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 02 OCTOBER 2010

SAT 19:00 Nature's Great Events (b00j8g9g)
The Great Feast

Every summer in the seas off Alaska humpback whales, sea lions and killer whales depend on an explosion of plant life - the plankton bloom. It transforms these seas into the richest on earth. But will these animals survive to enjoy the great feast?

The summer sun sparks the growth of phytoplankton, microscopic floating plants which can bloom in such vast numbers that they eclipse even the Amazon rainforest in sheer abundance of plant life. Remarkably, it is these minute plants that are the basis of all life here.

But both whales and sea lions have obstacles to overcome before they can enjoy the feast. Humpback whales migrate 3,000 miles from Hawaii, and during their three-month voyage, lose a third of their body weight. In a heartrending scene, a mother sea lion loses her pup in a violent summer storm, while another dramatic sequence shows a group of killer whales working together to kill a huge male sea lion.

In late summer, the plankton bloom is at its height. Vast shoals of herring gather to feed on it, diving birds round the fish up into a bait ball and then a humpback whale roars in to scoop up the entire ball of herring in one huge mouthful.

When a dozen whales work together, they employ the ultimate method of co-operative fishing - bubble net feeding. One whale blows a ring of bubbles to engulf the fish and then they charge in as one. Filmed from the surface, underwater and, for the first time, from the air, we reveal how these giant hunters can catch a tonne of fish every day.

In Swallowed By a Whale, cameramen Shane Moore and David Reichert were filming bait balls when a 30-tonne whale roared past, within feet of them, swallowing the entire bait ball.


SAT 20:00 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00tzmsd)
Domesday to Magna Carta

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.

Wood's unique portrait moves on to 1066 when the Normans build a castle in Kibworth. He reveals how occupation affected the villagers from the gallows to the alehouse, and shows the medieval open fields in action in the only place where they still survive today.

With the help of the residents, he charts events in the village leading to the people's involvement in the Civil War of Simon de Montfort. Intertwining the local and national narratives, this is a moving and informative picture of one local community through time.


SAT 21:00 Wallander (b00mk3sg)
Series 1

The Castle Ruins

When an old man is murdered at a luxury housing development by the sea, suspicions fall on the residents. It seems that their perfect lives are not so perfect after all.

In Swedish with English subtitles.


SAT 22:30 Mad Men (b00tzmsg)
Series 4

The Rejected

Drama series set in 1960s New York. Pete gets some bad news and some good news, which affects Peggy more than she can say. Allison can't keep her feelings under wraps.


SAT 23:15 Crooked House (b00gf5cz)
The Wainscoting

When schoolteacher Ben unearths an old door knocker in the garden of his new home, the curator suggests it may come from the now-demolished house, reputed to be haunted. Ben prompts the curator to tell him stories about the house's past.

It's 1786, and Joseph Bloxham is a self-made man and something of a star in fashionable coffee-house society. Some though, like the sceptical Noakes, take a dim view of his shady business ethics. Bloxham has used his ill-gotten gains to buy the old Geap Manor, paying no heed to the warnings of Noakes and his friend Duncalfe, but when Bloxham starts to hear ghastly sounds in the newly-installed panelling of his drawing room it seems he might have more than just a mouse hiding in his wainscoting.


SAT 23:45 The Born Free Legacy (b00tzm01)
Born Free caused a sensation when it was first published in 1960. As well as topping the New York Times bestseller list, the book, and the Hollywood film that followed, made a massive impact on conservation and science and our fundamental attitudes to wild animals and the environment.

This documentary marks the 50th anniversary of Born Free's publication by revisiting the inspirational story of Austrian artist and author Joy and her husband George Adamson, a warden turned wildlife conservationist. The account of the couple's experiences and adventures in East Africa as they raised an orphaned lioness cub, and their success in training her to survive in the wild, won the hearts and minds of people around the world and challenged the conventional view of wild animals as being without personalities, emotions or individual rights.

The extraordinary relationship between Elsa the lioness and her adopted 'parents' caused a seismic shift in popular attitudes towards animals and left a legacy that is as controversial today as it is fondly celebrated.

The documentary was filmed on location in Kenya and draws on extraordinary archive, including home video footage filmed by Joy and George, shot over the course of 50 years. Featuring contributions from their many friends, associates and contemporaries, it gives a remarkable insight into the personal lives and work of a couple who contributed to a sea change in our view of our relationship with wild animals and our place on the planet.


SAT 00:45 Wildlife in a War Zone (b0074sft)
Sanjayan Muttulingam was forced to flee Sierra Leone when civil war erupted. Now a biologist in the United States, Sanjayan returns to his native land to find out what has happened to the animals which inspired him and the people he left behind.


SAT 01:45 Murder on the Lake (b00qjngb)
Joan Root, with her husband Alan, produced beautiful and famous natural history films, born of her deep love of Africa and its flora and fauna. This delicate but determined member of Kenya's Happy Valley was gunned down in January 2006 by intruders bearing AK-47s. Four men were charged with her murder, including David Chege, the leader of a private vigilante group Root herself had financed to stop the illegal fishing that was killing Lake Naivasha, the beautiful lake beside which she lived.

Chege was from Karagita, the largest of the slums that has sprung up beside the lake in the last twenty years. In that time, the population of Naivasha has rocketed from 30,000 to 350,000 as a desperate tide of impoverished migrant workers arrived in search of employment on Kenya's flourishing flower farms. This has created squalor, crime and, in the minds of Root and her fellow naturalists, ecological apocalypse.

This film tells the story of the extraordinary life and brutal death of Joan Root, and of her campaign to save the lake she loved. Who killed Joan Root? Was it the fish poachers, whom Root stopped from plying their illegal trade in a bid to save her beloved Lake Naivasha? Was it her loyal lieutenant Chege, whom Root ultimately cut off from her payroll? Or was it one of her white neighbours, with whom Root had feuded?

Through the telling of Root's story, the film opens a window onto contemporary Africa and the developed world's relationship to it. For it is the Kenyan rose, which is exported by the millions on a daily basis from Naivasha, that has brought not just jobs and foreign exchange earnings, but a population explosion that has caused the destruction of the environment Root worked so hard to stop. Her campaign may have ultimately cost her her life.


SAT 03:15 The History of Safari with Richard E Grant (b00s6b8q)
Episode 1

For almost 100 years, big game hunters - from Theodore Roosevelt to the British Royal Family - came to British East Africa to bag the 'big five'. Now, luxury 'eco safaris' continue to drive its economy. It has been both East Africa's damnation and its salvation that wildlife is the greatest natural resource it possesses.

Richard E Grant - who grew up in Swaziland - examines the controversial history of the safari. Exploring the world of the big game hunters and the luxury of today's safaris, he goes on a personal journey to experience how the beauty of the bush made Africa the white man's playground.

Plotting the major landmarks in the development of the safari, Grant uncovers a world of danger, glamour and gung-ho. He reveals how the safari was continually reinvented as explorers and ivory hunters were replaced by white settlers, guns gave way to cameras and direct British rule to independence.

He discovers how safari became one of the central constructs through which British rule over East Africa was imposed, provided the social touchstone for the white settlers and was eventually transformed by the glamour of Hollywood, the power of the dollar and the traveller's desire for an 'authentic African experience'.

As someone born and raised in the privileged world of the ex-pats, Grant takes an insider's perspective on the scandals and adventures of the elite class of Brits who ran the show. He meets their descendents and delves into the rich material archives of their family homes, discovering that for the remaining whites in the region this history is still very much alive.

As the trophy hunt became an icon of high society, everyone from Ernest Hemingway to British nobility and Hollywood stars were soon clamouring for a piece of the action. And as hunters decimated Africa's wildlife, they also surprisingly introduced the first conservation laws, if only to protect the supply of animals to shoot.

Embarking on safari himself, Grant experiences the beauty and the danger of being up close to the big game animals and accompanies modern hunters on safaris, where animals are still killed and the patrons still argue that hunting equals conservation.

The film is full of frontier colonial characters whose lives, exploits and attitudes describe a very particular time in Britain's relationship to Africa and its wildlife, when the continent was part Wild West, part idyll and part colonial experiment - where life could be lived between the crack of rifles at dawn and the setting of the sun at cocktail hour, largely oblivious to the indigenous Africans themselves.

Through creative use of film and photographic archive, as well as actuality with those involved in big game hunting and luxury safaris today, the documentary evokes the spirit of decadence, exploration and adventure of the safari. Ultimately, it reveals how safari has been and continues to be a barometer of our attitudes to travel, our colonial inheritance and Africa itself.


SAT 04:45 Churches: How to Read Them (b00tx33j)
Restoration and Reason

Church life in the 18th century is often thought to have been genteel and rather dull, but Richard Taylor finds that churches in this Age of Enlightenment reflect the intellectual excitement, the vigour and the potential for conflict of a turbulent time.

Richard shows how the symbols in even the most everyday parish church reveal the ever-closer identification between church and state and he tries out the extraordinary triple-decker pulpit at St Mary's in Whitby. In a lightning tour of the London churches of Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor, he discovers how they reflect the latest scientific insights and archaeological discoveries of the age. And in the startling simplicity of Baptist and Methodist chapels and meeting houses, he taps into the burgeoning spirit of dissent that brought the monopoly of the parish church to an end.



SUNDAY 03 OCTOBER 2010

SUN 19:00 Time to Remember (b00tzlzz)
Stage and Screen

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.

Archive footage from the theatres, music halls and cinemas of the 1920s and 30s combines with characterful voiceover to give a glimpse of the entertainment industries in their early 20th century golden age. It includes footage of Charles Laughton applying his own stage make-up, chorus line auditions and rehearsals in the West End, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks visiting Europe, and Alfred Hitchcock's first talkie, 1929's Blackmail.


SUN 19:30 The Beauty of Maps (b00s3v0t)
Medieval Maps - Mapping the Medieval Mind

Documentary series charting the visual appeal and historical meaning of maps.

The Hereford Mappa Mundi is the largest intact Medieval wall map in the world and its ambition is breathtaking - to picture all of human knowledge in a single image. The work of a team of artists, the world it portrays is overflowing with life, featuring Classical and Biblical history, contemporary buildings and events, animals and plants from across the globe, and the infamous 'monstrous races' which were believed to inhabit the remotest corners of the Earth.

The Mappa Mundi, meaning 'cloth of the world', has spent most of its long life at Hereford Cathedral, rarely emerging from behind its glass case. The programme represents a rare opportunity to get close to the map and explore its detail, giving a unique insight into the Medieval mind. This is also the first programme to show the map in its original glory, revealing the results of a remarkable year-long project by the Folio Society to restore it using the latest digital technology.

The map has a chequered history. Since its glory days in the 1300s it has languished forgotten in storerooms, been dismissed as a curious 'monstrosity', and controversially almost sold. Only in the last 20 years have scholars and artists realised its true depth and meaning, with the map exerting an extraordinary power over those who come into contact with it. The programme meets some of these individuals, from scholars and map lovers to Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry, whose own work, the Map of Nowhere, is inspired by the Mappa Mundi.


SUN 20:00 All Our Working Lives (b00v3wwt)
Revisited

Chemicals

The story of the British chemicals industry, using rare archive and interviews with the people who worked in it. This programme features the original 1980s documentary on chemicals, followed by a new film which brings the story right up to date.


SUN 21:30 Boys from the Blackstuff (b00v3xln)
Moonlighter

Dixie Dean, working at night in the port as a security guard, is strongarmed into accepting bribes for allowing the removal of goods under his charge in a docked ship. Chrissie, Loggo and George, the other members of the original gang, meet up prior to Snowy Malone's funeral.


SUN 22:30 Le boucher (b00v785s)
Classic Claude Chabrol-directed thriller. Meeting at a small town wedding, headmistress Helene and butcher Popaul strike up a tentative relationship that is put under strain when she suspects he might be responsible for a series of local murders.


SUN 00:00 Singer-Songwriters at the BBC (b00tzpbq)
Series 1

Episode 1

Compilation which unlocks the BBC vaults to explore the burgeoning singer-songwriter genre that exploded at the dawn of the 1970s and became one of the defining styles of that decade.

Featuring Elton John's Your Song, whose line 'My gift is my song and this one's for you' helps define this new, more personal style of songwriting, alongside an eclectic selection of classic artists and songs. James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Harry Nilsson, Sandy Denny, Steve Goodman, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Judee Sill, Jackson Browne, Neil Diamond, Tim Hardin, Joan Armatrading, Tom Waits all feature next to more commercial hits from the likes of Terry Jacks and Gilbert O'Sullivan.

Programme sources include The Old Grey Whistle Test, In Concert, Top of the Pops, The Shirley Bassey Show and Twiggy's Show of the week.


SUN 01:00 Songwriters' Circle (b00tzpbs)
Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega, Loudon Wainwright

In this unique concert created by BBC Four, singer-songwriters Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega and Loudon Wainwright perform together for the first time, taking it in turns to perform their classic songs, chat about their work and collaborate musically.

Filmed at London's intimate Bush Hall before a small audience, this one-off event finds Meltdown curator Richard Thompson performing songs from his 40-year solo career like I Feel So Good and Vincent Black Lightning, and reaching back to his first band Fairport Convention for a revelatory version of Genesis Hall.

Suzanne Vega reprises many of the songs that made her name - Marlene on the Wall, Luka and Tom's Diner - and finds time for a unique country-style duet with Loudon Wainwright on a song about property prices, failing marriages and the recession.

Wainwright also reaches into his catalogue for signature songs like Be Careful There's a Baby in the House, One Man Guy and The Swimming Song. There are improvised harmonies, guitar fills a plenty from Mr Thompson and a shared delight in songwriting, performance and the occasion.


SUN 02:05 Carole King and James Taylor: Live at the Troubadour (b00sftvw)
Carole King and James Taylor reunited at the intimate Hollywood venue in concert in 2007 to play their era-defining hits, nearly four decades after they first performed at the Troubadour in November 1970, a year before their Tapestry and Sweet Baby James' albums stormed the American charts. King and Taylor are backed by the Section, the same band that propelled those albums into homes around the world.

James Taylor had released his first album on the Beatles' Apple label, Carole King was struggling to forge a new solo career after being one half of Goffin-King, one of the great Brill Building songwriting partnerships of the early 60s. Their musical friendship blossomed with Taylor's support for King and his cover of her song You've Got a Friend. The Troubadour became the centre of a new singer-songwriter culture that also featured the likes of Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and many more.


SUN 03:00 All Our Working Lives (b00v3wwt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 today]


SUN 04:30 Time to Remember (b00tzlzz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 today]



MONDAY 04 OCTOBER 2010

MON 19:00 World News Today (b00v3y5n)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


MON 19:30 The Cell (b00m6nhq)
The Chemistry of Life

In a three-part series, Dr Adam Rutherford tells the extraordinary story of the scientific quest to discover the secrets of the cell and of life itself. Every living thing is made of cells, microscopic building blocks of almost unimaginable power and complexity.

This episode explores how scientists delved ever deeper into the world of the cell, seeking to reveal the magic ingredient that can spark a bundle of chemicals into life. Their discoveries have brought us to the brink of being able to create life for ourselves.


MON 20:30 Only Connect (b00v3y5q)
Series 4

Fantasy Writers vs Bridge Players

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

Three fantasy writers, captained by a man who has written for Doctor Who, lock horns with a trio of bridge players, each with post-grad qualifications from Oxford University.

They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random, from monocaine to the helmet of Perseus to Siegfried's cloak to James Bond's Aston Martin.


MON 21:00 Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone (b00v3y5s)
The exquisite Rosslyn Chapel is a masterpiece in stone. It used to be one of Scotland's best-kept secrets, but it became world-famous when it was featured in Dan Brown's the Da Vinci Code.

Art historian Helen Rosslyn, whose husband's ancestor built the chapel over 550 years ago, is the guide on a journey of discovery around this perfect gem of a building. Extraordinary carvings of green men, inverted angels and mysterious masonic marks beg the questions of where these images come from and who the stonemasons that created them were. Helen's search leads her across Scotland and to Normandy in search of the creators of this medieval masterpiece.


MON 22:00 Timeshift (b0074sh1)
Series 6

The Da Vinci Code - The Greatest Story Ever Sold

After Dan Brown's publishing phenomenon The Da Vinci Code was cleared of plagiarism charges, this documentary explores the climate which has permitted a fictional story to make such an effective challenge to conventional history that it has forced a counter-attack from the Church, the art world and academics. Has Brown cracked the most difficult code of all our 21st-century cultural DNA?

Contributors include Richard Leigh, author of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, art critic Brian Sewell, novelist Sarah Dunant, columnist David Aaronovitch and Opus Dei director Jack Valero.


MON 23:00 All Our Working Lives (b00v3wwt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]


MON 00:30 Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone (b00v3y5s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


MON 01:30 Timeshift (b0074sh1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:00 today]


MON 02:30 The Cell (b00m6nhq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


MON 03:30 Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone (b00v3y5s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



TUESDAY 05 OCTOBER 2010

TUE 19:00 World News Today (b00v3yrt)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


TUE 19:30 The Sky at Night (b07bpyfn)
Light Echoes

Light echoes are reflections of light from distant objects in space. But what do they look like and how can they best be seen? Sir Patrick Moore and his guests Professor Mike Bode and Dr Tim O'Brien explain all. Chris Lintott helps to construct a new radio telescope in Hampshire, while Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel preview what is on view in the October skies.


TUE 20:00 Britain's Best Drives (b00hw3yp)
North Wales

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

Richard takes the wheel of Ford Zodiac to drive the circular route from Caernarfon that loops through some of Snowdonia's most sensational scenery.

He gets a Welsh lesson at Caernarfon Castle, learns the significance of the Dinorwic slate quarry, drives the Llanberis Pass, meets 71-year-old human fly Eric Jones and takes a trip down memory lane at a former Butlins holiday camp.


TUE 20:30 Time to Remember (b00v3yry)
Casualties of War

Lesley Sharp is the modern-day narrator linking together the best of the newsreel footage from the 1950s Time to Remember series illustrating the scale of the sacrifice made by ordinary people during the 20th century's two world wars.

Includes footage of recruitment and training for the Great War; soldiers going over the top in the trenches; celebrations at the end of World War One; the evacuation of 300,000 men from Dunkirk in 1940; and Hurricanes taking off during the Battle of Britain.


TUE 21:00 Timeshift (b00v3z0f)
Series 10

When Britain Went Wild

Timeshift explores the untold story of how Britain 'went wild' in the 1960s. It shows how the British people fell in love with animals and how, by the end of the decade, wildlife protection had become an intrinsic part of our culture. Before that time people knew very little about endangered species or the natural world - the very word 'environment' was hardly recognised. But the 1960s saw a sea change.

The film discovers how early television wildlife programmes with David Attenborough, writers such as Gerald Durrell and Gavin Maxwell and pioneers of conservation such as Peter Scott contributed to that transformation.


TUE 22:30 100 Years of Wildlife Films (b007xnvt)
From the most memorable wildlife films and rare cinematic gems, to amateur footage and the poignant last shots of vanished animals, Bill Oddie explores 100 years of wildlife filming. The documentary looks at how societal attitudes towards wildlife have shaped film-making - from hunting and safaris in the 1930s to a fresh-faced David Attenborough leaping on to animals to catch them for zoos in the 1950s.


TUE 00:30 Time to Remember (b00v3yry)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 01:00 Timeshift (b00v3z0f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


TUE 02:30 The Sky at Night (b07bpyfn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


TUE 03:00 Time to Remember (b00v3yry)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


TUE 03:30 Timeshift (b00v3z0f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



WEDNESDAY 06 OCTOBER 2010

WED 19:00 World News Today (b00v3z4p)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


WED 19:30 War Walks (b0074l6q)
Series 2

Battle of Naseby

In 1645, Charles I lost his struggle against parliament during the decisive crash of the English Civil War. Professor Richard Holmes follows the campaign that led to the Battle of Naseby, starting at the king's headquarters in Oxford. On the battlefield itself he is able to touch the past, as metal detectors unearth musket balls buried for more than 350 years. Members of the Sealed Knot Civil War Reconstruction Society demonstrate the lethal power of the musket and the pike.


WED 20:00 We Need Answers (b00pwsfp)
Series 2

Episode 7

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'.

Ex-Strictly Come Dancing champion Camilla Dallerup competes with presenter and broadcaster Terry Christian.

The rules are simple - contestants must match their answer to the one given by a text answering service. Questions can range from 'How many gerbils would have to be stacked on top of each other to reach the moon?' to 'How heavy is the sky?' to 'Is gravy a condiment?'.

In the cunning physical challenge which pits the contestants against each other, Terry and Camilla see who can nod the most in a minute.


WED 20:30 Churches: How to Read Them (b00tx3fg)
The Victorians and After

Richard Taylor discovers how, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, medieval imagery and ritual make a surprise return to Victorian places of worship and plunge the Anglican Church into conflict.

Richard retraces the controversy surrounding this Oxford Movement of Anglo-Catholics and explores their finest churches, showing how some of its most fervent supporters, including William Morris, had a change of heart about the radical restructuring that it brought to ancient buildings.

But the 20th century would bring even more powerful changes. Richard sees how the impact of war is reflected on imagery in our churches and how the First World War brought a return to another medieval practice - the commemoration of the dead. He visits a 21st century church that looks more like a rock venue and he finally finds the perfect place to reflect on what he has learned from his reading of Britain's churches.


WED 21:00 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00v3z4r)
The Great Famine and the Black Death

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.

Wood's fascinating tale reaches the catastrophic 14th century. Kibworth goes through the worst famine in European history, and then, as revealed in the astonishing village archive in Merton College Oxford, two thirds of the people die in the Black Death.

Helped by today's villagers - field walking and reading the historical texts - and by the local schoolchildren digging archaeological test pits, Wood follows stories of individual lives through these times, out of which the English idea of community and the English character begin to emerge.


WED 22:00 Mad Men (b00v3z4t)
Series 4

The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

Don and Pete try to land a new Japanese client, but Roger's racist attitude may hand the lucrative account to a rival. Don has to read deeply and think quickly to salvage things. Betty is worried about reports of her daughter Sally's erratic behaviour and wonders about referring her to a therapist.


WED 22:50 Timeshift (b00v3z0f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 00:20 Churches: How to Read Them (b00tx3fg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 00:50 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00v3z4r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]


WED 01:50 Timeshift (b00v3z0f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 03:20 Churches: How to Read Them (b00tx3fg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


WED 03:50 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00v3z4r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



THURSDAY 07 OCTOBER 2010

THU 19:00 World News Today (b00v4jww)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


THU 19:30 Seven Ages of Britain (b00r9qv5)
Age of Revolution

In the 17th century, the people of Britain learned to question everything. The result was the Civil War, in which everyone, including artists, had to take sides. Out of it came a reinvented monarchy, a scientific revolution and, ultimately, the great cathedral of St Paul's. Highlights include the courtly portraits of Rubens, Van Dyck and Peter Lely, and the fabulous creations of the Royal Society.

The programme includes: Charles I's execution shirt and painting of Charles with his head sewn back on (Museum of London); Rubens's Apotheosis of James I (Banqueting House); Van Dyck portraits (Tate Britain); Puritan tracts; Civil War re-enactment; Verney family tomb (Claydon House); Thomason Collection (British Library); portraits of Cromwell (National Portrait Gallery); Grinling Gibbons's golden statue of Charles I (Royal Hospital Chelsea); Peter Lely's Windsor Beauties (Hampton Court); Royal Observatory (Greenwich); Hooke's microscope and Micrographia (Science Museum); Wren's plan for London; and St Paul's Cathedral.


THU 20:30 In Search of Medieval Britain (b00b0cc0)
London and South East

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 ancient pilgrim trail from the east coast to London and tracks the flow of commodities and ideas from the rest of Europe, a trade that ultimately cost the lives of half the population of London.


THU 21:00 Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer? (b00l7qdh)
Episode 1

King Henry VIII had a fascinating and enlightening relationship with art. He came to the throne as the Renaissance swept across Europe, yet England's new king never lost sight of the medieval chivalry of his forefathers. In the first of a two-part documentary, architectural historian Jonathan Foyle looks at the palaces, tapestries, music and paintings created in Henry's name and questions whether the art he commissioned compensates for the religious treasures he would come to destroy.


THU 22:00 Michael Wood's Story of England (b00v3z4r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Wednesday]


THU 23:00 Churches: How to Read Them (b00tx3fg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Wednesday]


THU 23:30 Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone (b00v3y5s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 00:30 Le boucher (b00v785s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:30 on Sunday]


THU 02:05 In Search of Medieval Britain (b00b0cc0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 today]


THU 02:35 Churches: How to Read Them (b00tx3fg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Wednesday]


THU 03:05 Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer? (b00l7qdh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 today]



FRIDAY 08 OCTOBER 2010

FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00v4kdw)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.


FRI 19:30 BBC Proms (b00tn8fk)
2010

Rodgers and Hammerstein

Following their extraordinary debut at the Proms last year, John Wilson and his hand picked orchestra return to the Royal Albert Hall to give a programme of Broadway hits penned by the great creative partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Excerpts from Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I and The Sound of Music are just some of the movie orchestrations recreated by John Wilson and performed by his orchestra, with soloists Kim Criswell, Anna Jane Casey, Julian Ovenden and Rod Gilfry. The concert is introduced by Katie Derham.


FRI 21:15 Singer-Songwriters at the BBC (b00v4kdy)
Series 1

Episode 2

Compilation which unlocks the BBC vaults to explore the burgeoning singer-songwriter genre that exploded at the dawn of the 1970s and became one of the defining styles of that decade.

Featuring Peter Sarstedt, Carole King, Jim Croce, Bridget St John, Cat Stevens, Judy Collins, Randy Newman, John Sebastian, Joan Armatrading, Ralph McTell, Al Stewart, Kevin Coyne, Billy Joel, Tim Hardin and Paul Simon.

Programme sources include the Old Grey Whistle Test, In Concert, Top of the Pops, Sounds for Saturday, the Bobbie Gentry Show and One in Ten.


FRI 22:15 Songwriters' Circle (b00v4kf0)
Justin Currie, Chris Difford and Boo Hewerdine

Justin Currie, Chris Difford and Boo Hewerdine are the featured artists as BBC Four combines great singer-songwriters for unique concerts celebrating the craft of the song.

Filmed at Bush Hall on Uxbridge Road in west London, these concerts see three singer-songwriters perform their classic songs in turn, while helping each other out musically with harmonies and the odd guitar part. The artists only meet an hour or two before going on stage and, in between performance, take viewers inside their work, chattng about their songs, their history and background.

The three songwriters - Justin Currie, formerly of Del Amitri, who wrote hits including Nothing Ever Happens; Chris Difford, who mixes his solo work with Squeeze hits such as Up the Junction; and Boo Hewerdine, formerly of The Bible and perhaps best known for writing Patience of Angels for Eddie Reader - compare notes on songwriting, life after Top of the Pops and the male menopause.


FRI 23:15 In Concert (b00v7xjd)
Squeeze

David Hepworth introduces part of a live concert by Squeeze from 1982 at the Regal Theatre in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.


FRI 00:00 In Concert (b0074sq9)
Carole King

Vintage footage of the singer/songwriter performing her songs I Feel the Earth Move, (You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman, So Far Away, It's Too Late, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow and Up on the Roof for a BBC live studio performance in 1971. James Taylor guests on guitar.


FRI 00:30 In Concert (b0074sdd)
Elton John

Elton John sings the songs he co-wrote with lyricist Bernie Taupin, including Your Song, Border Song, Take Me to the Pilot and Burn Down the Mission.


FRI 01:00 Singer-Songwriters at the BBC (b00v4kdy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:15 today]


FRI 02:00 Songwriters' Circle (b00v4kf0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 22:15 today]


FRI 03:00 BBC Proms (b00tn8fk)
[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 Wildlife Films 22:30 TUE (b007xnvt)

All Our Working Lives 20:00 SUN (b00v3wwt)

All Our Working Lives 03:00 SUN (b00v3wwt)

All Our Working Lives 23:00 MON (b00v3wwt)

BBC Proms 19:30 FRI (b00tn8fk)

BBC Proms 03:00 FRI (b00tn8fk)

Boys from the Blackstuff 21:30 SUN (b00v3xln)

Britain's Best Drives 20:00 TUE (b00hw3yp)

Carole King and James Taylor: Live at the Troubadour 02:05 SUN (b00sftvw)

Churches: How to Read Them 04:45 SAT (b00tx33j)

Churches: How to Read Them 20:30 WED (b00tx3fg)

Churches: How to Read Them 00:20 WED (b00tx3fg)

Churches: How to Read Them 03:20 WED (b00tx3fg)

Churches: How to Read Them 23:00 THU (b00tx3fg)

Churches: How to Read Them 02:35 THU (b00tx3fg)

Crooked House 23:15 SAT (b00gf5cz)

Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer? 21:00 THU (b00l7qdh)

Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer? 03:05 THU (b00l7qdh)

In Concert 23:15 FRI (b00v7xjd)

In Concert 00:00 FRI (b0074sq9)

In Concert 00:30 FRI (b0074sdd)

In Search of Medieval Britain 20:30 THU (b00b0cc0)

In Search of Medieval Britain 02:05 THU (b00b0cc0)

Le boucher 22:30 SUN (b00v785s)

Le boucher 00:30 THU (b00v785s)

Mad Men 22:30 SAT (b00tzmsg)

Mad Men 22:00 WED (b00v3z4t)

Michael Wood's Story of England 20:00 SAT (b00tzmsd)

Michael Wood's Story of England 21:00 WED (b00v3z4r)

Michael Wood's Story of England 00:50 WED (b00v3z4r)

Michael Wood's Story of England 03:50 WED (b00v3z4r)

Michael Wood's Story of England 22:00 THU (b00v3z4r)

Murder on the Lake 01:45 SAT (b00qjngb)

Nature's Great Events 19:00 SAT (b00j8g9g)

Only Connect 20:30 MON (b00v3y5q)

Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone 21:00 MON (b00v3y5s)

Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone 00:30 MON (b00v3y5s)

Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone 03:30 MON (b00v3y5s)

Rosslyn Chapel: A Treasure in Stone 23:30 THU (b00v3y5s)

Seven Ages of Britain 19:30 THU (b00r9qv5)

Singer-Songwriters at the BBC 00:00 SUN (b00tzpbq)

Singer-Songwriters at the BBC 21:15 FRI (b00v4kdy)

Singer-Songwriters at the BBC 01:00 FRI (b00v4kdy)

Songwriters' Circle 01:00 SUN (b00tzpbs)

Songwriters' Circle 22:15 FRI (b00v4kf0)

Songwriters' Circle 02:00 FRI (b00v4kf0)

The Beauty of Maps 19:30 SUN (b00s3v0t)

The Born Free Legacy 23:45 SAT (b00tzm01)

The Cell 19:30 MON (b00m6nhq)

The Cell 02:30 MON (b00m6nhq)

The History of Safari with Richard E Grant 03:15 SAT (b00s6b8q)

The Sky at Night 19:30 TUE (b07bpyfn)

The Sky at Night 02:30 TUE (b07bpyfn)

Time to Remember 19:00 SUN (b00tzlzz)

Time to Remember 04:30 SUN (b00tzlzz)

Time to Remember 20:30 TUE (b00v3yry)

Time to Remember 00:30 TUE (b00v3yry)

Time to Remember 03:00 TUE (b00v3yry)

Timeshift 22:00 MON (b0074sh1)

Timeshift 01:30 MON (b0074sh1)

Timeshift 21:00 TUE (b00v3z0f)

Timeshift 01:00 TUE (b00v3z0f)

Timeshift 03:30 TUE (b00v3z0f)

Timeshift 22:50 WED (b00v3z0f)

Timeshift 01:50 WED (b00v3z0f)

Wallander 21:00 SAT (b00mk3sg)

War Walks 19:30 WED (b0074l6q)

We Need Answers 20:00 WED (b00pwsfp)

Wildlife in a War Zone 00:45 SAT (b0074sft)

World News Today 19:00 MON (b00v3y5n)

World News Today 19:00 TUE (b00v3yrt)

World News Today 19:00 WED (b00v3z4p)

World News Today 19:00 THU (b00v4jww)

World News Today 19:00 FRI (b00v4kdw)