The BBC has announced that it has a sustainable plan for the future of the BBC Singers, in association with The VOCES8 Foundation.
The threat to reduce the staff of the three English orchestras by 20% has not been lifted, but it is being reconsidered.
See the BBC press release here.

Radio-Lists Home Now on BBC 4 Contact

RADIO-LISTS: BBC FOUR
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC 4 — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/



SATURDAY 22 JANUARY 2022

SAT 19:00 Around the World in 80 Treasures (b00qg8jb)
Series 1 Shorts

Mali - Dogon Art

Dan Cruickshank visits the Dogon people and sees some masks and wall paintings.


SAT 19:10 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06rfl46)
Rogues Gallery

Few figures in British history have captured the popular imagination as much as the outlaw. From gentleman highwaymen, via swashbuckling pirates to elusive urban thieves and rogues, the brazen escapades and the flamboyance of the outlaw made them the anti-hero of their time - feared by the rich, admired by the poor and celebrated by writers and artists.

In this three-part series, historian Dr Sam Willis travels the open roads, the high seas and urban alleyways to explore Britain's 17th and 18th-century underworld of highwaymen, pirates and rogues, bringing the great age of the British outlaw vividly to life.

Sam shows that, far from being 'outsiders', outlaws were very much a product of their time, shaped by powerful national events. In each episode, he focuses not just on a particular type of outlaw, but a particular era. The series as a whole offers a chronological portrait of the changing face of crime in the 17th and 18th centuries.

In the final episode, Sam looks at urban crime, fraud and corruption in the 18th century, uncovering a fascinating rogues’ gallery of charmers, fraudsters and villains. Charmers like thief and serial escaper Jack Sheppard, so notorious that almost a quarter of a million people turned up to witness his hanging. Almost as controversial in her lifetime was Mary Toft, a fraudster who managed to convince no less than King George I and his surgeon that she had given birth to rabbits, making her, perhaps, the original 'con' artist.


SAT 20:10 Around the World in 80 Days (b007894l)
Ancient Mariners

Michael Palin and his film crew continue their journey in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg. They drive right across Arabia in only 40 hours to make up for lost time. In Dubai they hitch a lift on a very primitive sailing boat and come close to danger in the Strait of Hormuz when the engine fails and they drift among the mines sown during the Iran-Iraq war.


SAT 21:00 Hidden Assets (p0b9ns6c)
Series 1

Episode 3

Emer has Fionn Brannigan firmly in her sights. As the net closes in around him, Bibi is feeling the pressure too. Especially when her wayward brother reaches out for help.

In English and Flemish with English subtitles.


SAT 21:55 Hidden Assets (p0b9nslc)
Series 1

Episode 4

Emer's in Antwerp to help search for Fionn Brannigan. It looks like she and Christian have hit a dead end until a forensics breakthrough changes everything.

In English and Flemish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:45 Parkinson (m0013xz5)
Parkinson Meets Michael Crawford

Chat show hosted by Michael Parkinson with special guest Michael Crawford, looking at his life and career. Michael performs Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera.


SAT 23:45 Africa's Great Civilisations (b0b6tp5l)
Series 1

Empires of Gold

The award-winning film-maker and academic Henry Louis Gates Jr travels the length and breadth of Africa to explore the continent's epic history.

Empires of Gold marks an era of great commercial and manufacturing growth throughout several of the continent's regions. Beginning with the revolutionary transformation of north and west Africa, Gates travels to the shores of the Sahara Desert, where farmers, traders, warriors and nomads have turned the region into the crossroads of some of history's most advanced and wealthiest civilisations.


SAT 00:35 Africa's Great Civilisations (b0b873nn)
Series 1

Cities

The award-winning film-maker and academic Henry Louis Gates Jr travels the length and breadth of Africa to explore the continent's epic history.

This episode shines a light on the powerful, cosmopolitan cities that dotted Africa at the time when Europe was in its Middle Ages. From 1000 to 1600, commerce, wealth and prosperity expanded across Africa, building new cities and founding new powerful states that mark this golden age.


SAT 01:30 Around the World in 80 Days (b007894l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:10 today]


SAT 02:20 Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues (b06rfl46)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:10 today]



SUNDAY 23 JANUARY 2022

SUN 19:00 Danceworks (m000jjjn)
Series 2

Ballet Black: The Waiting Game

London’s Ballet Black is a professional dance company bringing ballet to a more diverse audience by promoting dancers of black and Asian descent. The company made headlines in 2019 when it performed during Stormzy’s bravura Glastonbury set.

This film explores the work of artistic director Cassa Pancho as she nurtures aspiring young dancers and gains recognition for her company’s collaborations with world-class choreographers. It also follows the creative process of South African dancer and choreographer Mthuthuzeli November as he creates a dynamic new ballet inspired in equal measure by Samuel Beckett’s seminal Waiting for Godot and African rhythms and language.


SUN 19:30 This Cultural Life (m0013v96)
Series 1

Carlos Acosta

Cuban ballet star Carlos Acosta talks to John Wilson about some of the key moments of his cultural life.

He discusses the influence of his father, his early love of breakdancing on the streets of Havana and the devastating effects on life in Cuba of the collapse of communist regimes around the world. He also recalls his breakthrough moment – winning the prestigious Prix de Lausanne ballet competition at the age of 16 – and becoming the first Black principal dancer of the Royal Ballet in London.

This Cultural Life is a BBC Radio 4 podcast.


SUN 20:00 Ballrooms and Ballerinas: Dance at the BBC (b06sg7zj)
Strictly Come Dancing - today one of the most popular shows on television - is the latest manifestation of the BBC's enduring love affair with dance. Whether it was profiling stars such as Margot Fonteyn, reluctantly teaching us how to do the twist or encouraging us to dance like John Travolta, the BBC's cameras were there to capture every move and every step. From ballet to ballroom and beyond, this is Dance at the BBC.


SUN 21:00 The Royal Ballet: The Dante Project (m0013v98)
Wayne McGregor’s groundbreaking new work The Dante Project from the Royal Opera House.

This reimagining of The Divine Comedy showcases the full Royal Ballet Company, as we follow Dante on his epic journey through three realms: Hell (Inferno: Pilgrim), Purgatory (Purgatorio: Love) and the Afterlife (Paradiso: Poema Sacro). Along the way, the poet encounters characters such as Ulysses, Virgil, Satan and adulterous lovers Paolo and Francesca.

This exciting new piece crosses boundaries between abstract and narrative dance, combining poetry and performance in one innovative fusion. With a new virtuoso score by composer Thomas Adès, the stage is brought to life with designs by Tacita Dean and lighting designers Lucy Carter and Simon Bennison. Dramaturg Uzma Hameed completes the creative team that illuminates the extraordinary vision of Dante.

This performance is conducted by the musical director of the Royal Ballet, Koen Kessels, and stars Edward Watson as Dante in his final principal role with the company.


SUN 22:50 Betroffenheit from Sadler's Wells (b08q8dv1)
Created by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young, the award-winning Betroffenheit is a boundary-stretching hybrid of theatre and dance that explores the psychological states of trauma, grief and addiction. The title of the piece is a German word that simply translated means shock, bewilderment, dismay and is based on Young's own experience - his teenage daughter, niece and nephew died in a fire whilst on a family holiday in 2009.

Combining tap, salsa, spoken word, song and puppetry with Pite's emotionally charged choreography, Betroffenheit is an ambitious yet witty and tender-hearted exploration of disconnection, isolation and what it means to come to terms with such a tragedy. Described as both raw and riveting, this genre-busting dance-theatre hybrid was the dance critics' top pick of 2016, and won the 2017 Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production. Jonathon Young was also deservedly awarded Outstanding Performance in Modern Dance at the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards. Betroffenheit was recorded during its sold-out performances at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London in April 2017.


SUN 00:40 Dancing Nation (m000w06v)
Highlights

Highlights of Dancing Nation, a celebration of world-class dance featuring performances by many of the UK’s leading dance companies and exciting new talent.

As part of BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine, Dancing Nation was a unique festival curated and hosted in lockdown by Sadler’s Wells, London – one of the world’s foremost dance houses.

Brenda Emmanus presents highlights from the festival, including many newly filmed performances. The performances from the theatre’s main stage include Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures’ seminal 1988 work Spitfire, Candoco Dance Company’s ode to intimacy and imagination, choreographed by Yasmeen Godder, dance royalty Akram Khan and Natalia Osipova, together for the first time in Mud of Sorrow: Touch, and Far From The Norm’s award-winning BLKDOG, choreographed by Botis Seva.

Window Shopping, a brand new work from hip-hop dance powerhouse Breakin’ Convention, led by their artistic director Jonzi D, and Sphera, by breakthrough dance company Humanhood, both break away from the main stage and feature Sadler’s Wells’s architecture, while the streets of Belfast play host to choreographer Oona Doherty’s Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus.

The events of the past year feature in performances from dance companies around the UK. Choreographer Kenneth Tindall and Northern Ballet bring us a poignant new work, States of Mind, Birmingham Royal Ballet perform Lazuli Sky, choreographed by Will Tuckett, and Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement take centre stage in Anthony and Kel Matsena’s searing Shades of Blue.

Also included are extracts from existing filmed performances by hip-hop pioneers Boy Blue and an explosive debut collaboration by world-renowned Rambert and French choreographer Marion Motin.


SUN 01:40 This Cultural Life (m0013v96)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


SUN 02:10 Ballrooms and Ballerinas: Dance at the BBC (b06sg7zj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]



MONDAY 24 JANUARY 2022

MON 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000w21r)
Series 12

Bangor to Betws-y-Coed

Michael Portillo continues his 1936 Bradshaw’s-inspired railway tour of north Wales in the coastal city of Bangor before turning south from Llandudno Junction to travel the Conwy Valley line to Betws-y-Coed, the gateway to Snowdonia.

At Bangor Station, Michael hears how, when war broke out in September 1939, 2,000 children from the cities of northern England were evacuated by train to north Wales. Michael learns that while children’s lives were turned upside down by Operation Pied Piper, many evacuees would look back fondly on their days in rural Wales.

Heading inland alongside the River Conwy, Michael reaches Tal-y-Cafn, where he alights to visit the magnificent Bodnant Garden. Here, during the interwar era, a partnership flourished between the owner, Lord Aberconway, and his gifted head gardener, Frederick Puddle. Michael searches for lost rhododendron varieties with a metal detector!

At Dolgarrog, Michael investigates the worst dam disaster in Welsh history, which devastated the small community in 1925. On the memorial trail to the 16 people who lost their lives, Michael hears how the tragedy unfolded.

There's Welsh rarebit for lunch in Betws-y-Coed to fuel our intrepid traveller before he attempts to climb one of Snowdonia’s lesser peaks under the watchful eye of an expert from the first national climbing club exclusively for women, the Pinnacle Club, founded in 1921.


MON 19:30 Fred Dibnah's Magnificent Monuments (b0074mcv)
Bridges and Tunnels

Fred Dibnah looks at some of the great achievements in civil engineering, from the earliest wrought iron suspension bridge to the Channel Tunnel.


MON 20:00 The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution (b012xqyp)
The Great Outdoors

Waldemar Januszczak continues his investigation of the Impressionists by taking us outdoors to their most famous locations. Although Impressionist pictures often look sunny and relaxed, achieving this peaceful air was hard work. Trudging through fog, wind and rain, across treacherous coastal rocks and knee-deep snow, Waldemar shows how the famous spontaneity of the Impressionists is thoroughly misleading.

This episode visits the French riverside locations that Monet loved to paint, and where Renoir captured the bonhomie of modern life. Waldemar also introduces a number of technical and practical developments of the age which completely revolutionised Impressionist painting - the invention of portable easels; the use of hog's hair in paint brushes; as well as the introduction of the railway through France. And a scientific demonstration in a Swedish snowdrift explains just how right the Impressionists were to paint brightly coloured shadows in their winter scenes, despite being accused of 'hallucinating' at the time.

Finally, Januszczak explains Cezanne's part in the Impressionist story from his dark and challenging early work to his first rural landscapes in France, and then his departure from Paris and separation from the Impressionist gang.


MON 21:00 Art on the BBC (m0013vd0)
Series 2

Turner - Light and Landscape

Art historian Leslie Primo examines six decades of BBC archive to explore what makes JMW Turner such a beloved name in British art. Almost everyone has good things to say about Turner - after all, he’s responsible for some of Britain’s greatest artistic treasures, like The Fighting Temeraire, and Rain, Steam and Speed. But exactly what makes him great is where opinions can differ.

Leslie discovers the TV art historians behind each theory. Was Turner great because he reinvented landscape painting, because he was a radical whose work marked the beginning of modern painting, or because he captured the extraordinary march of the industrial revolution? Through the archives, Leslie meets Fiona Bruce, Simon Schama, Andrew Graham-Dixon and Kenneth Clarke.

Leslie also finds that the disputed nature of Turner’s brilliance has made for some entertaining film-making, from a frock-coat- and powdered-wig-loaded reconstruction of his humble origins as the son of a barber in London’s Covent Garden, to modern art historian Tim Marlow lashing himself to a mast in the middle of a choppy ocean to recreate Turner’s inspiration for Fishermen at Sea.

Even if you think you know Turner, the programme reveals fascinating surprises about the complex man behind some of Britain’s most revered works of art.


MON 22:00 Turner: The Man Who Painted Britain (m000xnyh)
While Joseph Mallord William Turner is considered by many to be Britain's greatest landscape painter, his private life reveals a man of extremes and contradictions. This docudrama explores the extraordinary story of a brilliant self-made man.


MON 23:00 Storyville (b0b9zrhb)
The Ice King: John Curry

One of the greatest ice skaters of all time, John Curry transformed a dated sport into an art form and made history by becoming the first openly gay Olympian in a time when homosexuality was not fully legal.

Directed by James Erskine, this is a searing documentary about a lost cultural icon - a story of art, sport, sexuality and rebellion. Featuring incredible unseen footage of some of Curry's most remarkable performances and with access to his letters, archive interviews, and interviews with his family, friends and collaborators, this is a portrait of the man who turned ice skating from a dated sport into an exalted art form.


MON 00:25 Great British Railway Journeys (m000w21r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 00:55 Fred Dibnah's Magnificent Monuments (b0074mcv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 01:25 The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution (b012xqyp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


MON 02:25 Art on the BBC (m0013vd0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 25 JANUARY 2022

TUE 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000w22r)
Series 12

Blaenau Ffestiniog to Barmouth

In the Welsh mountains of Snowdonia, Michael Portillo reaches an abandoned mine, where in 1940 the wartime government sought sanctuary for the National Gallery’s priceless art collection. Michael hears how, as invasion appeared imminent, great masterpieces were transported by train and lorry to be stored hundreds of feet beneath the ground in a natural granite bunker.

At Tan y Bwlch, Michael meets 'Blanche', who used to haul slate at Penrhyn quarry and was built in 1893. Now beautifully restored, she takes Michael on a memorable ride on the oldest narrow-gauge line in the world, the Ffestiniog Railway.

In the harbour town of Porthmadog, Michael investigates the Welsh origins of a man forever associated with the Middle East, Lawrence of Arabia.

On the Welsh coast at Portmeirion, Michael discovers a fantasy village, begun in 1925 by architect Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis. The unique folly with its colour-washed buildings and palm-lined central square is set in 85 acres of ornamental gardens. It became a favoured destination for the rich and found lasting fame in cult television series The Prisoner. Michael finds himself pursued by a large balloon and sucked into a game of human chess.

Further south at Barmouth, Michael encounters a different group of holidaymakers also drawn to the Welsh coast. Trainee Jesuits, members of the largest male order of the Roman Catholic Church, flocked to Barmouth during the interwar years to take a break from their strict regime of studies. Michael meets two present-day scholastics.


TUE 19:30 Fred Dibnah's Magnificent Monuments (b0074md3)
Pleasure Palaces

Steeplejack Fred Dibnah tours Britain admiring some of its engineering marvels.

This edition focuses on structures that have been built for arts, leisure and entertainment purposes, including the Globe Theatre, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Blackpool Tower.


TUE 20:00 Keeping Up Appearances (b007b7ty)
Series 2

Driving Mrs Fortescue

After listening to Emmet's piano playing from her garden, stopping a passer-by to listen with her and rebuking Liz for collecting milk in her dressing gown, Hyacinth recieves a phone call from Mrs Fortescue asking for a lift into town.


TUE 20:30 Yes, Prime Minister (b03sblbn)
Series 1

The Ministerial Broadcast

Hacker prepares to make his first broadcast as prime minister, announcing his grand new defence policy, but finds it is not so easy to speak on camera.


TUE 21:00 Maya Angelou on Robert Burns (m0013vcs)
African American writer and poet Maya Angelou goes on a pilgrimage to Burns Country in Scotland.

She is welcomed to Ayrshire by a group of Burnsians who hold a party in her honour to celebrate Rabbie Burns's genius. They sing his songs and read his poems, while Angelou, in return, performs one of her own works.

Originally broadcast to commemorate the bicentenary of Burns's death in 1996, it is an evening where a shared passion for the Scottish bard creates a unique atmosphere.


TUE 21:50 Inside the Mind of Robert Burns (m000dnsf)
Writer Alan Bissett explores the complex brain of Robert Burns in a quest to discover the real man behind the myths and reveal the conflicts in his life and work.

Burns was a poetic genius, but full of contradictions. He was a lover of women, and an exploiter of them; a Republican firebrand, and a social-climbing government excise man; an advocate of freedom who almost became a Caribbean slave master. Alan examines the groundbreaking research that suggests that the poet suffered from bi-polar disorder, a condition that led him to have severe mood swings.

One of Burns’ most famous poems, Tam O’Shanter, is now being interpreted as a journey through his abnormally high and low moods – literally facing his demons. And Cutty Sark was inspired by his sexual relationship with a Dumfries barmaid, not his long-suffering wife Jean Armour.

Alan’s expert contributors are Scotland’s current Makar (national poet) Jackie Kay, poet and Burns biographer Robert Crawford, literary scholars Gerard Carruthers, Moira Hansen and Pauline MacKay, social historian Katie Barclay and science historian Elaine Thomson. They tackle the
conundrums of Burns’ life and personality - his rocky relationships with women, his strange attitude to slavery and how he hid his radical leanings in dangerous times.

The documentary is interwoven with performances from The Burns Cabaret, in which Alan, singer Robyn Stapleton and actor Andrew Rothney highlight some of Burns’ most revealing work in front of a live audience. Classics such as Ae Fond Kiss and A Man’s A Man for A’ That share the stage with a less well-known version of Green Grow the Rashes and the political satire When Princes and Prelates - racy and obscene songs contained in The Merry Muses of Caledonia - Burns’s gift to a rakish gentlemen’s club.


TUE 22:50 India's Frontier Railways (b0555xgw)
The Maitree Express

Filmed during the holy month of Ramadan, this is a journey from India into Bangladesh on a train that reunites the region of Bengal. Partitioned in 1947, Bengal was divided in half, creating East Pakistan - a satellite state ruled by Pakistan. It was an unwelcome occupation. In 1971, they fought a war of independence and East Pakistan became the People's Republic of Bangladesh. 37 years later, the first train ran between India and Bangladesh - the Maitree Express. Maitree means friendship.

It takes 12 hours to make the 392km journey from Kolkata to Dhaka, and staffing on the train is almost the same on both sides of the border. They speak the same language, share a history and all love fish.

Amirul, once a freedom fighter in the war of independence, now plays announcements and religious tapes on the Maitree. Aalo supports his family by selling chocolates on the train, but has a problem with the 30-degree heat. Sixteen-year-old Abdullah ran away from home and a madrasa. Now he sells papers on Dhaka's trains and platforms, hoping for a brighter future. Gautam Bannerjee is a guard on the Maitree and a respected astrologer. Can his calculations foretell the future? Urmi Rahman, a writer, was born in Bangladesh, married an Indian and lives in Kolkata, but she is very clear about her identity. Krishendu Basu is happy with his life. Not only a guard, he is also a tabla player, photographer and self-confessed foodie. But music is his passion.

These stories of people who work, travel or depend on the Maitree Express take us on a journey through history, sharing their hopes, needs and desires - on India's frontier railways.


TUE 23:50 India: Nature's Wonderland (p02z83jc)
Episode 1

Wildlife expert Liz Bonnin, actor Freida Pinto and mountaineer Jon Gupta reveal the hidden wonders of India's surprising natural world. This is a land where the tea comes with added elephants, gibbons sing to greet the morning, tigers dance and lions roam.


TUE 00:50 India: Nature's Wonderland (b06b3klq)
Episode 2

The hidden wonders of India's spectacular natural world are revealed by wildlife expert Liz Bonnin, actress Freida Pinto and mountaineer Jon Gupta.

Experience a village of birds, masks that come alive, the world's greatest mountain range and baby turtles erupting out of the sand.

This is truly a land like no other.


TUE 01:50 Great British Railway Journeys (m000w22r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 02:20 Fred Dibnah's Magnificent Monuments (b0074md3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:50 Maya Angelou on Robert Burns (m0013vcs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 26 JANUARY 2022

WED 19:00 Great British Railway Journeys (m000w24q)
Series 12

Aberystwyth to Newtown

Armed with his 1930s Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael travels from Aberystwyth into the Cambrian Mountains at Devil’s Bridge and finishes in Newtown, Powys.

In the elegant coastal town of Aberystwyth, Michael visits the National Library of Wales, set high on a hill with views over Cardigan Bay. Michael hears how the idea of a repository for works in the Welsh language and an institution in which to preserve Welsh culture took shape and culminated, in 1937, in this prestigious institution. Michael is fascinated to see William Morgan’s Welsh translation of the Bible, published in 1588.

An unforgettable excursion on the Vale of Rheidol Railway takes Michael on a steep climb to Devil’s Bridge, past spectacular waterfalls and wooded hillsides.

Close by, in the Bwlch Nant yr Arian Forest, Michael heads for a lake, where magnificent birds of prey come to feed. At the time of his Bradshaw’s Guide, the red kite was close to extinction. But Wales’s favourite bird now thrives, and in order to keep it that way, astonishing numbers are fed here daily. Michael dares to lend a hand.

High above Aberystwyth, Michael heads for a hilltop, where during the 1930s, amazing discoveries were made. At Pen Dinas, a young professor from Aberystwyth University dug deep below Roman remains and found an iron age settlement. Michael learns how archaeological methods have changed today.

Michael’s 250-mile tour of north Wales draws to a close in style at the birthplace of the nation’s first classical music festival, Gregynog Hall, near Newtown. Michael is intrigued to discover that its founders, sisters Gwendoline and Margaret Davies, used the fortune they inherited from their grandfather, a noted Welsh railway builder, to establish the country estate as a centre for art and music from 1933. In the glorious music room, a Welsh harpist helps to evoke the spirit of festivals past and present.


WED 19:30 Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain (b0074n9f)
Mighty Cathedrals

Fred takes a look at the 11th-century building programme undertaken by the Normans which resulted in mighty fortress cathedrals like Ely and Peterborough.

At Peterborough Cathedral, Fred reveals the secret weapon the Norman builders had at their disposal - the stone arch - and demonstrates just how the early stonemasons constructed them. At Ely, Fred climbs high up inside the building to examine the alterations and additions made by later builders. Inspecting this construction masterpiece sees Fred scaling rooftop ladders to examine the incredible octagonal lantern built in the 14th century, an amazing feat of early engineering. Fred also has the lowdown on exactly how this feat was accomplished.

Fred's final destination is Rochester, this time to examine a Norman castle rather than a cathedral. Here, he demonstrates how the tactics used all those centuries ago by attackers to try and destroy tall towers bear a startling resemblance to the way he used to pull down tall buildings.


WED 20:00 New Zealand: Earth's Mythical Islands (b07n2hmt)
New Arrivals

New Zealand was one of the last land masses to be found and settled by people. Lush and fertile, almost everything brought here flourishes, often with surprising consequences.

Told through the experiences of its native species - in particular, a charismatic and peculiar giant, flightless parrot - this is the moving story of the changing fortunes of New Zealand's wildlife since humans first arrived.


WED 21:00 The Man Who Saw Too Much (m000bqt9)
The Man Who Saw Too Much tells the story of 106-year-old Boris Pahor, believed to be the oldest known survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. He was sent to Dachau, Dora, Harzungen, Bergen-Belsen and Natzweiler – one of the Nazis' least known but most deadly camps. Twenty years after the war, Pahor wrote an extraordinary book about his experiences called Necropolis - City of the Dead.

Alan Yentob visits Boris Pahor at his home in Trieste, where he talks about his fight against fascism and the Nazis. Boris, a Slovenian, was born in the tolerant, cosmopolitan city of Trieste in 1913. After World War I, when it became part of Italy and Mussolini rose to power, fascists burned down the Slovene cultural centre, closed their schools and the speaking of Slovene in public was banned. During World War II, Boris fought with the Italian army until its surrender in 1943, when he returned to Trieste just before the Nazis took over the city. He joined the Slovene resistance but was betrayed and handed over to the Gestapo, and sent on to the camps. Natzweiler, where he was to stay the longest, is hidden in the mountains of Alsace. Nearly half of its 52,000 prisoners died through the effects of forced labour, malnutrition, illness and execution. The Nazis conducted medical experiments on prisoners and, on one occasion, 86 Jews were brought to the camp and executed to provide skeletons for a Nazi professor of anatomy’s collection. Natzweiler was the first concentration camp in western Europe to be discovered by the Allies – but the camp was empty, its prisoners has been taken to Dachau.

Pahor’s harrowing descriptions are illustrated with remarkable drawings by fellow prisoners, creating a unique record of conditions in the Nazi death camps. His testimony, along with details from a shocking report into the camp by British intelligence officer Captain Yurka Galitzine and the chilling testimony by SS commandant Josef Kramer, infamous as the Beast of Belsen, combine to tell an extraordinary story.


WED 22:00 Storyville (m0013vf3)
Final Account

A portrait of the last living generation of everyday people to participate in the Third Reich. Men and women ranging from former SS officers to children who grew up in Hitler’s Germany speak for the first time about their memories and perceptions of some of the greatest crimes in human history.


WED 23:30 Art on the BBC (m0013vd0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


WED 00:30 Great British Railway Journeys (m000w24q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 01:00 Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain (b0074n9f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 01:30 New Zealand: Earth's Mythical Islands (b07n2hmt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 02:30 The Man Who Saw Too Much (m000bqt9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 27 JANUARY 2022

THU 19:00 Railways: The Making of a Nation (b07x4f3t)
The Age of Leisure

The very idea of an excursion to distant places became popular from the 1840s onwards. People were taking day trips and seeing parts of the country they had never seen before. However, it wasn't all seaside and sand. Some excursion trains were set up to satisfy the public's demand to witness public executions. Other lines transported people to enjoy horse racing and sporting events. Thousands visited resorts, spa towns and the coast. A new wave of Victorian tourists spent their cash on holidays and visited hotels at stations and beyond. The ultimate experience was often to head to the hills and sample clean air, far away from industrial grime and pollution. Working-class northerners now had access to the Lake District. However, one particular Lakeland resident, William Wordsworth, was initially not so happy about the influx of this new type of visitor.


THU 19:30 Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain (b0074n9j)
The Art of Castle Building

Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain continues with the famous steeplejack investigating one of the greatest feats of royal engineering - the constuction of the great chain of castles on the coast of north Wales. Travelling to Harlech, Caernarfon and Beaumaris, Fred reveals the building techniques and revolutionary defensive features that helped Edward I subdue the rebellious Welsh. Fred also charts the achievements of the king's architect Master James of St Georges, a Frenchman who revolutionised castle design in England.


THU 20:00 Rancho Notorious (b0074mgn)
Unusual western about a young man hunting for the brutal killers of his fiancee. The only clue he has is the mysterious word 'Chuck-a-Luck' whispered by a dying victim. A rare foray into the genre for director Fritz Lang.


THU 21:25 Young Guns (m000rqbb)
Outlaw William H Bonney joins a group of young ranch hands working for the kindly Englishman John Tunstall, who has rehabilitated them all from a life of crime. When Tunstall is brutally murdered by a rival, the young friends set out to avenge him, becoming deputies to issue warrants for the arrest of his killers. But Bonney has other plans and leads them on a rampage of revenge until they are the hunted ones.


THU 23:10 How the Wild West Was Won with Ray Mears (b045nz9q)
Deserts

Ray Mears looks at how the landscapes of America's five great deserts challenged the westward push of the early pioneers.

As Ray travels through the cold high mountain Great Basin desert and the hot Sonoran desert of southern Arizona, he discovers how their hostile geography and rich geology shaped the stories of fortune hunting and lawlessness in the Wild West, and were the setting for the last wars between the US Army and the Apache warrior tribes.

Ray's journey begins in Monument Valley, whose dramatic desert landscape has become synonymous with the Wild West years. He explores how plants and animals survive in this waterless climate and how the Navajo Indian people adapted to the conditions. In Tucson, he meets up with desert coroners Bruce Anderson and Robin Reineke, who show him how the desert still kills people today.

He explores how the Apache adapted their warfare methods to the desert and how the US cavalry struggled in the hot arid landscape. In Tombstone, he gets to grips with the myths around lawmakers and lawlessness and how it flourished in the remote desert regions of the Old West. He discovers how this forbidding landscape was the perfect refuge for bandits and pursues the outlaw trail to Butch Cassidy's hideout at Robber's Roost. His journey ends with the story of Geronimo's surrender which marked the end of the Indian Wars, and of the Old West.


THU 00:10 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 01:10 Handmade in Africa (m000m7j4)
Series 1

Maasai Wedding Necklace

For the Maasai people of the Great Rift Valley, beaded jewellery is of great ceremonial significance. The Maasai are a semi-nomadic tribal group who inhabit much of Kenya and Tanzania. Many Maasai people continue to live traditional, pastoral lives. While the men tend to their cattle, Maasai women care for children, maintain the village buildings, and craft intricate, colourful beaded items. Necklaces, bracelets and headpieces are used in Maasai weddings and coming-of-age ceremonies, but they are also enormously popular with non-Maasai Kenyans and tourists. Over the past few decades, tourist interest in Maasai beads has allowed Maasai women to earn their own money for the first time.

This episode follows Jane Semanto, a master bead maker, as she crafts a traditional Maasai wedding necklace. Like many Maasai, Jane lives a modern life in Nairobi but retains a deep knowledge and reverence for her tribal heritage. The Maasai use beads to signify social and marital status. Colours also hold special importance, signifying elements of the Rift Valley landscape, as well as valued Maasai character traits such as bravery and friendship. During the film, Jane leaves her Nairobi studio to visit her Maasai friends who live a more traditional rural existence. We discover how, for them, bead making not only gives them an income and independence from their husbands, it also fosters a sense of female solidarity.


THU 01:40 Railways: The Making of a Nation (b07x4f3t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 02:10 Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain (b0074n9j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:40 Turner: The Man Who Painted Britain (m000xnyh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Monday]



FRIDAY 28 JANUARY 2022

FRI 19:00 Sounds of the Seventies (b0074t1m)
Shorts

Sweet, Slade and Mud

More fizzy nuggets of seventies pop from the BBC archive. Three giants of the seven-inch single perform Blockbuster, Mama Weer All Crazee Now and Tiger Feet.


FRI 19:10 The Shirley Bassey Show (m0013vgb)
Series 1

Episode 4

Shirley Bassey presents another show in her musical series, with guests Clive Westlake and Mel Tormé, and The Shirley Bassey Dancers, choreographed by Nigel Lythgoe.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m0013vgd)
Tony Dortie and Claudia Simon present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 12 March 1992 and featuring Gun, The Wedding Present, Toxic Two, Nirvana, Clivillés and Cole, Eric Clapton, Annie Lennox, Mr. Big, U2 and Shakespears Sister.


FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (m0013vgg)
Mark Franklin and Claudia Simon present the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 26 March 1992 and featuring Erasure, Annie Lennox, Vanessa Williams and Soul II Soul, Right Said Fred, Def Leppard, Shakespears Sister, The Cure, Hammer, Wet Wet Wet and Manic Street Preachers.


FRI 21:00 Mystify: Michael Hutchence (m000crsv)
A journey into the heart and soul of Michael Hutchence, internationally renowned lead-singer of INXS, a complex and shy man who spent the bulk of his life in the public eye, rarely revealing his true self to anyone except his very close friends.

Rare archive footage and intimate insights from friends, lovers, family, colleagues and Michael Hutchence himself, portray his life from the beginning of his fractured family background to the peaks of rock stardom and down into the depths after a freak accident in Copenhagen removed his sense of taste and smell and seriously affected his ability to deal with his unravelling personal and professional life.

A feature-length theatrical documentary written and directed by Richard Lowenstein, director of the majority of both INXS and Michael’s music videos and the 1986 feature film, Dogs in Space, in which Michael played the lead.


FRI 22:35 INXS: Live Baby Live (m000crsx)
Eagle Rock Films has fully restored INXS's classic concert film to present Live Baby Live in HD and 4K for the first time ever.

On 13 July 1991, INXS were filmed in concert at Wembley Stadium, London, performing one of the most stunning concerts ever by one of the world’s greatest rock and roll bands to a sold-out, heaving mass of 72,000 fans. The Wembley concert was the last of a 12-month worldwide run of dates on the band's record-breaking X-Factor Tour, and those there on the day witnessed a band at the absolute peak of their powers. This electrifying concert was directed by David Mallet (AC/DC, U2, Madonna), and it featured classic anthems New Sensation, Mystify and Need You Tonight.


FRI 23:35 Australian Hits at the BBC (m000mts7)
A look back at a wide-ranging selection of the top songs performed by the music acts that came here from the Land Down Under, and the appearances on a selection of BBC shows that saw them get a grip on the UK charts.

Over the decades, those bringing a bit of Australian sunshine and spirit to British screens have included Aussie pop pioneers The Easybeats, rock legends AC/DC, and the new sensations who became one of the nation’s most successful acts of all time, INXS.

Also featured are groundbreaking Aborigine band Yothu Yindi and a true giant of the Australian music scene, John Farnham, whose hit You’re the Voice has achieved almost national anthem status. A selection of songs from the 80s, 90s and noughties will have you singing along to Love Is in the Air, blushing to ‘I Touch Myself’ and stepping back in time with Kylie and Jason, Kylie and Nick Cave and, of course, some classic solo Kylie too.


FRI 00:35 Top of the Pops (m000kxky)
Kylie Minogue

A compilation of classic Kylie performances from the Top of the Pops studio.


FRI 01:05 Top of the Pops (m0013vgd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 01:35 Top of the Pops (m0013vgg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


FRI 02:05 The Shirley Bassey Show (m0013vgb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:10 today]


FRI 02:55 Sounds of the Seventies (b0074t1m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]




LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)

Africa's Great Civilisations 23:45 SAT (b0b6tp5l)

Africa's Great Civilisations 00:35 SAT (b0b873nn)

Around the World in 80 Days 20:10 SAT (b007894l)

Around the World in 80 Days 01:30 SAT (b007894l)

Around the World in 80 Treasures 19:00 SAT (b00qg8jb)

Art on the BBC 21:00 MON (m0013vd0)

Art on the BBC 02:25 MON (m0013vd0)

Art on the BBC 23:30 WED (m0013vd0)

Australian Hits at the BBC 23:35 FRI (m000mts7)

Ballrooms and Ballerinas: Dance at the BBC 20:00 SUN (b06sg7zj)

Ballrooms and Ballerinas: Dance at the BBC 02:10 SUN (b06sg7zj)

Betroffenheit from Sadler's Wells 22:50 SUN (b08q8dv1)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 19:10 SAT (b06rfl46)

Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues 02:20 SAT (b06rfl46)

Danceworks 19:00 SUN (m000jjjn)

Dancing Nation 00:40 SUN (m000w06v)

Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain 19:30 WED (b0074n9f)

Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain 01:00 WED (b0074n9f)

Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain 19:30 THU (b0074n9j)

Fred Dibnah's Building of Britain 02:10 THU (b0074n9j)

Fred Dibnah's Magnificent Monuments 19:30 MON (b0074mcv)

Fred Dibnah's Magnificent Monuments 00:55 MON (b0074mcv)

Fred Dibnah's Magnificent Monuments 19:30 TUE (b0074md3)

Fred Dibnah's Magnificent Monuments 02:20 TUE (b0074md3)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:00 MON (m000w21r)

Great British Railway Journeys 00:25 MON (m000w21r)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:00 TUE (m000w22r)

Great British Railway Journeys 01:50 TUE (m000w22r)

Great British Railway Journeys 19:00 WED (m000w24q)

Great British Railway Journeys 00:30 WED (m000w24q)

Handmade in Africa 01:10 THU (m000m7j4)

Hidden Assets 21:00 SAT (p0b9ns6c)

Hidden Assets 21:55 SAT (p0b9nslc)

How the Wild West Was Won with Ray Mears 23:10 THU (b045nz9q)

INXS: Live Baby Live 22:35 FRI (m000crsx)

India's Frontier Railways 22:50 TUE (b0555xgw)

India: Nature's Wonderland 23:50 TUE (p02z83jc)

India: Nature's Wonderland 00:50 TUE (b06b3klq)

Inside Cinema 00:10 THU (m000f8xm)

Inside the Mind of Robert Burns 21:50 TUE (m000dnsf)

Keeping Up Appearances 20:00 TUE (b007b7ty)

Maya Angelou on Robert Burns 21:00 TUE (m0013vcs)

Maya Angelou on Robert Burns 02:50 TUE (m0013vcs)

Mystify: Michael Hutchence 21:00 FRI (m000crsv)

New Zealand: Earth's Mythical Islands 20:00 WED (b07n2hmt)

New Zealand: Earth's Mythical Islands 01:30 WED (b07n2hmt)

Parkinson 22:45 SAT (m0013xz5)

Railways: The Making of a Nation 19:00 THU (b07x4f3t)

Railways: The Making of a Nation 01:40 THU (b07x4f3t)

Rancho Notorious 20:00 THU (b0074mgn)

Sounds of the Seventies 19:00 FRI (b0074t1m)

Sounds of the Seventies 02:55 FRI (b0074t1m)

Storyville 23:00 MON (b0b9zrhb)

Storyville 22:00 WED (m0013vf3)

The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution 20:00 MON (b012xqyp)

The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution 01:25 MON (b012xqyp)

The Man Who Saw Too Much 21:00 WED (m000bqt9)

The Man Who Saw Too Much 02:30 WED (m000bqt9)

The Royal Ballet: The Dante Project 21:00 SUN (m0013v98)

The Shirley Bassey Show 19:10 FRI (m0013vgb)

The Shirley Bassey Show 02:05 FRI (m0013vgb)

This Cultural Life 19:30 SUN (m0013v96)

This Cultural Life 01:40 SUN (m0013v96)

Top of the Pops 20:00 FRI (m0013vgd)

Top of the Pops 20:30 FRI (m0013vgg)

Top of the Pops 00:35 FRI (m000kxky)

Top of the Pops 01:05 FRI (m0013vgd)

Top of the Pops 01:35 FRI (m0013vgg)

Turner: The Man Who Painted Britain 22:00 MON (m000xnyh)

Turner: The Man Who Painted Britain 02:40 THU (m000xnyh)

Yes, Prime Minister 20:30 TUE (b03sblbn)

Young Guns 21:25 THU (m000rqbb)