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 17 OCTOBER 2009

SAT 19:00 The Pre-Raphaelites (b00lglxw)
Episode 3

Three-part 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 final part looks at how the Pre-Raphaelites had outgrown the avant-garde in their later years and began to embrace fame and fortune with art designed to please the masses. In so doing, they attained riches and celebrity and became the forefathers of the commercial modern artist.


SAT 19:30 Britain's Best Drives (b00j0gsq)
North Cornish Coast

Actor Richard Wilson takes a journey into the past, following routes raved about in motoring guides of 50 years ago.

Richard struggles to get to grips with a retro VW camper van as he drives the coast road from St Ives to Land's End.

He learns of St Ives's 1950s abstract art heyday and meets a 95-year-old painter still at work in Porthmeor Studios. He discovers why DH Lawrence was expelled from the county, hears legends of Cornish mermaids and gets to know his van on a blustery clifftop campsite.


SAT 20:00 Caravans: A British Love Affair (b00hw3s0)
Documentary about the love affair between the British and their caravans, which saw the country establish the world's largest caravan manufacturer and transformed the holiday habits of generations of families.

In telling the intriguing story of caravanning in Britain from the 1950s through to the present day, the film reveals how caravans were once the plaything of a privileged minority, but after World War II became a firm favourite with almost a quarter of British holidaymakers.

It explores how changes in caravanning across the years reflect wider changes in British society, in particular the increased availability of cars during the 1950s and 60s, but also the improved roads network and changing attitudes towards holidaymaking and leisure time.

Enthusiasts and contributors include Dorrie van Lachterop from the West Midlands and Christine Fagg from Hertfordshire, remarkable and adventurous women who started touring alone in their caravans during the 1950s.


SAT 21:00 100 Years of Girl Guides (b00m6n05)
In September 2009, the Girl Guides celebrated their centenary. With a membership of over 600,000, nearly half the female population of Britain has been involved with the Brownies and Girl Guides at some time during their lives.

Throughout its history, the movement has given girls the opportunity to have fun and form life-long friendships. Narrated by Dominic West (The Wire), 100 Years of the Girl Guides delves into the movement's extraordinary archive and interviews a host of former Girl Guides from veterans to household names such as Kelly Holmes, Clare Short, Kate Silverton and Rhona Cameron.

In 1909, Robert Baden-Powell agreed to let girls have their equivalent of the Boy Scouts. It was a time when women couldn't vote, couldn't work once married, couldn't borrow money or seek contraception.

The Guides have always risen to the challenge in times of national crisis. During the First World War, they worked in munitions factories and in the Second World War, young women in the Guides International Service worked alongside British soldiers to help Jewish inmates liberated from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

The Guides' progressive vision has pioneered the change in attitudes over disability. Their inclusive approach has produced many successful sportswomen including Kelly Holmes and paralympians Barbara Howie and Tanni Grey-Thompson.

The Girl Guides would not be the Girl Guides without their camping adventures. Baden Powell believed the great outdoors was the best way for the youth of the day to stay healthy and sane.

At the heart of the Girl Guides' ethos lies their commitment to helping others and being a good citizen.


SAT 22:00 Voices from the Doll's House (b00njg78)
Sybil the Girl Guide

Sybil Canadine, in the early years of the 20th century, wanted to be a girl scout but was repeatedly told scouting was for boys only. It was as a result of her determination that Baden Powell eventually agreed to the establishment of the movement which became the Girl Guides. Mrs Canadine talks about her experiences.


SAT 22:10 Ian Hislop's Scouting for Boys (b007hfx3)
Robert Baden-Powell's handbook Scouting for Boys, written in 1908, may be largely forgotten today, but it is one of the most influential and best-selling books of all time. In the 20th century, only the Bible, the Koran and the Thoughts of Chairman Mao sold more. But they had fewer jokes, no pictures and were useless at important stuff like tying knots.

In this entertaining and affectionate film, Ian Hislop uncovers the story behind the book which kick-started the Scout Movement - a work which is very eccentric, very Edwardian and very British.

Ian discovers that the book is actually very radical and addresses all sorts of issues that we think of as modern, such as citizenship, disaffected youth and social responsibility. He explores the maverick brilliance of Baden-Powell, a national celebrity after his heroism in the Boer War, and considers the book's candid focus on health and wellbeing - from the importance of what Baden-Powell called a 'daily rear' to his infamous warning on the dangers of masturbation.

Contributors include his grandson Lord Baden-Powell, minister for culture and former cub scout David Lammy, biographer Tim Jeal and Elleke Boehmer, editor of the re-issue of the original Scouting for Boys.


SAT 23:10 Youth Hostelling: The First 100 Years (b00k9c1p)
Nation on Film documentary telling the story of youth hostelling, which was founded in 1909 in Germany and was established in Britain in 1930, through fascinating archive films discovered in a storeroom at the Youth Hostel Association's headquarters in Derbyshire.

The films chart the progress of the movement, as well as the nation's changing attitudes towards 'youth' and the countryside. The images show young people enjoying a new sense of freedom - hiking, rock climbing, folk singing and even the odd bit of skinny-dipping.

The collection includes everything from silent movies through to video, and all promote the YHA's central mission of encouraging young people to enjoy the benefits of the countryside. Most of the films have not been broadcast before, as they were originally shown in cinemas, hostels and community halls.

Contributors include Lord Puttnam, hostel workers, film-makers, actors and historians.


SAT 00:10 Sunday Schools: Reading, Writing and Redemption (b00ccffw)
Documentary investigating the radical impact Sunday schools have had on British society. Their early pioneers upset local bigwigs and the state by teaching the lower orders to read. By Victorian times, huge numbers attended the schools and they even gave birth to major football clubs. In the twentieth century they still had a rich influence on the personal lives of people like Patricia Routledge, Roy Hattersley and Anne Widdecombe. Huw Edwards discovers their forgotten history.


SAT 01:10 Podfather (b00n90j0)
Documentary telling the story of silicon chip inventor Robert Noyce, godfather of today's digital world.

Re-living the heady days of Silicon Valley's seminal start-ups, the film tells how Noyce also founded Intel, the company responsible for more than 80 per cent of the microprocessors in personal computers. Noyce defined the unconventional, innovative culture of Silicon Valley - the likes of Apple and Google would be influenced by his egalitarian management style, which was inspired by his religious upbringing.

Podfather shows why Noyce may be the most important person most people have never heard of. Contributors include industry giants Gordon Moore and Andy Grove.


SAT 02:10 100 Years of Girl Guides (b00m6n05)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


SAT 03:10 Ian Hislop's Scouting for Boys (b007hfx3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:10 today]



SUNDAY 18 OCTOBER 2009

SUN 19:00 Thoroughly Modern Millie (b0078c3x)
Tuneful, Oscar-winning farce in which a country girl finds herself mixed up with a heady variety of Roaring Twenties characters when she arrives in the big city. Determined to find a good job with a handsome, wealthy boss she can eventually marry, she stumbles instead into the middle of a white-slavery racket when her innocent friend is kidnapped from the women's hotel where they live.


SUN 21:15 Electric Dreams (b00n90xc)
1990s

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 communication and home entertainment revolution of the 1990s, at a rate of a year per day, starting in 1990. They have their own Technical Support Team to source and supply them with the vintage technology that would have been available to British households during the decade.

They attempt to stay in touch using pagers and take a giant mobile phone and a rudimentary digital camera on a day trip to Paris in honour of the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994. Workplace technology becomes increasingly portable, but a home without access to the internet proves frustrating and the arrival of the 1990s world wide web is a far cry from what the kids are used to.

The 1990s see a whirlwind of technological progress and the family are inundated with gadgets and upgrades that infiltrate every area of their home. They are left reeling by the pace of change and surprised by the impact of 1990s tech on family life.


SUN 22:15 Spiral (b00ndzps)
Series 2: Gangs of Paris

Episode 6

Samy goes deep undercover with the Larbi gang. The police are closing in on Aziz, but as usual nothing is straightforward. Josephine Karlsson is up to her neck in the dealings of the Larbi gang. Clement plays a clever game behind the scenes.


SUN 23:10 It's Only a Theory (b00n9105)
Episode 2

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 broadcaster and journalist Martha Kearney and the experts are Professor David Crystal, John Man and Dr Kathleen Richardson.


SUN 23:40 Synth Britannia (b00n93c4)
Documentary following a generation of post-punk musicians who took the synthesiser from the experimental fringes to the centre of the pop stage.

In the late 1970s, small pockets of electronic artists including The Human League, Daniel Miller and Cabaret Voltaire were inspired by Kraftwerk and JG Ballard, and they dreamt of the sound of the future against the backdrop of bleak, high-rise Britain.

The crossover moment came in 1979 when Gary Numan's appearance on Top of the Pops with Tubeway Army's Are 'Friends' Electric? heralded the arrival of synthpop. Four lads from Basildon known as Depeche Mode would come to own the new sound, whilst post-punk bands like Ultravox, Soft Cell, OMD and Yazoo took the synth out of the pages of NME and onto the front page of Smash Hits.

By 1983, acts like Pet Shop Boys and New Order were showing that the future of electronic music would lie in dance music.

Contributors include Philip Oakey, Vince Clarke, Martin Gore, Bernard Sumner, Gary Numan and Neil Tennant.


SUN 01:10 Synth Britannia at the BBC (b00n93c6)
A journey through the BBC's synthpop archives from Roxy Music and Tubeway Army to New Order and Sparks. Turn your Moogs up to 11 as we take a trip back into the 70s and 80s!


SUN 02:10 Electric Dreams (b00n90xc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:15 today]


SUN 03:10 Synth Britannia (b00n93c4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:40 today]



MONDAY 19 OCTOBER 2009

MON 19:00 World News Today (b00ndzvx)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 Inside Antiques (b0074pwy)
Posters

The golden era of British poster production produced such memorable slogans as Skegness Is So Bracing and My Goodness My Guinness, just two of the now highly prized pieces eagerly snapped up by collectors. Lars Tharp examines the story behind an era that saw advertising images becoming art forms. Contributors include artists Vic Carless and Roger Law.


MON 20:00 The Twenties in Colour: The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn (b0088zhv)
The Twenties in Colour

Middle East: The Birth of Nations

Series examining Albert Kahn's Archives of the Planet project, in which he sent photographers around the world to document major events. Defeat in WW1 led to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and its former provinces came under British and French control - though as the occupying troops arrived, the people of present-day Syria, Lebanon and Palestine were already entertaining hopes that they would be able to govern themselves. Kahn's cameras were present as these new nations were born.


MON 21:00 Glamour's Golden Age (b00ndzw0)
The Luxe Experience

Hermione Norris narrates a three-part series on the 1920s and 30s, which creates a portrait of a golden age so daring, so influential, so exciting that it still shapes who we are today.

The decades between the world wars saw a cultural revolution in music, fashion, design and the arts. Mass media, mass production and the resulting mass exposure to an alluring, seductive glamour saw the world changing at a dizzying pace, amid which many of our modern obsessions were born.

The first part looks at how architecture and design both created and reflected the spirit of the time. The fun and frivolity of art deco sat alongside the pure functionality of modernism and helped democratise style. Streamlining followed, making sleek, sophisticated, elegant design part of ordinary people's everyday lives. At home, the radio became a beautiful object. In the urban environment a new aesthetic changed the way buildings looked, while planes, trains and automobiles started to shrink the world.

Featuring photographs of the Hoover Factory, Saltdean Lido, the Midland Hotel, the Savoy Theatre, the De La Warr Pavilion, the New Victoria Palace cinema, plus archive newsreel of the Mallard, the Queen Mary, the Schneider Trophy and Bluebird.


MON 22:00 Legends (b00879rc)
Al Bowlly - the Very Thought of You

Profile of the debonair 1930s crooner Al Bowlly. Listening to his songs today, one is transported back to the dreams, aspirations and style of the inter-war years. The film tells the colourful and chaotic story of how a South African barber travelled halfway across the world to become Britain's first pop star. From busking on the streets of London to his own radio show in New York, it tells how Bowlly led a life of extraordinary success that ultimately ended in disappointment and tragedy.


MON 23:00 The Thick of It (b007rv87)
Special: The Rise of the Nutters

Special double-length episode of the award-winning political comedy. It's the end of the Christmas recess, and peace and goodwill should reign in Westminster. But something goes terribly wrong on Newsnight and everything begins to unravel. Can Malcolm Tucker survive as the PM's enemies in government and the opposition bid for power?


MON 00:00 Thoroughly Modern Millie (b0078c3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 02:15 Glamour's Golden Age (b00ndzw0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 03:15 Inside Antiques (b0074pwy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]



TUESDAY 20 OCTOBER 2009

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00nf00z)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 Tales from the Green Valley (b0078yfh)
March

Five experts - historians and archaeologists - try to run a Welsh hill farm for twelve months as it would have been in the reign of James I, the year 1620. They are halfway through the project, with March being their seventh month on the farm.

They get busy turning wheat into bread flour, threshing it energetically with some period flails and then winnowing it - throwing it up in the air to separate the grain from the chaff - using a replica basket. Then it's off to a water mill to take the labour out of the 'daily grind'.

They have a go at making some March beer, play some period games, and yoke up some piglets to root up a field for spring sowing. It's also time to overhaul the vegetable garden, and try out some contemporary dishes for Lent - salt cod and egg and pear pies.


TUE 20:00 Life (b00nj6dr)
Reptiles and Amphibians

Reptiles and amphibians look like hang-overs from the past. But they overcome their shortcomings through amazing innovation.

The pebble toad turns into a rubber ball to roll and bounce from its enemies. Extreme slow-motion shows how a Jesus Christ lizard runs on water, and how a chameleon fires an extendible tongue at its prey with unfailing accuracy. The camera dives with a Niuean sea snake, which must breed on land but avoids predators by swimming to an air bubble at the end of an underwater tunnel. In a TV first, komodo dragons hunt a huge water-buffalo, biting it to inject venom, then waiting for weeks until it dies. Ten dragons strip the carcass to the bone in four hours.


TUE 21:00 The Real Cabaret (b00nf012)
Few musicals can claim to capture the mood of a historical period as well as the 1972 classic Cabaret.

Liza Minnelli's unforgettable portrayal of singer Sally Bowles and the film's stylish recreation of the era have become defining images of Weimar Berlin.

In this documentary, actor Alan Cumming explores the truths behind the fiction. He meets many of those closely involved with the original film, including Liza Minnelli, and talks to cabaret artists, among them acclaimed performer Ute Lemper.

Alan explores the origins of the Cabaret story in the writings of Christopher Isherwood and uncovers the story of the real life Sally Bowles, a woman very different from her fictional counterpart.

He talks to the composer of Cabaret about the inspiration for the film's most famous songs and discovers the stories of the original composers and performers, among them Marlene Dietrich. Finally, Alan reveals the tragic fate of many of the cabaret artists at the hands of the Nazis.

The documentary pays tribute to the magic of the original film and explores the fascinating and often shocking reality of the people and stories that inspired it.


TUE 22:00 It's Only a Theory (b00nf014)
Episode 3

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 broadcaster Kirsty Wark and the experts are Dr David Bainbridge, Professor Chris Budd and Professor Stanley Wells.


TUE 22:30 Cabaret (b0074r5f)
Bob Fosse's award-winning musical, set in 1930s Berlin. A love affair develops between cabaret singer Sally Bowles and a naive young Englishman amid the city's decadent cafe society, during the gradual rise of German fascism.


TUE 00:30 The Real Cabaret (b00nf012)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 01:30 Bulgaria's Abandoned Children Revisited (b00n92rf)
In 2007 the BBC documentary film 'Bulgaria's Abandoned Children caused an international outcry because the images of neglect were so shocking to witness in a country that had just become a member of the European Union. Bulgaria has more institutionalised mentally and physically disabled children than anywhere else in Europe. The film is a heart-rending and eye-opening look into the life of one institution.

Eighteen months after filming it, director Kate Blewett returned to Bulgaria in 2009 to film with a handful of the children featured in the original documentary, seeing where they are today and how their lives have changed since the outcry and changes brought about by the film.

The original documentary is set in a small Bulgarian village in an institute called Mogilino, a place where 75 unwanted disabled children are growing up. Many of them cannot walk or talk, not necessarily because they are unable to, but because they have been neglected and have never had the opportunity to learn. With extraordinary access, Blewett takes us into this tragic silent world.

The second half of the film takes the audience back to Bulgaria to see how the lives of the children have been transformed beyond recognition as a result of the public response to the film. It is testimony to the power of television to bring about concrete change, and also demonstrate how even apparently hopelessly withdrawn and 'damaged' children can be reached, helped and given a meaningful life and future with the right care.


TUE 02:30 It's Only a Theory (b00nf014)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


TUE 03:00 The Real Cabaret (b00nf012)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 21 OCTOBER 2009

WED 19:00 World News Today (b00nf06d)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 Legends (b0074rvq)
Josephine Baker - the First Black Superstar

A look at the life of the black entertainer Josephine Baker, who was a pioneer in every sense of the word and whose impact on the cultural history of the 20th century was profound.


WED 20:30 Art Deco Icons (b00nf06g)
Claridge's

The Art Deco movement swept through Britain in the 1930s, bringing a little glamour to everyone's life. In this series, architectural historian David Heathcote explores and enjoys four of the best examples of Art Deco in Britain.

Heathcote checks into Claridge's Hotel in London's Mayfair and explores the Art Deco makeover of the 1930s, which transformed the old Victorian hotel into a fashionable destination for the rich and famous.

He enjoys the glamour of the Deco fumoir which made smoking sexy and glamorous, even for women, and samples the cocktail bar with Guy Oliver, the man whose job it is to renovate and restore the hotel's glamorous 1930s image.

Heathcote then settles into a perfect Art Deco bath complete with glass panels, bubble bath and two bell pulls - one for the maid and the other for the butler.


WED 21:00 A Tale of Two Britains (b00nph5d)
The conventional view of 1930s Britain is of slag heaps, unemployed men hanging round street corners with nothing to do, hunger marches and economic depression.

This is only part of the truth, as the 1930s was a period of transformation. While most of the world suffered from the depression, the UK was able to shrug off the worst effects thanks to prudent management of the economy by the National Government and a degree of protectionism. Areas of high unemployment remained, but they were isolated from the general trend.

For many, it was a time of rising prosperity. Consumption increased as new gadgets - vacuum cleaners, cookers, fridges - came on the market. Car ownership increased massively and, as leisure time grew, so did travel as people took holidays, often for the first time. Millions went to the cinema, and eating out became commonplace. To back up the increase in consumption new forms of credit emerged, with HP the most popular.

Using interviews with people who remember the decade, this documentary offers an alternative vision of Britain in the 30s and shows that, after the recovery from the slump that followed the crash of 1929, life was good for a large proportion of the country.

It celebrates the growing market for entertainment and consumer goods, explains how a boom in housing transformed the lives of millions of slum dwellers, shows how new towns grew up near centres of economic growth, and challenges the view that the period was one of national gloom and austerity.

A considerable amount of research has shed new light on the period, and historians like Peter Scott, Richard Overy, Juliet Gardiner and Martin Pugh underpin the film's thesis, which may surprise and cheer viewers who lived under the shadow of the bleak 1930s.


WED 22:00 Flight of the Conchords (b0080w4j)
Series 1

Bret Gives Up The Dream

Kiwi folk musicians Bret and Jemaine as try to make it big in their adopted home of New York. Murray tells the boys to get a job because the band has no money. But when Bret's sign-holding career gets in the way of the band, Murray fires him. Jemaine has to continue with a tape recorder. Features the songs Inner City Pressure and She's So Hot ...Boom!.


WED 22:30 It's Only a Theory (b00nf014)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


WED 23:00 Wallander (b00lvfc1)
Series 1

The Brothers

The army is in Ystad all week for a training exercise, and Wallander is called to the site of a grim and premeditated double murder, with emotional resonance for him. As the murders continue, Wallander and his team investigate deeper and are forced to concede there may be a link with the troops.


WED 00:30 A Tale of Two Britains (b00nph5d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 01:30 Art Deco Icons (b00nf06g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 02:00 It's Only a Theory (b00nf014)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 on Tuesday]


WED 02:30 Legends (b0074rvq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


WED 03:30 Art Deco Icons (b00nf06g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]



THURSDAY 22 OCTOBER 2009

THU 19:00 World News Today (b00nf0nj)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Art Deco Icons (b00nf06g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Wednesday]


THU 20:00 Glamour's Golden Age (b00ndzw0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 21:00 Timeshift (b00nf0nl)
Series 9

The Golden Age of Liners

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

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


THU 22:00 Shall We Dance (b0077m4j)
A famous ballet dancer and a leading revue artist on board a ship bound for New York find that the world believes them to be married.

Musical starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, with songs by George and Ira Gershwin.


THU 23:45 The Armstrong and Miller Show (b00ndsgv)
Series 2

Episode 1

Sketch show starring Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller. Featuring the return of the RAF pilots, and new characters including disastrous arts TV presenter Dennis Lincoln-Park.


THU 00:15 Timeshift (b00nf0nl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


THU 01:15 Glamour's Golden Age (b00ndzw0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 02:15 Art Deco Icons (b00nf06g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Wednesday]


THU 02:45 Timeshift (b00nf0nl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 23 OCTOBER 2009

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00nf10c)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Leeds International Piano Competition (b00nf10f)
2009

Episode 6

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 final competitor, Sofya Gulyak from Russia, who performs Brahms's Piano Concerto No 1. Special guests Cristina Ortiz and Lucy Parham add expert comment, while Clemency Burton-Hill reports on the action backstage.


FRI 20:30 Transatlantic Sessions (b00nf10h)
Series 4

Episode 6

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.

Featuring James Taylor, Karen Matheson, Rosanne Cash, Julie Fowlis and concluding with Liam O'Maonlai's version of the tune Nina Simone made her own, Work Song.


FRI 21:00 Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany (b00nf10k)
Documentary which looks at how a radical generation of musicians created a new German musical identity out of the cultural ruins of war.

Between 1968 and 1977 bands like Neu!, Can, Faust and Kraftwerk would look beyond western rock and roll to create some of the most original and uncompromising music ever heard. They shared one common goal - a forward-looking desire to transcend Germany's gruesome past - but that didn't stop the music press in war-obsessed Britain from calling them Krautrock.


FRI 22:00 Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum (b00nplrw)
Compilation of live performances by the godfathers of electronic music, Kraftwerk. Filmed during the Teutonic foursome's 2004 world tour and featuring some of their most notable tracks, including Autobahn, Radioactivity and Trans Europe Express.


FRI 23:00 Spiral (b00ndzps)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:15 on Sunday]


FRI 23:55 Only Connect (b00lpk02)
Series 2

Cambridge Quiz Society v Oxford Librarians

Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take players so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital.

A team of three lads from the Cambridge Quiz Society pit their wits against a trio of Oxford Librarians with specialisms as diverse as Comparative Slavonic Linguistics, Classics and Theology.

They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random, from Goldeneye to The Kilns to Hill Top to Haworth Parsonage.


FRI 00:25 The Thick of It (b007rvgp)
Special: Spinners and Losers

Special double-length episode of the award-winning political comedy.

The Prime Minister resigns six months too early and all hell breaks loose at Number 10. Malcolm Tucker's political career hangs in the balance. He has just seventeen hours to spin himself back into power, and it's going to be the longest night of his life.


FRI 01:25 Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany (b00nf10k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


FRI 02:25 Transatlantic Sessions (b00nf10h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


FRI 02:55 Leeds International Piano Competition (b00nf10f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]




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

100 Years of Girl Guides 21:00 SAT (b00m6n05)

100 Years of Girl Guides 02:10 SAT (b00m6n05)

A Tale of Two Britains 21:00 WED (b00nph5d)

A Tale of Two Britains 00:30 WED (b00nph5d)

Art Deco Icons 20:30 WED (b00nf06g)

Art Deco Icons 01:30 WED (b00nf06g)

Art Deco Icons 03:30 WED (b00nf06g)

Art Deco Icons 19:30 THU (b00nf06g)

Art Deco Icons 02:15 THU (b00nf06g)

Britain's Best Drives 19:30 SAT (b00j0gsq)

Bulgaria's Abandoned Children Revisited 01:30 TUE (b00n92rf)

Cabaret 22:30 TUE (b0074r5f)

Caravans: A British Love Affair 20:00 SAT (b00hw3s0)

Electric Dreams 21:15 SUN (b00n90xc)

Electric Dreams 02:10 SUN (b00n90xc)

Flight of the Conchords 22:00 WED (b0080w4j)

Glamour's Golden Age 21:00 MON (b00ndzw0)

Glamour's Golden Age 02:15 MON (b00ndzw0)

Glamour's Golden Age 20:00 THU (b00ndzw0)

Glamour's Golden Age 01:15 THU (b00ndzw0)

Ian Hislop's Scouting for Boys 22:10 SAT (b007hfx3)

Ian Hislop's Scouting for Boys 03:10 SAT (b007hfx3)

Inside Antiques 19:30 MON (b0074pwy)

Inside Antiques 03:15 MON (b0074pwy)

It's Only a Theory 23:10 SUN (b00n9105)

It's Only a Theory 22:00 TUE (b00nf014)

It's Only a Theory 02:30 TUE (b00nf014)

It's Only a Theory 22:30 WED (b00nf014)

It's Only a Theory 02:00 WED (b00nf014)

Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum 22:00 FRI (b00nplrw)

Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany 21:00 FRI (b00nf10k)

Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany 01:25 FRI (b00nf10k)

Leeds International Piano Competition 19:30 FRI (b00nf10f)

Leeds International Piano Competition 02:55 FRI (b00nf10f)

Legends 22:00 MON (b00879rc)

Legends 19:30 WED (b0074rvq)

Legends 02:30 WED (b0074rvq)

Life 20:00 TUE (b00nj6dr)

Only Connect 23:55 FRI (b00lpk02)

Podfather 01:10 SAT (b00n90j0)

Shall We Dance 22:00 THU (b0077m4j)

Spiral 22:15 SUN (b00ndzps)

Spiral 23:00 FRI (b00ndzps)

Sunday Schools: Reading, Writing and Redemption 00:10 SAT (b00ccffw)

Synth Britannia at the BBC 01:10 SUN (b00n93c6)

Synth Britannia 23:40 SUN (b00n93c4)

Synth Britannia 03:10 SUN (b00n93c4)

Tales from the Green Valley 19:30 TUE (b0078yfh)

The Armstrong and Miller Show 23:45 THU (b00ndsgv)

The Pre-Raphaelites 19:00 SAT (b00lglxw)

The Real Cabaret 21:00 TUE (b00nf012)

The Real Cabaret 00:30 TUE (b00nf012)

The Real Cabaret 03:00 TUE (b00nf012)

The Thick of It 23:00 MON (b007rv87)

The Thick of It 00:25 FRI (b007rvgp)

The Twenties in Colour: The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn 20:00 MON (b0088zhv)

Thoroughly Modern Millie 19:00 SUN (b0078c3x)

Thoroughly Modern Millie 00:00 MON (b0078c3x)

Timeshift 21:00 THU (b00nf0nl)

Timeshift 00:15 THU (b00nf0nl)

Timeshift 02:45 THU (b00nf0nl)

Transatlantic Sessions 20:30 FRI (b00nf10h)

Transatlantic Sessions 02:25 FRI (b00nf10h)

Voices from the Doll's House 22:00 SAT (b00njg78)

Wallander 23:00 WED (b00lvfc1)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b00ndzvx)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b00nf00z)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b00nf06d)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b00nf0nj)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b00nf10c)

Youth Hostelling: The First 100 Years 23:10 SAT (b00k9c1p)