into one of the most successful recording studios of all time, producing four decades of legendary rock music. It’s where Queen recorded their seminal Bohemian Rhapsody, featured in the Hollywood blockbuster of the same name. But Rockfield’s own story has never been told until now.

Fifty years ago, deep in the Welsh countryside, brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward were starting out in the family dairy farming business. But they yearned to do something different – they wanted to make music. So they built a studio in the attic of their farmhouse and started recording with their friends. Kingsley’s new wife Ann left her job in the local bank to do the books, and they continued farming all the while. Animals were kicked out of barns to make way for recording equipment, and musicians were moved into Nan’s spare bedroom. Inadvertently, they’d launched the world’s first independent residential recording studio.

Rockfield’s reputation spread like wildfire, quickly garnering international acclaim. From Black Sabbath, Hawkwind and Queen, to Simple Minds, Iggy Pop and Robert Plant, and later Oasis, The Stone Roses, The Charlatans, Manic Street Preachers and Coldplay - an unbelievable roll call of artists have made music and mayhem at Rockfield.

Legendary musicians give us their awe-inspiring Rockfield stories - sharing with us the highs, lows and magical moments that created some the world’s best-known and loved songs of our times - from Wonderwall to Yellow.

Innovatively told through archive, animation and personal interviews, Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm is an extraordinary story of rock and roll dreams intertwined with a family business’s struggle for survival in the face of an ever-changing music landscape. Amazingly, Kingsley Ward and his wife Ann, now in their 80s, are still at the helm today, with daughter Lisa 'front of house'.

The film is the debut documentary feature from director Hannah Berryman, produced by Catryn Ramasut from award-winning Welsh production company ie ie Productions.


SAT 22:45 Robert Plant: By Myself (b00vy78w)
Documentary in which Robert Plant discusses his musical journey from Stourbridge, the British blues boom, superstardom with Led Zeppelin in the 70s to 2010's Band of Joy album. He also looks at his work with the Honeydrippers and North African musicians, his reunion with Jimmy Page and his pairing with Alison Krauss.


SAT 23:45 Coldplay in the BBC Horseshoe (b00cfsbf)
Coldplay perform an exclusive 45 minute gig at BBC Television Centre, with a set of material from their new album and some old classics.

The performance takes place on a specially-built stage outside the iconic BBC building in front of an audience of 600, and follows similar concerts by Beyonce, Green Day and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.


SAT 00:35 Top of the Pops (m000kxm8)
Nicky Campbell presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 14 December 1989 and featuring Rob'n'Raz, Van Morrison and Cliff Richard.


SAT 01:05 Top of the Pops (m000kxmb)
Bruno Brookes and Anthea Turner present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 21 December 1989 and featuring Sonia, Bros and Band Aid II.


SAT 01:35 Wonders of the Great Barrier Reef with Iolo Williams (b0bltzbn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:15 today]


SAT 02:35 This Farming Life (b074zh92)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 19 JULY 2020

SUN 19:00 BBC Proms (m000l3s7)
2020

Beethoveniana

Joining Beethoven Unleashed, a year-long, BBC-wide marathon marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, a BBC Grand Virtual Orchestra made up of over 300 BBC musicians perform Beethoveniana by composer Iain Farrington, a brand new reworking of Beethoven’s nine symphonies commissioned by the BBC Proms to celebrate the opening of the 2020 Proms season.

Farrington describes his work as 'taking Beethoven's music and putting it in a musical washing machine to see which colours run'. Director Toby Amies brings the music to life in this film, premiering exclusively on BBC Four. Choreographed by Cameron McMillan, starring dancers Emma Farnell-Watson and Joshua Smith together in their own lockdown bubble.


SUN 19:05 BBC Proms (b093lvn5)
2017

CBSO play Beethoven’s Fifth

Katie Derham introduces the first of six weekly programmes celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Proms, featuring some of the most memorable concerts from the unrivalled Proms archive. Katie is joined by conductor Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla to mark Beethoven’s 250th birthday year with another chance to see her acclaimed Proms appearance with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2017.

As well as a thrillingly fresh interpretation of Beethoven’s famous Fifth Symphony, the concert also includes his Leonore Overture No 3 and a world premiere by Irish maverick Gerald Barry, performed by tenor Allan Clayton. All this alongside Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major performed by Leila Josefowicz.


SUN 21:00 Culture in Quarantine: Shakespeare (p089zhm8)
The Merchant of Venice

In the melting pot of Venice, trade is God. When the gold is flowing, all is well. But when a contract between Bassanio and Shylock is broken, simmering racial tensions boil over. A wronged father and despised outsider, Shylock looks to exact the ultimate price for a deal sealed in blood.

Polly Findlay directs this Royal Shakespeare Company production of Shakespeare’s uncompromising play with Makram J Khoury as Shylock, Patsy Ferran as Portia and Jamie Ballard as Antonio.


SUN 23:10 Institute (m000l3sb)
Enter a shadowy establishment where residents attempt to create order from the chaos of life. Carers become patients, memories fracture and relationships collide.

Physical theatre company Gecko has a reputation for generating unique worlds, intoxicatingly beautiful scenes and breathtaking choreography. Based on their internationally acclaimed production by Amit Lahav, this film is a visually captivating and poetic dissection of the way we nurture and care for ourselves and each other.


SUN 00:10 Shakespeare in Italy (b01hpfhz)
Land of Fortune

Francesco da Mosto takes a look at Italy as the land of adventure and ambition - where fortunes are made and battles are fought.

Beginning in Venice with actor Ciaran Hinds, Francesco considers how his home town so renowned for its justice struck Shakespeare as the perfect setting for his disturbing tale of what happens to an outsider who goes against the law in The Merchant of Venice.

Heading south to Rome, Francesco discovers how in his great Roman plays Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare used this ancient city as a smokescreen to address the most burning political issues of his day while avoiding trouble with the Elizabethan censors. Francesco meets Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance, and also pops in to Rome's very own Globe to understand modern Italy's fascination with our English Bard.

Finally he travels from Naples to the beautiful Island of Stromboli, just off the north coast of Sicily, a magical setting for Shakespeare's final great masterpiece - The Tempest.


SUN 01:10 TOTP2 (b05y09mh)
FA Cup

Mark Radcliffe rounds up the best and worst football records from the TOTP archives. Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea, Gazza and West Ham all feature alongside Arsenal.


SUN 01:35 EastEnders 2008 (b00b3zpf)
Roxy struggles with her betrayal of Ronnie. Will she tell the truth about Jack? Christian reaches breaking point with Steven, while Sean careers dangerously out of control.


SUN 02:05 EastEnders 2008 (b00b3zyq)
Stacey's search for Sean takes her to Tanya's doorstep. Ian sets out to bring Lucy home. Steven makes a serious accusation.


SUN 02:35 EastEnders 2008 (m000l3sf)
Roxy turns to Christian for support, while Bianca strikes up a feud with the Masoods. Gus bids farewell to the Square, but not before gaining revenge on Sean.


SUN 03:05 EastEnders 2008 (b00b40vv)
Ian's investigations lead to the truth about Steven, but will Ian accept it? Bianca tries Ricky's patience by refusing to back down to Zainab's demands.



MONDAY 20 JULY 2020

MON 19:00 Coastal Path (b07qb61p)
Episode 1

In this series, explorer Paul Rose sets off on the walk of a lifetime - 630 miles of the South West Coast Path. He'll discover wildlife, wild traditions and wild adventure at every turn on this spectacular peninsula.


MON 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000l41n)
Series 3

Winter Sun

Find the glistening sun peeking through the trees in a wintry scene. Bob Ross creates a cold day warmed by daylight's radiance.

American painter Bob Ross offers soothing words of encouragement to viewers and painting hobbyists in an enormously popular series that has captivated audiences worldwide since 1982. Ross is a cult figure, with nearly two million Facebook followers and 3,000 instructors globally. His soothing, nurturing personality is therapy for the weary, and his respect for nature and wildlife helps heighten environmental awareness.

Across the series, Ross demonstrates his unique painting technique, which eliminates the need for each layer of paint to dry. In real time, he creates tranquil scenes taken from nature, including his trademark ‘happy’ clouds, cascading waterfalls, snow-covered forests, serene lakes and distant mountain summits.

Many of Bob’s faithful viewers are not painters at all. They are relaxing and unwinding with Bob’s gentle manner and encouraging words, captivated by the magic taking place on the canvas.


MON 20:00 Timeshift (b00nf0nl)
Series 9

The Golden Age of Liners

Paul Atterbury embarks on an alluring journey into the golden age of ocean liners, finding out how these great ships made such a mark on the popular imagination and why they continue to enchant to this day.

Paul's voyage takes him around Britain and reveals a story of design, politics, propaganda, Hollywood glamour and tragedy. Along the way, he uncovers some amazing survivals from the liners of the past - a cinema in Scotland built from the interiors of the SS Homeric, a house in Poole in which cabins from the Mauretania are lovingly preserved - as well as the design inspiration behind the first great liners.


MON 21:00 Being Beethoven (m000l41g)
Series 1

Episode 3

'We are not in a good state…'

Unfolding chronologically, Being Beethoven grapples with the living, breathing human being often lost behind the myth of the Romantic genius. Beethoven emerges as a man of contrasts and extremes - driven by love, anguish, fury and joy - qualities woven through both his life and his music.

By returning the composer to the context of his own time and place, telling his life story in the present tense, Being Beethoven reveals how the composer’s life frequently appears to follow an entirely different trajectory to his art. What emerges is a complex and often contradictory individual living a life marked by isolation, ill-health and deafness. A man who, despite the frequent wretchedness of his personal circumstances, manages to create musical masterpieces that have enthralled and uplifted the world for 250 years.

Episode 3 finds the composer unmoored and - personally and creatively - desperate to regain control in his every aspect of his life. In 1815, the death of his brother is the catalyst for a long and bitter legal battle for custody of Beethoven's nephew, Karl. What follows is a protracted period during which the composer’s desire for love and family tip over into obsession. Beethoven will, of course, embark on the extraordinary flowering of the late music - the Missa solemnis, the late quartets and the Ninth 'Choral' Symphony - but he doesn’t know that yet.

Musical highlights include Paul Lewis exploring the beauty and brutality of one of the greatest works of the piano repertoire, the Diabelli Variations, and the Takács Quartet playing the sublime Hymn of Thanksgiving.

As well as interviews with Beethoven biographers and scholars such as Jan Swafford and Barry Cooper, the series features contributions and performances from musicians including Iván Fischer, Marin Alsop, the Takács Quartet, Evelyn Glennie, Paul Lewis, Mark Padmore and Chi-chi Nwanoku.


MON 22:00 Great Continental Railway Journeys (b08lh36h)
Series 4 - Reversions

The Black Forest to Hannover - Part 2

With his 1913 Bradshaw's in hand, Michael Portillo ventures deep into the Black Forest on a quest to discover the essence of Germany and discovers how Hansel and Gretel helped to unify the nation. A humbling master class in carving cuckoo clocks shows him how the nation's reputation for quality and reliability in manufacturing was established from the early 18th century.

A romantic stop at the ruined Schloss in Heidelberg follows before Michael gets an insider's guide to share dealing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

At Goettingen University, Michael discovers two sides of student life at the turn of the 20th century - the duelling fraternities and the groundbreaking scientists, who laid the foundation for Germany's world-class transport technology today. Braving the force of the Goettingen wind tunnel, Michael investigates the track where model trains are fired at up to 360km per hour.


MON 22:30 Games Britannia (b00p90d8)
Dicing with Destiny

Three-part series presented by historian Benjamin Woolley about popular games in Britain from the Iron Age to the Information Age, in which he unravels how an apparently trivial pursuit is a rich and entertaining source of cultural and social history.

In part one, Woolley investigates how the instinct to play games is both as universal and elemental as language itself and takes us from 1st-century Britain to the Victorian era.

Ancient and medieval games were not just fun, they were fundamental, and often imbued with prophetic significance. By the late Middle Ages this spiritual element in games began to be lost as gaming became increasingly associated with gambling. Dice and card games abounded, but a moral backlash in Victorian times transformed games into moral educational tools.

This was also the era in which Britain established the world's first commercial games industry, with such classics as the Staunton Chess Set, Ludo and Snakes and Ladders leading the way, all adaptations of original games from other countries.

In the case of Snakes and Ladders, what once represented a Hindu journey to enlightenment was transformed into a popular but banal family favourite, and Woolley sees this as the perfect analogy for how the sacred energy which once imbued games had become gradually drained away by commercialisation.


MON 23:30 Timeshift (p0287mq6)
Series 14

Bullseyes and Beer: When Darts Hit Britain

Timeshift tells the story of how a traditional working-class pub game became a national obsession during the 1970s and 80s, and looks at the key role television played in elevating its larger-than-life players into household names.

Siobhan Finneran narrates a documentary which charts the game's surprising history, its cross-class and cross-gender appeal, and the star players that, for two decades, transformed a pub pastime into a sporting spectacle like no other.

Featuring legendary names such as Alan Evans and Jocky Wilson and including contributions from Eric Bristow, Bobby George, John Lowe and Phil Taylor.


MON 00:30 Gauguin - A Dangerous Life (m000bynv)
‘I am indeed a savage. And civilised people sense it. My works surprise and disturb them because they see in them the savage that I can't repress. That's what makes my work inimitable.’

Actor Dominic West reads Paul Gauguin's self-revelatory words in a new film biography that recognises Gauguin’s formidable artistic achievement but also confronts his sexual relationships with young indigenous girls in the Pacific and his role in 19th-century French colonialism.

Gauguin’s vivid artworks sell for millions. He was an inspired and committed multi-media artist who worked with the Impressionists and had a tempestuous relationship with Vincent van Gogh. But he was also a competitive and rapacious man who left his wife to bring up five children and used his colonial privilege to travel to Polynesia, where in his 40s he took ‘wives’ between 13 and 15 years old, creating images of them and their world that promoted a fantasy paradise of an unspoilt Eden in the Pacific. Later, he challenged the colonial authorities and the Catholic Church in defence of the indigenous people, dying in the Marquesas Islands in 1903, sick, impoverished and alone.

Shot in France, Tahiti, the Marquesas Islands, Aotearoa New Zealand and the UK, the film features Gauguin's descendants - his great granddaughter Mette Gauguin and Tahitian grandson Marcel Tai Gauguin, in addition to art historians and contemporary artists Kehinde Wiley, Tai Shan Schierenberg and Tyla Vaeau. Through these multiple commentators - unforgiving, forgiving, insightful and funny - the film offers a 21st-century view of a 19th-century wild man.


MON 01:30 A History of Art in Three Colours (b01lcz2s)
Blue

Dr James Fox explores how, in the hands of artists, the colours gold, blue and white have stirred emotions, changed behaviour and even altered the course of history.

When, in the Middle Ages, the precious blue stone lapis lazuli arrived in Europe from the east, blue became the most exotic and mysterious of colours. And it was artists who used it to offer us tantalising glimpses of other worlds beyond our own.


MON 02:30 The Joy of Painting (m000l41n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 03:00 Being Beethoven (m000l41g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 21 JULY 2020

TUE 19:00 Coastal Path (b07tbxp6)
Episode 2

Paul Rose explores the rugged north Cornish coast, taking a grand tour of Tintagel Castle, joining in the hustle and bustle of Padstow's Obby Oss festival and channelling his inner Turner in St Ives.


TUE 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000l41l)
Series 3

Ebony Sea

As night settles over a rocky coast, Bob Ross produces a warm glow in the sky in a painting on black canvas.

American painter Bob Ross offers soothing words of encouragement to viewers and painting hobbyists in an enormously popular series that has captivated audiences worldwide since 1982. Ross is a cult figure, with nearly two million Facebook followers and 3,000 instructors globally. His soothing, nurturing personality is therapy for the weary, and his respect for nature and wildlife helps heighten environmental awareness.

Across the series, Ross demonstrates his unique painting technique, which eliminates the need for each layer of paint to dry. In real time, he creates tranquil scenes taken from nature, including his trademark ‘happy’ clouds, cascading waterfalls, snow-covered forests, serene lakes and distant mountain summits.

Many of Bob’s faithful viewers are not painters at all. They are relaxing and unwinding with Bob’s gentle manner and encouraging words, captivated by the magic taking place on the canvas.


TUE 20:00 Bob Ross: The Happy Painter (m000l41j)
Documentary that takes a behind-the-scenes look at American painter Bob Ross’s journey from humble beginnings to pop culture icon, charting how one local TV commercial evolved into a viral phenomenon that continues to inspire millions around the world.

The film reveals the public and private sides of Bob Ross through accounts from close friends and family, childhood photographs and rare archive footage. Interviewees recount his gentle, mild-mannered demeanour and unwavering dedication to wildlife, as well as disclosing little-known facts about such things as his hair, which was naturally straight, and his fascination with fast cars.


TUE 21:00 Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley (b06vm9qp)
Reinventing Russia

Lucy Worsley travels to Russia to tell the extraordinary story of the dynasty that ruled the country for more than three centuries. It's an epic tale that includes giant figures such as Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, the devastating struggle against Napoleon in 1812, and the political murders of Nicholas II and his family in 1918 which brought the dynasty to a brutal end.

In this first episode, Lucy investigates the beginning of the Romanovs' 300-year reign in Russia. In 1613, when Russia was leaderless, 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov was plucked from obscurity and offered the crown of Russia. Mikhail was granted absolute power and began the reign of the Romanovs as the most influential dynasty in modern European history.

Lucy also charts the story of Peter the Great, the ruthless and ambitious tsar who was determined to modernise Russia at the end of the 17th century. Lucy traces Peter's accession to the throne as a nine-year-old, when he witnessed a revolt led by royal guards and the slaughter of his uncles and close advisors. Sixteen years later, Peter would vengefully execute a thousand rebellious guards. Throughout his reign, Peter would demonstrate an unwavering commitment to establishing Russia as a naval power - Lucy explores the lengths to which Peter would go to ensure this became a reality, including the creation of a new maritime capital, St Petersburg.

Lucy shows how the Romanovs embraced and sponsored the arts on an astonishing scale - from building spectacular palaces to commissioning grand artworks - that all still dazzle today.

As well as studying this unique royal family, Lucy also considers the impact the Romanovs had on the lives of ordinary Russians, who were often little better than slaves to the elite.


TUE 22:00 Russia on Four Wheels (b03sbmxk)
Episode 1

Justin Rowlatt and Anita Rani set off across Russia on two massive road trips across the world's biggest, and one of its most enigmatic, countries. A former superpower and more recently a struggling giant, Russia is looking to assert itself once again on the world stage. With millions of square miles of land, a wealth of natural resources, the largest automobile market in Europe, diverse borders and trading partners aplenty, Russia has the potential to become one of the richest and most dynamic nations on earth. But 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, how far has Russia left its Cold War past behind? And what direction will the country take? Driving thousands of miles in three weeks, and in two very different cars, Justin and Anita find out.

Anita and Justin begin their journeys in Sochi, the Black Sea resort home to the 2014 Winter Olympics, the most expensive games ever. Full of futuristic architecture, this is new Russia's glittering showcase to the world, but just round the corner from the glitzy stadiums is Joseph Stalin's old dacha, a reminder that in Russia the old and the new are often very close.

Anita is out to discover 'new' Russia. She travels north and west from Sochi in a Kombat, a Russian built luxury armoured plated bling machine - her oligarch tank. She enters a thriving world of westernised entrepreneurs, the mega-rich and rebellious youth, people who are at the forefront of shaping a new and vibrant Russia.

On her first leg she drives to the western port of Taganrog, enters a vast iron ore mine near Kursk, and makes her way up to Kaluga, a city once at the heart of one of Russia's poorest regions, and now a centre of industry with western factories including Volkswagen transforming its fortunes.

Meanwhile Justin heads east into 'old' Russia where he encounters a very different world in his chosen vehicle: a slightly battered Soviet-built UAZ 'jeep' first designed in the 1940s for the Red Army. He meets traditional Russians and encounters a land that seems hardly to have changed since before the Cold War years.

On the first half of his journey, Justin drives to a vast farm, once a Soviet Collective, before making his way alongside the Volga, Russia's 'Mother River', and to Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) where he meets WWII veterans of the Battle of Stalingrad, before heading to the vast Lada car factory.


TUE 23:00 Storyville (b0b95v0m)
Olympic Dreams of Russian Gold - Over the Limit

'You're not a human being, you're an athlete,' 20-year-old Rita is told by one of her two merciless coaches as she prepares to represent Russia in rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympics. It is the most crucial year of her career and her last chance to achieve her ultimate dream, a gold medal. However gracefully Rita catches rings or rolls a ball across her shoulders, her coaches expect more from her, time and again. Described as the 'Black Swan' of sports documentaries, Over the Limit offers unprecedented access to the hidden world of elite gymnasts and the unrelentingly brutal training demanded by the Russian system.


TUE 00:10 Dan Cruickshank: At Home with the British (b07ckwvx)
The Terrace

Dan Cruickshank explores our love affair with the terrace - the home that more Britons live in than any other. We love it because it has proved brilliantly adaptable, encompassing the Victorian parlour and modern open-plan living with equal ease.

Dan is in Toxteth, Liverpool 8. Famous for the riots that ripped it apart in the 1980s, Toxteth has a far richer and more varied history than that one tragic episode. Liverpool was the ultimate Victorian boom town, turned by trade and industry from provincial powerhouse into the second city of empire. 100,000 terraced houses were built to accommodate its vast workforce, with huge numbers in Toxteth. From a high of Victorian industry and immigration to a low of postwar decline, Toxteth's terraces have seen it all - even the 2015 Turner Prize, awarded for their remarkable 21st-century regeneration.


TUE 01:10 Arena (b0bqt8g3)
Make Me Up!

A satirical look at the contradictory pressures faced by women today. It examines how television and social media can help us explore identity, at the same time encouraging women to conform to strict beauty ideals. Multimedia artist Rachel Maclean has created a world that is both seductive and dangerous, a place where surveillance, violence and submission are a normalised part of daily life.

Siri wakes to find herself trapped inside a brutalist candy-coloured dreamhouse. Despite the cutesy decor, the place is far from benign, and she and her fellow inmates are encouraged to compete for survival. Forced to go head to head in a series of demeaning tasks, Siri and Alexa start subverting the rules, soon revealing the sinister truth that underpins their world.


TUE 02:25 The Joy of Painting (m000l41l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:50 Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley (b06vm9qp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2020

WED 19:00 Coastal Path (b07v8bhz)
Episode 3

Paul Rose explores the spectacular South Cornwall coastline where he discovers one of the world's finest stages at the Minack Theatre, tries the high-octane sport of coasteering on the Lizard and fires Tudor cannons at Pendennis Castle in Falmouth.


WED 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000l41c)
Series 3

Shades of Grey

Bundle up and endure the cold weather in this snow-filled adventure. Bob Ross paints a wintry mountain scene using only grey and white tones.

American painter Bob Ross offers soothing words of encouragement to viewers and painting hobbyists in an enormously popular series that has captivated audiences worldwide since 1982. Ross is a cult figure, with nearly two million Facebook followers and 3,000 instructors globally. His soothing, nurturing personality is therapy for the weary, and his respect for nature and wildlife helps heighten environmental awareness.

Across the series, Ross demonstrates his unique painting technique, which eliminates the need for each layer of paint to dry. In real time, he creates tranquil scenes taken from nature, including his trademark ‘happy’ clouds, cascading waterfalls, snow-covered forests, serene lakes and distant mountain summits.

Many of Bob’s faithful viewers are not painters at all. They are relaxing and unwinding with Bob’s gentle manner and encouraging words, captivated by the magic taking place on the canvas.


WED 20:00 The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed (b096slhz)
Series 1

Grow

Over your lifetime you undergo an extraordinary change - no other animal on earth goes through such a dramatic metamorphosis. In this programme, Chris and Xand van Tulleken explore the latest understanding of how we all grow. They uncover the reason our childhood is longer than any other creature on Earth and reveal the communities of microbes - our microbiome - that we cultivate throughout our lives. They uncover the mysterious trigger for our transformation from child to adult and, for the first time, show the remarkable spark of life that is emitted when sperm and egg first meet.


WED 21:00 Wild Swimming (b00t9r28)
Alice Roberts embarks on a quest to discover what lies behind the passion for wild swimming, now becoming popular in Britain. She follows in the wake of Waterlog, the classic swimming text by journalist and author Roger Deakin.

Her journey takes in cavernous plunge pools, languid rivers and unfathomable underground lakes, as well as a skinny dip in a moorland pool. Along the way Alice becomes aware that she is not alone on her watery journey.


WED 22:00 Swimming through the Seasons: The Hampstead Ponds (m000599z)
In a world of constant flux and chaos, it is almost a shock to discover some experiences remain unchanged, natural, primitive even. In the middle of London lies Hampstead Heath, 320 hectares of forest, parkland and wildlife, plus three swimming ponds.

People take their waters all year round, just as they did in the time of Constable and Keats. Capturing all the beauty of the English seasons, the film follows the swimmers over 12 months as they shiver, laugh, complain, ruminate, philosophise or simply seek respite from all that life threw at them.

Swimming Through the Seasons is a heartwarming celebration of eccentricity and sheer bloody-mindedness as these unusual people, united by a shared passion, meet to take on the weather, the water and life.


WED 23:00 Being Beethoven (m000l41g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


WED 00:00 Bob Ross: The Happy Painter (m000l41j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


WED 01:00 Andrew Marr's Great Scots: The Writers Who Shaped a Nation (b04g1h39)
Walter Scott

As Scotland stands on the brink of a momentous decision, Andrew Marr explores the writers who have reflected, defined and challenged Scottish national identity over the last 300 years.

Andrew examines the life of Walter Scott, a prolific novelist and poet who wrote swashbuckling tales of romance and derring-do, which sold by the bucket load, both north and south of the border. But he is less well known as a political fixer who believed in a proud Scotland inside the United Kingdom. He brought King George IV to Scotland and swathed him in tartan, helping to create an enduring myth of Scotland as a land of romance populated by a brave race doing brave deeds, all clad in the kilt. An image that centuries later, Scotland is still trying to shake.


WED 02:00 The Joy of Painting (m000l41c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:30 Wild Swimming (b00t9r28)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 23 JULY 2020

THU 19:00 Coastal Path (b07w13bp)
Episode 4

This week Paul Rose explores the soft and rolling south Devon coastline, where he takes a snorkelling trip around Burgh Island and hitches a ride on the Dartmouth to Paignton steam train.


THU 19:30 The Joy of Painting (m000l421)
Series 3

Autumn Splendour

An autumn breeze rustles in the trees as you rest your feet in crisp, still waters. Discover the joys of nature in this Bob Ross painting.

American painter Bob Ross offers soothing words of encouragement to viewers and painting hobbyists in an enormously popular series that has captivated audiences worldwide since 1982. Ross is a cult figure, with nearly two million Facebook followers and 3,000 instructors globally. His soothing, nurturing personality is therapy for the weary, and his respect for nature and wildlife helps heighten environmental awareness.

Across the series, Ross demonstrates his unique painting technique, which eliminates the need for each layer of paint to dry. In real time, he creates tranquil scenes taken from nature, including his trademark ‘happy’ clouds, cascading waterfalls, snow-covered forests, serene lakes and distant mountain summits.

Many of Bob’s faithful viewers are not painters at all. They are relaxing and unwinding with Bob’s gentle manner and encouraging words, captivated by the magic taking place on the canvas.


THU 20:00 Emma (b00n9ltn)
Episode 2

Adaptation of the Jane Austen classic by Bafta award-winning writer Sandy Welch.

Emma continues her attempts to marry off Harriet and Mr Elton, vicar of Highbury. Although uninterested in marriage herself, she is intrigued by the mysterious and elusive Frank Churchill, who she hopes to meet for the first time at a village Christmas party. Frank does not arrive, and instead Emma becomes the subject of unwanted and embarrassing attention from Mr Elton.

A few weeks later, village gossip and speculation focuses on the arrival of young Jane Fairfax and a large piano she has been sent by a mystery admirer. Emma refuses to believe that Mr Knightley could be the secret admirer. He couldn't be, could he?


THU 21:00 Rome Unpacked (b09l64hq)
Series 1

Episode 1

To really understand Rome, you must understand its people - or the mob, as they were known in ancient times. As Giorgio Locatelli and Andrew Graham-Dixon explore Italy's iconic capital, they are in search of the generations of ordinary Romans who have left their mark on the city's culture and gastronomy.

Giorgio insists that they travel, in true Roman style, by moped. They start their journey at the Trevi fountain, immortalised in Fellini's La Dolce Vita - which itself featured countless locals as extras to capture the real faces of Rome. Giorgio leads Andrew to some of his personal favourite districts, including Garbatella, Italy's first garden suburb, with its vibrant market stalls and village architecture, and introduces him to the simplest Roman food - 'the true food of the people'. He also insists on showing him how spaghetti carbonara should really be made - 'add cream and I'll kill you'.

In turn, Andrew introduces Giorgio to some of the most moving pictures by Caravaggio, 'the painter of the people', in what was once the
city's foremost church for poor pilgrims - and they set out together to enjoy one of the great erotic masterpieces of Baroque painting. La Dolce Vita still exists, you just have to know where to find it.


THU 22:00 Rome Unpacked (b09m6bmp)
Series 1

Episode 2

Andrew Graham-Dixon and Giorgio Locatelli continue their exploration of Rome off the beaten track. In search of its Papal, Renaissance and Baroque history, they discover that it is visible all around them. In Rome, everything has been kept, from broken cooking pots from the time of the empire that piled up to form one of the city's hills to the gastronomy, art and architecture created not just by successive popes and Caesars but by ordinary Romans.

As well as marvelling at the mosaics in the 12th-century Basilica di San Clemente, Andrew takes Giorgio to its deepest basement and an ancient Roman schoolteacher's classroom. Then it is on to a true architectural and civic wonder - the vast Testaccio Slaughterhouse, where workers were once paid in offal which they took home and used as the basis of delicious dishes that are still sold in Rome today. Giorgio takes Andrew to his favourite Trippa stall to sample some of the best. Travelling to the Palazzo Colonna, Andrew in turn wants to show Giorgio just one painting - the Beaneater by Carracci, a Baroque masterpiece that makes an everyday subject extraordinary. Finally, together they discover Rome's Fascist architecture, which might have been destroyed anywhere else, but here remains standing in a city that houses all of its history. To understand the truth about the past, they argue, you have to taste all its layers - just like one of Giorgio's lasagnes.


THU 23:00 Treasures of Ancient Rome (p00wpvpr)
Warts 'n' All

Alastair Sooke traces how the Romans during the Republic went from being art thieves and copycats to pioneering a new artistic style - warts 'n' all realism. Roman portraits reveal what the great names from history, men like Julius Caesar and Cicero, actually looked like. Modern-day artists demonstrate the ingenious techniques used to create these true to life masterpieces in marble, bronze and paint.

We can step back into the Roman world thanks to their invention of the documentary-style marble relief and to a volcano called Vesuvius. Sooke explores the remarkable artistic legacy of Pompeii before showing how Rome's first emperor, Augustus, used the power of art to help forge an empire.


THU 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.


THU 01:00 Bought with Love: The Secret History of British Art Collections (b037c5gt)
The Golden Age

With Britain's country houses being home to world-class art collections full of priceless old masters and more, this three-part series sees art historian Helen Rosslyn tell the story of how great art has been brought to Britain by passionate collectors and how these same collectors have also turned patron and commissioned work from the cream of their contemporary crop of painters.

In this episode she focuses on the 18th century, the Grand Tour era when aristocrats filled their Palladian villas with masterpieces by 17th-century classical painters. Throwing open the doors of some of our most magnificent stately homes, Rosslyn visits Holkham Hall in Norfolk to view the Grand Tour collection there, before going on to explore the legacy of the Dukes of Richmond at Goodwood House. She also visits Petworth House in Sussex, where the one-time Lord Egremont patronised JMW Turner.


THU 02:00 The Joy of Painting (m000l421)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:30 Rome Unpacked (b09l64hq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 24 JULY 2020

FRI 19:00 Coastal Path (b07wbzgt)
Episode 5

Paul Rose explores the Jurassic Coast, taking a walk through some two hundred million years of the earth's history. He uncovers prehistoric treasures in Charmouth and greets hatching signets at Abbotsbury Swannery.


FRI 19:30 Sounds of the Sixties (b0074qbw)
Original Series

1967-68: The Pop Boom

By now Top of the Pops was an established part of the pop scene, and a group's appearance on the show was essential to a single's success. With footage of the Bee Gees, the Rolling Stones and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich amongst others.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m000l424)
Jakki Brambles, Bruno Brookes and Gary Davies present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 25 December 1989 and featuring Bros, The Beautiful South and Jason Donovan.


FRI 21:00 Rodney P's Jazz Funk (m000l426)
UK rap legend Rodney P reveals how the first generation of British-born black kids was inspired by the avant-garde musical fusions of black America in the 70s to lay the foundations of modern-day multiculturalism by creating the first black British music culture with the jazz-funk movement.

Jazz funk resists any simple description. It’s a scene, not a genre; an attitude, not a sound; a movement, not a fashion. In this film – the first to deconstruct, explain and contextualise this most British of underground music genres – we show the importance of jazz funk as the very first home-grown black British music culture, a world created by the first generation of British-born black kids who were determined to make a space for self-expression that they could truly call their own. To understand how black British culture has gone on to have such deep impact on youth culture in Britain and around the world, you need to understand jazz funk.

Rodney discovers how the scene emerged out of the cultural void of the early 70s when the first generation of British-born black kids, the children of Windrush generation parents who had arrived in Britain in the 50s and 60s, were starting to come of age only to find that there was nothing to reflect their new cultural identity. They’d been born here, gone to school here and grown up in the same working-class inner-city neighbourhoods as their white friends. But it was not until they entered their teenage years that the lack of a culture that spoke to them became apparent. That all changed with the arrival of American DJ Greg Edwards, the legendary host of Capital Radio’s Soul Spectrum, one of only two radio shows that played black music on legal radio in the 70s.

As new clubs sprang up around these new sounds, the culture split into two scenes - an older and mainly white scene growing in the south east suburbs of Kent and Essex, based on the more commercial end of the soul, jazz and funk sound, and a younger, more multicultural movement in London, built around deeper and more experimental music, giving birth to a wildly creative and expressive dance culture which was both inspired by, and inspirational to, the music.

Rodney meets key musicians like Lee John, lead singer of chart-topping jazz-funk group Imagination, and Kenny Wellington, founding member of Light of the World, one of the key acts of the Brit funk movement, who were inspired by those American jazz and funk artists to create a faster, rawer and uniquely British sound which went on to influence the New Romantics and the other cultures that came out of early 80s Britain.

Morghan Khan, one of the first black British superproducers, tells Rodney that he was determined to create a roster of black British artists, and Rodney also discovers the deep bonds that emerged between young marginalised black clubbers and the underground gay scene as both communities fought to express themselves on their own terms and have their voices heard. Although the jazz-funk scene created the first commercial platform for a generation of DJs, dancers, artists and clubbers, it was eclipsed in the early 80s with the deluge of a new wave of youth culture movements. But long before the rave scene of the 80s or the global club culture of today, it was in the jazz-funk scene of the 70s that all-dayers, all-nighters, superclubs and superstar DJs first appeared.

With original performance from veteran jazz-funk dancers, dynamically cut with rare archive of their heyday, Rodney meets many of those who were at the heart of the scene - people like Cleveland Anderson, the first DJ to take London’s dancers and DJs on the road and a key mover in the alliance that the jazz-funk kids forged with the gay club scene, Carl Cox, the superstar DJ whose first gig was running a jazz-funk mobile disco, and Robert Elms, a central figure at the Blitz Club who was a soul boy before he was a New Romantic.


FRI 22:00 Hot Chocolate at the BBC (b06dl1c5)
Errol Brown, who died aged 71 in May 2015, was probably the most famous and ubiquitous black British pop star of the 70s and early 80s. He co-founded Hot Chocolate with Tony Wilson in 1970 and the band went on to have a hit every year between 1971 and 1984.

This compilation of BBC performances and rare interview extracts celebrates Errol and Hot Chocolate, showcasing their Top 10 hits alongside rarely seen early performances and cult fan favourites.

We journey through over 15 years of chart smashes showcasing all the infectious numbers - Every 1's a Winner, Emma, So You Win Again and It Started With a Kiss - and of course, The Full Monty scene-stealer You Sexy Thing, a song that was in the charts in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

There are reminders of just how many Top 10 moments they had, with Girl Crazy and No Doubt About It, the hit that got away - Mindless Boogie - and their first appearance on BBC television with Love Is Life. Hot Chocolate were that rarity, a 70s British pop band who largely wrote their own tunes and arrangements and a mixed race band who perhaps inadvertently helped foster an early sense of British multi-culturalism. In Errol, they had a frontman who was not only a great singer, songwriter and frontman, but also resolutely and undemonstratively always himself, at ease in his own skin.


FRI 23:00 Top of the Pops (m000crqx)
The Story of 1989

As the 80s concluded with Margaret Thatcher’s tenth year in power in contrast to worldwide political change, Top of the Pops provided the perfect barometer of the UK's end-of-decade uncertainty.

Top of the Pops hosted Pete Waterman’s final year of chart domination, courtesy of Jason Donovan, alongside the dawn of Madchester, a fresh front of female artists with attitude and power, an old-school duet between a 60s legend and an 80s icon, funki dreds and, yes, that pesky bunny.

Meanwhile, Radio 1’s old guard were stood down as a team of fresh-faced recruits from children’s television took up the helm of the BBC’s weekly pop warhorse, which remained torn between its sense of heritage and the emerging threat of youth TV.

The stars of the year, including Jason Donovan, Lisa Stansfield, Shaun Ryder, Chris Rea, Marc Almond, Sharleen Spiteri, Jazzie B and more, plus TOTP presenter Jenny Powell, deliver their tales of a poptastic 1989 at Television Centre as they prepare to head into the 1990s.


FRI 00:00 I Can Go for That: The Smooth World of Yacht Rock (m0005wwn)
Series 1

Episode 1

Part one of Katie Puckrik’s voyage through a halcyon period of Los Angeles studio craft when studio-based artists like The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan and Hall & Oates produced the smoothest R&B and married it to adult themes about longing, aspiration and melancholy.

In its day this music was never identified as a genre, but in the 21st century, in a nod to its finely crafted nature, it has come to be known as yacht rock. Katie’s account of yacht rock is both the soundtrack of her American teen years and a reappraisal of a critically neglected era of music, when the sophisticated smooth sounds of the West Coast were a palliative for an America in turmoil.

Starting with the forerunners of this soft sound, Katie looks at the singer-songwriters of Laurel Canyon as well as soft rock pioneers such as the band America, whose songs offered Americans an escape from economic depression at home and the enduring conflict in Vietnam abroad. Popularised by a boom in FM radio stations, this smooth, easily digestible sound found mainstream appeal. Katie argues that the pure yacht sound was born in 1976, when seasoned session musician Michael McDonald joined The Doobie Brothers. Alongside The Doobies’ mellow tracks, Steely Dan and Hall & Oates also delivered perfect studio-engineered productions that remain as escapist and indulgent a listen today as they did when they were made.

The gleaming yacht sound was in part defined by a group of session players and composers, including McDonald, who played across the range of ‘yacht’ bands, informing their specific tone and level of musicianship. In this film, one such musician, Jay Graydon, talks about the yacht phenomenon and being part of the scene back in the day. Meanwhile John Oates reveals some of the inspirations behind his hit She’s Gone. Other contributors include producer Mark Ronson and JD Ryznar, creator of internet hit the Yacht Rock Show.


FRI 01:00 The Defiant Ones (m0002fyj)
Series 1

Episode 2

In this second episode, Jimmy Lovine’s reputation as a fearless, talented and indefatigable producer is explored, along with how he reached the West Coast following a successful collaboration with Patti Smith.

He describes moving to Los Angeles to produce with Tom Petty and his secret relationship with Stevie Nicks.

Dr Dre talks about provocative songs, such as Straight Outta Compton, which were shaped by the bitter race relations in Los Angeles. NWA evolved into a force to be reckoned with, in LA and beyond. But a devastating personal loss for Dr Dre overshadowed the success.


FRI 01:45 Rodney P's Jazz Funk (m000l426)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:45 Hot Chocolate at the BBC (b06dl1c5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]