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 23 APRIL 2022

SAT 19:00 A History of Ancient Britain (b00ysr2l)
Series 1

Age of Ancestors

Neil Oliver continues the story of how today's Britain and its people were forged over thousands of years of ancient history. It's 4,000 BC and the first farmers arrive from Europe, with seismic consequences for the local hunter-gatherers.


SAT 20:00 Rick Stein's Long Weekends (b07bpc4c)
Vienna

This week, Rick Stein visits Vienna - the city that once ran the Austro-Hungarian Empire and continues to be home to comfort dishes like tafelspitz and goulash and which gave its name to one of Europe's most popular dishes - the wiener schnitzel. It even produces its own unique white wine produced in vineyards overlooking the city's imperial architecture.

Whilst enjoying the sights and sounds of the hometown to Klimt and Freud and the rather eccentric architecture of Hundertwasser, Rick also learns the essential etiquette to its coffee house culture and indulges in the city's sweet tooth by enjoying a plate or two of apple strudel and sacher torte. And no visit to Vienna would be complete without a concert of Mozart or Strauss, whose music was undeniably inspired by this unforgettable city.


SAT 21:00 Hidden (p0btbtzg)
Series 3

Episode 6

After a property search, the police find clues to a location that might provide answers to the murders. Cadi races to prevent another tragedy occurring, and finally the sad truth emerges.


SAT 22:00 Hidden Wales with Will Millard (m0001jfv)
Series 1

Episode 3

In this three part series, writer and adventurer Will Millard discovers the hidden history of Wales by exploring forgotten, secret and almost inaccessible locations that show the country as you’ve never seen it before.

On an intriguing, exhilarating and sometimes dangerous journey, Hidden Wales with Will Millard offers unprecedented access to places you rarely get to see. Starting in the north and working his way south, over three episodes Will reveals natural wonders and secret stories hidden in the landscape. These include abandoned industrial relics and ruined stately homes that have been lost to history as well as modern marvels of engineering that show what the country might become.

In this final episode, Will completes his tour around Wales in the south of the country. From the resting place of early man to a lost mediaeval city, and from a forgotten prisoner of war camp to an abandoned coke works, Will uncovers historical gems that reveal parts of South Wales you never knew existed.

It could also be your last chance to see some of the Welsh history that is vanishing right in front of us.


SAT 23:00 Wogan: The Best Of (b05p6ckc)
Unusual

Sir Terry Wogan remembers more standout moments from his time in the hotseat on the Wogan show. In this episode, the memorable mix includes Quentin Crisp, Fanny Craddock, a rare encounter with media mogul Rupert Murdoch, sharp words between writers Jackie Collins and Barbara Cartland, and song and conversation with the Three Tenors - Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo.


SAT 23:45 The Many Faces of... (b018nvwc)
Series 1

Les Dawson

Les Dawson was one of Britain's all time great comedy talents, best known as a comedian but also a talented musician, writer and actor. This programme traces his career, with familiar favourite TV clips and some rare gems from the archives. Together with interviews from friends, relatives and colleagues, the programme unpicks the secrets of his enduring legacy nearly 20 years after his untimely death.

After 'discovery' on the Opportunity Knocks talent show in the 60s, he quickly became a regular face on TV, hosting comedy-led variety shows like Sez Les and The Les Dawson Show. His trademarks were short, pithy jokes, usually targeting his wife or mother in law, long verbose monologues and, perhaps most famously, piano recitals that went hilariously off key.

His reputation attracted guest appearances from some unexpected fans like John Cleese and Shirley Bassey, and he created an overweight dance troupe, The Roly Polys.

The programme shows how his career unfolded and illustrates the different facets of his comedy genius. John Cleese remembers their unlikely friendship, modern comedy stars Robert Webb and Russell Kane talk about his inspiration and Dawson's widow Tracy recalls their marriage and his joy at being a father late in life.


SAT 00:45 The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney (p01t6p8s)
Episode 1

Martha Kearney's year gets off to a bad start when unseasonal snow in spring threatens to kill the bee colonies she keeps in her garden in Suffolk. With help from a master beekeeper Martha feeds her bees and takes one of the hives to a wildflower meadow at a neighbour's house along with two brand new hives.

She discovers the intricate hierarchy within the bee colony and learns how the organisation of the hive has become a metaphor for human society. At a London school she learns the secrets of urban bees' success even while bees in the country as a whole are in decline. The episode ends with three new hives established on a wildflower meadow, ready to start producing classic British wildflower honey.


SAT 01:15 Rick Stein's Long Weekends (b07bpc4c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 02:15 A History of Ancient Britain (b00ysr2l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



SUNDAY 24 APRIL 2022

SUN 19:00 BBC Young Dancer (m0016sm8)
2022

Episode 2

This week, the ten dancers selected at the auditions arrive in Dartington, Devon, for a week-long intensive dance academy. Awaiting them are Clara Amfo and the BBC Young Dancer team, which includes some of the best professional dancers and choreographers in the business. With time at a premium, the dancers will be under pressure as they are put through their paces in preparation for the Grand Final. As well as working on their solos, they also have brand new choreography to learn. And there is a surprise challenge in store for them too. Who will have what it takes to shine through?

The BBC Young Dancer team will expect dedication and commitment. They are:

Dancer, choreographer and multi-discipline artist Ivan Blackstock

Australian-born street dancer and freestyler Gianna Gi, in demand as a choreographer and movement director

Award-winning dancer, choreographer and artistic director Dickson MBI

Bharatanatyam and contemporary dancer and choreographer Seeta Patel

Former principal ballerina with the English National Ballet, Begoña Cao

Dancer, choreographer and designer Theo Clinkard

Movement director and choreographer Ingrid Mackinnon

Dancer and choreographer Ricky Jinks

BBC Young Dancer’s artistic director Emma Gladstone OBE, former chief executive and artistic director of Dance Umbrella – London’s international dance festival

Between them they bring a wealth of experience to the academy.


SUN 20:00 The Royal Ballet: Swan Lake (m0001qzc)
The Royal Ballet perform Tchaikovsky’s magnificent classical ballet in a 2018 production by brilliant young choreographer Liam Scarlett, with sumptuous and evocative designs by John Macfarlane.

The Royal Ballet’s production of this iconic classic – the first in over 30 years at Covent Garden – garnered five-star reviews when it opened in May 2018. Starring the Argentinian ballerina Marianela Núñez in the hugely challenging dual role of Odette/Odile, with Vadim Muntagirov as Prince Siegfried, the ballet is a showcase for the whole company, who dazzle in full royal finery during the ball at the palace and in delicate feathered tutus as flocks of swans in the unforgettable scenes at the moonlit lake.

Prince Siegfried chances upon a flock of swans while out hunting. When one of the swans turns into a beautiful woman, Odette, he is enraptured. But she is under a spell that holds her captive, allowing her to regain her human form only at night. Siegfried holds the power to break the curse
with a promise of true love – but the evil von Rothbart disguises his daughter Odile as Odette to trick Siegfried into breaking his vow.


SUN 22:20 Brothers in Dance: Anthony and Kel Matsena (m0016smb)
The uplifting story of Swansea-based Anthony and Kel Matsena, whose work is gaining them a growing reputation, putting them at the forefront of the next generation UK dance.

Born in Zimbabwe, the brothers moved to Wales as children when their parents made the life-changing decision to leave their homeland in search of a better life. This film tells the brothers' remarkable story as they begin rehearsals for a major new theatre work inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, which premieres at Sadler’s Wells this spring. From family tragedy to euphoric appearances on Britain’s Got Talent, the fun-loving duo retrace their steps, visiting the people and places of Wales that helped shape them into the artists they are today.


SUN 23:20 Darcey Bussell: Dancing to Happiness (b0btt5n1)
Darcey Bussell knows how important dancing has been throughout her life. As a prima ballerina, she found it gave her structure and confidence. And when she retired from her professional career 12 years ago, she realised just how crucial dancing had become. 'About a year afterwards it came in this massive wave that I was missing something about who I was as a person, and it was dance basically.' So today she still dances, 'different styles of dance but just not taking it to the obsession I did with classical ballet'.

Since her retirement from professional ballet, Dame Darcey Bussell has become a formidable advocate for promoting dance at all stages of life, and to help not just the body, but just as importantly the mind. She has piloted dance classes for schoolchildren across the country and spoken in Parliament calling for dance to be a key part of the curriculum to help children's fitness. She is aware that tackling our mental health crisis is an important challenge that affects many in the UK today and strongly believes that the value of dancing is undervalued in improving our mental health. So in this programme, Darcey's mission is to meet a wide range of people using dance as therapy and as a result experiencing the joy of 'dancing to happiness'.

In Manchester Darcey meets an inspiring choreographer and dancer, Kevin Turner. Kevin draws on his personal mental health experiences to help young people across the world and has returned to his home town to start a therapeutic dance project for young women who have been referred by a local support group. In the last 25 years, depression amongst teenagers has risen by 70% in the UK and the girls Kevin works with suffer from a range of conditions that affect all aspects of their lives. Darcey takes part in a six-week course to see if Kevin's work can help the girls learn, often for the first time, just how much they can achieve.

At the University of Hertfordshire dancer turned scientist Dr Peter Lovatt is now at the cutting edge of dance research. He is part of a growing movement of practitioners using dance to help with mental health. Peter and his colleagues are researching to find out if the psychological benefits of social dance have a positive effect on people with degenerative conditions. They are focusing on Parkinson's and at the class they run Darcey finds their work is delivering some surprising results.

In Bury, the Silver Swans are using dance to overcome the isolation and loneliness which so often troubles people when they retire. Darcey joins their weekly ballet class and hears their stories about the value they see in dancing. To the class's surprise, she even takes them through one of their dances! In Edinburgh, Darcey meets the ladies and gentlemen of Morningside to understand how those lost to dementia - a condition that affects over 850,000 people in the UK - might be helped through music and movement.

At the end of her journey, Darcey returns to Manchester for the final rehearsals before the girls let their families see them perform. She talks to both girls and their mums about what the dance class has meant to them, and watches the hugely impressive dance they have created. It is a very emotional moment for all.


SUN 00:20 The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney (p01t6p94)
Episode 2

Martha discovers a bee with deformed wing virus in one of the hives she has set up on a Suffolk wildflower meadow. With the help of a master beekeeper, she treats the hive for verroa mite. Britain's leading bee scientist explains the role of verroa in the decline of bees throughout the country.

As spring arrives, Martha witnesses the growth of the colony and watches as bee larvae hatch out. She investigates the science behind the decline of the honey bee and examines evidence that pesticides may be to blame. Back at her cottage, she tackles a colony of angry bees by replacing their queen with a more mild-mannered individual ordered online and delivered through the post, and she meets the Archbishop of Canterbury to talk about his family's love of beekeeping and why he told the bees about his girlfriends.


SUN 00:50 The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney (p01t6pgg)
Episode 3

Spring has well and truly sprung and the hives are going from strength to strength, but that brings with it a problem of its own - the swarm. As the colonies become overcrowded, the bees become likely to depart in a swarm with the queen, leaving just a few behind to rear a new queen. It's a natural process, but for the beekeeper it can be a disaster, leaving the hive all but empty with little prospect of a harvest of honey.

Martha discovers methods to control the swarms, including clipping the wings of the queen, but she also meets a natural beekeeper for whom wing clipping is horrifying. When one of her hives swarms, Martha's neighbours leap to the rescue and she harvests the first honey of the year.


SUN 01:20 David Stratton’s Stories of Australian Cinema (m000jb62)
Series 1

Episode 3

Much-loved film critic David Stratton tells the fascinating story of Australian cinema, focusing in on the films that capture this idiosyncratic nation with drama, emotion and humour.

David played a pivotal role supporting film-makers and helping them to find audiences both locally and abroad. He rose to fame co-hosting a movie review show with Margaret Pomeranz, which the nation religiously tuned in to for almost 30 years.

In this episode, all kinds of families are given a voice, including The Castle’s nuclear, if unorthodox family, a family of faith in The Devil’s Playground, Romper Stomper’s frightening neo-Nazis, and crime families such as those depicted in Ned Kelly and Animal Kingdom.

The series takes us on a thrilling journey across Australian cinema's most moving moments and unforgettable scenes and into the heart of the stories portrayed on the big screen that helped shape a nation’s idea of itself.


SUN 02:20 BBC Young Dancer (m0016sm8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



MONDAY 25 APRIL 2022

MON 19:00 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793d7)
Series 1

My Grand Design

Gravedigger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor, meeting local characters and capturing rare footage of red deer, Exmoor ponies, fox cubs, wild boar and a whole variety of birdlife.

It's autumn, and Johnny prepares to build a new badger hide - from it he hopes to film badgers and other wildlife. But the badgers have disappeared from his last hide, built on land owned by his old friend Tony Thorne. He's hoping he'll have better luck with this one.


MON 19:30 A Pembrokeshire Farm (b007hzf0)
Episode 1

Griff Rhys Jones begins a personal restoration project at his 200-year-old farmhouse in Pembrokeshire.


MON 20:00 Snooker: World Championship (m0016snt)
2022

Day 10: Evening Session

Coverage of the evening session of day ten at the 2022 World Snooker Championship.


MON 21:00 Brian Cox's Adventures in Space and Time (m000x2sy)
Series 1

What Is Gravity?

Brian takes a fresh look at the concept of gravity, revealing it to be far more than just the force that makes things fall to the ground. Recent scientific breakthroughs are challenging physicists’ ideas of the very nature of reality.

He recalls some of his most iconic TV moments: being first on the scene to meet a space capsule returning three astronauts from the International Space Station; demonstrating how a bowling ball and feather fall at the same speed in the largest vacuum chamber in the world; filming in a prison wired up to explode; and standing on a majestic snowy mountain peak to explain the nature of spacetime.

Whilst revisiting his previous programmes, he takes us on a tour of gravity, explaining how Sir Isaac Newton devised a simple formula to describe gravity as a force that governs both how apples fall and how planets move in the heavens. He explores some of gravity’s stranger features, explaining how this comparatively weak force becomes the most dominant in the universe when it comes to the celestial mechanics of the cosmos: sculpting our solar system and even destroying stars.

Using the world’s largest vacuum chamber in NASA’s Space Power Facility in Cleveland, Ohio, Brian demonstrates how gravity makes objects fall at the same rate, explaining how this led Einstein to his 'happiest thought' and the radical rethinking of the nature of space and time. Brian also explains how our contemporary study of one of gravity’s strangest creations, black holes, is leading us to yet more revolutionary, and in his words 'bonkers', views of the universe we live in.


MON 22:00 Missions (p0bwsx23)
Series 3

Ockham’s Razor

Back from Mars alone, Sam finds Earth different from the world he left, so even the limited truths he can share seem insane. Inquisitor Peter Kaminski is intrigued.

In French with English subtitles.


MON 22:30 Missions (p0bwsx43)
Series 3

Samuel

French sci-fi drama series. A provocative encounter revives traumatic memories for Peter, who seeks to exercise control over Sam’s situation, but fate intervenes. In French with English subtitles.


MON 22:55 Missions (p0bwsxcx)
Series 3

The Key

French sci-fi drama series. With new-found knowledge, Peter tracks down some familiar faces, until he meets his match and a deadly threat. In French with English subtitles.


MON 23:20 Timeshift (b06pm5vf)
Series 15

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

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


MON 00:20 Wild West - America's Great Frontier (b07zc4gg)
Desert Heartlands

This legendary land of red rocks and vast canyons, outlaws and gunslingers is a brutally tough place to live. But nature has found some extraordinary ways to win through, forging a pioneering spirit found nowhere else on earth.

Discover the amazing ways that mustangs and coyotes, Hopi farmers and even desert tortoises have found to survive in this extremely testing land.


MON 01:20 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793d7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


MON 01:50 A Pembrokeshire Farm (b007hzf0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 02:20 Brian Cox's Adventures in Space and Time (m000x2sy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 26 APRIL 2022

TUE 19:00 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793h9)
Series 1

Masters of the Moor

Gravedigger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor, meeting local characters and capturing rare footage of red deer, Exmoor ponies, fox cubs, wild boar and a whole variety of birdlife. It's mid-autumn and the time of the red deer's mating season, and Johnny has some unfinished business with one particular old stag he once got too close to. Johnny's friend Tony Thorne is on hand to diagnose a problem with Johnny's big toe.


TUE 19:30 A Pembrokeshire Farm (b007hzfj)
Episode 2

Documentary series following Griff Rhys Jones as he restores his 200-year-old farmhouse in Pembrokeshire. As Griff's restoration drama continues, nature decides to intervene.


TUE 20:00 Snooker: World Championship (m0016snf)
2022

Day 11: Evening Session

Coverage of the evening session of day 11 at the 2022 World Snooker Championship.


TUE 21:00 Novels That Shaped Our World (m000bhgt)
Series 1

The Empire Writes Back

Robinson Crusoe, the hero of the first ever novel published in English, in 1719, was a slave trader. Right from its inception, as this programme investigates, the English novel was closely bound up with the dynamics of colonialism and marched along, in lock step, to the British Empire’s rise, decline and fall. Slavery, which predated the empire, but was an inescapable part of it, is the subject of two famous American novels more than a century apart - Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. The legacy of slavery is also at the heart of one of the most famous novels of all, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, and its 'prequel', written a century later - Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea.

The British Empire was often taken as a given – even God-given - and widely celebrated. In the novels of some writers, though, it was questioned more deeply – such as Rudyard Kipling’s famous espionage yarn Kim. Fifty years later, a very different type of spy, James Bond, fought to keep the empire going when it had in truth already gone. By then a new voice had emerged - that of writers from the newly independent former British colonies, like Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe. At the same time, immigrants from the Caribbean were coming to the UK in search of a warm welcome and a better life. Their mixed experiences began to be told in the Trinidadian Samuel Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners, published in 1956. The twin evils of racism and slavery come full circle in recent works like the former Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman’s series Noughts and Crosses and the 2016 Man Booker prize winner The Sellout, a savage comedy by Paul Beatty – in which a present-day African-American Los Angeleno keeps a slave.


TUE 22:00 imagine... (b062mp6k)
Summer 2015

Toni Morrison Remembers

Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison is America's first lady of literature. Her books encompass black American history but live and breathe in the present, rich in vivid characters, haunted by ghosts. Born poor in Ohio in 1931, she now lives in New York.

In a film first shown in 2015, she tells Alan Yentob how her father hated whites so much he wouldn't let them in the house. Her masterpiece, Beloved, shows the horrors of slavery perhaps better than any other artwork. She talks as she writes - with warmth and wit. Contributors include Angela Davis (whose biography she edited) and singer Jessye Norman.


TUE 23:05 The Secret Life of Books (p025zl7d)
Series 1

Jane Eyre

Journalist and novelist Bidisha was fascinated by Bronte's Jane Eyre as a teenager, but re-reading the story as an adult left her feeling uncomfortable. What Bronte had to say about sex and race was darker and more disturbing than she remembered.

For the young Bidisha, Jane Eyre's perilous, but ultimately liberating, passage into adulthood showed that a young woman could find happiness without compromising her principles. Jane got to have it all. Or did she?

Revisiting this classic Victorian novel 17 years on, Bidisha sees her erstwhile role model, and the society which spawned her, through very different eyes. Is Jane Eyre really the spirited, independent woman Bidisha admired as a young reader? Is the supposedly dashing Mr Rochester little more than a bully and an abuser? What does the characterisation of Bertha, the mad creole woman in Rochester's attic tell us about Bronte's colonial attitudes?

To better understand her sometime heroine and to search for clues, Bidisha travels to the Bronte's family home in Yorkshire and visits the British Library to examine Bronte's original manuscript and uncover intimate letters written by Charlotte Bronte to a married professor, believed by many to be the man who inspired the character of the abusive Rochester.

Bringing a fresh and critical eye to this classic work, Bidisha reassesses one of literature's most memorable heroines.


TUE 23:35 Wild West - America's Great Frontier (b07zvr81)
The High Country

America's high country is the land of grizzly bears and giant trees, of frigid winters and scorching summers, of tough ranchers and gold-rush fever. From the Rockies to the Sierra Nevada, survival demands endurance and know-how. From parasitic plants to thieving black bears, tenacious pikas and battling bison, it's in the high country that the west gets really wild.


TUE 00:35 The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney (p01t6pjf)
Episode 4

Martha enjoys the English countryside at its best, offers her honey to the public at a village fair and finally succeeds in harvesting the true wildflower honey she set out to achieve.

At the height of summer the owners of the meadow have invited the public to an open day to celebrate this unique bit of countryside. The pressure is on Martha to get the honey ready in time. With such a late spring the meadow flowers are late opening and the bees are still foraging on a neighbouring farmer's crops when the day arrives.

Martha visits Cornwall's Tregothnan Estate to discover the secret of the highly-prized manuka honey and returns to Suffolk with plans for a final harvest of wildflower honey. By now the meadow is in its prime. When Martha sends her honey to be tested it is proved to be true wildflower honey. It only remains to prepare the bees for the winter and reflect on a rewarding and fascinating season of beekeeping.


TUE 01:05 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793h9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


TUE 01:35 A Pembrokeshire Farm (b007hzfj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:05 Novels That Shaped Our World (m000bhgt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 2022

WED 19:00 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793lj)
Series 1

The Round-Up

Gravedigger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. The Exmoor pony is one of England's rarest breeds and Johnny is busy filming the pony round-up. It happens in October every year and things get very lively as the herd's owners, the Milton family, try to separate the mares and foals from the stallions. Johnny also heads off to see the salmon jumping.


WED 19:30 A Pembrokeshire Farm (b007hzfy)
Episode 3

As summer arrives, the farmhouse is stripped down to its bare essentials. Meanwhile Griff takes a tour of the local rock scene with geologist Sid Howells.


WED 20:00 Snooker: World Championship (m0016snw)
2022

Day 12: Evening Session

Coverage of the evening session of day 12 at the 2022 World Snooker Championship.


WED 21:00 England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey (b09lv17g)
Series 1

Episode 1

In this first episode, Helen Castor reveals an incendiary document, written in Edward's spidery handwriting on his deathbed, which cuts his sister Mary out of the line of succession and leaves the throne to his cousin Jane. It forms the basis of a constitutional crisis that dragged the country to the edge of civil war.

But was it Edward's idea? Or was the boy king manipulated by sinister forces behind the throne? Fearing a return to Catholicism, a cabal of rich and powerful men led by the Duke of Northumberland - the 'Wicked Duke' - covered up the king's death for several days and staged a coup, placing Lady Jane Grey on the throne without even telling her.

Within a day of Jane being told she is to be queen, she is entering the Tower of London, whilst Mary goes on the run to avoid capture and plan her revenge.


WED 22:00 Rebuilding Notre-Dame (m000hbdq)
Inside the Great Cathedral Rescue

Documentary that goes inside what remains of the world-famous Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. It is one year since the inferno devastated the vast timber and lead roof and the 850-year-old gothic masterpiece is still perilously close to collapse. Now, we follow the men and women fighting to secure the fire-ravaged structure. Lead dust from the vaporised roof contaminates the site, the stone ceiling is crumbling and a 500-tonne melted mass of scaffolding still hangs precariously over the cathedral, triggering alarms and evacuations.

Now that the cathedral walls are supported by giant timber frames, chief architect Philippe Villeneuve urgently needs a complete picture of the damage sustained during the fire. He initiates an unprecedented collaboration between architects and scientists. Their mission is to meticulously analyse the fallen timber, stone and fractured glass to develop a decontamination and restoration plan. This unique opportunity will give a new insight into the medieval materials, techniques and people who built Notre-Dame.

Inside the cathedral, glass scientist Claudine Loisel investigates the distribution of lead contamination on the stunning stained glass, comparing samples from around the building. In the lab she develops a decontamination plan using x-ray spectroscopy and identifies micro-cracks in the glass caused by ‘thermal shock’, sustained during the fire. At York Minster in northern England, conservationists are pioneering a glass preservation method that Claudine hopes will be adopted at Notre-Dame. They are installing ventilated protective glazing, which protects the medieval stained glass from harmful UV rays and the corrosive effects of moisture.

The stone vaulting has taken the brunt of the fire and will require new limestone with the same mechanical properties for the rebuild. Stone scientist Lise Leroux hunts for the origin of the vaulting stone, voyaging into the forgotten quarries beneath Paris, which are now filled with the bones of 18th-century Parisians. She finds a limestone micro-fossil signature in the lower level of the quarry that matches samples from the vaulting stones, confirming its origin. Lise discovers Notre-Dame is built from a variety of different limestone, chosen for the various structural properties needed for the cathedral.

The complex timber framework of the roof is completely destroyed. Amazingly, timber scientist Catherine Lavier still finds markings from the medieval carpenters on the burned beams and her tree-ring analysis of the timber tells the life story of the oak used. One team of carpenters still uses medieval tools and techniques to fell and carve beams for a chateau restoration, proving the skills and timber still exist in France to rebuild Notre-Dame’s lost roof framework. A 3D scan of the geometrically complex timbers of Notre-Dame offers the team a possibility to eventually rebuild the roof in the same way, down to the last millimetre.

The data from the scientists is combined into a groundbreaking ‘digital twin’ of Notre-Dame that will help them restore and rebuild the cathedral. This 3D dynamic map gives the team a complete view of every inch of the structure, before and after the fire, allowing them to click on an individual stone to see its chemical composition, its mechanical properties and its history within Notre-Dame over time.


WED 23:00 Ireland to Sydney by Any Means (b00dykzw)
Episode 5

Now in far flung Vietnam, Charley joins thousands of local bikers on a Minsk motorcycle rally, and makes his way over to Halong Bay to see the beauty of the Thousand Islands and meet traditional pearl makers. However, it is not long before this peaceful excursion takes a turn for the worse - nerves are quickly on edge as the team, now onboard a very small speedboat on rough seas, are pounded by the water. A wave kills the small engine just as the boat swings in towards the rocks, but the team's loud screaming alerts a nearby fishing boat, who luckily manages to pull them out of danger just in time.

Charley gets back on track behind the wheel of a US military jeep to visit some of the most significant places from the Vietnam War, such as Vinh Moc and its infamous underground tunnel network, built by the villagers to escape the devastation.

In Laos and Cambodia, Charley experiences the wonders of the Mekong River on board a powerful rocket boat. Enjoying the largest waterfalls in South East Asia and then dirt biking his way around the countryside, he finally marvels at the 11th century ruins of Angkor Wat.

Traveling south through Thailand and Malaysia, Charley tries out an unfamiliar form of transport to cross to Singapore - wakeboarding. Successfully across and now on Nikoi Island, Charley is to board a small cargo boat that looks well beyond its sell-by-date. After some pre-departure prayers with the crew, it's not long before they are far out at sea and the second bout of boating bad luck strikes - the boat has sprung a leak, and is rapidly taking in water.


WED 00:00 Ireland to Sydney by Any Means (b00f2f40)
Episode 6

Tension fills the air as the team's waterlogged cargo boat begins to sink; they are on their way to Borneo to help with a Unicef vaccination project. With the boat out of action they have to find another way.

Three hundred miles of lush rainforest later, Charley and the Unicef team arrive with the vaccines in a village up the Pawan River, deep in the heart of Kalimantan on Borneo. Having missed the one ferry that would take them to Bali, the team have no choice but to double back and fly to their destination.

From Bali, Charley embarks upon a series of boat journeys navigating his way across the Indonesian archipelago. From speedboats to hand built traditional phinisi boats and hugely overcrowded ferries, he makes his way to Kupang.

After a turbulent five-day crossing from Kupang on board a handmade boat, Charley and the team are delighted to finally hit the shores of Australia - the end of the journey is in sight!

Despite being on the right continent, there is a huge distance to cover across the outback. The team decide to take the most direct route to Sydney over the Snowy Mountains, but are thwarted by bad weather. Charley tests out all sorts of weird and wonderful forms of transport from campervans to camels and road graders to road trains. On the last leg into Sydney, Charley leads an epic biker convoy over the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge. The trip that started life on the back of a boarding pass, that charted a journey from Ireland to Sydney using over a 100 means of transport in 102 days, is complete.


WED 01:00 The Beauty of Books (b00z1z0d)
Paperback Writer

The paperback book democratized reading in the 20th century, and printing directly onto the covers became a way of selling a book in the mass market.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell was a book written in and for this era, emerging as a paperback in 1954. Its changing cover design reflects each decades approach to selling the book to new readers: from its classic 50s Penguin cover to the latest design from Jon Gray, they are signs of our times.

As an example of how cover design has become art, the iconic 'cog eye' design by David Pelham of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange has permeated society since the first paperback of 1972.

Bringing the story of the book up to the 21st century, the arrival of electronic readers has sent traditional publishing into a tailspin. The paperback and its cover design has been replaced by the concept of mass storage and electronic pages. As this new technology gains new fans the paper book comes under renewed scrutiny. Whether society accommodates both ways of disseminating knowledge in the future depends on our continued devotion to good writing, editing and design.


WED 01:30 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793lj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


WED 02:00 A Pembrokeshire Farm (b007hzfy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 02:30 England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey (b09lv17g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 28 APRIL 2022

THU 19:00 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793pl)
Series 1

When Johnny Met Tommy

Gravedigger Johnny Kingdom presents a look at the wildlife of the moors and woodlands of Exmoor. Winter has arrived early and with it a chance to film wildlife in the snow, but Johnny's plans are interrupted by a neighbour who brings him an injured buzzard to look after. He immediately gets to work but the buzzard, which he names Tommy, won't eat. Johnny is also keen to find out what happened to one of the Exmoor foals after the round up.


THU 19:30 A Pembrokeshire Farm (b007hzg9)
Episode 4

Building work on Griff's farm moves to the inside of the house. At last, things are being built up instead of knocked down. But as the deadline looms, tempers begin to fray.


THU 20:00 Snooker: World Championship (m0016sp4)
2022

Day 13: Evening Session

Coverage of the evening session of day 13 at the 2022 World Snooker Championship.


THU 21:00 Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House (b007870c)
A family forced to quit their expensive New York apartment court disaster as they try to fulfil their dream of owning their own house in the country. A sharp estate agent sells them an ancient dilapidated place in Connecticut, which horrified surveyors insist is only fit for demolition.


THU 22:30 The Outlaw (b00zp6cd)
Unconventional western about the life of outlaw Billy the Kid, including his partnership with Doc Holliday and clashes with lawman Pat Garrett. Stars Jane Russell and Jack Buetel.


THU 00:25 Wild West - America's Great Frontier (b080ywyx)
Restless Shores

From the mysterious Sea of Cortez to the wild and elemental Pacific Ocean, powerful earth forces shape the coastline of the wild west. These restless shores are a magnet for life; visited by the greatest of all animals, the blue whale, and by strange fish that come ashore on the full moon to spawn in their thousands. Fog-shrouded headlands nurture massive coastal redwoods and swollen-nosed lizards eke out a living on remote desert islands.


THU 01:25 Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor (b00793pl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


THU 01:55 A Pembrokeshire Farm (b007hzg9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


THU 02:25 Brothers in Dance: Anthony and Kel Matsena (m0016smb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:20 on Sunday]



FRIDAY 29 APRIL 2022

FRI 19:00 Johnny Mathis (m0016spj)
From 1974, Johnny Mathis in concert with the Alan Peters Orchestra, recorded at the Apollo Centre, Glasgow.


FRI 19:45 Pop Go the Sixties (b00rgd4h)
Series 1

The Who, The Kinks, The Shadows and The Tremeloes

More classic pop moments from the BBC's sixties archive featuring The Who, The Kinks, The Shadows and The Tremeloes.


FRI 20:00 Top of the Pops (m0016spl)
Tony Dortie presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 5 November 1992 and featuring The Rolling Stones, Little Angels, The Shamen, The Rockingbirds, Arrested Development, INXS and Boyz II Men.


FRI 20:30 Top of the Pops (m0016spn)
Mark Franklin presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 12 November 1992 and featuring En Vogue, The Supremes, Michael Bolton, Vanessa Paradis, Undercover, Jason Donovan, Charles & Eddie, Neil Diamond and Boyz II Men.


FRI 21:00 The Carpenters: A World of Music (b00cjn9c)
Karen and Richard Carpenter concluded their 1976 British tour with this specially-recorded programme. Songs include There's A Kind of Hush, I Need to be in Love, Close to You, Strike up the Band, Top of the World, Only Yesterday, I Won't Last a Day Without You, Hurting Each Other, Superstar, Goodbye to Love, We've Only Just Begun and Yesterday Once More.


FRI 21:50 The Everly Brothers: Harmonies from Heaven (b077x1fh)
Documentary which celebrates, over the period covering the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 60s, the phenomenon of The Everly Brothers, arguably the greatest harmony duo the world has witnessed, who directly influenced the greatest and most successful bands of the 60s and 70s - The Beatles, The Stones, The Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel to name but a few.

Don and Phil Everly's love of music began as children, encouraged by their father Ike. Little Donnie and Baby Boy Phil sang on Ike's early morning radio shows in Iowa.

After leaving school, the brothers moved to Nashville where, under the wing of Ike Everly's friend, the highly talented musician Chet Atkins, Don and Phil signed with Cadence Records. They exploded onto the music scene in 1957 with Bye Bye Love, written by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant.

After Bye Bye Love came other hits, notably Wake Up Little Susie, followed by the worldwide smash hit All I Have to Do Is Dream and a long string of other great songs which also became hits.

By 1960, however, the brothers were lured away from Cadence to Warner Bros with a $1,000,000 contract. Their biggest hit followed, the self-penned Cathy's Clown, which sold 8 million copies. Remaining at Warner Bros for most of the 60s, they had further success with Walk Right Back, So Sad and the King/Greenfield-penned track Crying in the Rain.


FRI 22:50 Arena (b03txrsz)
The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert

In the autumn of 1983, the Everly Brothers played their legendary reunion concerts in London. Of all the venues in the world, they chose the Royal Albert Hall because they had treasured memories of playing there with their father Ike, a guitar virtuoso in his own right.

All London was there and it was such an event that the filming was fed live into the BBC 9 O'Clock News. After their acrimonious split, which had lasted ten years, Arena's cameras proved that they and their unique, beautiful sound were as magical as ever.

First broadcast at Christmas 1983.


FRI 00:05 The Old Grey Whistle Test (m0010zj5)
The Kinks

From 1977, Bob Harris introduces The Kinks in concert at the BBC TV Theatre in London's Shepherd's Bush, including a warm-up number not featured in the original broadcast.


FRI 00:50 Top of the Pops (m0016spl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 01:20 Top of the Pops (m0016spn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


FRI 01:50 The Carpenters: A World of Music (b00cjn9c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:40 Johnny Mathis (m0016spj)
[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)

A History of Ancient Britain 19:00 SAT (b00ysr2l)

A History of Ancient Britain 02:15 SAT (b00ysr2l)

A Pembrokeshire Farm 19:30 MON (b007hzf0)

A Pembrokeshire Farm 01:50 MON (b007hzf0)

A Pembrokeshire Farm 19:30 TUE (b007hzfj)

A Pembrokeshire Farm 01:35 TUE (b007hzfj)

A Pembrokeshire Farm 19:30 WED (b007hzfy)

A Pembrokeshire Farm 02:00 WED (b007hzfy)

A Pembrokeshire Farm 19:30 THU (b007hzg9)

A Pembrokeshire Farm 01:55 THU (b007hzg9)

Arena 22:50 FRI (b03txrsz)

BBC Young Dancer 19:00 SUN (m0016sm8)

BBC Young Dancer 02:20 SUN (m0016sm8)

Brian Cox's Adventures in Space and Time 21:00 MON (m000x2sy)

Brian Cox's Adventures in Space and Time 02:20 MON (m000x2sy)

Brothers in Dance: Anthony and Kel Matsena 22:20 SUN (m0016smb)

Brothers in Dance: Anthony and Kel Matsena 02:25 THU (m0016smb)

Darcey Bussell: Dancing to Happiness 23:20 SUN (b0btt5n1)

David Stratton’s Stories of Australian Cinema 01:20 SUN (m000jb62)

England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey 21:00 WED (b09lv17g)

England's Forgotten Queen: The Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey 02:30 WED (b09lv17g)

Hidden Wales with Will Millard 22:00 SAT (m0001jfv)

Hidden 21:00 SAT (p0btbtzg)

Ireland to Sydney by Any Means 23:00 WED (b00dykzw)

Ireland to Sydney by Any Means 00:00 WED (b00f2f40)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 19:00 MON (b00793d7)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 01:20 MON (b00793d7)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 19:00 TUE (b00793h9)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 01:05 TUE (b00793h9)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 19:00 WED (b00793lj)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 01:30 WED (b00793lj)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 19:00 THU (b00793pl)

Johnny Kingdom: A Year on Exmoor 01:25 THU (b00793pl)

Johnny Mathis 19:00 FRI (m0016spj)

Johnny Mathis 02:40 FRI (m0016spj)

Missions 22:00 MON (p0bwsx23)

Missions 22:30 MON (p0bwsx43)

Missions 22:55 MON (p0bwsxcx)

Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House 21:00 THU (b007870c)

Novels That Shaped Our World 21:00 TUE (m000bhgt)

Novels That Shaped Our World 02:05 TUE (m000bhgt)

Pop Go the Sixties 19:45 FRI (b00rgd4h)

Rebuilding Notre-Dame 22:00 WED (m000hbdq)

Rick Stein's Long Weekends 20:00 SAT (b07bpc4c)

Rick Stein's Long Weekends 01:15 SAT (b07bpc4c)

Snooker: World Championship 20:00 MON (m0016snt)

Snooker: World Championship 20:00 TUE (m0016snf)

Snooker: World Championship 20:00 WED (m0016snw)

Snooker: World Championship 20:00 THU (m0016sp4)

The Beauty of Books 01:00 WED (b00z1z0d)

The Carpenters: A World of Music 21:00 FRI (b00cjn9c)

The Carpenters: A World of Music 01:50 FRI (b00cjn9c)

The Everly Brothers: Harmonies from Heaven 21:50 FRI (b077x1fh)

The Many Faces of... 23:45 SAT (b018nvwc)

The Old Grey Whistle Test 00:05 FRI (m0010zj5)

The Outlaw 22:30 THU (b00zp6cd)

The Royal Ballet: Swan Lake 20:00 SUN (m0001qzc)

The Secret Life of Books 23:05 TUE (p025zl7d)

The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney 00:45 SAT (p01t6p8s)

The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney 00:20 SUN (p01t6p94)

The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney 00:50 SUN (p01t6pgg)

The Wonder of Bees with Martha Kearney 00:35 TUE (p01t6pjf)

Timeshift 23:20 MON (b06pm5vf)

Top of the Pops 20:00 FRI (m0016spl)

Top of the Pops 20:30 FRI (m0016spn)

Top of the Pops 00:50 FRI (m0016spl)

Top of the Pops 01:20 FRI (m0016spn)

Wild West - America's Great Frontier 00:20 MON (b07zc4gg)

Wild West - America's Great Frontier 23:35 TUE (b07zvr81)

Wild West - America's Great Frontier 00:25 THU (b080ywyx)

Wogan: The Best Of 23:00 SAT (b05p6ckc)

imagine... 22:00 TUE (b062mp6k)