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 03 OCTOBER 2009

SAT 19:00 The Pre-Raphaelites (b00l7qpy)
Episode 1

Series examining the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, who brought notoriety to British art in the 19th century, bursting into the spotlight in 1848 and shocking their peers with a new kind of radical art.

The opening programme explores the origins of the Brotherhood and their initial achievements, and looks at some of their key early works, the hostile criticism they faced and the centuries of academic dogma their paintings overturned.


SAT 19:30 Britain's Best Drives (b00j6sjc)
Richard Wilson Learns to Drive

In preparation for a motor journey around Britain, Richard Wilson is put through his paces as he learns how to use a gear stick again, having driven only automatics for the past 30 years.

He drives classic cars, goes off-road, experiences the thrills and spills of the skidpan and gets a lesson in driving high performance cars from five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell.


SAT 20:00 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00l22n2)
Richard Wilson

Mark Lawson talks to the actor and director Richard Wilson about his life and work. Best known for playing the irascible character of Victor Meldrew in the hit BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave, Wilson reflects on the opportunities that have come his way as a result of the staggering success of the series, as well as the drawbacks of being famously associated with one character and catchphrase.

Wilson talks about life before acting, growing up in Greenock, working as a laboratory technician and doing military service in Singapore. He remembers working with David Lean in A Passage to India, and his rise to stardom through sitcoms such as Hot Metal and Tutti Frutti before agreeing to play Victor, a part written for him, after initially turning it down.

He also discusses more recent roles in Merlin and as a documentary presenter, as well as looking forward to future projects and ambitions.


SAT 21:00 David Lean in Close-Up With Jonathan Ross (b00jnkgb)
Jonathan Ross takes a look into the life and times of one of the greatest film directors of our time, David Lean.


SAT 22:30 In Which We Serve (b0074sgt)
This is the story of a ship - the HMS Torrin - from its construction to its participation at Dunkirk and its final sinking in the Battle of Crete. As the ship goes down, the crew remember their homes and loved ones.

Based on true events as recounted to Noel Coward by Lord Mountbatten.


SAT 00:20 David Lean and his Dedicated Maniacs (b00n5693)
Oscar-winning director David Lean gathered round him a team who shared his total commitment to film-making. In a documentary narrated by Nigel Havers, four of the colleagues who worked with him on classic films such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago share their memories of their time on set with a man who demanded perfection.


SAT 00:50 Mark Lawson Talks To... (b00l22n2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SAT 01:50 Britain's Best Drives (b00j6sjc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


SAT 02:20 David Lean in Close-Up With Jonathan Ross (b00jnkgb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


SAT 03:50 David Lean and his Dedicated Maniacs (b00n5693)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:20 today]



SUNDAY 04 OCTOBER 2009

SUN 19:00 Upgrade Me (b00n1hwj)
Poet and gadget lover Simon Armitage explores people's obsession with upgrading to the latest technological gadgetry.

Upgrade culture drives millions to purchase the latest phones, flatscreen TVs, laptops and MP3 players. But is it design, functionality, fashion or friends that makes people covet the upgrade, and how far does the choice of gadgets define identity? Simon journeys across Britain and to South Korea in search of answers.


SUN 20:00 Designing the Decades (b0078jb2)
Designing the 70s

The series on modern design looks at the 1970s, a time of recession, social unrest and the three-day week, when designers sought to help the public escape from the grim reality of their daily lives.

Includes the rise and fall of Biba, why a nation turned to pine, how Concorde took off, the last of the tower blocks and the bike that thought it was a Harley.

With contributions from Barbara Hulanicki, Mary Quant, Molly Parkin, Adam Faith, Terence Conran, Janet Street-Porter and Malcolm McLaren.


SUN 21:00 Electric Dreams (b00n1j8n)
1970s

A family and their home are stripped of all their modern technology to live a life of decades past.

The family must live through the digital wilderness of the 1970s at a rate of a year per day, starting in 1970. They have their very own technical support team to source and supply them with the vintage technology that would have been available to British households during the decade.

By modern standards the 1970s are decidedly low-tech and the family face many challenges. They endure a spell without central heating and get to grips with the suburban favourite, the teasmade. They see the effects of 70s industrial unrest on their home when they experience a power cut and home entertainment becomes even more limited when their newly-arrived colour television breaks down.

But it's not all grim - the arrival of chopper bikes, the first video game and a mix-tape expert who shows them how to create the soundtrack for their very own slide show all help to prove that life in the 1970s had its upside too.


SUN 22:00 Spiral (b00n5695)
Series 2: Gangs of Paris

Episode 4

Acclaimed French police drama series. Rachid is dead, causing problems for both Karlsson and the police. Gilou has to investigate a murder linked to a gay nightclub.


SUN 22:55 Glastonbury (b00mgwsz)
2009

Madness

Highlights of the performance by Madness on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2009.


SUN 23:55 Madness: Take It or Leave It (b00n1k2b)
Produced and directed by Stiff Records owner Dave Robinson in 1981, this docudrama chronicles the rise of Madness from their first gig as The Invaders in June 1977 to the release of their initial single and their first taste of fame.

The members of Madness play themselves, whilst supporting roles are filled by relatives, actors, friends of the band and business acquaintances. Filmed on location in Camden Town, the production utilises well known local landmarks such as the Dublin Castle pub, Rock On record shop and Pathway Studios, but many scenes were also filmed in flats, houses and gardens occupied by band members.


SUN 01:20 The Liberty of Norton Folgate (b00n1jpf)
Filmed concert from the Hackney Empire consisting of a sustained music hall-style performance of Madness's acclaimed concept album The Liberty of Norton Folgate. The concert uses a vocal audience and some atmospheric interstitial pieces to camera with Suggs and Carl, filmed in the murky haunts of London around the Norton Folgate area, which explore the context of this most London of albums and bands.


SUN 02:25 Upgrade Me (b00n1hwj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]


SUN 03:25 Glastonbury (b00mgwsz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:55 today]



MONDAY 05 OCTOBER 2009

MON 19:00 World News Today (b00n58mg)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 The Sky at Night (b00n58mj)
The Great Observatories

Following the Hubble space telescope's overhaul, Sir Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott examine its latest findings and the data from NASA's other telescopes, Spitzer and Chandra. Pete Lawrence observes the spiral galaxies M31 and M33 and explains how they owe their enigmatic names to an 18th century French comet hunter.


MON 20:00 Designing the Decades (b0078jfx)
Designing the 80s

The series charting modern design in Britain through the latter half of the 20th century looks at the 1980s, a time characterised by yuppies, shoulder pads and excess cash.

Stories include designer Paul Smith, a look at the ultimate 80s status symbols - the filofax, Porsche 911, Sony Walkman, Amstrad computers - and the most expensive building Britain had ever seen, Lloyds of London.

With contributions from Paul Smith, Janet Street-Porter, Richard Rogers, James Dyson, Alan Sugar and Christopher Frayling.


MON 21:00 The Life and Death of a Mobile Phone (b00n58ml)
Through the life cycle of one mobile phone, this documentary investigates the million and one ways in which the mobile has made itself indispensable to modern life.

One in every two human beings has a mobile, and this inanimate lump of plastic and minerals is made privy to people's innermost secrets - conversations with friends, lovers and family. It holds family photos, plays favourite music and yet, as an instrument of communication, it has its paradoxes. People are dumped by text, some pretend to be deep in a telephone conversation to avoid speaking to real people and others are affronted when their bellowed conversations on public transport are overheard.

Then, at the end of a strangely intimate relationship, it becomes one of the one billion phones discarded every year - reconditioned for re-use or smelted down for the precious metals it contains.


MON 21:30 Money Programme (b00937dy)
E-Mail is Ruining My Life

E-mail has revolutionised our lives, but can you have too much of a good thing? Two million e-mails are sent every second and now companies are hiring consultants to teach their staff how to cope with the daily avalanche in their inboxes. Things have got so bad that some companies have introduced e-mail-free days.

Libby Potter investigates whether e-mail helps or hinders workplace performance, and shows how to control it rather than letting it control us.


MON 22:00 Omnibus (b00n7z1n)
Life, the Universe and Douglas Adams

A celebration of Douglas Adams, the genius behind The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy who died in May 2001, aged just 49.

First heard on radio in 1978, Hitch-Hiker turned Adams and his intergalactic cast of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the Robot into a worldwide cult, the books selling in their millions and enthralling fans from every continent.

But Adams was as full of contradictions as the galaxies he created in Hitch-Hiker - a writer who found writing torture, a techie who was ill at ease with the modern world, a sci-fi fanatic who adored PG Wodehouse, and a giant of a man who forgot the extent of his own body and would shut his own legs in the car door.

With excerpts from the TV version of Hitch-Hiker and contributions from his many friends including Stephen Fry, Terry Jones, Clive Anderson and Griff Rhys Jones, this documentary explores Life, the Universe and Douglas Adams and finds that the answer is more than 42.


MON 22:50 Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe (b00n1j8q)
Charlie Brooker sets his caustic sights on video games. Expect acerbic comment as he looks at the various genres, how they have changed since their early conception and how the media represents games and gamers. Features interviews with Dara O Briain, sitcom scribe Graham Linehan and Rab and Ryan from Consolevania.


MON 23:40 Jonathan Meades: Off Kilter (b00ml5wx)
Episode 1

Jonathan Meades takes a quixotic tour of Scotland, a country which has intrigued him since he first encountered lists of towns only known from football coupons.

Architecture critic Meades celebrates Aberdeen, the granite city full of 'brand new' 300-year-old buildings.


MON 00:40 Jonathan Meades: Off Kilter (b00mqlzz)
Episode 2

Architecture critic Jonathan Meades continues his quixotic tour of Scotland. Genealogy, or 'ancestral tribalism', gets Meades's goat as he travels from Stirling to the Isles of Lewis and Harris, a strange, sometimes rusty paradise. Here, he discovers serenity, Calvinism and peat bog bodies.


MON 01:40 Jonathan Meades: Off Kilter (b00mwqvq)
Episode 3

Architecture critic Jonathan Meades concludes his quixotic tour of Scotland in Fife. Driving around a number of lower league football towns, he celebrates an oil refinery, takes potshots at overpaid footballers and extols the virtues of Irn Bru as a tanning agent.


MON 02:40 The Sky at Night (b00n58mj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 03:10 Omnibus (b00n7z1n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]



TUESDAY 06 OCTOBER 2009

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00n59t2)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Tales from the Green Valley (b0078y7v)
January

Five experts - archaeologists and historians - have taken on the challenge of running a Welsh hill farm for a year. They are trying to make it work as it would have been in the reign of James I, the year 1620, using only tools and materials available at the time.

January marks their fifth month, and the very depths of winter. The team resorts to some period medicines to beat the aches and pains, boiling up and administering their own herbal oils and ointments. Following the advice of contemporary farming manuals, they head out into the coppice to manage their wood supplies, get in a professional hedge layer to help fix the boundaries and have a go at making their own 17th century-style ink.

At the end of a hard day they tuck into a hearty dinner as it might have been 400 years ago, gammon pie and pease pudding.


TUE 20:00 A History of Scotland (b00fz7tq)
Series 1

Project Britain

Neil Oliver describes how the ambitions of two of Scotland's Stuart monarchs were the driving force that united two ancient enemies, and set them on the road to the Great Britain we know today.

While Mary Queen of Scots plotted to usurp Elizabeth I and seize the throne of England, her son James dreamt of a more radical future: a Protestant Great Britain.


TUE 21:00 Electric Dreams (b00n59t4)
1980s

A family and their home are stripped of all their modern technology to live a life of decades past.

The family must live through the digital wilderness of the 1980s at a rate of a year per day, starting in 1980. They have their very own technical support team who source and supply them with the vintage technology that would have been available to British households during the decade, including iconic technology such as the Walkman, Game and Watch and the CD player.

For a modern family it is a decade of challenges. In 1980 they attempt to cook a roast dinner in a microwave oven, as consumers of the time were encouraged to do. They are faced with a bewildering choice of home computers in 1982 and the arduous task of finding a rental shop that still supplies films on video cassette for their newly-arrived VHS player.

Dad takes a spin in the most famous technological flop of the decade, the Sinclair C5, but the family do experience an 80s success story when New Wave icons Ultravox pay a surprise visit to demonstrate the synthesiser technology which soundtracked the era.


TUE 22:00 It's Only a Theory (b00n59t6)
Episode 1

Comedians Andy Hamilton and Reginald D Hunter host a series in which qualified professionals and experts submit their theories about life, the universe and everything for examination by a panel of Hamilton, Hunter and a guest celebrity, who then make a final decision on whether the theory is worth keeping.

The guest celebrity is sports presenter Clare Balding and the experts are Dr Aubrey de Grey and Lucy Beresford.


TUE 22:30 The Life and Death of a Mobile Phone (b00n58ml)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


TUE 23:00 Rab C Nesbitt (b00n59tb)
Series 3

Right

Rab decides to behave respectably on his release from jail. But with Burney adopting fascist tendencies, Gash on drugs, Mary at her wits end and a new Tory local councillor to boot, will Rab's fresh outlook escape the tarnish of a world spinning out of control?


TUE 23:30 Early Doors (b0078shw)
Series 2

Episode 5

Ken smartens himself up to play the romantic lead whilst rumours of him throwing the towel in at the pub spread amongst the locals.

Duffy plays down his recent good fortune and his life gets back on track, but a heart to heart with Joe highlights a personal problem in Joe's private life.

Jean's sleepwalking appears to be getting worse and Joan looks doomed to fail her driving test.


TUE 00:00 Scotland's Music with Phil Cunningham (b008h51v)
Episode 5

Scottish celebrations are the times when our music counts most and Scots have a global reputation for being one of the best audiences in world. In Phil Cunningham's journey through Scotland's musical history he meets Paolo Nutini, Peatbog Faeries, Fergie MacDonald and Dougie MacLean to explore why music is so important to us when it comes to having a good time.


TUE 01:00 Electric Dreams (b00n59t4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 02:00 The Life and Death of a Mobile Phone (b00n58ml)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


TUE 02:30 It's Only a Theory (b00n59t6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 03:00 Electric Dreams (b00n59t4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 07 OCTOBER 2009

WED 19:00 World News Today (b00n59zr)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 A Poet's Guide to Britain (b00kk4n5)
George Mackay Brown

Poet and author Owen Sheers presents a series in which he explores six great works of poetry set in the British landscape. Each poem explores a sense of place and identity across Britain and opens the doors to captivating stories about the places and the lives of the poets themselves.

George Mackay Brown, who died in 1996, was the great poetic voice of the Orkneys and one of the foremost Scottish poets of the 20th century. Sheers travels to the place the locals call the Venice of the North, the Orkney town of Stromness, which was Mackay Brown's home and the backdrop for much of his work, including his great poem Hamnavoe.

In Hamnavoe, the Viking name for Stromness, Mackay Brown takes the reader on a nostalgic and blustery tour of the town in the footsteps of his father, the local postman. Sheers uses the poem as a tour guide to Mackay Brown's Orkney life and work, exploring the narrow streets where George was born and wrote his first poems and taking diversions to the great cathedral of St Magnus, the Norse patron saint of the islands, and the remote island of Rackwick.

The poem opens up a moving story of a father and son and showcases Mackay Brown's exquisite, concise, gem-like writing. With ravishing views of the islands in the distinctive Orcadian light, the programme is a hymn to a unique corner of Britain. It also features, among other friends and fans of Mackay Brown, the contemporary Scottish poet Don Patterson.


WED 20:00 Iran and Britain (b00hq1w7)
Documentary in which writer and journalist Christopher de Bellaigue explores the fraught but often surprisingly intimate history of Britain's relations with Iran, and asks why Iranians think that if something goes wrong in Iran then Britain must have something to do with it.

De Bellaigue has lived in Tehran, speaks fluent Persian and knows well the phenomenon of 'Uncle Napoleonism', the notion that the cunning British are 'out to get you' that has been a common attitude in Iranian society for 100 years.

He looks at some key events in the relationship, notably Britain's role in the overthrow of several Iranian governments, its control of Iran's oil and the on-off support for Iran's democrats.

Meeting prominent Iranians, including Uncle Napoleon's inventor and others with direct knowledge of these events, he examines the foundations and justification for these Iranian suspicions and asks if they are still there after 30 years of isolation.


WED 21:00 A Taste of Iran (b00n59zt)
BBC journalist Sadeq Saba takes a personal journey around a country of which he is fiercely proud, and it soon becomes apparent that there is a lot more to Iran than nuclear standoffs and mullahs.

In a country suspicious of the outside media, this is a rare opportunity to meet ordinary Iranians going about their daily lives - shopping, cooking, working and having fun.

Saba banters with his feisty sister Fariba about women's rights, relaxes with tea pickers amid mountainous rolling plantations, braves leeches to joke with rice planters and receives tips on how to eat candy floss from the factory floor.

The recent political struggles are nowhere, partly because it was filmed before the contested election in June 2009 but also because what we are seeing is the essence of a deep sense of Persian identity, buffeted by struggles past and present yet still enduring.

Sadeq, who is the head of the BBC's Persian TV channel, relishes every encounter, be it gastronomic or historical. He visits the stunning ancient monument of Persepolis, hidden from the world until 70 years ago, wanders through ancient bazaars and takes a tour through the magnificent former capital of Isfahan.

Islam and its influence throughout society is apparent, but thriving communities of minority religions - Zoroastrians, Christians and Jews - are also in evidence.

Sadeq concludes that he comes from a rich and ancient culture which still lives on in the psyche of Iranians today. But it is the warmth, hospitality and sense of fun that shines through.


WED 22:30 It's Only a Theory (b00n59t6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


WED 23:00 Wallander (b00g2j5f)
Series 1

Before the Frost

New policewoman Linda Wallander is waiting for her first big case at Ystad police station and her father, Inspector Kurt Wallander, is getting on her nerves. When her childhood friend Anna mysteriously disappears she is thrown in at the deep end and soon needs her father's help on a fascinating and very dangerous investigation.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


WED 00:30 A Taste of Iran (b00n59zt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 02:00 It's Only a Theory (b00n59t6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


WED 02:30 Iran and Britain (b00hq1w7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


WED 03:30 A Poet's Guide to Britain (b00kk4n5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]



THURSDAY 08 OCTOBER 2009

THU 19:00 World News Today (b00n5b90)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 A Poet's Guide to Britain (b00kps7f)
Matthew Arnold

Poet and author Owen Sheers presents a series in which he explores six great works of poetry set in the British landscape. Each poem explores a sense of place and identity across Britain and opens the doors to captivating stories about the places and the lives of the poets themselves.

In 1851, a young school inspector and his wife spent a night of their honeymoon in a hotel in Dover overlooking the beach. Standing at the bedroom window and staring out at the moonlit sea, this newly-married man wrote a poem that sent a chill through his own and future generations - a poem that ends with the shocking conclusion that there is no hope, no comfort and no purpose in life.

Sheers goes in search of this poet, Matthew Arnold, and discovers what drove him to write his bleak but tremendous poem Dover Beach. He goes to Rugby School to delve into Arnold's relationship with his father, the great Victorian headmaster Dr Arnold, and visits Oxford to explore the extraordinary impact that the religious thinker John Henry Newman made on so many young people of the age. He also travels to the Swiss lake resort of Thun, where Arnold lost his heart to a mysterious woman called Marguerite.

It's the story of a rebellious young man trying to make sense of the world and includes contributions from Archbishop of Canterbury and poet Rowan Williams and rising poetry star, Daljit Nagra.


THU 20:00 Electric Dreams (b00n59t4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


THU 21:00 Micro Men (b00n5b92)
Affectionately comic drama about the British home computer boom of the early 1980s.

Legendary inventor Clive Sinclair battles it out with ex-employee Chris Curry, founder of Acorn Computers, for dominance in the fledgling market.

The rivalry comes to a head when the BBC announce their Computer Literacy Project, with the stated aim of putting a micro in every school in Britain. When Acorn wins the contract, Sinclair is furious, and determines to outsell the BBC Micro with his ZX Spectrum computer.

Home computing arrives in Britain in a big way, but is the country big enough for both men?


THU 22:25 Arena (b00l6km7)
TS Eliot

For the first time on television, Arena tells the whole story of the life and work of TS Eliot including the happiness he found in the last years of life in his second marriage. His widow Valerie Eliot has opened her personal archive, hitherto unseen, including the private scrapbooks and albums in which Eliot assiduously recorded their life together.

Arena brings an unprecedented insight into the mysterious life of one of the 20th century's greatest poets, and re-examines his extraordinary work and its startling immediacy in the world today. Thomas Stearns Eliot materialises as banker, critic, playwright, children's writer, churchwarden, publisher, husband and poet.

Contributors include Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Lady Spender, Jeanette Winterson, Christopher Ricks and Andrew Lloyd-Webber.


THU 23:55 Micro Men (b00n5b92)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


THU 01:20 David Lean in Close-Up With Jonathan Ross (b00jnkgb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Saturday]


THU 02:50 David Lean and his Dedicated Maniacs (b00n5693)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:20 on Saturday]


THU 03:20 A Poet's Guide to Britain (b00kps7f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]



FRIDAY 09 OCTOBER 2009

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00n5bt3)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Leeds International Piano Competition (b00n5bt5)
2009

Episode 4

Every three years since 1963, Leeds plays host to the cream of young international concert pianists who travel there to take part in the city's International Piano Competition. Past winners have included musical greats like Rada Lupu and Murray Perahia.

Huw Edwards introduces the fourth finalist, Alessandro Taverna from Italy, who plays Chopin's Piano Concerto No 1. There is expert analysis from concert pianists Cristina Ortiz and Lucy Parham, plus behind-the-scenes reports from Clemency Burton-Hill.


FRI 20:30 Transatlantic Sessions (b00n5bt7)
Series 4

Episode 4

Folk musicians come together in what have been called 'the greatest backporch shows ever', as Shetland fiddle virtuoso Aly Bain and dobro ace Jerry Douglas host a Highland gathering of the cream of Nashville, Irish and Scottish talent.

Alison Moorer, Karen Casey, Dan Tyminski, Liam O'Maonlai, Stuart Duncan, Ronan Browne and Allan MacDonald are among those featured.


FRI 21:00 The Andy Williams Show (b00n5bt9)
Duets

Compilation of the best duets selected from crooner Andy Williams's private archive of his weekly 1960s variety show on NBC. The show attracted the cream of the crop from the world of showbiz, from Bing Crosby and Ray Charles to Johnny Mathis and Ella Fitzgerald, who were more than happy to share the microphone with the king of easy listening.

Including Over the Rainbow with Judy Garland, and Andy at the piano with Ray Charles for What'd I Say.


FRI 22:00 Kings of Cool: The Crooners (b007c6n3)
Honor Blackman narrates a celebration of some of the most stylish musical icons of the last century, the crooners such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett and Andy Williams. Featuring interviews with friends, family members and the new breed of crooners such as Michael Buble and Jamie Cullum.


FRI 22:40 The Andy Williams Show (b00n806r)
Solo

A collection of the original American Idol's greatest hits and special performances from his weekly variety show, broadcast in the United States on NBC between 1962 and 1971. Including classic tracks Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses and Music To Watch Girls By.


FRI 23:10 It's Only a Theory (b00n59t6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:40 Spiral (b00n5695)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Sunday]


FRI 00:40 The Andy Williams Show (b00n5bt9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 01:40 Kings of Cool: The Crooners (b007c6n3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


FRI 02:20 Transatlantic Sessions (b00n5bt7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


FRI 02:50 Leeds International Piano Competition (b00n5bt5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


FRI 03:50 The Andy Williams Show (b00n806r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:40 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 Scotland 20:00 TUE (b00fz7tq)

A Poet's Guide to Britain 19:30 WED (b00kk4n5)

A Poet's Guide to Britain 03:30 WED (b00kk4n5)

A Poet's Guide to Britain 19:30 THU (b00kps7f)

A Poet's Guide to Britain 03:20 THU (b00kps7f)

A Taste of Iran 21:00 WED (b00n59zt)

A Taste of Iran 00:30 WED (b00n59zt)

Arena 22:25 THU (b00l6km7)

Britain's Best Drives 19:30 SAT (b00j6sjc)

Britain's Best Drives 01:50 SAT (b00j6sjc)

Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe 22:50 MON (b00n1j8q)

David Lean and his Dedicated Maniacs 00:20 SAT (b00n5693)

David Lean and his Dedicated Maniacs 03:50 SAT (b00n5693)

David Lean and his Dedicated Maniacs 02:50 THU (b00n5693)

David Lean in Close-Up With Jonathan Ross 21:00 SAT (b00jnkgb)

David Lean in Close-Up With Jonathan Ross 02:20 SAT (b00jnkgb)

David Lean in Close-Up With Jonathan Ross 01:20 THU (b00jnkgb)

Designing the Decades 20:00 SUN (b0078jb2)

Designing the Decades 20:00 MON (b0078jfx)

Early Doors 23:30 TUE (b0078shw)

Electric Dreams 21:00 SUN (b00n1j8n)

Electric Dreams 21:00 TUE (b00n59t4)

Electric Dreams 01:00 TUE (b00n59t4)

Electric Dreams 03:00 TUE (b00n59t4)

Electric Dreams 20:00 THU (b00n59t4)

Glastonbury 22:55 SUN (b00mgwsz)

Glastonbury 03:25 SUN (b00mgwsz)

In Which We Serve 22:30 SAT (b0074sgt)

Iran and Britain 20:00 WED (b00hq1w7)

Iran and Britain 02:30 WED (b00hq1w7)

It's Only a Theory 22:00 TUE (b00n59t6)

It's Only a Theory 02:30 TUE (b00n59t6)

It's Only a Theory 22:30 WED (b00n59t6)

It's Only a Theory 02:00 WED (b00n59t6)

It's Only a Theory 23:10 FRI (b00n59t6)

Jonathan Meades: Off Kilter 23:40 MON (b00ml5wx)

Jonathan Meades: Off Kilter 00:40 MON (b00mqlzz)

Jonathan Meades: Off Kilter 01:40 MON (b00mwqvq)

Kings of Cool: The Crooners 22:00 FRI (b007c6n3)

Kings of Cool: The Crooners 01:40 FRI (b007c6n3)

Leeds International Piano Competition 19:30 FRI (b00n5bt5)

Leeds International Piano Competition 02:50 FRI (b00n5bt5)

Madness: Take It or Leave It 23:55 SUN (b00n1k2b)

Mark Lawson Talks To... 20:00 SAT (b00l22n2)

Mark Lawson Talks To... 00:50 SAT (b00l22n2)

Micro Men 21:00 THU (b00n5b92)

Micro Men 23:55 THU (b00n5b92)

Money Programme 21:30 MON (b00937dy)

Omnibus 22:00 MON (b00n7z1n)

Omnibus 03:10 MON (b00n7z1n)

Rab C Nesbitt 23:00 TUE (b00n59tb)

Scotland's Music with Phil Cunningham 00:00 TUE (b008h51v)

Spiral 22:00 SUN (b00n5695)

Spiral 23:40 FRI (b00n5695)

Tales from the Green Valley 19:30 TUE (b0078y7v)

The Andy Williams Show 21:00 FRI (b00n5bt9)

The Andy Williams Show 22:40 FRI (b00n806r)

The Andy Williams Show 00:40 FRI (b00n5bt9)

The Andy Williams Show 03:50 FRI (b00n806r)

The Liberty of Norton Folgate 01:20 SUN (b00n1jpf)

The Life and Death of a Mobile Phone 21:00 MON (b00n58ml)

The Life and Death of a Mobile Phone 22:30 TUE (b00n58ml)

The Life and Death of a Mobile Phone 02:00 TUE (b00n58ml)

The Pre-Raphaelites 19:00 SAT (b00l7qpy)

The Sky at Night 19:30 MON (b00n58mj)

The Sky at Night 02:40 MON (b00n58mj)

Transatlantic Sessions 20:30 FRI (b00n5bt7)

Transatlantic Sessions 02:20 FRI (b00n5bt7)

Upgrade Me 19:00 SUN (b00n1hwj)

Upgrade Me 02:25 SUN (b00n1hwj)

Wallander 23:00 WED (b00g2j5f)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b00n58mg)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b00n59t2)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b00n59zr)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b00n5b90)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b00n5bt3)