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 18 SEPTEMBER 2010

SAT 19:00 Battle of Britain Night (b00tw0n5)
Gathering Storm

An evening dedicated to the Battle of Britain, bringing together World War Two historians, Battle of Britain veterans and the modern RAF for in-depth discussion, sharp analysis and rare archive footage. They investigate how Britain prepared for a war in the sky, compare first-hand experiences of air combat and explore the strengths and weaknesses of the RAF and the Luftwaffe as they faced one another in 1940.


SAT 20:00 Spitfire Women (b00tw1m1)
During World War II, a remarkable band of female pilots fought against all odds for the right to aid the war effort. Without these Spitfire Women, the war may never have been won.

These trailblazers were part of the Air Transport Auxiliary, a thousand-strong organisation that delivered aircraft to the frontline RAF during Britain's darkest hours. Every day, responsibility fell on their shoulders to get the planes to the fighters, which often pushed them into dangerous and even deadly situations.

Using interviews with the last few surviving veterans, archive footage and dramatic reconstruction, this documentary brings to life the forgotten story of the ATA. The resilience of these women in the face of open discrimination is one of the most inspiring and overlooked milestones in women's rights. Their story is one of courage, sexism and patriotism, but above all a story about women who want to break the confines of the world they live in and reach for the skies.


SAT 21:00 Battle of Britain Night (b00ty0f5)
Aftermath

World War Two historians, Battle of Britain veterans and the modern RAF explore how victory in the air was achieved, why the Battle of Britain has such legendary status and how the present day RAF came to be defined by the events of 1940.


SAT 22:00 Wellington Bomber (b00tr2p5)
One autumn weekend, early in WWII at an aircraft factory at Broughton in North Wales, a group of British workers, men and women, set out to smash a world record for building a bomber from scratch. They managed to build a Wellington Bomber in 23 hours and 50 minutes. They worked so quickly that the test pilot had to be turfed out of bed to take it into the air, 24 hours and 48 minutes after the first part of the airframe had been laid.

So who were the men and women who made this record-breaking Wellington? Britain's propaganda machine made a 12-minute film about the attempt and Peter Williams Television has traced six of them, one of whom, Bill Anderson, was only 14 years old. Their story of the excitement of the attempt is the heart of this documentary.

The Wellington was a special aircraft, as historian Sir Max Hastings says. It was held in great affection by those who flew it, mostly because its geodetic construction enabled it to survive enormous damage, as Flt Lt 'Tiny' Cooling remembers. He flew 67 missions in Wellingtons.

More Wellingtons were built during WWII than any other British aircraft, except the Spitfire and the Hurricane, the stars of the Battle of Britain. And, unwittingly, the Wellington, Britain's main strike bomber, played an important role in the Battle of Britain, as this documentary reveals.


SAT 23:00 Mad Men (b00tr482)
Series 4

Christmas Comes But Once a Year

Drama series set in the world of advertising in 1960s New York. An old friend returns to the fold, and the firm reluctantly throws a Christmas party for its most important client. Don prepares for his first Christmas away from his children and makes an indiscretion.


SAT 23:45 The Road to Coronation Street (b00ttj2r)
6.53pm, December 9th 1960, Granada Studios, Manchester. With minutes to go until the live transmission of episode one, creator Tony Warren is being sick in the toilets, actress Pat Phoenix is missing and so is the cat from the opening shot.

This is the epic story of one man's struggle to make a programme that no-one wanted. Granada's formidable bosses Sidney Bernstein and his brother Cecil are not enthusiastic, but together with producer Harry Elton and director Derek Bennett, Tony takes up the battle. He wants cobbles, a pub, seven houses and a shop, but above all he wants Northern actors. Led by casting director Margaret Morris and her young assistant Josie Scott, the hunt begins for the legendary cast - Doris Speed, Pat Phoenix, Violet Carson and William Roache. With a last-minute change of title, Coronation Street is born.


SAT 01:00 Timeshift (b00tr480)
Series 10

1960: The Year of the North

Documentary which sets out to show that the 1960s - the most creative decade of the 20th century - began not in swinging London but in smokestack northern England. It was from there that a new kind of voice was heard - cocky and defiant, working class, affluent, stroppy and sexy.

Novelist Andrew Martin explores how in 1960 the north asserted itself, came out of the closet artistically speaking, abandoned the cloth cap stereotype and in the process liberated itself and Britain as a whole. The story of how the north went from being the economic engine room of the country to cultural powerhouse is told through the work of northern writers such as Alan Sillitoe, Shelagh Delaney, Stan Barstow and Tony Warren. Thanks to their lead in conspicuously kicking over the old traces, by the end of 1960 if you wanted iconoclasm, humour, style and music, you definitely looked to the north.


SAT 02:05 People's Palaces: The Golden Age of Civic Architecture (b00tr1q1)
The Gothic Revival

Architectural historian Dr Jonathan Foyle visits some of the best neo-gothic Victorian civic buildings in the north of England. Pointed arches, spires and clustered columns proliferate on churches and cathedrals, town halls and libraries, as gothic moves from the sacred to the secular through the 19th century and becomes the north's civic style of choice.

Two men are primarily responsible for this medieval style's adoption by the Victorians. Augustus Pugin associated gothic with godliness and harmony and believed that architecture could influence morality. John Ruskin's influential book The Stones of Venice looked at the gothic architecture of the Italian renaissance mercantile republics and associated it with freedom. When Ruskin untethered gothic architecture from ecclesiastical building it went on to flourish in the hands of a generation of young, idealistic architects seeking to assert the cultural credentials of the north and exert an improving influence over the citizens of the burgeoning industrial towns.

Featuring contributions from Rosemary Hill, author of God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain; Dr Katy Layton-Jones, lecturer in urban history; and Dr Terry Wyke, lecturer in history and economic history.

Jonathan Foyle visits the Temple of Liberty at Stowe; Pugin and Charles Barry's Palace of Westminster; Robert Chantrell's St Peter's Church in Leeds; William Crossland's Rochdale Town Hall; Alfred Waterhouse's Manchester Town Hall; Basil Champneys' Rylands Library in Manchester; Edward Mountford's Sheffield Town Hall; the Victoria Baths at Chorlton on Medlock; and Giles Gilbert Scott's Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, the biggest gothic church in Britain, built with more than 2.5 million pounds of the public's money.


SAT 03:05 A Journey Back to Newcastle: Michael Smith's Deep North (b00tr1gm)
Michael Smith goes in search of the Newcastle of his youth.

Approaching the Toon from the Tyne, he believes the place has more in common with Baltic City States than London, where he now lives. He argues that there are in fact several Norths; unlike the South, where everything is centered on London's inescapable black hole gravity, the North has plural accents and plural identities. The North East is the far north, the Deep North of the title, remote and disconnected from this axis. As far as the North East is concerned, Leeds and Manchester may as well be in the midlands.

Smith's North is a land apart entirely, and a land that defines itself by this basic fact. A small conurbation clustered by the coast, separated from the main rump by miles and miles of rural emptiness. Deep North is a lyrical meditation on Newcastle and the North East, and ultimately, a subjective and personal response of a prodigal son returning.


SAT 04:05 Churches: How to Read Them (b00tr47y)
Medieval Death

The medieval church cannot be understood without recognising that death was at its heart. Richard Taylor shows how churches were designed to give medieval people a way to escape death, with their Judgement scenes, cadaver tombs and graphic depictions of the crucifixion.

He explains why scenes of suffering on the cross became so prominent and why the instruments used in the persecution of Jesus were depicted in the decoration of windows, floors and walls at such remarkable sites as Malvern Priory in Worcestershire.

Taylor explains the medieval obsession with purgatory and how this again transformed our churches with the building of elaborate chantry chapels, where Masses could be said to ease the journey of departed souls into heaven.



SUNDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2010

SUN 19:00 Not Cricket (b00byf78)
The Captain and the Bookmaker

Documentary which lifts the lid on the new South Africa through the prism of sport, the international boycott of which had helped bring down the racist regime. It tells the story of Hansie Cronje, the iconic hero of South African cricket who, by taking bribes to fix international matches, betrayed the game supposed to embody the spirit of fair play.

Featuring interviews with Marlon Aronstam, one of the bookmakers who corrupted him, and with Cronje's boss and controversial coach, the late Bob Woolmer, filmed just weeks before his death, amid false rumours he was murdered by match fixers. Plus frank confessions from fellow test team-members, friends and mentors and most of the key opinion formers in South African cricket.


SUN 20:00 Vatican: The Hidden World (b00tr2p3)
With unprecedented access to the Vatican and the people who live and work there, this is a unique profile of the heart of the Catholic Church and the world's smallest sovereign state.

Archivists reveal the Vatican's secrets, including the signed testimony of Galileo recorded by the Inquisition. A cardinal journeys deep below St Peter's Basilica to inspect the site claimed to be the tomb of the saint himself, and curators share a private viewing of Michelangelo's extraordinary decoration of the Sistine Chapel.

An intriguing behind-the-scenes look at the workings of one of the world's most powerful and mysterious institutions.


SUN 21:00 Waiting for Work (b00tw1jx)
Waiting for Work was a documentary written and directed by Jack Ashley. Politically passionate and one of the first working class reporters at the BBC, he wanted to show the suffering caused by high unemployment in Hartlepool. With no work, no prospects, and little money, Ashley asked how the unemployed reacted to their situation in an affluent society.

The documentary caused a storm when it was first shown in 1963. The original film is followed by a report by Ashley's daughter Jackie on how it changed politics in the north of England.


SUN 22:00 Play For Today (b00tw1jz)
Series 10

The Black Stuff

Classic early 1980s drama about a Merseyside tarmac gang away on a contract on Teesside. Without the boss there's a chance for some local diversion with the natives while keeping up the spirit of free enterprise, preferably on the firm's time.


SUN 23:45 Citizen Smith (b008py02)
Hartlepool

Publisher Michael Smith takes on the guise of a contemporary Citizen Smith, scouring England in search of a modern day definition of nationality. Beginning in his home town of Hartlepool, he encounters Andy Capp, the Monkey mascot mayor, Tory developers and the next generation of local voices, combining his skill for a sweet turn of phrase with a disarming conversational style that forgoes the sledgehammer whilst very definitely cracking the nut.


SUN 00:15 Today I'm With You (b00tr1gh)
During the late 1960s Finnish photographer and filmmaker Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen came to Byker, a working class community in Newcastle upon Tyne. She fell in love with her new home just as it was about to be demolished. Her seminal documentation of the community led to national recognition for her work as a key account of Britain's traditional working class culture at the moment of its destruction.

In 2005, Sirkka returned. The visionary Byker Wall Estate that replaced the original terraced streets was to have rehoused the community intact, but inevitably didn't.

This new film follows her as she negotiates a photographic journey through its now multicultural communities - building a portrait of the estate out of her comically chaotic portrait sessions and the arresting photographs, stories and negotiations that flow from them. Through rare film footage we glimpse her as a young woman photographing the old community.


SUN 01:10 Legends (b00tr86l)
Herb Alpert, Tijuana Brass and Other Delights

This is the story of deals on the beach, accidental pop stars, friendship, comebacks, multimillion dollar deals and new discoveries - the story of musician, producer, record industry mogul and artist, Herb Alpert.

Herb is probably best known as the trumpet player who created the Tijuana Brass and sold America, and the world, the sound of Mexico. Or the crooner that made the ladies swoon when he sang This Guy's in Love With You. From his first job working with soul legend Sam Cooke to creating A&M Records, Alpert's life reads like a wonderful story of dreams come true. This profile follows him today and platforms his music and artwork as he exhibits his sculptures for Hollywood's art elite. Contributors include Lou Adler, Quincy Jones, Richard Carpenter, Sting, Jam & Lewis and Stephen Fry.


SUN 02:10 Legends (b00pv1l3)
Neil Sedaka: That's When the Music Takes Me

Documentary telling the story of songwriter and performer Neil Sedaka, the man behind some of the biggest smash hits in history, including Oh Carol, Is This the Way to Amarillo, Solitaire, Breaking up is Hard to Do, and Love Will Keep Us Together.

Sedaka was destined for life as a classical pianist when he was seduced by the raw sounds of rock 'n' roll. In the early sixties he recorded a string of teenage anthems such as Calendar Girl, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen and Breaking up is Hard to Do.

The arrival of the Beatles on the musical landscape signalled the end of Sedaka's singing career and he turned to writing songs for other artists such as the Monkees, Tom Jones and Tony Christie. But a move to England in the early 1970s was the launch pad for a remarkable comeback. He recorded with British band 10cc in Stockport before returning to the top of the American charts with Laughter in the Rain and Bad Blood.

In 2009, at the age of 70, Sedaka still has a huge following. He toured the UK to packed houses and released a new album, The Music of My Life. Singers Tony Christie and Connie Francis, musicians Graham Gouldman of 10cc and Jay Siegel of the Tokens, and Brill Building songwriting colleagues Don Kirshner and Carol Bayer Sager are among those paying tribute to the 'king of doobie-dos'.


SUN 03:10 Legends (b0074s0m)
James Last: Non Stop Dancing

James Last is one of the most successful bandleaders and arrangers in the history of popular music. In a career lasting more than 50 years, he has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.

This documentary goes behind the James Last phenomenon to ask why his music is loved by the public but often loathed by the critics. The music is often described as easy listening or happy music, but what is the James Last sound? Is it just a string of revamped Beatles hits, non-stop Abba medleys, updated classics and polka parties, or is his achievement in popular music being under-estimated and dismissed unfairly by the musical elite?

Influenced by jazz, swing, the Beatles and rock and roll in 1960's Hamburg, Last would soon become one of the most famous bandleaders of all time. This programme explores the music, the musicians and the life of the man who invented the non-stop party and re-invented the classics.


SUN 04:10 Waiting for Work (b00tw1jx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



MONDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2010

MON 19:00 World News Today (b00tww09)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 The Story of Maths (b00f7zsk)
To Infinity and Beyond

Marcus du Sautoy concludes his investigation into the history of mathematics with a look at some of the great unsolved problems that confronted mathematicians in the 20th century.

After exploring Georg Cantor's work on infinity and Henri Poincare's work on chaos theory, he looks at how mathematics was itself thrown into chaos by the discoveries of Kurt Godel, who showed that the unknowable is an integral part of maths, and Paul Cohen, who established that there were several different sorts of mathematics in which conflicting answers to the same question were possible.

He concludes his journey by considering the great unsolved problems of mathematics today, including the Riemann Hypothesis, a conjecture about the distribution of prime numbers. A million-dollar prize and a place in the history books await anyone who can prove Riemann's theorem.


MON 20:30 Only Connect (b00tww0c)
Series 4

Radio Addicts vs Taxonomists

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

A doctor, a teacher and an accountant with a shared passion for radio square up to a trio of professional taxomomists - three women who make companies more successful through their precise use of language.

They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random.


MON 21:00 Spitfire Women (b00tw1m1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


MON 22:00 Storyville (b0074l5k)
The Photographer

In 1987, colour slides were found in a second hand book store in Vienna which turned out to be a collections of photographs taken in the Lodz ghetto by the Nazis' chief accountant. Walter Genewein boosted productivity in the ghetto while keeping costs down, a policy which led to the Lodz ghetto surviving much longer than any other in Poland. He recorded what he considered to be the subhuman aspect of the Jewish workers and he was concerned only with the technical quality of his photos.

Director Dariusz Jablonski's prize-winning film uses the photographs in a different way. He recreates for us the suffering of inmates, giving a compassionate picture of that it was like to be trapped in the ghetto.


MON 23:00 The Counterfeiters (b00t25z9)
Oscar-winning film based on the true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, an artist and expert forger who was arrested by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. Along with other forgers, printers and banking experts, he was forced to help the Nazis in an organised counterfeit operation set up to help finance their war effort. It remains the largest counterfeiting operation of all time.


MON 00:35 Spitfire Women (b00tw1m1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


MON 01:35 Legends (b0074t30)
Vera Lynn - Sincerely Yours

A revealing and film about a singer who continues to occupy a distinctive corner of the nation's heart. It follows the dramatic story of Vera Lynn's rise to stardom, from the almost forgotten world of the big band singers of the 30s with songs that were dismissed as sentimental twaddle to her battles with the BBC, her struggle to survive the musical chaos of the 50s and 60s and her phenomenal ability to communicate with her audience.

The film uses rare and previously unseen footage and exclusive interviews with Dame Vera and her daughter, Virginia Lewis Jones, to narrate the complex and professionally turbulent portrait of a legendary entertainer. More than any other singer, Vera Lynn personifies the moment history met popular music. Her three key songs during the war years epitomised the mood of the time - We'll Meet Again was the optimistic one, The White Cliffs of Dover was the patriotic one and Yours was the love song. Completely untrained as Vera was, it was her gift to convey a belief in the lyric which endeared her to her fans. Today, her name remains synonymous with the values of an era long gone.


MON 02:35 The Story of Maths (b00f7zsk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 03:35 Spitfire Women (b00tw1m1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]



TUESDAY 21 SEPTEMBER 2010

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00tww2w)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 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 20:00 Battle of Britain: The South Coast Trail (b00trb42)
Military historian Howard Tuck travels along the south coast uncovering forgotten traces of one of the most terrifying planned invasions of Britain. Howard knocks on doors and takes metal detectors into the countryside to unearth untold stories of bravery, tragedy and guilt lain buried for 70 years.


TUE 20:30 Time to Remember (b00tww3x)
Pioneers of Aviation

In the 1950s, the newsreel company Pathe mined their archive to produce a series of programmes for television called Time to Remember. Made by the producer Peter Baylis, they chronicled the political, social and cultural changes that occurred during the first half of the 20th century.

Each episode was narrated by a prominent actor such as Ralph Richardson, Michael Redgrave, Anthony Quayle, Edith Evans, Basil Rathbone and Joyce Grenfell, all reading scripts recalling historic, evocative or significant moments from an intriguing past.

In 2010, the material from the original Time to Remember has been collected together thematically to create a new 12-part series under the same title that offers a rewarding perspective on the events, people and innovations from history that continue to shape and influence the world around us.

This episode tells the story of the groundbreaking men, women and machines who took to the skies in the first half of the 20th century and includes footage of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk; President Theodore Roosevelt becoming the first head of state to fly in an aeroplane; the German Zeppelins; the R101 disaster; Imperial Airways at Croydon Aerodrome; and Charles Lindbergh's first solo transatlantic flight in the Spirit of St Louis in 1927.


TUE 21:00 The End of God?: A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion (b00tw1tl)
As the Pope ends his visit to Britain, historian Dr Thomas Dixon delves into the BBC's archive to explore the troubled relationship between religion and science. From the creationists of America to the physicists of the Large Hadron Collider, he traces the expansion of scientific knowledge and asks whether there is still room for God in the modern world.


TUE 22:00 The Lost Gospels (b0074t48)
Documentary presented by Anglican priest Pete Owen Jones which explores the huge number of ancient Christian texts that didn't make it into the New Testament. Shocking and challenging, these were works in which Jesus didn't die, took revenge on his enemies and kissed Mary Magdalene on the mouth - a Jesus unrecognisable from that found in the traditional books of the New Testament.

Pete travels through Egypt and the former Roman Empire looking at the emerging evidence of a Christian world that's very different to the one we know, and discovers that aside from the gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, there were over seventy gospels, acts, letters and apocalypses, all circulating in the early Church.

Through these lost Gospels, Pete reconstructs the intense intellectual and political struggles for orthodoxy that was fought in the early centuries of Christianity, a battle involving different Christian sects, each convinced that their gospels were true and sacred.

The worldwide success of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code sparked new interest, as well as wild and misguided speculation about the origins of the Christian faith. Owen Jones sets out the context in which heretical texts like the Gospel of Mary emerged. He also strikes a cautionary note - if these lost gospels had been allowed to flourish, Christianity may well have faced an uncertain future, or perhaps not survived at all.


TUE 23:30 White Gospel (b009hpfr)
Documentary about white gospel, America's most enduring yet obscure musical subculture and Elvis Presley's favourite type of music. One of the foundations of country music, it taught generations of southerners the principles of harmony and produced its own legends and stars in talents such as The Louvin Brothers, Dottie Rambo and The Blackwood Brothers. A journey from the sound of ancient harmonies sung in remote country churches through to the modern fiery anthems of the religious right.


TUE 00:30 Time to Remember (b00tww3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 01:00 The End of God?: A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion (b00tw1tl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 02:00 It's Only a Theory (b00n59t6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 02:30 White Gospel (b009hpfr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:30 today]


TUE 03:30 The End of God?: A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion (b00tw1tl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2010

WED 19:00 World News Today (b00twwc2)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 War Walks (b0074m98)
Series 2

Hastings

Professor Richard Holmes walks and rides over the Hastings battlefield that marks a turning point in British history, handling the weapons and equipment of the period and becoming a Norman knight to reveal just how close William the Conqueror came to defeat.


WED 20:00 We Need Answers (b00pl05t)
Series 2

Language

Anarchic comedy game show in which celebrity guests answer questions set by the public.

Mark Watson hosts, Tim Key is in the questionmaster's chair and Alex Horne provides expert analysis from a booth as two celebrities battle it out to be crowned the winner and avoid the shame of donning 'The Clogs of Defeat'.

Former EastEnder and comic actress Tracy-Ann Oberman competes against best-selling author of The Long Firm and He Kills Coppers, Jake Arnott.

The rules are simple - contestants must match their answer to the one given by a text answering service. Questions range from 'How many pints of cider make up one portion of my fruit intake a day?' to 'How long would it take to drink Lake Windermere?'.

In the cunning physical challenge which pits the contestants against each other, Tracey-Ann takes on Jake in composing a sentence using alphabet spaghetti.


WED 20:30 Churches: How to Read Them (b00twwc4)
Reformation: Chaos and Creation

The late middle ages was a time of destruction that still leaves its mark on our churches today. With the help of art historian Sister Wendy Beckett and a spectacular stained glass window, Richard Taylor tries to understand the intense medieval devotion to the Virgin Mary and how this fuelled the anger of the Reformation that followed.

Richard 'reads' a ruined church and explains how it was not Henry VIII but his boy-king successor, Edward VI, who was responsible for the greatest changes in the Reformation. He also traces how the Book of Common Prayer and the translation of the Bible into English transformed the way that the English worshipped and the appearance of their churches.

Richard travels to Burntisland in Fife, whose square-built church was a radical attempt by the Scots to break with their Catholic past.


WED 21:00 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00tw231)
Romans to Normans

Groundbreaking series in which Michael Wood tells the story of one place throughout the whole of English history. The village is Kibworth in Leicestershire in the heart of England - a place that lived through the Black Death, the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution and was even bombed in World War Two.

With the help of the local people and using archaeology, landscape, language and DNA, Michael uncovers the lost history of the first 1,000 years of the village, featuring a Roman villa, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings and graphic evidence of life on the eve of the Norman Conquest.


WED 22:00 Mad Men (b00twwc6)
Series 4

The Good News

It's late December 1964, and Joan is trying to start a family with Greg, but her work schedule and his impending army commitments make things difficult. Don takes a trip to California to see Anna and meets her niece, who delivers some unsettling news. Upon returning to New York, he finds Lane in the office, who has been experiencing family difficulties of his own. They spend a night on the town to get their minds off their troubles.


WED 22:45 Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child (b00tw2db)
40 years after Jimi Hendrix's death on September 18th 1970, this film tells Jimi Hendrix's life story in his own words and is narrated by funk legend Bootsy Collins in the soft, authoritative voice of Hendrix himself.

Blending archive footage, artefacts, news archive and rare performance footage, director Bob Smeaton's film takes us from Hendrix's childhood in Seattle, through his spell in the army and on to his time on the chitlin circuit backing the likes of the Isley Brothers and Little Richard, his 'discovery' by ex-Animal Chas Chandler in New York, the formation of the Experience in the UK and his launch and instant popstardom in London in 1966, his stellar festival appearances at Monterey and Woodstock, his artistic progression, his last British concert at the end of August 1970 at the Isle of Wight Festival and his tragic death in Notting Hill, choked on his own vomit and red wine.


WED 00:00 Churches: How to Read Them (b00twwc4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 00:30 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00tw231)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 01:30 Spitfire Women (b00tw1m1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


WED 02:30 Churches: How to Read Them (b00twwc4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 03:00 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00tw231)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 04:00 Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child (b00tw2db)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:45 today]



THURSDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2010

THU 19:00 World News Today (b00twwgt)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Seven Ages of Britain (b00qsb88)
Age of Worship

The story of British art in the Middle Ages, spanning from the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 to the death of Richard II in 1400. It was an age defined by worship - whether worship of God, the king, or one's lady love.

David Dimbleby looks at the finest creations of the medieval Church, like the stained glass of Canterbury Cathedral and the colourful Bury Bible, and is winched 40 feet off the ground to see a rare surviving church Doom - a painting of the Last Judgement - close up.

During the reign of Edward I a new fad, chivalry, gripped the nation, resulting in fabulous creations like the Eleanor Cross of Geddington, Edward III's vast ceremonial sword at Windsor, and the tomb of the Black Prince. The artistic high point of the Middle Ages came with the reign of Richard II, whose patronage inspired three masterpieces: the famous timber roof of Westminster Hall, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and the Wilton Diptych altarpiece.

David travels to Munich to see the only surviving English medieval crown, which belonged to Richard's wife, Anne of Bohemia.


THU 20:30 In Search of Medieval Britain (b009vsbp)
North of England

Medieval art historian Dr Alixe Bovey uses the oldest surviving route map of Britain to make a series of journeys through Britain in the Middle Ages. She follows the trail north from York to the hotly-contested Scottish border and uncovers tantalising clues to Medieval Britain's most dangerous war zone.


THU 21:00 Domesday (b00sj8fc)
Dr Stephen Baxter, medieval historian at King's College, London, reveals the human and political drama that lies within the parchment of England's earliest surviving public record, the Domesday Book. He also finds out the real reason it was commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.

The Domesday Book is the first great national survey of England, a record of who owned every piece of land and property in the kingdom. It also records the traumatic impact of the Norman conquest on Anglo-Saxon England, the greatest social and political upheaval in the country's history.

Most historians believe that Domesday is a tax book for raising revenue, but Baxter has his own theory. He proves that the Domesday Book could not have been used to collect taxes and he argues that it is about something far more important than money. Its real purpose was to confer revolutionary new powers on the monarchy in Norman England.


THU 22:00 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00tw231)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


THU 23:00 Christina: A Medieval Life (b00b6ksc)
Historian Michael Wood presents a portrait of ordinary people living through extraordinary times, tracing the story of a real-life peasant of 14th-century Hertfordshire.

She wasn't a famous person, or of noble blood, yet Christina's story is important in understanding our own roots. In this time of war, famine, floods, climate change and the Black Death are the beginnings of the end of serfdom, the growth of individual freedom and the start of a market economy.

Wood recounts the history of medieval Britain told not from the top of society, but from the bottom. Through the lives of Christina and her fellow villagers, we see how the most volatile century in British history played a crucial role in shaping the character and destiny of a nation, and its people.


THU 00:00 Churches: How to Read Them (b00twwc4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Wednesday]


THU 00:30 The End of God?: A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion (b00tw1tl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


THU 01:30 Domesday (b00sj8fc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


THU 02:30 In Search of Medieval Britain (b009vsbp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


THU 03:00 Christina: A Medieval Life (b00b6ksc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]



FRIDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2010

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00twwhl)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 Making a Symphony for Yorkshire (b00tp33z)
Documentary which goes behind the scenes to follow composer Benjamin Till as he creates and shoots his latest musical work. Benjamin films in fifty stunning locations around the county, working with 250 musicians, and together they produce a symphony for Yorkshire. For everyone involved - from singers to soloists, and choirs to brass bands - the symphony promises an unforgettable musical journey.


FRI 20:00 The Royal Ballet Celebrates Kenneth MacMillan (b00tw6d7)
Concerto and Elite Syncopations

The first of a two-part programme celebrating the genius of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan in the year in which he would have turned 80. The three contrasting works featured in these programmes are danced by the Royal Ballet and they showcase the beauty and dramatic power of MacMillan's choreography.

Concerto is an early work danced to the music of Shostakovich and is followed by Elite Syncopations, in which brightly-coloured dancers burst into life to the music of ragtime.

The programme also features interviews with the lead dancers in rehearsal including Carlos Acosta, Sarah Lamb and Ed Watson, as well as the director of the Royal Ballet, Monica Mason.


FRI 21:10 The Royal Ballet Celebrates Kenneth MacMillan (b00tytm3)
The Judas Tree

The second of a two-part programme celebrating the genius of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan in the year in which he would have turned 80.

The Royal Ballet perform the Judas Tree, the Laurence Olivier Award-winning ballet which was MacMillan's last work before his untimely death of a heart attack at the age of 62. Set on a building site in Canary Wharf it is a highly charged ballet of brutal betrayal and tense sexual violence.

The programme also features interviews with the lead dancers in rehearsal including Carlos Acosta, Leanne Benjamin and Ed Watson, as well as the director of the Royal Ballet, Monica Mason.


FRI 21:50 Rock Shrines (b0074852)
Jimi Hendrix

The grave of the greatest rock guitarist that ever lived lies in a small suburb called Renton, just outside Seattle. On the anniversary of his death on 27th November every year, fans come from all over America to honour their hero, many with guitars. Impromptu jamming and chit chat about Jimi are the order of the day.


FRI 22:05 Jimi Hendrix: Guitar Hero (b00tw2d8)
Documentary about Jimi Hendrix's four sensational years in London told by those who knew him, admired him and loved him. Driven by the testimony of Hendrix's fellow rock musicians, this is the story of Hendrix's journey in the UK and the enduring impression he made on those who witnessed his playing and got to know him well. Contributors include Eric Clapton, Dave Mason, Ginger Baker, Eric Burdon, members of Crosby, Stills and Nash and Hendrix's girlfriend Kathy Etchingham.


FRI 23:35 Guitar Heroes at the BBC (b00dzzv2)
Part I

Concentrating on the 1970s (1969 to 1981 to be exact) and ransacking a host of BBC shows from The Old Grey Whistle Test to Sight & Sound, this compilation is designed to release the air guitarist in everyone, combining great electric guitarists like Carlos Santana, Mark Knopfler, The Edge and Peter Green with acoustic masters like John Martyn, Pentangle and Paco Pena.


FRI 00:35 The Royal Ballet Celebrates Kenneth MacMillan (b00tw6d7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


FRI 01:45 The Royal Ballet Celebrates Kenneth MacMillan (b00tytm3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:10 today]


FRI 02:25 Jimi Hendrix: Guitar Hero (b00tw2d8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:05 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 Journey Back to Newcastle: Michael Smith's Deep North 03:05 SAT (b00tr1gm)

Battle of Britain Night 19:00 SAT (b00tw0n5)

Battle of Britain Night 21:00 SAT (b00ty0f5)

Battle of Britain: The South Coast Trail 20:00 TUE (b00trb42)

Christina: A Medieval Life 23:00 THU (b00b6ksc)

Christina: A Medieval Life 03:00 THU (b00b6ksc)

Churches: How to Read Them 04:05 SAT (b00tr47y)

Churches: How to Read Them 20:30 WED (b00twwc4)

Churches: How to Read Them 00:00 WED (b00twwc4)

Churches: How to Read Them 02:30 WED (b00twwc4)

Churches: How to Read Them 00:00 THU (b00twwc4)

Citizen Smith 23:45 SUN (b008py02)

Domesday 21:00 THU (b00sj8fc)

Domesday 01:30 THU (b00sj8fc)

Guitar Heroes at the BBC 23:35 FRI (b00dzzv2)

In Search of Medieval Britain 20:30 THU (b009vsbp)

In Search of Medieval Britain 02:30 THU (b009vsbp)

It's Only a Theory 19:30 TUE (b00n59t6)

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

Jimi Hendrix: Guitar Hero 22:05 FRI (b00tw2d8)

Jimi Hendrix: Guitar Hero 02:25 FRI (b00tw2d8)

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child 22:45 WED (b00tw2db)

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child 04:00 WED (b00tw2db)

Legends 01:10 SUN (b00tr86l)

Legends 02:10 SUN (b00pv1l3)

Legends 03:10 SUN (b0074s0m)

Legends 01:35 MON (b0074t30)

Mad Men 23:00 SAT (b00tr482)

Mad Men 22:00 WED (b00twwc6)

Making a Symphony for Yorkshire 19:30 FRI (b00tp33z)

Michael Wood's Story of England 21:00 WED (b00tw231)

Michael Wood's Story of England 00:30 WED (b00tw231)

Michael Wood's Story of England 03:00 WED (b00tw231)

Michael Wood's Story of England 22:00 THU (b00tw231)

Not Cricket 19:00 SUN (b00byf78)

Only Connect 20:30 MON (b00tww0c)

People's Palaces: The Golden Age of Civic Architecture 02:05 SAT (b00tr1q1)

Play For Today 22:00 SUN (b00tw1jz)

Rock Shrines 21:50 FRI (b0074852)

Seven Ages of Britain 19:30 THU (b00qsb88)

Spitfire Women 20:00 SAT (b00tw1m1)

Spitfire Women 21:00 MON (b00tw1m1)

Spitfire Women 00:35 MON (b00tw1m1)

Spitfire Women 03:35 MON (b00tw1m1)

Spitfire Women 01:30 WED (b00tw1m1)

Storyville 22:00 MON (b0074l5k)

The Counterfeiters 23:00 MON (b00t25z9)

The End of God?: A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion 21:00 TUE (b00tw1tl)

The End of God?: A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion 01:00 TUE (b00tw1tl)

The End of God?: A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion 03:30 TUE (b00tw1tl)

The End of God?: A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion 00:30 THU (b00tw1tl)

The Lost Gospels 22:00 TUE (b0074t48)

The Road to Coronation Street 23:45 SAT (b00ttj2r)

The Royal Ballet Celebrates Kenneth MacMillan 20:00 FRI (b00tw6d7)

The Royal Ballet Celebrates Kenneth MacMillan 21:10 FRI (b00tytm3)

The Royal Ballet Celebrates Kenneth MacMillan 00:35 FRI (b00tw6d7)

The Royal Ballet Celebrates Kenneth MacMillan 01:45 FRI (b00tytm3)

The Story of Maths 19:30 MON (b00f7zsk)

The Story of Maths 02:35 MON (b00f7zsk)

Time to Remember 20:30 TUE (b00tww3x)

Time to Remember 00:30 TUE (b00tww3x)

Timeshift 01:00 SAT (b00tr480)

Today I'm With You 00:15 SUN (b00tr1gh)

Vatican: The Hidden World 20:00 SUN (b00tr2p3)

Waiting for Work 21:00 SUN (b00tw1jx)

Waiting for Work 04:10 SUN (b00tw1jx)

War Walks 19:30 WED (b0074m98)

We Need Answers 20:00 WED (b00pl05t)

Wellington Bomber 22:00 SAT (b00tr2p5)

White Gospel 23:30 TUE (b009hpfr)

White Gospel 02:30 TUE (b009hpfr)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b00tww09)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b00tww2w)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b00twwc2)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b00twwgt)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b00twwhl)